How to modify an STL or mesh - 3D design for 3D printing pt7

[@HansWilms]

I've been wanting to edit stl files in onshape for so long. Your videos are amazing.

[@NeilWNC]

For years I've tried (and failed) at bringing STL files into Solidworks. Meanwhile in another corner of the universe, Tinkercad quietly makes editing STL files natural and easy. No more fussing with long imports that simply don't work, or that produce non-editable surface-only models. In Tinkercad you simply import the STL and in a few seconds you've got a nice model ready to cut, add-to or resize. No goofy triangles here, just solids the way you like it: clean, visual and full detail. As a CAD product, Tinkercad is a toy, but for this specific job it's absolutely amazing. And FREE!

[@thehydroblade]

I just learned something. Thanks!

[@RobertLiggett]

As a welder I love knowing more about technology and how to make it work for me and comments and videos like this make knowledge so wonderful

[@VikingRul3s]

Hello :) Quick caliber pro tip: to get exact center measures between holes, use the back tips (like in the video), first inside one hole, remember to write the hole size down -> then (re)set to zero while still measuring the hole size -> then insert the back tips into two holes, then measurement the caliber now shows is the exact center to center distance

[@TheOfficialOriginalChad]

I was watching that, imagining ways it could be done. Thank you

[@ChaneyGoldstein]

Time for the Thingiverse remixes...

[@Lucas_sGarage]

*Changes the 6mm Hole for a 8mm one*

[@NLGeebee]

@1:55 if you want to measure the distance between the center of two holes, measure the inner distance and the outer distance and calculate the average. If you do it with the “floating tips” you most likely are off by a couple of 0,1’s because if you measure something like 4,6, you probably think… nah… it must be 4,5 while it actually is 4,7. Designers don’t always use “nice numbers”.

[@kimmotoivanen]

Or, when holes are of equal size, "measure" one hole (or bolt), reset to zero and measure outer distance. Magic ;)

[@NLGeebee]

@@kimmotoivanen yes that works, but only if you have 1) two holes of equal diameter and 2) a digital caliper :)

[@AerialWaviator]

Great content. This "How to customize an STL or mesh" tutorial is so much more than basic design modifications. It's an enabler to making real custom designed parts.

[@ericcsuf]

I use F360. I gave up dealing with other people's STL files a long time ago. I rarely print them and no longer try to modify them. Both can be exceedingly frustrating for a lot of different reasons. Once you have the skills to draw whatever you need in F360, Onscape or any other 3D CAD program, it is far faster and easier to just draw the thing from scratch. If you don't have the skills to draw your own, Michael's video has some really good tips and workarounds, but it's still likely to be a frustrating experience. The best experience is a well designed model in STEP format. Some designers provide them. Some don't. Usually the better designers do. In a few cases, I've emailed the designer asking for a STEP file explaining how I want to modify it and they have sent me the file. If you do that, be sure to post a "Make" on the site crediting the original designer.

[@yettifpv4866]

these tutorials are amazing. you are super easy to follow along with and explain things very well

[@ilmawi]

I was just looking for this and this was posted 8minutes ago! All is good!

[@mururoa7024]

A lot of STLs were exported from Fusion360 with ultra high definition settings, resulting in the entire object being tessellated just like the last import example in your video. Most apps, even Fusion360 itself, perform badly and become sluggish when importing such high poly objects. Perhaps a video on how to simplify the mesh and making the object more app friendly without loosing accuracy or sharp corners would be helpful.

[@Leynad778]

Onshape is a lot faster than Fusion360 from my experience.

[@scottbaeder37]

the windows 3D Builder (part of Win 10) has a simplify function that works great to simplify, and you can control the granularity...

[@mururoa7024]

@@scottbaeder37 Did you mean "3D Viewer"?

[@DrFate09]

@@mururoa7024 It's 3D Viewer, it's available in the Windows Store.

