What is Inventor?
Inventor is a computer program that you can use to make 3D models that you you can then make on a 3D printer or other tool. You begin by drawing a 2D sketch and extruding which makes it 3D. From there you can add other details or bodies.
Widget Sketches
We began this unit by drawing 6 widgets on paper with isometric graph paper.
TinkerCAD
We began working with TinkerCAD to get a feel of how a CAD software can work. You drag simple shapes together and edit their dimensions to form an object. You can also cut away material using holes of the same shapes. We drew up our 6 different widgets to demonstrate our understanding of TinkerCAD
Widget 6, step by step
Note: 1 unit on the isometric graph paper equals 10 units in TinkerCAD
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Exporting to MakerBot Desktop
After modeling our objects we sent them to MakerBot Desktop, which will take our object in the form of a .stl file and change it to .gcode (or .makerbot) file which the printer can then read and use produce our object.
This is what my object looked like in MakerBot Desktop
Finished Widget
Heres what widget 4 looked like when it was done printing
Conclusion
In the Inventor/3D Printing unit, specifically with the widgets, I learned how to model basic geometric shapes in both TinkerCAD and Inventor, export them to MakerBot Desktop and then print them. I had some prior knowledge about 3D printing before this unit, however modeling these widgets gave me the opportunity to learn how to model quickly and efficiently, using fewer steps than before.