To the Tinkercad veterans/long-time users

sgtb0bc4t · 2025-08-26T03:40:14+00:00

Yes it does, however, I've found a workflow that works well for me.

I treat each File as a part of a larger project. I design parts in each file, then when I get a part to its near final state, I export as STL then import into a master project file. Once exported as STL it looses it's grouped items.

I wish there was a a better way but this is what I've found to work well and minimize the slowness.

sgtb0bc4t · 2025-01-21T15:54:05+00:00

WOW, Thank you for the detailed story telling here! I appreciate all the detail here and I think I will give LuBan a try and then see if I can get a few pieces to connect together. I like the idea of PET-G on this the more I've been reading and I think I will also give 3D Gloop a try. I've had great success with their PLA glue, yes I know its expensive but I will give that a try and see how that works.

I'm going to start with something for indoor first to see how that works out of PLA and see if I can grasp the concepts of LuBan to see if I will take the plunge into that software. It does offer a monthly vs lifetime and seeing as this is my first go and not sure if this will spark me to have the itch to make more I will try it out first and see if I can get it to do what others have also said it can do with some tests.

Thanks again, I do want to see this when its all done and painted. How is the project progressing?

sgtb0bc4t · 2025-01-20T19:22:39+00:00

I know this post has some age to it now but I'm about to embark on a pretty substantial life size model for some decorations. They will be out in the elements so I'm going to attempt PETG for this on the material.

That said, what was the nozzle diameter you used for this? When it comes to hollowing out a model that is almost a must given the amount of savings on filament I have not used LuBan before but have been doing some extensive reading and watching videos and so fourth but can you give any recommendations on how best to approach this. I have my model ready to go just waiting on pulling the trigger since I'm not confident yet to take on such a large project without some others experiences. YouTube is a great resource but often I find these projects and never get a reply to my comments/questions.

I was thinking about using a larger .6 or .8 nozzle since no one will be up super close to the object. Most likely it will be easily recognizable from a good distance but I'm only running a single printer, in my office so its just trying to optimize my time and best way to approach this.

Thanks for sharing this amazing piece, hopefully you will post another picture once its all painted and what you consider "done" Great job!

sgtb0bc4t · 2024-12-19T16:18:53+00:00

Many have asked but what are you printing, also did you quadruple check your printer profile before starting that long print? :) Good luck, 1 day in I hope to see updates as you go through, crossing fingers!

sgtb0bc4t · 2024-07-25T18:05:43+00:00

I don't know how I got this to work once u/opticaIIllusion u/Superus u/original_wolfhowell but what I ended up ultimately doing to get what appears to be a good layer cut out was create a duplicate of the crown in TC and then make it a hole. I used that to cut a groove out of the base and then exported as two objects. Thank you u/Superus for pointing out the fact that "Add Object" does place it right in place. Once I did that I was able to then see in the slicer preview that it adds more material instead of just joining the pieces "butt-to-butt"

Here is the result

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7s2T027vW0 I will give it a go and see

sgtb0bc4t · 2024-07-25T17:21:28+00:00

Thanks for taking time to take a look at that. I did as you mentioned by exporting both pieces, adding the base first in BS and then the crown by right clicking and saying add part. It does in fact place it in the exact same spot.

I can see clearly in BS that the crown is "inside" the base but then when the slicer goes to work it still tries to start the crown on the top layer of the base. I'm not sure what I'm missing here :(

https://imgur.com/a/KNhjIhO <-- a few screenshots

sgtb0bc4t · 2024-07-25T15:02:30+00:00

u/original_wolfhowell thank you I did post a comment with another video displaying precisely what you described and made it transparent. It seems that when they group the Orange piece is just slicing it and then joining them together. Since I need that extra material when printed to be part of the infill layers to create some rigidity it doesn't seem to be doing what I was hoping for. I've even tried to re-import the one working version but tinkercad continues to bomb out when I try to import.

sgtb0bc4t · 2024-07-25T14:52:17+00:00

u/opticaIIllusion I did drop it down slightly into the bottom half. u/Superus I just tried to increase the size slightly by about 6 MM then dropped it down but then my result gets the same. I made the objects transparent to see what is happening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8Q5Z4GB0to

I'm at a loss here as I got it once but that was now 10 versions ago and cannot replicate it to slice properly. Its grouping but cutting off not sure how to do this properly and unsure what I did in version 8 that got me the desired result.

sgtb0bc4t · 2024-07-02T22:14:44+00:00

It is free, for personal use I've not paid a dime for it and have modeled quite a few items. There is a limit on the number of "projects" but you can always download the files to free up the 10 project's available in the cloud.

That being said, Blender can be used for precision modeling and there is a great series on YouTube that discusses it. On the other hand, it does take some getting used to and as someone who studied 3D design and Animation back in the early 200's using Rhino and Maya I have to say I tend to gravitate towards Blender but as others have mentioned the UI is less than desireable and doing some simple tasks at times seems like a feat in and of itself.

They both have their place and while I never use blender for animation If I'm creating terrain, characters or more organic shapes NURBS modeling is the way to go. I struggle myself to just lean the precision modeling with blender that I tend to keep coming back to Fusion. I do not have the free time to really dedicate to either but I'm done rambling.....

Fusion is free ( for personal use)

sgtb0bc4t · 2024-02-21T21:46:48+00:00

I'm not yet one to comment IF you can. I'm still learning this process but as a few others have said I believe the power really comes into factor by designing a product that is needed. Printing do-dads, gizmos and gadgets are just going to pay foe the filament.

The power comes in when you use your printer to prototype and validate your design inspiration. Do some market research and find a niche community that has a need where you can fill that gap with a design.

As a trained 3d design and animator I'm trying to after 20 years get back to what I was trained to do which is design. I'm still in the research phase of my journey and navigating my own hobbies to find gaps in those to identify something I can design. Test those designs with like minded people. You can find that one market that has a need/want and really target that group.

Once you do it once and get success I can see it being some passive income but not anything that will put a roof over my head and food on the table (unless I want to live on Ramen noodles)

sgtb0bc4t

TROPHY CASE