I am a complete beginner to Openscad ( started yesterday )
I have been reading tutorials and understand some of the ideas but still
have much to learn .
I am ok on things like primatives , and translations , difference , union
etc , and understand the reason for modules
and I am guessing modules will be what I need for my project

I normally use Solidworks which I find easy enough to use and very powerful
however Openscad has one feature that Solidworks doesnt.
The abilty to use a file to make a design , but with the alteration of just
a few variables make a similar , but different copy of
the item

The project I wish to make , but dont know quite how to go about it is a
simple box to hold a printed circuit board. That in itself I can do
but by changing a few variables I want to be able to make the box fit any
sized PCB that I choose rather than have to design a new box every time I
use a different sized PCB

I can assume various things about the box

1. It will always have 4 bosses to screw the PCB down to and that those
   bosses will always be 6mm high, 6mm outside diameter and have a 2.5mm hole
   in the middle to
   take a screw

2. the Printed circuit board mounting holes will always be in a rectangular
   pattern and will be  4 mm in from each edge of the board
   ( the board will always be 8mm longer and wider than the bosses are
   spaced at)

3. there will always be a 3mm gap between the edge of the board and the
   inside edge of the box

The distance between mounting bosses in the X and Y directions

The thickness of the box walls and floor

The height of the box

and the code should then know enough to make a box that will fit a PCB of
that size

Thats where I come to a stop, I dont know how to make it do that
Can any one help please ?

Regards
Don

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On 03/22/2015 02:01 PM, donrecardo wrote:

Whew, that's a question that is difficult to answer without just doing
the model and posting it :-).

Maybe start with creating just a cube() of the correct size based on
calculation using the variables you've described and add the drill
holes (simply though the whole cube).

Then post the code for that for discussing the next step.

ciao,
Torsten.

Now, you posted an almost complete description of what you need.
Just extract all the variables-definition from that before you start coding.

Like this: ( // denotes this line to be a comment)

1. It will always have 4 bosses to screw the PCB down to and that those
   bosses will always be 6mm high, 6mm outside diameter and have a 2.5mm hole
   in the middle to
   take a screw

// boss
boss_height=6;
boss_diameter=6;
boss_hole=2,5;

Now do this for all your variables that you will need.

Next step:
Write modules for the single parts.
You may start again with the boss:

module boss(){

// now comes the real code, but I leave this for you.

}

2015-03-22 14:22 GMT+01:00 Torsten Paul Torsten.Paul@gmx.de:

--
stempeldergeschichte@googlemail.com karsten@rohrbach.de

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Most often , I start with this INIT-file, when I code:

// Init v0_0

// GPLv2

// (c) 2015 xxx

//

// v0_1:

//

//

//

//*******************************************************

//

// basic definitions

//

//*******************************************************

// circle have $fn facets

$fn=32;

// small displacement to avoid parallel faces with zero volume

e=0.02;

// unit vectors

xaxis=[1,0,0];

yaxis=[0,1,0];

zaxis=[0,0,1];

// colors

col1="red";

col2="lime";

//*******************************************************

//

// dimensions

//

//*******************************************************

//*******************************************************

//

// modules

//

//*******************************************************

//*******************************************************

//

// main program

//

//*******************************************************

2015-03-22 14:47 GMT+01:00 Peter Falke stempeldergeschichte@googlemail.com
:

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Yes Openscad can do all this.

But...Solidworks can do just what you want
too...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRS6dhyvU-E

But you may well feel in control with openscad as you will be settin the
parameters up yourself before hand, and building the model using them.

On 22/03/2015 13:51, Peter Falke wrote:

Openscad will do it at negligable cost, solidworks, well hmmm, i tried to
get a quote and they stopped talking to me when they realised i was not a
commercial company.

On Sun, Mar 22, 2015, 22:24 Richard Benjamin richard@digicalm.com wrote:

Hey there brother!  I too am an EE, and I just did this.

You are so very close.

Here's what I did:  I created a file using modules. A module for a test
point hole, a module for a screw post, a module for a PCB recess, and so
on.
In the end, I have an object which is built from differences and unions.

I will PM you those files, nothing proprietary there.  I think you'll find
them useful.

On Sun, Mar 22, 2015 at 8:31 AM, Tim Hawkins tim.thawkins@gmail.com wrote:

On Sun, 22 Mar 2015 08:28:20 -0700 (MST)
donrecardo don@crystal-computing.co.uk wrote:

You have the outer_box() module calling outer_box() as the last step,
and the same problem with inner_box() and box().

Leave off the code that calls the module inside itself and the
recursion error will go away.

G. Wade

--
All things are difficult before they are easy.    -- Thomas Fuller

module outer_box() {
cube([ outer_x , outer_y, outer_depth]);
outer_box(); //<---- delete me !!!
}

2015-03-22 16:51 GMT+01:00 G. Wade Johnson gwadej@anomaly.org:

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P.S. In case my e-mail is shorter than you enjoy:
I am currently trying short replies instead of no replies at all.
Please let me know, if you like to read more.

Enjoy!