Making Curved Edges in Tinkercad video w/ Mr Keir

A little Hot-to guide for making curved edges or bevel edges in Tinkercad.
In this video we'll explore 2 different ways of creating a curved edge. Which one do you prefer or do you have another method that is even easier?

[@TheBestUni]

Thank you

[@somhunt5446]

Ran into this issue today. I just used the quarter intersection of the box and cylinder. Saved it as my shape option. Now I have both a fillet and a radius option.

[@schooltechhq]

Saving the shape is a great idea for saving time.

[@thedirtheretic2728]

Meta fillet in the shapes. You can adjust the radius and length. Way easier than building fillets

[@schooltechhq]

Thanks for sharing your advice 😊

[@hansharbeck2424]

Could you please be a bit more detailed how to do this?

[@thedirtheretic2728]

@@hansharbeck2424 yes. There is a search tab on the right for the shapes as a whole. Click on it and type in MetaFillet. That shape is essentially what he created. It’s fully adjustable. I put it in my favorites immediately because I use it on nearly every single build.

[@meisievannancy]

What does that mean?

[@thedirtheretic2728]

@@hansharbeck2424 over on the shapes area to the right there is a search function..type in meta fillet… the shape is already made in there

[@danko6582]

I'm ZDP189. I find using grid snap and nudge less accurate than parameters, align and %scale. Also I use hole rather than transparent. Also, the best number of sides is usually not just max but usually a number divisible by 4 that is appropriate to the resolution of your print or model.

[@schooltechhq]

Hi ZDP189. Thank you for your comment and insight. I find that when teaching young children, grid snap is the easiest thing for them to learn. I appreciate there are other ways of doing this. With the second method you will notice that I used hole instead of transparent because instead of adding to the object (reason for transparent in the first method) I am taking away from the object. It's less steps for learners (especially children) to have to switch from solid to hole to solid again for adding to an object. 😊

[@JohnColgan.]

Is there any way to round the top face of complex shapes eg ring, star, snowflake, letters?

[@schooltechhq]

Unfortunately, the way to round the top face of complex objects is the same, using either method. It will just take more time to do. An alternative method would be to download Autodesk's Fusion 360 and make a free account, there you can easily round edges by importing your design.

[@meisievannancy]

​@@schooltechhqGood tip. I've heard that fusion 360 only gives low resolution on its STL file export for the free version though.

[@schooltechhq]

@meisievannancy From my experience, I have not had an issue with resolution, but it may depend on the project. I have released an updated video with an easier way to make curved edges in Tinkercad.

[@ChinaAl]

Why not use the mirror function after you8 got the first one set?

[@schooltechhq]

Hey, the aim of the video was to show ways of creating a curved edge with as little new features as possible. Adding multiple new tools can make things more complex than simple, especially for young learners. 🙂 There are other ways that were not covered and will be covered at a later date.

[@ChinaAl]

@@schooltechhq Okay, Thank you

[@dtibor5903]

Thanks to tinkercad, all 3D printing sites are littered with terrible looking boxy designs that are also fragile. It is fragile because with fillets you can reduce many stress lines, improving part strength by 200-300%. Most of them are simple mounts but because of the bad design they don't even survive the mounting process.

[@peterlanglois65]

Method one is very unintuitive and complex. Also, use the align tool instead of cursor keys to align objects.

[@schooltechhq]

Thank you for your comment. 😀 This is why I shared more than one method. These two methods are the most commonly used, especially with young learners (8+ years). The use of cursor keys is just to show an alternative way, especially for children, which might be easier for them instead of the extra step of using the align tool which, from experience, means more work for the teacher to have to fix when the objects go in all sorts of funny directions 😆