Hello, thanks in advance for any help. I have a little project I am trying to do-- I would like to merge a “Mag quadsafe universal adapter” with a Galaxy Fold 3 case. I have both STLs and i began playing with blender yesterday, and it’s possibly a little above my head.
What it seems like the steps are from my (peprhaps simplistic) point of view:
- trim the openings on mag quad adapter to fit the camera lens and side buttons when it is perfectly centered on the case.
- delete a square the exact size of the magsafe quadlock adapter that is perfectly centered on the back of the phone case
- put the current model from the mag quad stl in thus square
The only thing I’ve been able to accomplish thus far is centering the mag quad adapter on top of the case. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to trim in to fit the camera and side button openings…
Any help is greatly appreciated, even if it’s just a starting point.
So, out of the box, blender is not a cad tool and it’s not a good option for anything that requires any amount of precision- there are extensions that will help, I’d just as soon suggests any other cad tool.
That said, if you can, link the files you’re using and the, we could give give you a more precise work flow.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4935721 (right cover stl) and https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5704716 are the two files I’m trying to merge. I’m gonna try playing with windows 3d builder as someone suggested as well
The process is pretty simple. “difference”, “subtract” or “hole” (tinkercad. don’t ask me why they call it that.) all do the same thing. It’s a boolean operation that removes one shape from another shape.
you create the shape and subtract the middle bit (a square slightly smaller than the adapter part itself.) Then put the adapter centered in the gap, and use a second boolean operation (usually called “join”, tinker cad calls this “grouping”… don’t ask.)
Sometimes you’ll see a third option in there called ‘intersect’, which will cut both parts down to only where they overlap, FYI.
So the process is to import your files, remove the bits that need to be removed… then join the adapter to the case, and export as an STL. the reason it’s important that the block your using to remove is slightly smaller is so that the adapter joins in a solid manner.
if you’re willing to give tinker cad another go, this video, while basic covers everything you need to do to get it done.
ETA: I think you’re going to have difficulty printing the combined part. the case appears intended to print with the back against the bed. you might be able to print it on edge, but the adhesion is going to suck and the nozzle dragging is likely to pull it off. you could also add supports, but then… well… support removal.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
this video
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Thanks- I’ll check it out! I liked how simple TinkerCAD felt, and was hoping to use it, if I can, that’d be awesome