@mike lucey said:

@jaxcoffee said:

Does one qualify for this raffle if they are a Premium member?

Yes, the draw will be free for Premium Members and held once a month. Rich and Gabor have sorted out a system to operate this and Rich will be announcing details over the next few days.

Mike

Sorry Mike. It looks like the forum didn't recognize the Plus sign. My question was if a Premium Plus membership qualifies. I noticed it's a bit cheaper, so I wanted to confirm.

Thanks

Does one qualify for this raffle if they are a Premium member?

I decided to go the SolidWorks direction instead of Blender. If I'm going to learn something more complex than SketchUp, I'm going to learn an industry standard. At least that is my reasoning. Your milage may vary. Would love to see this kind of thread for SolidWorks. Anyway, carry on. This is a good thing for Blender folks.

Can anyone make a case for using SketchUp verses what seems to becoming the industry standard for outputting for 3D printing, SolidWorks? Besides the price?

Has anyone made the transition from SketchUp to SolidWorks? 3D printing seems to be recognizing SolidWorks as the goto software choice, but the cost is way out there. And yes I know if I am a student it's much cheaper, but I am not.

Could he simply make the oval a component that cuts a hole, like a window component?

And then just use the copy/move to relocate the same component, cutting the hole?

I guess I should have tried it myself before asking, but I seem to remember components being able to do that.

Great stuff guys. Thank you all for your input.

@cotty said:

Maybe you can share a sample part to have a look at...

Thanks Cotty. I will do that as soon as we receive the drawings, make the change over to CAD, and pull up some components.

I have attached a picture of a locomotive that was constructed from the same drawing number sheet of the locomotive we are modeling. Dates back to 1875.

@d12dozr said:

Jack, I got my start in 3D printing using Sketchup. I've taught local Sketchup classes for 3D printing, freelanced out my design work, and one of my models graces the official Sketchup 3D printing web page. I've had good success and made some very cool projects, but I'm going to admit sometimes it was at the expense of a LOT of wasted time. Sketchup is still my favorite tool for simpler models but it still pains me at times, the most recent was this weekend creating a simple, relatively low poly part for printing.

Some things make sense to use Sketchup, while others do not. You can nearly always beat Sketchup into doing something, but what is the point if there is a better tool out there already? What are you designing in Sketchup to 3D print?

I'm working off of Baldwin Locomotive Works original drawings, which will be turned into CAD drawings. From there I will be modeling each component of the locomotive to be printed out in 3D for assembly. We will be working in 1/12 scale. This project is for a local railroad museum.

Sure would appreciate your input. Solidworks appears to be the software of choice for most 3D service providers, but the price tag is out of the question for a non profit museum. And I'm not a student to be able to realize their discount. But I believe it's only a discount for a 12 month subscription.

I an really hoping to be able to stay with SketchUp.

Would really like to hear from someone who models in SketchUp, and outputs their work to 3D printing.

Seems for the most part the 3D printing industry isn't too impressed with working with modelers who work within the SketchUp platform.

So I would like to learn how to overcome that perception, and continue to work in the platform I love.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.