I worked with various Computer Assisted Design (CAD) and image manipulation software during this week. My work have included the use of:
Design files can be downloaded at the bottom of this page
Image files on my website has been resized using either Apples bloatware Preview or the free open source GIMP (Short for GNU Image Manipulation Program). The GIF to the right show the process of using GIMP, further described below:
I have resized a picture using GIMP from 3293 x 2848 px to 800 x 692 px, which resulted in the following changes of file sizes: The the original at: 3293 x 2848 px = 7,4 MB.
I think that there is a good cost-benefit ratio by reducing image size (to the largets size needend) and saving the image with a 75% image quality.
I created a comb like sketch with different gap sizes ranging from 2.4 mm to 3.4 mm in increments of .1mm. This comb could hopefully be used to find the right spacing - allowing for the kerf - for a press fit construction.
I discovered - while messing around with Inkscape on a Mac - that copy-paste operations turned vector graphic into bitmap. This was caused by an faulty setup of XQuarts - a support software that is required to run Inkscape on a Mac. Make sure to follow the installation guide at the Inkscape website. Other settings that I found really usefull (read nessesary) is to:
I used Inkscape to create a press fit box that could be used to subdivide the storage compartment in the table top. Inkscape is quite intuitive a fairly powerfull tool - I primarily used these operations:
It soon became evident that it can be tedious work to make manual adjustmenst of the size of the design or to account for changes in either material thicknes or kerf. I thus tried Antimony and Fusion 360 to develop a parametric CAD.
Antimony seams like a really powerfull CAD. Drawing is based on pure matematical input (in the Graph Window).
The Graph Window is used to connect parameters from on shape to another (ie. width of a table) but also to connect shapes to different graphical operations (such as revolve), properties (such as color) and funtions (such as export).
The export function allows for direct export to a heightmap (.png) or an .STL file.
The .STL-file is perfect for 3D-printing, but I am currently unsure if the heightmap can be used for Computer-Controlled Cutting.
I then started to create a paramertic model in Fusion 360. In my first attempt I used the Move-command to align sides of cube. This model responded well to parametric changes of the thickness of both material and kerf, but it couldn't handle adjustment in size of the model). I should instead have used the Joint-command!
I then decided to create just one side of the box - and make that 100% controlable by setting user parameters for size, kerf and material thickness.