Workshop

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for the industrial arts from metal and woodworking to CNC machining and 3D printing.

Make: Projects – Simple 3D models with OpenSCAD

Make: Projects – Simple 3D models with OpenSCAD

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to use OpenSCAD to produce a simple 3D model by extruding a part profile produced in normal drawing software. I use Adobe Illustrator CS3 because I have access to it and am familiar with its interface, but the popular freeware drawing program InkScape will read and write DXF files natively, and there’s no reason why it couldn’t serve just as well if you prefer it. There are a number of other free and low-cost programs that will export DXF files. OpenSCAD’s developer mentions QCAD, which is available from its developer RibbonSoft for 24EUR.

Make: Holiday Gift Guide 2009:  MAKE’s Toolbox Gift Guide

Make: Holiday Gift Guide 2009: MAKE’s Toolbox Gift Guide

All of us here at Make: Online have banded together to produce this guide. Each of us has submitted at least one review of a favorite tool, which hopefully will help to inspire any of you who are still looking for gifts for the Makers on your list. They are arranged in order from least to most expensive so you can scroll as low as your budget allows! Happy Holidays from all of us!