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Old 11-08-2008, 11:18 PM   #8 (permalink)
captainslug
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Here it is in Alibre Xpress Part file format (minus the bolt holes you added for your specific motor).
With Alibre Xpress you can open and edit it to add the hole pattern for your specific motor.

Mechanical 3D CAD for Everyone. Powerful. Easy. Affordable.

Here's how to take CAD drawings from Alibre or Autocad and turn them into printable machining templates.
Quote:
Making precise machining templates
(with a cheap inkjet printer.)

One of the more irritating hurdles to making your plan become a reality involves converting your plan to actual dimensions to work from on your raw materials. I used to do this markup process using a mechanical pencil and a schematic to work from. This took alot of time and only produced precise results part of the time (due to scribing errors). Machinists use scribing all the time, but they have far more accurate measuring tools than I have at my disposal.
After a recent project I realized I could use my printed to eliminate the need for scribing measurements on my part. This method is meant for any part that is 10" x 8" or smaller. Anything larger and you will have to combine sheets or find a local print shop that can print much larger labels or decals.

Software
There are so many options for software, and most of the more common titles cost more than the average person can afford. I've tried every free trial there is available and I've found one to be the easiest to learn and the most useful since it's an unlimited free trial.
Alibre Xpress is the free version of the full package and will allow you to design simple assemblies and part templates for whatever use you want. It's configured similarly to other Solid CAD programs in that you simply make a sketch on a plane then use one of several methods to extrude the sketch into a solid shape.

Step One: Measure & Sketch
Obviously if you're going to make a part you need measurements to work from. Whatever part you're making Alibre will allow you to sketch in the details you want. For hole placements relative to a corner simply start a line from the center (x0y0z0) by clicking there and then right click and select "Direct Coordinate Entry" which will allow you to place the other end of the line relative to the start of it.
Just continue sketching until you have a finished part.

Step Two: PrntScrn
Screen capture the sketch from Alibre with the sketching grid turned off. In a graphics program paste the screen shot and crop the image around the sketch. Select only the sketch lines and sketch nodes and copy then paste into a new image. Use brightness/contrast to turn the sketch black and then flatten the image.
Step Three: Page layout & Printing
Save as a temporary image and load as Clip Art from File (or just paste) in Microsoft Word (or similar suite). Right click the image and select properties to change the image dimensions to match the dimensions of the sketch in Alibre.

For smaller parts you can fit multiple sketches on a single page. It may also help to save your sketch images as .PNG files with an Alpha Channel layer. That image type seems to scale more cleanly in Microsoft Word for some reason.
Put one full-sheet label in the printer face down and then print your template page at the "Best" quality setting in your printing options so that you are printing at a quality level of atleast 600dpi. A lower DPI will result in extremely pixelated and difficult to use templates.

Step Four: Application
Now simply use some sharp scissors to cut out your individual cutting template labels and apply them to your sheets. It's best to apply them onto the protective film that comes on the sheet because cleaning the label adhesive off of the sheet after doing all of your cutting and drilling can be a time-consuming process.

Step Five: Assembly
Now that all of your individual parts are cut and drilled you can put them together as planned using whatever method you intended.
Attached Files
File Type: zip metro_trans_alibre.zip (45.2 KB, 63 views)
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