Making of a simple Robot with 3D modeling

Introduction

The idea for this project started when I was studying and given an assignment with the brief called titled "articulation". The idea was to create an object that demonstrated articulation (movement and joints) using a 3D printer. I decide to create something fun and the idea of a toy figuring blossomed.

You will find that a lot of the process that I have used are repetitive, however this is deliberate. The construction process is simple and its a good way to get used to the basic tools and method. The key principle to remember is: Extrude equals (+) and subtract equals (-). The following steps shall provide you with a more detail overview on the kind of modeling methods I am using.

I hope you well find this helpful and if you like it please vote for it in the "make it real challenge". THANK YOU!

Now continuing on.....step1

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Step 1:

Techniques

In this project the application I am using is Rhino. However the technique and tools used here can be found in most solid modeling packages such as Inventor, Solidworks, Vectorworks, Sketchup and 123D. (Be aware that Surface base modeling application such as Maya, 3DSMax, Blender may not work well with this modeling workflow and result may vary).

Modeling process break down:

The core techniques that is used here is Sketch (2DOutline), Extrusion and Subtraction (Cut or Different).

Sketch is a basic 2D outline of the shape you intend to create. So in this project the 2D Sketch/Outline is a circle shape (fig I,II). When a Sketch is drawn it sit on an X,Y,Z axis in 3D space to make this easy to understand we can think of this as looking at it from the Top, Front and Side view.

In (fig I) you can see we are looking at the circle from the top view and in (fig II) the view is adjusted to a 3D angle to provide depth and perspective of the view this help us view the 2DSketch of the circle as it sits in a 3D space. Now a second smaller circle is drawn (fig III) making sure that the second 2Dsketch is drawn from the view the initial circle was drawn in Top, Front , side and not in any other view as this may distort the result.

After this we can adjust the view back to the 3D perceptive angle to begin modeling. (fig IV)

Extruding is basically adding volume to the 2Dsketch, In (fig IV) the outer circle is selected indicated by yellow. When extruding you control the height of the extrusion by freehand via mouse control or enter a specific height via a dialogue box. The height entered here is 4mm. (Depending on the software this dialogue box could be a pop up, inside a drop down menu or a menu box, etc)

In (fig VI) the smaller circle is selected and extruded which results in a smaller cylinder (fig VII) and the mouse was used to control the height. When both circle 2Dsketch are extruded the result well look like (fig VIII) the 2 parts are still independent of each other and can still be moved around and adjusted.

Subtract (Cut, Different) are the same process. As the name indicates when a subtract is used it is removing one part from another. In (Fig IX) part A yellow selection is first picked then part B is selected. By selecting the Subtract (Cut, Different) tool, (part B) well be subtract from (part A) resulting in (fig X). So the parts that is picked first (part A) will remain and the parts that is picked second
(part B) well be subtracted this includes area of (part A) that intersect (part B).

In (fig XI) the larger cylinder is selected first (part A) and the smaller cylinder (part B) is picked second. By using the Subtract (Cut, Different) tool the result well look like (fig XII). we can see that the smaller cylinder (part B) is subtracted including area of (part A) the intersect (part B) resulting in a hole.