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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : 3D printing at JLCPCB...
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9159 |
Hello everyone.  I see that JLC now offer very cheap 3D printing services as well as their standard PCB and PCB assembly services. Has anyone used them to have anything 3D printed? I am thinking that this might be the future for me as far as 3D printing is concerned for a couple of reasons, but mainly the probability that JLCPCB will have very expensive high-quality 3D printing machines, which will produce a much better result then the cheap domestic 3D printers you can buy from the likes of Jaycar. I also need to start looking at some kind of 3D CAD software. Ideally free, but happy to look at paid software so long as it is not excessively priced. If any members have any software they would like to recommend, please post and link to it in this thread. JLC prefer STL files, so any CAD software I look at would need to be able to output STL files. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| pwillard Senior Member  Joined: 07/06/2022 Location: United StatesPosts: 278 |
Heck... all the good ones export STL files, including; Fusion360, DesignSpark Mechanical, Tinkercad, Freecad...even Blender. |
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Revlac Guru  Joined: 31/12/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 975 |
https://openscad.org/ openScad has been my favorite goto for designing stuff for 3d printing, it will do most things, but not all, plenty of help around for it as well.  Edited 2022-08-04 21:53 by Revlac Cheers Aaron Off The Grid |
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| pwillard Senior Member Joined: 07/06/2022 Location: United StatesPosts: 278 |
Open scad is "cad for math/coding geeks"... I've used it and I like it... but it's a total 180-degree flipped mindset from typical graphical cad programs. For the unprepared... it could be a real turn-off as a "first introduction" to 3D Modeling. |
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Martin H. Guru Joined: 04/06/2022 Location: GermanyPosts: 962 |
Hi Grongster I edit or create or edit STL Files online at https://www.tinkercad.com/ (by autodesk). You might also use the Windows 10 3d editor or Blender (for more sculptural use). Or use Fusion 360 (not self-explanating and more for the technical us, but somehow free) STL files are common, so most CAD applications should be able to read or export them. cheers Mart!n 'no comment |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 5907 |
Having used AutoCAD then AutoCAD LT for many years, then see them monetize Eagle and make all their licensing so that you never actually own the software, no matter how much or how often you pay, it's rather put me off them. The early versions of AutoCAD were an affordable (by most small to medium businesses) way to get into usable CAD (which was *very* expensive then), but they soon fixed that. :( Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Martin H. Guru Joined: 04/06/2022 Location: GermanyPosts: 962 |
a very funny way, modeling 3d objects is also sculptgl https://stephaneginier.com/sculptgl/ When I try it, my Objects somehow looks like pigs  but to the original question: no cheers Mart!n Edited 2022-08-05 01:58 by Martin H. 'no comment |
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| pwillard Senior Member Joined: 07/06/2022 Location: United StatesPosts: 278 |
BTW, I've actually been pretty successful using Blender for 3D printing. While Blender is not designed to be good at 3d printing... with some tweaks... it does a pretty good job. and it's free... like forever. |
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Bill.b Senior Member Joined: 25/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 225 |
I do my own 3d printing and found Onshape a excellent modeling software. Bill In the interests of the environment, this post has been constructed entirely from recycled electrons. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9159 |
Thanks for all the replies, chums, I will check out some of those CAD names I do have a license for QCAD, but I don't think it can do 3D stuff - I would need to check into this further. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| IanT Regular Member  Joined: 29/11/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 84 |
I was a happy TurboCAD 2D user for many years (20+) but could never get to grips with it's 3D capabilites. When I acquired my 3D printer, a friend suggested I try Open SCAD as being easy to learn and use. I did so and found it very simple to get into and fine for simple objects -such as hose adaptors on my wood saws and DC motor mounts - e.g. basic shapes. However, I was also trying to design more complex assemblies and 'old' 2D has real limitiations, especially when you start making design changes (TurboCAD is not parametric). SCAD can do the modelling (if you have a preference for programming) but cannot do other engineering aspects such as producing dimensioned drawings. I had a good look around (early 2020) and didn't really take to Fusion 360, plus I didn't like the cloud aspects - they can change things overnight (and have done so). FreeCAD seemed buggy and a bit of a Curates egg in nature. Eventually another friend (a Solid Works user at work) suggested Solid Edge - Community Edition - which I have found ideal for my needs. It is the full SE product, updated annually when the commercial version changes. It runs locally on my PC (there are no Linux or Mac versions) and the only difference really is that work done on the CE version will not run under a commercial SE license, and presumably vice versa. Not a problem at all for my needs. I started with SECE 2020 on Win 10 and now use SECE 2022 on Win 11 (broke my old laptop!) - both Home editions. I had/have Intel i5 CPUs and the performance is fine. So, a fully parametric 2D/3D hybrid CAD system, free to download and use (and store my work) locally. I'd recommend it to anyone who thinks their needs might grow over time - it's a very impressive package. SE supports a wide range of export/import file types and even has it's own slicer built in, although I use Cura currently. Suggest you use this link if interested: https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/plmapp/education/solid-edge/en_us/free-software/community Regards, IanT |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9159 |
