Making an SMW3D OX site; volunteers?

@Brandon_Satterfield provided an archive of various files related to his variant(s) of the OpenBuilds OX. I’m building a site to organize and present them, linking here for support and discussion, but meant to make a from-scratch OX build more feasible. Anyone want to help out? One of the things I need is help from someone with solidworks to identify parts, and to make STEP and/or IGES files from the solidworks files.

As far as I know, there are currently no commercial suppliers of OX plates in the US, or indeed outside the UK, which means that a cut-it-forward system will, practically speaking, be necessary in many places. I’m thinking that Maker Forums will be an obvious place to arrange that.

3 Likes

I am not good with the Cad software required, but am willing to help in other ways.

1 Like

Count me in on the CAD. All the parts are there in CAD, just a bit disorganized without context. I just need clarity on what is the latest plate versions. Then I can cleanup things into proper subassemblies for drawings and exploded views.

1 Like

Thanks @Eclsnowman — I’ll create the site as a gitlab repository (because of flexibility on repository size), and we can work together on building the site around it.

1 Like

The site is born:

Lots of work left to go before it’s complete!

1 Like

Not exactly related, but I wish someone could this all into #FreeCAD. #WishList

EDIT: reason? SolidWorks is expensive, so I don’t have it. Fusion360 is (sortof) free, but the files may end up locked in a format nobody can access anymore. Not an issue with an open source solution like FreeCAD.

@SirGeekALot that’s why open formats (STEP and/or IGES as appropriate) are the next step.

1 Like

Although I think it is already in Sketchup on OpenBuilds, but I hate Sketchup…ugh.

@mcdanlj Yes, those are very helpful. But I’ve found they are solids that are difficult to modify in FreeCAD. Still, a good compromise and far better than nothing.

I don’t hate sketchup; I’ve used it for architectural mock-ups. But I don’t use it for machine work or 3D printing.

Feel free to use the STEP/IGES files when @Eclsnowman converts them and build native FreeCAD from them; that would be a great addition to the site!

Will add that I believe the files (most likely the DXF) is the most updated. I do have some Al. plate left. If three people decide they want plates I would be happy to fire up a machine. Same applies to the R7 plates.

3 Likes

Yeah, if you had the confirmed final pates files for OX in DXF, that would help for making the models.

1 Like

This is a mildly peculiar development. I’ve only today dug my OX CNC bundle out of the pile of stuff that has been sitting idle for nearly three years. It’s sad to consider that I’ve had a full kit collecting dust for that long. Perhaps this is serendipitous for me. I’ve bookmarked the link noted above and will certainly be referencing it regularly during the build.

Hi! I doubt you are the only one who for whatever reason had something interrupt plans to build. I had been intending to build one next year when I found that right now was the best chance to buy the kit, so now here I am. I’d love feedback and help getting the site into more useful shape! At this point we’re in about the same boat, though we arrived here by different paths.