3d Printing

So I've got a fairly decent design going on sketchup so I thought for my initial prototype I'd print of the middle section using the university's 3d printers. However, I did come across a problem. The 3d printer software requires a .stl type file. However, Sketchup has no export to stl option. This meant I had to go through the long winded process of exporting the file as a .dxf or .dwg to open it in autoCAD. However, when opened in autoCAD the export to .stl option failed. I found that this was true even for simple objects exported from sketchup such as a cube. This was a real problem as it meant I would then have to design my entire again on autoCAD. Although not the end of the world this would really slow down my progress.

After much fiddling about with the two software packages, I found a solution. Google Sketchup, as well as a 3d warehouse, also has an extension warehouse where you can download add-ons for sketchup made by other people or companies. A quick search revealed there was an extension for importing and exporting .stl files. I tried it out and found it worked fine!

I went to the workshop, shown how to operate the printer and then printed out the middle section! It took a couple of hours but when done added the mdf claws to see how to fit it together. The end result is shown below.