@box said:

Donations are something different for everyone, "to each according to his need" is the old saying, whatever you feel comfortable with, nothing is too small or large.

Have you purged your model, it may be bloated. Window/Model Info/Statistics Purge unused.

OK, I'll settle on something for a donation.
I have purged it but it's not having it.
The bad news now is my MBP has run out off power and I forgot to bring my charter in to work this morning, also all the servers are offline for the office computers so no more Sketchup for me for know, phone only

@box said:

Have a go with Thomthom's new Solid Inspector, it will find them, highlight them and fix them for you.
http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=tt_solid_inspector2

Thanks again Box, downloaded and installed. One thing that's bugging me, how much to donate for these plugins? I am grateful for them but have stalled on donating for this reason.

The Solid inspector can't fix my item "Some errors could not be automatically fixed. Manually inspect and correct the errors, then run the tool again." Something about borders and mesh?

And now my .skp file is too large to upload...

Thanks Box, I'll try that at some point.

For now SolidSolver reports a co-planer edge and isn't solid How do I spot and correct this edge?

@box said:

And while you are at it, you can make the piece a component, then scale a copy up to do your edits, then delete the large copy and the edits will have worked on the small version.

Oh yeah??? That sounds like a great system! Let me get this correct... So the times when Follow Me won't work on my tiny component will work on the scaled up? And affect the edits on the tiny copy? Wow!

@d12dozr said:

Hey Teig, I messed up the first time around...it should be .001. Sorry, I edited my post, but you already caught it.

Also the way to move the geometry is to draw a line separating the piece you want to follow-me, then group it for moving (or copy it and erase the original).

Ah, OK, I wondered about your zeros but bowed to your wisdom I've scaled it all up, I couldn't figure out how to separate the two parts so ran the Follow Me, it worked But... it wasn't solid so I ran SolidSolver which is really struggling at present and has been stuck on the Spinning Beachball of Doom for 10 minutes. Here's hoping...

@d12dozr said:

Carsten (cotty) did it exactly how I would have

@teig said:

And the scale tool. Sorry for sounding stupid but if I scale it by a 1000x what do I sale by to get back to my dimensions?

.0001

If you look at p. 36 of my book, I explain how to use the Tape Measure tool and a reference line to quickly and accurately scale a model.

It's neat to watch your design iterations gradually improve

Thanks a lot Marcus, I knew it had to be some amount of 000s It is one mighty learning curve, I'm sure a hotel would be an easier way to get started

I'll go look at your book now, I haven't had much time to myself recently.

@pilou said:

@unknownuser said:

v6 for Pilou

Not just for me but for all users who have not the same up version than you!

PS you are making an engine in 3D Printing ?
What will be the fuel ? And for what vehicle ?

Yes, it's to go on the carburettor intake on a petrol powered 1976 Austin Mini, my daily drive.

@cotty said:

Moved the face away from the other geometry and scaled the model up (1000x)...

[attachment=0:1vs06ddx]<!-- ia0 -->follow34.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:1vs06ddx]

That looks brilliant.

Err.. How do I move a face away from the other geometry? Every time I try I get little 'strings' attached that just stretch out.

And the scale tool. Sorry for sounding stupid but if I scale it by a 1000x what do I sale by to get back to my dimensions?

Thanks.

I'm back again
I'm on version 34 (or so) now. After a lot of research reading mind-boggling papers on how to optimise the design I have changed my design slightly.

I'm having problems with the Follow Me tool again, it won't do this:

Is there any way I can make it work? I've tried it a few ways on different radius circles to follow, but it will not have it. I've tried it with half-circles and solid circles, this version is trying to be hollow to save weight. Anyone have any ideas?

v6 for Pilou :

BellmouthRoundlip45Rv34.skp

More study required...

Well since you pointed that out I've had the compulsion to fiddle But... I can't work out a way to add a bit of 'meat' to that area? Short of starting from scratch that is. To strengthen that area I've tried making an arc on the base and Push/Pulling but it leaves gaps.

v6 added for Pilou

Bellmouth50RRadialSlot2v6.skp

Not much stress, it only has to hold the weight of itself up and the one my mate test-printed weighed in at 50g so not very much at all, nothing that a suitable washer won't support (I hope ). This version will weigh in a fair bit lighter too.

@pilou said:

Cool but you have forgotten the V6!

You need to get up to speed Pilou

I am getting the hang of it! V19 was drawn in 45 minutes last night, solid first time

Bellmouth50RRadialSlotSOLID.skp

Thanks again d12dozr, that is a real help. I thought I had to put in all those supports and had been scrabbling around the t'interweb trying to find where and what spacing you put them in at.

Back to the drawing board for v14 it is then....

Can I increase the number of circle segments now? Or will I need to redraw it from scratch again?

The faceting is a problem, I would need to polish all those off to a mirror surface, for the bellmouth itself at least, the mounting flange etc doesn't matter.
I've been told that some desktop printers will automatically build in support material so it looks like it's going back to that again

Airbox Bellmouth2.skpI think I've cracked it!

I've drawn another one tonight, a mere hour to draw:

Airbox Bellmouth2.skp

@d12dozr said:

Great! It's a learning process, and you're getting a crash course

You're not wrong there!!!

Just trying to get a quote now, had one for £43 which I thought a bit harsh so I'm trying some other companies now.

I can't see the plastic you recommended so I've just gone for 'standard' ABS.

@d12dozr said:

Teig, two of the holes on the bottom are causing the problem, as pointed out in the following image.
[attachment=1:1wvyo62i]<!-- ia1 -->Capture.JPG<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment:1wvyo62i]

If you pull those 2 faces down a fraction of a mm and clean up the resulting internal faces, the model becomes solid.

Thank you very much once again d12dozr. I pulled those faces down by 0.03mm, grouped it again, it reported back as a group sigh . I exploded it again, pushed the faces 'up', it wanted to snap to .04mm so I left it, did the other one. Drumroll It reported back as solid!!!

@d12dozr said:

@teig said:

So I don't need the supporting material if I go to a commercial printer? I'm starting to think that it might be the better option.

For a part with this complexity, you'd be better off. Something like Shapeways Strong and Flexible (S&F) plastic should work well. BTW, since this is a part for a carburetor, how hot would the piece get? Shapeways S&F melting point is ~180C.

ABS from a desktop printer melts at ~200C.

You pre-empted my next question

Either of those two plastics should be fine then, I can't imagine it getting over 180C even in traffic on a summer's day? The venturi will constantly pulling cool air over it as well.

[attachment=0:1wvyo62i]<!-- ia0 -->Sub Stack11v6solidFinal.skp<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:1wvyo62i]

Sub Stack11v6solidFinal.skp