The following information is a single lesson in a larger Tinkercad project. Check out this and more projects on Tinkercad.

Return to Previous Lesson: Getting Started- Simple Experiments

Lesson Overview:

Now we're going to learn about fillets!

Step 1: Introduction

A sharp edge on a regulation hockey puck is bad for a number of reasons: it cuts into the ice, slowing down the puck; it takes excessive wear, making the puck unbalanced and unpredictable; and most importantly, a sharp edge isn't skin friendly (ouch!).

Don't worry; there is a way to smooth the edges so no one gets hurt, it's called a 'Filleted Edge'.

A fillet is a round feature used to smooth out corners and edges on objects.

In this lesson, we will make a regulation sized hockey puck, but with a filleted edge.

Below is an image to illustrate this feature:

In the next lesson you will learn to [description of next lesson, derived from title]

Instructions

While this new shape is selected, use the 'Copy' command from the 'Edit' menu
Alternatively, use the 'Download for 3D Printing' in the 'Design' menu
Continue to the next step.

Step 2: First Fillet

A puck is a cylinder. Tinkercad has a cylinder shape, but it has edges and Tinkercad has no way to remove them.

We can combine primitive shapes to make complex ones, so ideally, we want a shape that we can combine with a cylinder to give it a round edge.

Tinkercad has just such a shape, the 'Torus thin'.

Instructions

Drag a 'Torus thin' to the work plain, and proportionally scale the shape to 75mm in Diameter and 7.5mm tall along the Z axis.

Step 3: Setting the Height

Now, obviously the torus can't make a puck, alone. We need to fill in the space in the middle of the torus.

This is when we embrace the fact that a puck is just a cylinder and we drag one out and size it to fit!

This combination of these shapes will cause the cylinder and the torus to have a nice tangent relationship (as discussed in "Let's Learn Tinkercad : Perfect Placement".)

Instructions

Drag out a cylinder and scale it to a 67.5mm diameter and 25mm thick along the Z axis.
Select both the cylinder and the torus.
Align the cylinder to the Torus so that they are centered along the X and Y axis and share the same lower Z limit.
Continue to the next step.

Step 4: Second Fillet

For the second fillet, all we need to do is duplicate the first torus and align the duplicate to the top of the cylinder.

Instructions

Duplicate the torus.
Select one of the tori and the cylinder, then align them to the cylinder's upper Z limit.
Continue to the next step.

Step 5: Setting the Diameter

Much like we defined the height of the puck with a cylinder, we'll do the same for the diameter. The diameter will be 75mm, but because there will be a fillet, we will not go the full height.

We must subtract the 7.5mm diameter of the fillets from the 25mm height of the puck. This will equal a height of 16.5mm.

Instructions

Drag out a cylinder and scale it to a 75mm diameter and 16.5mm thick along the Z axis.
Align and center this new cylinder to the existing cylinder.
Continue to the next step.

Step 6: Grouping

Let's finish this up and get it ready to use it in other lessons.

Select all the shapes (there should be 4 of them) and group them.

Instructions

Select all shapes and group them
Continue to the next step.

Step 7: Exporting and Copying

The first method for moving an object between lessons or in to Tinkercad, directly, is to select all the shapes you want to copy and then, under the 'Edit' menu, select 'Copy'.

When you open a new lesson or model in Tinkercad, you can then click 'Paste' in the 'Edit' menu. The model will appear on your new workplane.

Another way is to export your model for 3D printing. The file that will be saved is an STL file (Standard Tessellation Language), which Tinkercad can also import.

Simply go to the 'Design' menu and select 'Download for 3D Printing'. When prompted by buttons, click the 'STL' button, and your file will download within your browser.

Instructions