Need to draw simple plastic shapes for making on 3D printer? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: makebit
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 22, 2025, 04:23:11 pm
content: We need to make simple plastic shapes like plastic enclosures for PCBs.May we use Autodesk Fusion?Please advise on the best videos to learn it quickly?Our shapes are pretty much "square" things.I assume we can use Easy PC for PCBs that will go in our enclosures?...(we dont have to use Autodesk Eagle?)Are all the "Fusion 360" tutorial vids on youtube directly relevant to "Autodesk Fusion"?

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2025, 08:35:40 pm
content: Autodesk Fusion is Fusion 360 yes. You can use it for free if you generate less than $1000 annual revenue.It is a bit overkill but, you'll find lots of tutorials as you've seen and it works well. Its good if you plan on eventually making more complex parts and injection parts, etc.There are also plenty of free alternatives:https://www.google.com/search?q=beginner+3d+printer+cad+softwarehttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/3d-printing/PCB can be designed with whatever software you want and exported as a 3D model.

author: ledtester
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2025, 02:40:34 am
content: For simple designs I would have a look at OpenSCAD:https://openscad.org/It's easy to get into and it especially appeals to programmers.I've attached a short example I just whipped up. It's a bare-bones enclosure box with some corner posts as well as some shorter interior posts (i.e. like for a PCB). The "code" for the design is in the attached .txt file - you'll see it's just 42 lines.One nice thing about OpenSCAD is that it is parametric by default - so it is easy to change the dimensions of things without having to rebuild the design.

author: MarkF
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2025, 04:11:59 am
content: If you're looking for free CAD software,FreeCADhas become very capable. Version 0.21.2 is last version supporting Win7.Here are two video series for learning FreeCAD:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/3d-printing/resize-a-stl-file-for-me/msg5418209/#msg5418209I useDipTrace(limited free use) for laying out two layer, <300 pin PCBs and then use its 3D export to a STEP file.The STEP file can be imported into FreeCAD and used to design an enclosure around.Example FreeCAD screencapture:

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2025, 07:08:14 am
content: Quote from: ledtester on May 23, 2025, 02:40:34 amSeconded. Ideal for the OPs use case, and a very gentle learning curve.Plus there are many useful libraries, e.g.for screwthreads, characters etc

author: jc101
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2025, 05:40:32 pm
content: Quote from: makebit on May 22, 2025, 04:23:11 pmIf they aren't complicated and you don't need many done, happy to knock something up in Fusion360. I can send you the fusion file afterwards to get the idea of the steps involved.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2025, 05:56:11 pm
content: TinkerCad isn't bad for simple stuff - very quick to learn and nothing to install. Can be a bit slow sometimes

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2025, 06:12:58 pm
content: I would be willing (but still apprehensive) to use any software from autodesk unless I get paid at least EUR3000 per month to do so. They started with a "free" version years ago, grossly abused "the community" as free beta testers, and when it started working a few years later they thanked their early adopters by taking out a lot of features and making it barely usable. I never fell into that trap and knew in advance something like that would happen.If you're a small company fusion is a big and dangerous trap. Once you start making any profit, you can expect to give all your money to autodesk, or face lawsuits.I'm sort of content with FreeCAD myself. OpenSCAD is a bit too sparse for me. I very much like to see what I am designing. FreeCAD is a bit difficult to get started in, especially 10+ years ago. Back then there were some parts that worked, and other parts you simply got stuck in because they did not work at all, (or worse) worked unreliably. FreeCAD has improved quite a lot in the last 10 years (although development is not as progressive as in KiCad) and FreeCAD has become a quite usable product.If you have simple designs, you only need to know a small part of FreeCAD. All my designs are based around drawing parametric sketches, and then extruding them, knitting several together and placing them in a 3D space. Even all my years in FreeCAD, I did not even learn how to use Python scripting, or even the "draft workbench". I like parametric drawing in sketches so much that I also use it for items that could be a bit simpler to draw in another way.Despite its progress over the last 10 to 15 years, FreeCAD is still quite rough, and not so easy to learn. Each separate workbench feels like a whole different program, and each workbench is a struggle to learn to work with it. So I have limited myself to 3 or 4 of the 20+ workbenches. Most of the others are also for pretty specialized tasks that do not interest me much.When using FreeCAD, or other Open Source projects, your designs are your own. No misty cloud mess or hidden anti features. I rather donate to open source projects, than pay for commercial software. Many of the bigger commercial software vendors are trying to make as much money as possible while doing the least amount of effort to get that money, and at the same time building in anti features to keep customers in their own eco system and thwart competitors. It's unfortunately all too common, but I can not accept this or find it "normal". Open source software is often much less polished, but good enough to get the job done. And there is a whole different philosophy behind it. Some people (groups) create open source software just for fun or as a hobby. Other projects are more structured. They are nearly all built around the idea of freedom for their customers, and making the best software they can as a prestige.