[@TechnoBowen]

@@mururoa7024 No, he was correct, it's Microsoft's 3D Builder and available in their app store for free. He's right, the Simplify function works, great, but I use it every day for it's Repair function. I get lots of STLs from sites that throw an error message in Cura that it's not watertight or has problems with invalid faces. I just load them into 3D Builder, it says "Hey, there's a problem here, want me to fix it?", and never once has it not fixed a bad STL file for me in seconds. It's solid gold for me.

[@jasonb7560]

Awesome Channel. Your OnShape tutorials are priceless. Keep em coming!

[@donslattery8608]

I love this channel. I needed to do this yesterday and here it is.

[@TeachingTech]

Sorry I am a day late.

[@quinnobi42]

When making a plane on a mesh in Onshape, you can also just use a 3 point plane and click on any three points on the mesh on the flat surface you want.

[@rallykungensbrorsa]

Thanks a lot for all tutorials. You make my life a fair bit more easy! 10/10 Keep up the good work.

[@rbaileyrb]

Thanks

[@dannybush6131]

Thanks once again for the awesome help in getting away from 360 and making a maker's life a little easier to navigate.

[@phoenix_NZ]

It was a bit for me to work around with but following your steps I did manage to change a eSUN e-Box self to suit how I wanted it to bolt onto the wall, Thank you

[@chaponesupergalaxy5169]

this is the wonderful cad series tutorial I ever watched

[@steviewonder9209]

Where have you been all my life LOL! I'm just getting started with onshape, and I've learned quite a bit from your other tutorials- but this one is something I've been looking for for quite some time: how to easily convert/modify STL into new models. I've cobbled together a few really painful techniques on my own, but this vid might very likely save my sanity. Well done, mate!

[@ajhartmanaero]

Thanks for this. I've recently been playing with my Pop2 and working with stl's has been tricky but I got some good tips from this video.

[@livewiya]

Thank you for a very useful tutorial! I have no prior CAD experience but was able to follow along and modify an STL of a tool carriage to adapt it to my machine.

[@drewmakesstuff]

Thank you for this! Was banging my head against the wall trying to use Fusion 360 to modify an STL, I will now be using Onshape for all my STL modifications, at least for ones that are too complex for TinkerCad.

[@ElectricGeckos]

This was a great tutoral, I'm going to learn more of these add ons that you have.

[@ejon]

One is fortunate to stumble upon your channel🎉

[@robwilliamson441]

Does anyone else get this when they try and extrude a sketch through an STL; Extrude 1 did not regenerate correctly: Boolean operation failed to return a valid part.

[@drewmakesstuff]

I just received this error when working on modifying an STL. I was adding an extrude and it was generating that error instead of adding it to the existing part. I fixed it by removing some rounded corners on the sketch and instead making it a diagonal line. I then went and created a new sketch on the working extrude to sketch the corners to get the desired effect. So just an extra step but made it work in the end.

[@davevout5876]

Hi Michael, Nicely presented instruction as always. I have a couple of suggestions........The first is how to create a pair of bevel gears. The second is tracing the path of a rod linking two revolving wheels so that a close-fitting guard can be created that does not foul.

[@andyspoo2]

I thought I knew Onshape quite well, but I learnt a couple of things here that will be helpful so thanks.

[@jleftbrane]

Thanks so much for making these tutorials. I need to design a cap for a poorly designed and very expensive product! I think ill be able to now!! 🙏 again!

[@ToniCorvera]

Attempting to follow this session made OnShape choke repeatedly, showing the "loading circle" as soon as I did a couple operations referencing the STL, and no longer saving any changes I made, plus if I reloaded it thought I was still working on the document in parallel for a good while, until those zombie sessions expired I guess.

[@johndevires5911]

I do it all the time with SketchUp also. A nice thing is that you can edit the whole stl, every aspect.Takes time, but can also save time. Good video as usual.😉👍

[@tonytillman3953]

Maybe how to design a print in place hinge?

