What it is
Tinkercad is a beginner friendly web-based 3d modeling software from Autodesk that is free to use. It runs in your Webbrowser and saves to the cloud. Tinkercat works by creating basic objects like a box or a cylinder that are either solid or act as a hole (so this object will be "substracted" from any objects it overlaps and is grouped with).
What I did
The first 3d model I designed myself was a tool holder, it holds my files and my scalpel. It's no masterpiece of course, but seeing something that existed only in my imagination become a real object was magical!
How I did it
- I created a free Tinkercad account on tinkercad.com.
- I watched the tutorial video (which I recommend unless you're already experienced in 3d design software).
- Then I measured the circumference of the base of the tools I wanted to store with my caliper and added 0,2mm.
- I build the model pictured above (in Orange) by placing some tube-objects and scaling them to have the right inner diameter. I then closed the bottom by adding cylinders that are a little wider than the inner hole to each tube.
- Because I wasn't sure that 0,2mm was the right amount of tolerance I made a test model and print with some 5mm high tubes to confirm that the tools would fit:
- I finally exported the model as an stl-file, loaded that file into the cura slicer software and exported a gcode file for my ender 3. Then I loaded the gcode to a sd-card, put it in the printer and printed it.
This is the result:
Normally the holder leans against my "tool board". If I wanted to holder to stand on it's own like in the picture I would have made the base wider (places the tubes in a circle or on a wider circular base).
What I learned
- Tinkercad is the perfect software to get started with 3d modeling. Because it's browser based and saves to the cloud you can easily switch between devices when you are designing 3d objects.
- You can also import STL-Files (for example from thingiverse) and modify them in tinkercad. It's easy to remove unwanted parts of a model by quickly creating a box, placing it over the unwanted part and changing it to a "hole".
- Before you export your model as a STL-file you should always use the group-tool on all separate objects, otherwise the objects might still show in the internal structure of your print (for example walls of cylinders that are inside a box, where normally would be only infill).
- The software is easy to learn but has some serious limitations. For example there is no way to split an object in two.
- Although I now do the more complex and precise modeling in Fusion 360, I still come back to Tinkercad for simple edits or models like the spool holder in the cover image (thing:4646099 & tinkercad).