3D CAD drawing:
Practising 3D CAD drawing

Contents:

1. Some drafts of 3D CAD drawings
2. To be continued

Note:
I take no responsibility or liability for what are written here, you use the information at your own risk!

1, Introduction and some drafts of 3D CAD drawings:

Introduction:

With a 3D-printer the world opens up for a fantastic opportunity to make your own parts for your projects. You can design them after your own ideas. But there is a problem, to do this you must know how to use a 3D CAD program.

It's 15 years since I used a CAD program, but lately I have done some illustrations in SketchUp. Maybe it's possible to use SketchUp for 3D-printing, but I want to do much more advanced things like printing pulleys. My friend Lars has introduced me to FreeCAD and I'm now practicing how to make drawings with that tool.

Software I use which are free to download:

• https://www.sketchup.com/ (SketchUp)
• https://www.freecadweb.org/ (FreeCAD)

There are a lot of other software too, use the one you are used to.

General information about 3D CAD:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Computer aided design (Computer aided design, Wikipedia)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ 3D modeling (3D modeling, Wikipedia)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ List of 3D modeling software (List of 3D modeling software, Wikipedia)

There are also a lot of free 3D CAD for astronomy among others to download if you don't want to make your own drawings:

• https://www.thingiverse.com/ (Thingiverse)
• https://www.tinkercad.com/ (Tinkercad)

SketchUp illustrations:

SketchUp is very useful when you want to do something quick, an illustration or something alike.

Just take some minute. A friend to me use it to make 3D prints.

FreeCAD, adapters:

I want to do more advanced drawings, pulleys. To do that I need a more advanced 3D CAD tool. My friend Lars has introduced me to FreeCAD. Above is a draft he has made for a Canon EF bayonet mount. I'm a little bit skeptical, can that piece of plastic hold a heavy DSLR lens or camera ?

Lars project at Thingiverse:

• https://www.thingiverse.com/ thing:4676722 (Canon EF/EF-S lens mount with connector wholes, Lars at Thingiverse)

The software development with a possible ASCOM driver comes later att Github. The idea is to take control over the lens' focus motor.

Pulleys:

To FreeCAD there are a lot of macros and plugins to download. Here I have made my first simple CAD drawing of a pulley.

A bigger pulley that I plan to wrap around the barrel that focus the lens.

Holders:

When looking for tube rings I never find any that fits perfect, now I can 3D print them to any size and shape.

When you get really skilled you can make drawings like these:

• https://www.youtube.com/ channel/ UC-CubOaooNwC-3RBKUoAOQQ (Joko Engineering help, YouTube)

Update:
For the moment I'm working on a motor focuser bracket.