[@user-nb9vq9dy4h]

Yes, I was just about to ask about that.

[@realjustdjango]

Amazing video, as always. I use Solidworks for something similar, but instead of just changing the mesh with added solids like here, I have to redraw the full part and then edit it to how I would like it to be, with permission from the original creator of course. I'm glad that this style of modifying/reverse-engineering got more recognition. For simpler parts, it's no issue, but for certain hobbies I'm into where there are some extremely odd rounded surfaces, I'm still having an incredibly tough time.

[@andyspoo2]

That was what we had to do in OnShape as well before the recent updates.

[@Da-Real-Gigachad]

I love the tutorials, keep up the good work!! ❤️

[@stefk4862]

Love your videos! The best 3d teacher around!

[@TheOneLifeRider]

Best fitting series yet

[@M3di3valG]

Fantastic Video Michael! Just what I needed 👍

[@terryclair2914]

Thanks for all of these videos Michael they are a big help!

[@moditrix]

Awesome procedure. I use Fusion 360 to convert from STL format to STEP. Then I import the STEP file into OnShape. The only nice thing is that I don't have to create planes to draw sketches and extrude. Anyway, I will definitely use your procedure as well. Thanks for sharing your knowledge ;)

[@TwinsCustomsCA]

Thank you ! From the first lesson to this last one, I have solved problems and conceived useful design beyond my expectation !😀I was a little bit disappointed about 3d printing, but now, i cant conceive my life without a 3d printer 😂

[@x4runnergunnerx9]

Perfect timing, literally just emailed Onshape saying how I didn’t like how I couldn’t STL’s. Thank you for sharing!

[@Pomaufour]

I know this is probably sponsored, but man this is the the kind of sponsoring I want. I have been looking so long for a good CAD software for my 3d models for printing smalls things for the house. Never been so happy. The other night, I had a missing plastic bit for my AC and I made the thing in an hour and a half and it was my first time. Next time I can go even faster. Props to you man for the video series and the clear explanations. You said you were teaching irl, I can tell. Nice one

[@Cylvre]

It's not sponsored, actually. In the first video Micheal considered several different options for CAD platforms before settling on this and he goes through the thought methodology for the entire process. This is one of the most transparent and independent channels I've ever seen in regards to content; requiring companies to accept his own review agreement before accepting any free products and being very, very clear when anything was provided by a company/manufacturer.

[@hanomyburg5422]

Could you maybe do a video on how to use topology optimization in 3D parts that rotate like a door handle?

[@JeffBradway]

The comercial license of Fusion 360 has a prismatic method of converting a mesh to solid. It does work extremely well for simple geometry. For complex geometry it is still very useful.

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic, Michael! Thanks a lot for the tutorial! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@falxonPSN]

This is super interesting. As someone who is reasonably proficient at a hobbyist level with Fusion 360, I have been learning on shape for the past couple days after finding this tutorial series. Fusion definitely does not have nearly as much power when it comes to editing of mesh objects combined with solid objects

[@davidgelinas8460]

Thanks so much for all your tutorials ! Very easy to to follow !

[@TillTheCollapse]

Man I so needed this video earlier today.

[@ThLDQ]

Great !!! Thank you for your videos. Regards from France. Thierry

[@easyluckable]

Cool video, didn’t know Onshape supports stl, it took me such long time to just make a small adjustment.

[@Alluvian567]

Nice video, I am still using fusion 360 where you can convert a mesh to a solid body (with some messy faces that can sometimes be annoying to clean up). I am keeping an eye out always for how to do common tasks in other free tools, to protect against the day when autodesk makes it too annoying or expensive to use for hobbyist.

[@markcrane6959]

Awesome video series theses are very helpful thanks for taking the time to put these together

[@yaronskp]

I wish you would cover how to take existing element in a model and move it around or change its angle.

[@AllenKll]

Why did the extrude subtract work in the case of the handle, but not in the case of the PCB case? what is different that would cause on shape to work on one but not the other?