author: makebit
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 10:25:01 am
content: Thats good to hear.With Autodesk fusion i downloaded the free trial and am trying to "monkey see monkey do" the following Fusion tutorial...But cant even get to the "File -> New" situation to even get started.I am much more of a plank than i thought i was and really need a monkeys beginners guide that i can sing along with.Any ideas?Sorry, as always...soon as one asks a question, one finds the answer...

author: ledtester
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 26, 2025, 05:18:08 am
content: For openscad users just wanted to mention the Ultimate Box Maker which is geared for making enclosures:https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1264391Here's a short segment on it (starting at 4:04 for about 2 and a half minutes):185 - A small and portable DC bench power supply that can be battery powered. -- TheHWcavehttps://youtu.be/MXjsNsBdmxs?t=4m4s

author: eugene
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 26, 2025, 05:08:05 pm
content: As a physicist and electrical engineer I have been using FreeCAD for at least 5 years to design enclosures and other parts to 3D print. I'm happy enough with it to not be looking for anything else. I admit that the initial learning curve is steep, but a few hours playing along with a tutorial or two and anyone can create simple 3D models.For kicks I mocked up the enclosure that ledtester made in OpenSCAD. It took me a little over 30 minutes, though some of that time was spent deciphering the OpenSCAD script (no prior knowledge) and converting inches to mm.It's similar to many projects that I've made, though I would make the posts round and add fillets on all of the inside corners and radii to all of the outside corners. That takes only a minute in FreeCAD. I expect it's simple in OpenSCAD too.

author: ledtester
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 26, 2025, 06:38:54 pm
content: Quote from: eugene on July 26, 2025, 05:08:05 pmUnfortunately fillets and chamfers are not easy in OpenSCAD. There are libraries to help you with them, but it's still an effort to add them into your design.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2025, 02:09:28 am
content: Yes, and it can require significant effort.e.g. if you are using theBOSL2library, basic rounding and chamfers on cuboids and cylinders are trivial, and if you specify a negative chamfer or rounding on an end of a cuboid or cylinder you get one with attached fillets suitable for joining normal to a flat surface, but it gets difficult and math-heavy if you need to fillet the line of intersection of faces of two solids at an angle to each other and %DEITY% help you if you need to smoothly transition between two such fillets, or if the intersection isn't a straight line!

author: Mr.B
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 29, 2025, 04:12:25 am
content: If you choose to go down the Fusion 360 route, I can highly recommend the series you linked (Learn Fusion 360 in 30 days) by Product Design Online.I have been through those tutorials multiple times, along with some of his other complimentary videos.To me, he explains stuff well and I have certainly learned a lot.

author: ledtester
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2025, 05:32:14 am
content: Quote from: Ian.M on July 29, 2025, 02:09:28 amI've been meaning to try out BOSL2 -- look like it could save me from doing a lot of calculations myself.Another library that has caught my eye is Round Anything:Video:https://youtu.be/laxv2wFKq8QGithub:https://github.com/Irev-Dev/Round-AnythingAPI Docs:https://learn.cadhub.xyz/docs/round-anything/api-reference/

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2025, 07:40:23 am
content: Quote from: Ian.M on July 29, 2025, 02:09:28 amLibraries, of which this is just one example, areoneof the reasons I really like OpenSCAD. I have no comment about other tools because I haven't used them in anger.I might, one day, get around to using constraint based tools for "the thigh bone is connected to the hip bone" design patterns, but so far I've found parameterising OpenSCAD constructions to be sufficient. I suspect a lot will depend on the way the requirements are specified plus and individual's way of thinking.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 30, 2025, 09:40:35 pm
content: its not an unreasonable amount of work to add corner rounding, round posts and interior fillets for vertical edges to Ledtester's box from reply#2 once you realise that there is away to round 2D shapeswhich can then be extruded. Horizontal edges*however remain a PITA to round.Full rounding of 3D objects can also be done with minkowski() with rather less 'brain strain', but that's extremely computationally expensive.* ignoring rotations - its the end face edges of extrusions that are difficult to round or smooth fillet!

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2025, 01:13:07 am
content: Just for sh!ts and giggles, I've added fillets round the mounting posts and the inside bottom of the box.I wont be rounding the outside bottom edges, as that's not helpful on a 3d printer. I suppose you *could* add a 45° chamfer, but that's a *lot* of work and often ends up looking fugly if your printer is prone to even slight 'elephant's foot'.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 06, 2025, 07:07:34 am
content: Unfortunately the corner post fillets are a bit buggy and the side fillets break if the ext rounding is large. More gnarly trig needed to fix. I think it would be simpler to clip the fillets to the base perimeter!

author: mikerj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2025, 12:26:43 pm
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on May 23, 2025, 05:56:11 pmI doubt there is anything faster to learn for simple designs, and now they have improved the sketch tool even more complex designs are simpler. OTOH I found moving up to a proper CAD tool can be more difficult after getting used to the methods you need to use in Tinkercad for some things.