Game Boy Zero case CAD files

[neolith]

No i have it in two pieces in sketchup

That's weird. It should be three: front shell, back shell and battery cover.

From what you wrote I am assuming that the back and the battery cover got welded during the export. Fusion does distinguish between components and bodies for seperate objects. Components are literally the individual components that make up logical pieces of whatever you are modelling. A component can be made up of several different bodies, but doesn't have to. Each body is a separate object that doesn't have to interfere with the others. Anything that does not fall into these categories cannot be an object on its own and has to immediately either cut or weld existing geometry.
My guess is that components are separated on export while bodies are not. The front is one component and the back and the cover are one component with two bodies.

I am going to restructure the file this evening to fix that.

Neolith, you've done an amazing job by adding the two supports besides the battery tray !
Wonderful, it seems so acurate

i definitely need to take my caliper and make some control measurements !

Thanks you so much for all your work

Thanks, I am glad you like it.

An stl file is a solid object ready to print, so yes, it's a single object lol
So for 2 half of a shell you need two stl files

Ah, that explains it. I didn't know that. My bad, sorry.

Would it be better to produce three separate .STL files or would it be enough to move the three parts next to each other in the file so that the printer software can pick one of those to use (is something like that even possible)?

Taking advice from YaYa I went and got fusion and did it myself, and wow this thing is awesome.

SpoilerShow

Yeah, I quite like the software. It is incredibly powerful in what it does, it is still developed a lot on and it is free for personal use.
That being said, it is not without problems though. I have only been using it for a few weeks and have already run into several limitations. There is, for example, no proper engraving tool. Getting the embossing (is that the right word for it?) on the back of the shell wasn't much fun and I ruined several models in the attempt. Thank god for ctrl+z.
I am also not a big fan of everything with a cloud service, at least when I cannot directly control it. But it is a really cool software!
Glad to see you got it working for you!

[YaYa]

You should better make three different stl files. I don' know how the printer can handle three models into a single file.

Fusion is free for personal use ? I should definitely take a look at it, sketchup is good but it is really limited without the help of many plugins (which i don't have obviously)

[neolith]

You should better make three different stl files. I don' know how the printer can handle three models into a single file.

Okay, will do. Thanks.

Fusion is free for personal use ? I should definitely take a look at it, sketchup is good but it is really limited without the help of many plugins (which i don't have obviously)

Yes, it is. Personal use as in 'no money involved' IIRC, but you might want to take a look at their website to get the proper details. You have to apply for a new license once per year though.

If you are interested – a comparable software seems to be Onshape, similar in scope and also relying on cloud services. It works entirely in your browser. I haven't tried it though and I am not sure it comes with the same CAM tools as Fusion.
And there is also FreeCAD. Not looking quite as fancy, but completely open source and also with quite powerfull features. No cloud needed and installers for Win/OSX/Linux.

Those seemed to be the most promising when I looked for a free CAD software.

[YaYa]

I'll take a close look to those. Thanks for the information.
I'm attracted by autodesk's products as they have a wide range software capable of helping you to take one project from A and lead it to Z.
As an example, I'm working in civil engineering as a site supervisor, and the structural engineers are drawing the plans in Autocad, then throw them in Revit to make 3D extrusion, then from there to Robot to make structural analysis and why not, from there, you can give the BIM object to a 3D designer that will throw it into 3DS Max to make some good looking rendering to illustrate the project or show small but difficult or important details of it.

And from what i've seen recently (because i'm new to the electronical DIY stuffs) they also have Eagle that can design PCB in combination with Autocad and one of their 3D software to make a visual renderer to show the future assembly... This is really a perfect approach to design.

That's why i love you CAD. It will prevent me from making some two way travels to my usual hub in 3dHubs and kill me with postage fees. I can design, test into your model, make corrections, test again and then and only then, send for first test print to the hub.

You cannot imagine how much money i've already spent for small pieces of designs to help me fixing everything in my build without screws, glue or tape lol...

[neolith]

I too ultimately chose Fusion because I already work with 3ds max every day. And Eagle is also something really I want to try, too (that is if I ever manage to understand the electronic stuff). It looks quite interesting.
Aaah – so much to play with, so little time...

[YaYa]

I too ultimately chose Fusion because I already work with 3ds max every day. And Eagle is also something really I want to try, too (that is if I ever manage to understand the electronic stuff). It looks quite interesting.
Aaah – so much to play with, so little time...

Yes so little time You are talking to a man with two daughters (3 and 6 years old), with a pregnant wife and a son expected by the end of November, racing the regional RC 1/8 scale 4WD Nitro Buggy championship, working a lot, and still willing to build a GameBoy Zero, a WiiUpi, a Neo Geo X HandHeld Pi Hack with the use of the Neo Geo X dock for stationary use, a bartop project based on a 33 years old french terminal called Minitel used years ago to access the french ancestor of internet and finally a 1000% DIY 2x2 way speaker, music player with valve amplification and 7" touchscreen in a round wood case

All these projects are more or less mature and for some of them, i've already started collecting parts.
So now you can understand my attraction for Eagle, CAD Design and the need to buy a 3D printer

[neolith]

Haha – do you even sleep?
I tend to have time consuming hobbies and usually several ones at the same time that I keep alternating between, but I think you beat me hands-down!

[AWildTyphlosion]

I have a question about part of the model. There seem to be a hole in the back that connects the cartridge slot and the on switch. I was wondering if this is intentional?

Images of it:

SpoilerShow

[VeteranGamer]

I have a question about part of the model. There seem to be a hole in the back that connects the cartridge slot and the on switch. I was wondering if this is intentional?

Images of it:

SpoilerShow

that hole is there, so you cant remove the cartridge when the gameboy is on....

the switch cover keeps the cartridge from being slid up

[AWildTyphlosion]

I have a question about part of the model. There seem to be a hole in the back that connects the cartridge slot and the on switch. I was wondering if this is intentional?

Images of it:

SpoilerShow

that hole is there, so you cant remove the cartridge when the gameboy is on....

the switch cover keeps the cartridge from being slid up

That makes sense.