Designing stuff with OpenSCAD can be frustrating. Not having the native ability to create fillets on edges, the workaround I’ve discovered1I believe there are fillet libraries I could use, too. is tedious and slow:
- Create a primitive object that is smaller than the desired object by the radius of the fillet.
- Use the
minkowski()function to apply a sphere having the radius of the desired fillet to the primitive, effectively applying a fillet to every edge of the primitive. Warning:minkowski()is slow. - Use the
difference()function to remove fillets (and excess size) from those edges that don’t need fillets.
This is the process I’ve used designing my footstops so far.
There are free CAD programs that make fillets easily; one is Autodesk 123D Design. I had tried using it a little in the past, but it has its own difficulties.2It’s much harder to be precise. Repetitive tasks (such as the grooves on my footstops) can’t be programmed; each one must be created individually. Regardless, I decided it was time to try something new.
The Slopes “tripod” for GoPro-sized action cameras is a nice project to duplicate. This comparison shows the result. I’ll print it next week.
I have a lot to learn. :-)
- 1I believe there are fillet libraries I could use, too.
- 2It’s much harder to be precise. Repetitive tasks (such as the grooves on my footstops) can’t be programmed; each one must be created individually.