[@manojavsridhar]

Thanks for this! Great overview.

[@orange-micro-fiber9740]

That 3d scan intrigues me. My spouse has asked me if I can make stands for their action figures. I saw an ad for a 3d scanner app for phones. Have you looked at that?

[@MasterTOB101]

I would like to see a tutorial on how to adjust meshes of a 3d Scan

[@Kabliga]

That bottle scan was done with a CR scan lizard from creality

[@rittol2365]

Could you do a video on 3d scanning with a phone app and importing it to Onshape ?

[@PowerChaos]

i would love to see how to add text to a object so you can remove text and add new text or even emboss text ( round object ) and to make a text on both sides where one side is mirrored from the other side but are on the same spot (mirror ? )

[@smrts]

Could I use this to scale up objects

[@torginus]

Awesome video, but I'd still recomend recreating the STL part using cad tools. You can snap planes onto surfaces, make three-point curves etc, project points to sketches, so generally speaking it's a rather straightforward process.

[@Pomaufour]

How are not not with 1M subscribers already

[@Offcut55]

Well done. Still not 100% but getting there with your videos

[@teytreet7358]

My part turns red and cannot generate trying to do the remove extrude.

[@KainMcnab]

I needed this video so much! Thank you!

[@plugger410]

Why when I import the STL (I’m importing a 1/2 inch NPT nipple to modify), when I go to derive, it shows two triangles as part one and part two, the actual threaded nipple is labeled as “surface 1“ which does not allow me to edit it.

[@sithwarrior]

thank you I was able to re-purpose a part for my arcade fight stick that just needed the screw posts flipped

[@llcoolfroggyfroggy1257]

U do make gaming settings for 3d printed for game pc, TV, vr, and simulator

[@3dfiymylife]

I'm having a hard time controlling the panning view. Can you make a tutorial on how to control the panning view? the object will just keep spinning around

[@terjeberset7054]

Can you do a tutorial where you 3D scan (with a RealSens L515 for example) an object, and make it a solid part in Onshape?

[@Kabliga]

The bottle at the end of the video is a 3D scan from a creality lizard.

[@moto-mate.]

Thanks for this, really helpful as I have been looking at Onshape to design parts to fit to scanned files which looks like it is possible. Do you have any tyhoughts on this?

[@MrSurtz]

Help please, when I import an stl its nowhere near the origin, how do I land the part on the origin? Thanks

[@mrdrbernd]

Another great tutorial!! This is real teaching tech.... Could you show to make elongated holes? If find these very helpful, when there is some adjustment needed. - You are awesome!

[@fenceup07944931177]

I sometimes have lines over guide lines and can't select the line I want any suggestions?

[@Antassium]

I get "No merge scope" @ 6:47 Fails to extrude...

[@JoJa015]

It would be nice to know how to source parts to include in models. For example what if I want to make a case for a raspberry pi zero or make a port in a case for a USB micro connector. Where can I source a model for a raspberry pi zero or a USB micro connector and then how can I use those models to edit my creation so it works with them. Thank you for this tutorial series!

[@CC_FPV]

I've tried this a few times and the part that I import sits miles from the origin!! How do I import onto the origin or at least near to it?

[@remotepinecone]

what better than this or blender ?

[@BillyTpower]

I don't understand why you would import the stl file anyway? you can just draw the part from scratch just like you did previously? What am I missing?

[@1QKGLH]

I would like to watch this series from the beginning. I didn't see a play list for this series. Where would I find the first 7 parts. Thanks Michael for your video's. They are absolutely top-notch and a HUGE help.

[@keegan854]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnndgK2ueLZqg7c&ab_channel=TeachingTech

[@timbo1525]

Can I export the mesh from OnShape in other formats ? Like a Par oder Step ?

