What is inventor?
Inventor is a computer-aided design program that allows users to create 3D objects. It is used by creating sketches and dimensions to create the 3D objects. Through other software, like Makerbot, the objects created in Inventor can actually be 3D printed into real objects! There are many other CAD programs, but Inventor is very highly regarded and is one we use in our IDEA class.
My Widget Sketches
How to create a widget using Inventor.
Step 1: Create a new sketch on the XY Plane.
Step 2: Draw the shape of the design from the front view.
Step 3: Dimension the shape.
Step 4: Extrude the shape one inch. (Since this shape had the same extrusion sizes)
Step 5: Save the object.
My Other Widgets
Setting up in MakerBot
The Printing of the Widget
What I learned from this project
In this project, I went from not knowing how to make anything in Inventor to being able to carefully create and dimension these detailed widgets. It was cool to see how something that I put together on a computer, became a physical object. I felt like MakerBot was going to be difficult to use, but it was surprisingly easy. It's exciting to see how 3D printing works, and I am excited to see it keep growing, since the capabilities really seem endless.