123D Design Tutorial: LED decoration
Before using these instructions, it is very helpful to watch this video screencast of the CAD drawing
actually being done in the software. Click this link for the video instructions
Select ‘Sketch Spline’
Start drawing your shape left clicking each
time you want to place a node on the
shape (nodes can be moved later to allow
you to change the shape slightly.
You must finish your drawing at the same
place you started to close the sketch.
When you’ve done, this left click then
press Enter to exit the sketch
Your sketch should turn blue as below.
Use Construct Extrude to extrude
the shape to a height of 4mm
SAVE YOUR
WORK!
Page 1 of 5
Diane Burton, STEM Outreach. D.S.Burton@warwick.ac.uk
Use Sketch Circle tool to draw a
circle 45mm diameter
Click on the shape and select the
Move handle – use the arrow to
drag the shape to the edge of the
circle and then if necessary rotate it
to the best position for using the
pattern tool – the video explains
why this is important.
Select ‘Pattern – Circular Pattern’
Click on Solid and select the
shape. Then click on Axis and
select the circle.
The box comes up showing
number of copies of the shape.
Increase the copies until the
shapes intersect
If you are having trouble
selecting the shape
properly, the video gives
tips on this.
SAVE YOUR
WORK!
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Diane Burton, STEM Outreach. D.S.Burton@warwick.ac.uk
Selecting Grouping tool (or just do Ctrl G on your
keyboard), then select each shape in turn until
you have selected them all, then press Enter.
If you click on
the shape now
you will see
that all the
shapes select
as one group
Now you will scale your design
to the size you want:
- Draw a square the size you want
the decoration to be – e.g. 65mm
square.
- Click on the drawing, select
Move handle and move it over
the square ready to scale it down.
Select the Scale tool and
either use the arrow to
adjust the size or type a
factor in the number
box, e.g. 0.6 (scaled to a
factor of 0.6 of the
original size).
SAVE YOUR
WORK!
When the size is correct,
left click to finish.
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Diane Burton, STEM Outreach. D.S.Burton@warwick.ac.uk
Select Sketch Polygon and click in the
centre of the design to draw a shape
which will form the centre part of the
LED decoration.
Here a triangle is being used, so put 3
in box for number of sides. You could
use any shape, but it must intersect
with the outer ring of the design to
form a single 3D printed product.
Here is the centre triangle – see how
the corners intersect the outer shape
Select Construct Extrude and select
the centre shape – ensure it is set to
extrude Merge on the drop down.
Put the height in the box – remember
the outer ring is 4mm high – here
5mm is used so the centre sits 1mm
higher than the rest of the decoration.
SAVE YOUR
WORK!
Now you need to cut the hole for the LED light –
first check the hole size needed for your lights.
Here we are making a 10mm diameter hole.
Use Primitives Cylinder tool to make a cylinder of
10mm diameter – put radius in box, leave the
height at the default value of 20mm.
Use the Snap tool to snap
the cylinder to the centre
of the shape ready to cut
the hole.
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Diane Burton, STEM Outreach. D.S.Burton@warwick.ac.uk
Select Construct Extrude and
click on the top face of the
cylinder and push it through the
decoration to make the hole.
Press Enter to finish.
SAVE YOUR
WORK!
If you wish you can add some features to your
LED decoration.
Here small cylinders were used to make holes
in the points of the triangle.
The edges of the triangles were bevelled using
Modify Chamfer.
Small triangles were made and snapped onto
the decoration and moved into place.
Click the drop down on the top
left of your screen and select
‘Export STL’ –
It will ask if you want to combine
all objects into one – say YES.
Save your file.
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Diane Burton, STEM Outreach. D.S.Burton@warwick.ac.uk