3D printing deisign applications that actually work?

[curious aardvark]

do you mean:

For my first 'adventure', I'm trying to make a very simple piece. 20mm x 12mm x 205mm, with a 7mm hole at one end centered at 12.5mm from the end and a 7mm hole/slot at the other end centered at 11.5mm from the end (12.5mm would work too). Pretty simple to make, you'd think. Not so much.

20 long, 12 wide and 205 tall ?

in which case - try this:

$fn=100;

difference() {
cube([20,12,205]);

translate([10,12,193.5]) rotate([90,0,0]) cylinder(d=7, h=13);
translate([10,12,12.5]) rotate([90,0,0]) cylinder(d=7, h=13);

}// end diff

Now a hole is not a slot - so which do you mean, I put a hole :-)

openscadwidget.jpg

For the record dimensions are usually given: x:y:z Length:width:height.
I've seen quite a few americans who put z first, or sometimes in the middle - or sometimes even use inches :-)

[Cougar281]

Thanks - I'll definitely take a look at Openscad. Yes, I know Cura is a slicer, not a designer, my reason for referencing it was just to comment on how just moving your object around the workspace and rotating around your object is a whole lot more intuitive in Cura than in the design applications I have tried so far.

I'll get the X, Y & Z orders right one day . Brand new to the 3d printing scene, so I certainly have a bit to learn. 'Technically' it could probably be printed standing up, but it wouldn't leave much surface for bed adhesion, and it really doesn't make much sense to do so. My i3 clone will do 200x280x230. So I guess my proper dimensions would be 20x205x12?

After a ridiculous amount of time with Fusion 360, I was finally able to make the piece like you posted the image of (which you probably made in like 30 seconds lol), but after at least the same amount of time, if not more trying to either turn one hole into a slot or replace it with a slot, I just couldn't get it to work.

I actually got the image to post, so to make things easier (A picture is worth a thousand words), here's what I'm looking to replicate (just improved a bit). The end where it's supposed to hook over another 'peg' to lock the easel in place broke off the wood piece.