3D printing brick walls.

[bbussey]

I’m not having any issues rendering intricate brick patterns in SolidWorks. This screenshot is of a wall from New Haven Union Station, built in 1913. As with my station platform subway portals, the brick is 125% of scale.



I’m not having problems rendering brick. I am having some minor problems with keeping the side seams true for joining sections due to the massive cornices causing some blooming. Working my way through some design changes before the next print attempts.

[chessie system fan]

Hmmm.  And I just noticed they have a hobbyist license for $40 a year.   Hmmmmmmmm.

[reinhardtjh]

Hmmm.  And I just noticed they have a hobbyist license for $40 a year.   Hmmmmmmmm.

Geared towards hobbyists and "makers" normally $48/yr but currently 20% off @#38.40/yr

3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS® Makers is an innovative suite of software tools designed specifically for makers, hobbyists, and DIY enthusiasts

It's not specifically mentioned what happens if you use it to design things you sell.

From the FAQ

Who is eligible to purchase 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS for Makers?

3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS for Makers is meant for personal projects and non-commercial use. Per our terms and conditions, you may sell items you make for a profit up to and not exceeding US$2,000 a year. If you are interested in building your business with SOLIDWORKS tools, check out our start up program  or our commercial offers.

Wait.  File storage is Cloud-based?

What’s the difference between SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD and 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS?

3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS has the same awesome, industry-leading functionality, features, and tools as SOLIDWORKS Professional, but it leverages cloud data management. You can save all your design data to our secure cloud and easily share and connect with other makers. Please note, commercial products and Add-Ins are not supported or included with this version of 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS for Makers.

[chessie system fan]

Fusion360 is also cloud-based. 

[peteski]

More and more companies choose to offer cloud-based solutions (including SW subscription). It is in the cloud baby!  Hope it doesn't rain!   

[reinhardtjh]

More and more companies choose to offer cloud-based solutions (including SW subscription). It is in the cloud baby!  Hope it doesn't rain!   

Apparently the Solidworks app runs on a PC (Windows 11) but the drawings are stored in the cloud.  I suppose that, statistically speaking, the data is safer there.  Corporations usually have fairly robust backup schemes.

[ednadolski]

More and more companies choose to offer cloud-based solutions (including SW subscription). It is in the cloud baby!

You will be assimilated.  Freedom (of data) is irrelevant.  You must comply.

--Locutus

[chessie system fan]

Well, Bryan, you made a sale.  Now here comes learning a whole new engineering software. 

[nkalanaga]

"the data is safer there"

Until you quit subscribing, or the company goes out of business.

[JeffB]

Apparently the Solidworks app runs on a PC (Windows 11) but the drawings are stored in the cloud.  I suppose that, statistically speaking, the data is safer there.  Corporations usually have fairly robust backup schemes.

That Cloud storage thing is a deal breaker for me...  Sadly, it seems as a lot of software is moving toward that, including web based execution (the product runs through the Internet, rather than locally on your PC).

Fortunately, I have SolidWorks 2022 through work and don't plan on uninstalling it on my home PC any time soon.  But it is nice to know that the option is available.

SolidWorks is a pretty darn great 3D modeling package.  I couldn't imagine having to learn one of the "free" packages and all the shortcomings that come with them.

Jeff

[bbussey]

Yeah, and unfortunately they are making it more costly to buy the standard non-cloud version but forcing the purchase of support for two years. I’m on 2021 and it does everything i need and more.

My only concern regarding the cloud-based storage version is what becomes of your designs after you let your subscription expire? The fact that you can’t download your own designs is a deal-breaker for me.

[Sumner]

I don't know about the others but with Fusion 360 you can save all your files to your computer.  Use the 'export' command vs. the 'save' command.  You do have to save to their cloud storage to have an STL file created but you can export it also to your computer.  It only takes a few seconds longer to export to your computer.  I have every .f3d and .stl file I've created on my computer (hundreds).

To work on a past project I use 'OPEN' then 'Open From My Computer'.  I never use what is stored on the cloud.  I now also use the 'capture image' to save an image of the .f3d file so if I need to pull up something and don't know for sure what I can look at the images in the folder that has the project and see which file I want to pull up.

The program is on the cloud but you can work some without being connected to the internet before it say you have to have an internet connection to continue.  It is seamless.

Sumner

[chessie system fan]

Bryan, how large are your building's dimensions?  I'm not enjoying the learning curve for the program, but I'm slowly getting there.  I was able to get a two brick tall wall about 20 inches long.  However, when I did a pattern of the brick strip that was 54 patterns tall, it crashed the program.  For test two, I began the other way and did the patterning first and then the mirroring.  That did better, and I'm not done experimenting yet, but with a brick wall at about 35mm x 95mm, I can tell the program is slowing down.

[chessie system fan]

I found a way to design and print large brick walls in Fusion360!  I can't take credit for the solution, though.  A few months ago, I met a fellow designer named Windham Graves who designs 3D models full-time. He does mostly military vehicles.  He suggested taking a little wall, exporting it as an stl, reimporting it, reducing the polygon count, and then duplicating it. 

So I got around to trying his suggestion this morning.  I'm not sure if reducing the polygon count did anything, but his stl idea was solid gold.  Here's a top-down image of my Photon M3 Premium's build area.  This N scale brick wall is 404mm wide and 172mm tall!  I haven't tried larger because there isn't any point.   But my computer didn't even think twice about doing any of it.



The only catch is that Fusion360 doesn't have a way to duplicate stl files.  You have to convert the stl to a component, which can be duplicated.

I hope this trick helps other designers out there. And thanks to Windham for the tip. You should check out his website. Most of his models are either free or dirt cheap.

https://www.wargaming3d.com/vendor/wgraves/
https://www.patreon.com/WGraves
https://www.thingiverse.com/windhamgraves/designs

[bbussey]

Bryan, how large are your building's dimensions?  I'm not enjoying the learning curve for the program, but I'm slowly getting there.  I was able to get a two brick tall wall about 20 inches long.  However, when I did a pattern of the brick strip that was 54 patterns tall, it crashed the program.  For test two, I began the other way and did the patterning first and then the mirroring.  That did better, and I'm not done experimenting yet, but with a brick wall at about 35mm x 95mm, I can tell the program is slowing down.

Sorry Aaron, I’m just seeing this. New Haven Union Station is a 9” x 22” footprint, so needless to say that I have to print in sections. New London Station is 1/3rd the size but the same applies. Total of 16 wall sections for NHUS, with the cornices and roof details also separate components.

And yes, it’s better to design small sections and pattern it. You also can do that as an assembly rather than stitching together STLs, and then export the assembly in STL format to print.