INVENTOR - Hermit Crab Shell

[Brandon Holley]

So at my job we have this hermit crab. The thing is HUGE, he is bigger than my fist. We constantly have to buy him new shells to keep up with his size. My question to you folks is, how would I go about making a HERMIT CRAB SHELL in inventor ?? If we make one, we are going to 3D print it and see if he'll get in. Any takers??

[firebelly]

Wow! Now thats a clever idea. You should totally make a shell all bowser-style with spikes and everything. I don't know inventor, but I do know max. Will the 3d printer accept .max files?

[Elgin Clock]

Personally I don't use Inventor, but 3D CAD is 3D CAD so.. I would start by meshing together random dome shapes until it looked good enough for a nice shell shape, and then performing a shell feature (no relation :p ) option when my shell-shaped "blob" was all done.

Got MatLab available on your campus? This is a cool thing I found.
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=11818&objectType=file

Also, from an engineering perspective, check out the cool way these people made a shell shape on this page:
http://management.cadalyst.com/cadman/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=380964

This sounds like a cool project. Good luck with it.

Btw, what kind of Rapid-Prototype machine do you have? Z-Corp?

[Brandon Holley]

Wow! Now thats a clever idea. You should totally make a shell all bowser-style with spikes and everything. I don't know inventor, but I do know max. Will the 3d printer accept .max files?

If we can get the file in anyway into solidworks, we can go from there. The printer takes a .sldprt file and then converts it into some random file and then sends it to the printer.


Personally I don't use Inventor, but 3D CAD is 3D CAD so.. I would start by meshing together random dome shapes until it looked good enough for a nice shell shape, and then performing a shell feature (no relation :p ) option when my shell-shaped "blob" was all done.

Got MatLab available on your campus? This is a cool thing I found.
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=11818&objectType=file

Also, from an engineering perspective, check out the cool way these people made a shell shape on this page:
http://management.cadalyst.com/cadman/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=380964

This sounds like a cool project. Good luck with it.

Btw, what kind of Rapid-Prototype machine do you have? Z-Corp?

Yeah I'll try the "blobs" approach. I was trying to coil and sweep, but its just not working right.

As for the kind of machine it is a "dimension" printer.... http://www.dimensionprinting.com/

Thanks for the help...keep the tips coming folks

[Greg Needel]

As for the kind of machine it is a "dimension" printer.... http://www.dimensionprinting.com/

Thanks for the help...keep the tips coming folks


The file that that machine wants is an iges. so 3dsuido should be able to make you a file if that helps.

[sanddrag]

I don't know what a shell is supposed to look like, but, you could sketch it, revolve it, then shell it, or sketch the inside profile and revolve cut that. That's what i would do. This would kind of mandate it being round-ish though.

[Brandon Holley]

I don't know what a shell is supposed to look like, but, you could sketch it, revolve it, then shell it, or sketch the inside profile and revolve cut that. That's what i would do. This would kind of mandate it being round-ish though.

Yeah its a bit more complicated then that, seeing as the goal is to get the hermit crab to actually use the shell, its gotta look natural...



Someone said they could make it in 3dsmax...think you coudl do that?

[Jeff Rodriguez]

This is as far as I could get.
I did it with some spiral sketches and a loft.
Near the point, it gets messy and surfaces are intersecting like crazy. A dimension printer wouldn't be able to handle it (I've tried similar things).

[Robert Thacker-]

You need to use the loft tool. It's going to be a long process, depending on exactly how detailed you want to be. You need a lot of work planes if your going for a natural look (for pumps and inconsistancies). That's the feature you want to make that "part." And texturing is a whole nother story. You have to play around with texturing and know how to create textures to do that (not my expertise).

[Eric Scheuing]

Do you have an actual shell to work off of? If so, you could draw it on paper and use calipers to find dimensions. I had to do that with quite a few parts this year, having made the entire control board and all (freakin' power distribution block.)

[team222badbrad]

I can print it for you for a small fee.:yikes:

Here is my website www.printo3d.com

My brother has some hermit crabs.

(Edit)

I went back and read the entire thread. I misread your first post and didnt realize your company actually had a 3d printer.

Anyways, I can print shells or parts for anyone who needs them.

Good luck drawing that!