[@chasedown26]

I made some knife handles(scales) for a knife of a friend of mine. I made it in fusion 360 and measured everything multiple times, but when I print it the parts are always off by some amount, handle a little shorter or one of my connectors slightly off. Instead of starting from scratch is there a way to use onshape to fix this?

[@ThomasS17]

Hey Michael, I have an issue with your calibration tool/website, and I'm not sure where to ask for help. Every time I try to print the gcode generated by your website, I get a Klipper "stepper too far in past" error. I could figure out that it has to do with the feed rate values, but I'm not sure how to resolve it other than go into the gcode and manually lower the F values. Is there a way to change them right on the website, so I can print straight from the site?

[@patrolmaverick]

Does Onshape have a limit on file size or facet count when importing STL's? I'm yet to use Onshape, but now might be the time.

[@RyanStille]

This was great, thank you.

[@fimanode]

how hide stl line ? to see like solid in onshape ?

[@fimanode]

in cube select shaded without/with edge

[@robertdelfavero6552]

I've been wanting to do some modifications to an STL file, so this was timely. If you do a follow-up I'd be interested in how you'd shorten something that's two complex ends with a simple shaft between. I'd like to take some of the shaft away and then join the two ends back together but I'm not sure how, or if that's the best approach.

[@calebwyatt3076]

This may be too simple, but I can’t figure out how to make an object shorter. For example, I want to take a table design but make it 20cm shorter in length. Is there an easy way to do that but keep the legs, skirt, etc in tact?

[@harvey66616]

There are different approaches, depending on what exactly you mean to do. The simplest is to use the "scale" feature, which allows you to apply scaling factors (one for each direction) to a shape/body. This will change the whole object though, included e.g. the thickness of the table-top. If the section of the shape you want to make shorter is uniform, then you can split the body at two planes representing the distance you want to remove (e.g. making the planes 20 cm apart), to make three pieces, then delete the middle piece and move the remaining two pieces together. If for example your table legs are tapered, then that won't work. Instead, you can split the shape just at the bottom surface of the table-top (i.e. split the legs from the top) and apply a scaling to the legs only. If you apply a non-identity scaling factor (i.e. something other than 1.0) only to the vertical/length of each leg, then the height of each leg will change without affecting the width.

[@whatif8741]

I've been trying to figure out how to fix this

[@bedri1]

You can modify an stl mesh with mesh-modeling software like Blender. however this hybrid monster is very impressive.

[@ibnfpv]

Great video!

[@thinkdunson]

i notice his calipers don't have the little wheel at the bottom. to those who have never used the calipers with that wheel, i would recommend them. it makes small movements a hundred times easier to control. plus, the plastic ones will eventually develop little divots in the jaws and make your measurements inaccurate. the same thing can happen with the metal ones if you're super rough with them, but it's far less likely.

[@mw8151]

Sweet thank you👍

[@michaelrobinson9643]

I find most imported STL files are scaled 10x larger than the item - why is this so? The number of vertices makes working with them horrific. Any advancements by design software to more effectively modify STL is very helpful I think given the enormous libraries of complex parts being grown online. I think frequent repetition occurs in the design community because remixing a design is frustrating.

[@gamow]

not work in android...😭

[@ashfox2012]

Is this part 6 or 7? Says 6 at the beginning but 7 in the title bro?

[@TeachingTech]

Part 7 in the series, tutorial number 6. Both are correct.

[@angrygreek1985]

While helpful, this isn't a complete solution. How can I create a proper simple solid in onshape from an STL mesh? I'm trying to remix a part with complex curves. I have no way of perfectly replicating them in this way. How can I create a proper simple solid in onshape?

[@phreshxmetal]

very helpful

[@iCODeRUS]

There is a tool to create circle by 3 points as well

[@NexGen-3D]

Or you could use Fusion 360 and convert the STL to a STEP with prismatic faces.

[@chaosbreaker]

You say part 6 in the intro

[@Da-Real-Gigachad]

Show us how to make organic curves and a pure constraints tutorial, “constraints are hard”