Tinkercad is an online computer-aided design (CAD) platform that empowers you to unleash your creativity. With its user-friendly interface and browser-based accessibility, Tinkercad allows you to create and design 3D models, circuits, and projects. It's a versatile tool enabling you to delve into the world of prototyping and explore the possibilities of digital design.
When I'm modeling enclosures for Arduino, I like to have components to work with that match (fairly closely) real life. While the circuit details on some of the pieces might not be completely to the mm accurate, they're close enough to work. Project behind the link.
I'm working on a machine that needs five IR sensors to track the edge of a moving loop: position and speed of position change. Since it is 3d printed, the box that'll hold the sensors was designed in Tinkercad, but I also started the design of the PCB that will connect the sensors to the main board.
Tinkercad enabled me to visualize how it would all fit together: I set the spacing of the sensors and their distance from the base, then used those measurements in Fritzing to design the PCB.
Of all the things I've designed in Tinkercad, this project has been the one to get the most redesigns and that gets the most use. It's a gear set to reduce the output of an appliance motor from 1750rpm to ~100rpm, give or take.
The last set I printed in PLA have probably been run for easily twenty hours in total, about an hour and a half at a time. The early sets were about 30% bigger - for the machine they're made for I can't go any smaller without having to throw in a bunch of extra gears to get all the spacing of the outputs right.
There's some filigree in the two upper gears. I don't have to put that in there, and no one ever sees it, but I like knowing it's there.