I've just been looking at openSCAD, and although it is free and does appear to do what is asked of it, it seems you have to effectively write the CAD "Programming code" to make it model things. This is too complicated for me, and I am unwilling to learn another coding language just to make 3D stuff, so I am moving on to something else. I need something that is fully GUI controlled with various drawing tools I can use, without needing to know the scripting language. The application can compile that code into a file for me to export to the likes of JLC, without me needing to know how to write 3d CAD code. I am only ever going to want to design project cases for some things, but am just in the research stage at this point - it may not proceed any further then that. I might just continue to design PCB's to fit readily available plastic or metal enclosures you can get from Jaycar or the web. The only downside to those, is having to drill and cut each and every case to suit your project, whereas a 3D designed case can have all that on the design so the cases come effectively pre-machined. But if that feature is worth the effort of having to learn yet another CAD software, I have yet to decide.  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8658 |
Grogster openscad is trivially easy to use for what you want. There are lots of good tutorials available In your case: Draw a box the size of the outside of the case Subtract a box the size of the inside of the case Subtract boxes the size of the openings Generate SPL Done I absolutely guarantee you that learning a 3dCAD program such as FreeCAD is harder Edited 2022-08-05 19:25 by matherp |
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| Revlac Guru Joined: 31/12/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 975 |
Totally agree  And the speed that this can be done, with a little copy and paste. Perhaps a quick bit of code (example) so Grogs can have a play with it Edited 2022-08-05 20:06 by Revlac Cheers Aaron Off The Grid |
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| Andrew_G Guru Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 847 |
Hi all, Not wishing to detract from what Peter and Aaron say above there is also 'Sketchup' (now by Trimble). I've been using it for my new house and have found it quite good. It is quite easy to learn/use and its website says it can Import & Export SPL. My free 2017 version appears to not do so (and I wont upgrade to the latest, at least until the house is finished). I'd be interested in shedders' experience. Cheers, Andrew |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9159 |
Sounds like I might have been put off openSCAD too early. I see there are plenty of tutorial videos for it on YouTube, so I will check some of them out. The idea of having to learn another code-like programming language to use it, was what put me off it. I was simply thinking that (A) I don't want to have to learn another code language and I don't have the time to learn another code language, and (B) it looks very similar in structure to C, and C and me have a hate-hate relationship at this point in time. I will watch some of the videos on it. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| GerryL Newbie  Joined: 24/01/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 31 |
Hi Grogster, like Andrew I use Sketchup for my 3D printing. I have no idea if its the easiest CAD package to use but it was a free down load (2017 version) and I now find it second nature to use. There are stacks of tutorials on-line. One thing I like about it is that all these very smart people have written extensions that you can plug in and then do some pretty nifty things. I have a Flashforge printer and so always use their print software to double check that the shape in the CAD is the same as the print preview as on very complex drawings it may get a boundary wrong so you may need to go back and tweak your drawing. I believe if you now try and buy the professional version you may be stuck with the yearly licence fee. Gerry |
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vegipete Guru Joined: 29/01/2013 Location: CanadaPosts: 1087 |
If your main goal is to create project boxes, try this add-on for openSCAD on for size. Here's another one. I don't know what the learning curve is like to use either of these - who will be our guinea pig? Visit Vegipete's *Mite Library for cool programs. |
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| IanT Regular Member Joined: 29/11/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 84 |
There is another benefit to using SCAD that I think doesn't get mentioned enough Being a text based system, it is easy to share designs on Forums like this by simply pasting the text and (as it is parameter driven) those designs can usually be simply adapted by others if required. I mentioned things like hose adaptors, I have a single SCAD model for these and can print any sized adaptor by simply changing a few named variables. SCAD is considerably easier to 'get into' than the heavier duty 3D CAD systems and if I was introducing my Grandson to 3D design & printing, I think it would be a very good entry point. For simple parts (such as enclosures) SCAD is very good. There is a "cheat" sheet that you can download and I found it very helpful to have it to hand when starting out, as syntax is important in SCAD. However, for more complex designs, involving multiple parts/assemblies, where you may need capabilites such as dimensioned drawings or 2D DXF files (for laser cut parts or etching for instance) then you will need to invest the time in learning 3D CAD. I understand that the Grogster doesn't need this but for anyone who does, then going straight to a commercial level 3D CAD system (such as Solid Edge) will be a better investment in their time. I now do all my design work (2D & 3D) in SE. I 3D print parts myself but also get parts laser-cut or CNC'd. I produce dimensioned drawings and fully rendered illustrations when required (using the included 'Keyshot' ray tracer) to share with friends and for publication. I'm in the process of designing a small steam locomotive and the ability to check fit between assemblies & animate the valve motion if required will be very useful. So my advice (having made the journey) is that SCAD is very good, provided you only need reasonably simple 3D CAD designs (such as enclosures) for 3D printing. If you think you will ever need anything more complex in nature, then I would suggest you just go straight to a full 3D CAD system. It will take you longer but will give you a great deal more flexibility going forward. Back to playing with my Picomites now.... Regards, IanT |
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| Revlac Guru Joined: 31/12/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 975 |
Pete, that U-box was interesting Cheers Aaron Off The Grid |
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