Hi, I'm getting ready to download and try the awesome plugin but see where recommendations twice have been made to put proV8 on it so people know restrictions. Does that mean it will not work with version 8 free? If it works with free then I'll give it a try immediately for a much needed sketchup task. Thanks, Mike

Hi Peter,

Thanks very much. I've got some homework for tomorrow. It is after midnight right now so I only looked at the files to get an idea and will attempt making tomorrow. I'll get back tomorrow on my success levels at trying. Best regards, Mike

Hi Peter! Thanks! I tried using the shape bender plugin as the first effort before using the screw plugin. I could not get things to line up right and it would not do the spiral. I did get shape bender to work with simple letters, straight line, and curved line. There is a big time difference here. I'm in Afghanistan and we are 1/2 an hour from the rest of the world. I received the Makerbot Replicator 1st gen in the mail 2 days ago. It may be the only one in the country but that won't be the only 1st because I also probably built the only black-light ping pong table in the country complete with glow in the dark balls (I'm on a blackout FOB, Forward Operating Base). This is much appreciated. I left you a personal message stating some of the other "mod's" I'll need to do such as a version with cutouts and some tabs allowing it to be bolted with Makerbot made plastic bolts/nuts to the base. I'll need to make it in other sizes as well.
Question: Will I be able to scale it up or down and then make the V notches the same size by some type of modification? Had serious issues with the Makerbot as it came minus the power supply, right extruder not extruding, and warping. Wired my own Lambda 24vdc power supply, put a washer in the right extruder to get it working, and waiting on some pure Acetone so I can make better ABS slurry to get it to stick. I'm also going to buy the upgrade kit for the MK8 extruder with the spring/ball bearing. Going to make some good stuff once the files are complete. Please do not hesitate to send me an email at the address I messaged you and I can send you picture. Best regards, Mike

Oops, I did not see Peter's reply. Let me look into that one. Now I need to learn how he did it!

Hello, I posted the tube with the v notch spiral but it only has an inside surface to the tube. When making an outside surface it covers what is supposed to be open on the notch portion. Is there a way to "fill in" the portions of the outside tube and not interfere with the notch?
I paid the premium membership in hopes to get some help. Internet is deathly slow here where I'm at so youtube is a slow process and not sure what keywords to use to find the solution to what I'm trying to do at this step. I'm guessing this is rediculously simple to you all but that is why I'm posting on the newbie forum.

Best regards,
Mike

Hello Solo and everyone, Well I kept trying and trying until something happened. Not quite sure how to get the outside of the pipe section to fill in only between the V notches and this is one thousand percent not to any scale. Basically, the V notch will be around .101" wide X .101" deep and the spacing between notches will be .101". This piece of pipe with a spiral shaped notch will be in different diameters from 2" down to about 1" and maybe even a little less. Then I hope to be able to very subtly change the dimensions to get exactly what is needed in each size. Please forgive the fact that I'm catching on to this whole thing not only slower than a 5th grader or 12 year old but now wondering if a 2nd grader would be leaving me in the dust on this learning curve. Thanks!
Best Regards,
Mike

skeleton.skp

Hi Gilles, I just downloaded both attachments from your post April 17 2010 and laast edited Mar8 2010. I have them showing up in my plugins when opening sketchup 8 but can't see them in the file folder, kind of strange. One shows up as "screw" and the other as "screw 21". What I need is a tutorial as I don't have the slightest clue how to use them. When I click on the tutorial link on this discussion it brings me to the ruby depot library homepage and if I look under A-Z I can only see the download that doesn't work and no tutorial. Best regards, Mike

I went to the link Massimo provided and it is the same as the one I went to but just to be sure tried it with the same result of "page not available" upon downloading. I tried another link for a ruby plug in from the same site, k tools 5.0 , that was mentioned in another thread with the same result. Any suggestions for the ruby library depot? Maybe I need to join the website or something. Best regards, Mike
OK, found a couple links from another thread and got it to download but it wasn't from the Ruby library. Will work on this a bit and get back. Best regards, Mike

Hi Solo, Nice to meet you. I tried downloading the plugin screw1_5.rb from the ruby library depot. It had a page but when I tried downloading it said unavailable. Did an internet search for the plugin and found a Google discussion where someone had the same result saying unavailable. What I did see in that discussion is that SU 7 cannot join faces under 1/16". I'm not sure about SU 8 but assume that it is a similar problem. My diameter was 2" and the V notch was .101" so that may have been part of the problem. I'll get to a sketch later as I'm trying to do my homework 1st on this problem but if that is/was part of my problem and I need to start large then scale down please confirm. Best regards, Mike

Hi Gilles and Dave, I will work with some of the examples given and hope to do better this time. The examples have threading on a solid shaft. If I make a model with a solid shaft that is threaded how will it be possible to "cut out" the center leaving maybe a 1/4" thick wall for example?
Best regards,
Mike

Hi Dave, The V notches will be .101 inches wide and .101 inches deep. The spacing between the notches will be .101 inches. The tubes will be 2", 1.5", 1.0", .75", .50" diameters. Lengths will be 3",2",1.5",1.0",0.75" long respectively. It is important that I can subtly adjust length and diameter to micro-tune the properties once the 4 tubes are complete. Thickness of tube is not critical but the final version with cutouts will be 1/4" thick so both will probably be that thick. Also, I'll need to be able to make a 2nd version that has cutouts in the tube but still leaving the V notches. Very best regards, Mike

Hello,

Just purchased a Makerbot 1st generation replicator in dual color. Downloaded sketchup. Installed shape bender plugin. Spent about 3 days trying to replicate the steps in the youtube video for making a bolt with shape bender. Came to the conclusion that I'm not smarter than a 5th grader when it comes to sketchup and just about any 12 year old will probably leave me in the dust with sketchup.
I'm going to use the makerbot to make some prototype parts for something I'm making on the side from my regular job here.
I'm perfectly willing to pay someone if necessary and take a hit on my pride to get me going with this as I seem to be in a "hair on fire" mode to get going on the next stage of my prototype to be able to build exact parts around forms (made by the makerbot) instead of winding by hand.
The latest stage that seems to hang me up on the bolt video is getting the lifted half circle to connect to the other line and line up properly on the green axis. Then it won't shape bend because I'm assuming it all is not layed out properly. Was able to get shape bender to work on lettering with a straight and half circle.
My lates inclination is to just find someone to assist and then work up from simpler projects as time permits.

Very best regards,
Mike