{"id":2905,"date":"2018-07-12T09:51:32","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T18:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/creo-advanced-nameplate-tutorial\/"},"modified":"2019-08-23T12:31:53","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T17:31:53","slug":"creo-advanced-nameplate-tutorial","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/creo-advanced-nameplate-tutorial\/","title":{"rendered":"Creo (Advanced) Nameplate Tutorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Open Creo and create new file<\/h4>\n

Who “new” it would be this easy?<\/p>\n

1-a. Open Creo by clicking on its icon, or by doing a search for “Creo” from the Start menu. There may be multiple applications installed with the name “Creo.” Click the one whose icon looks like this:<\/p>\n

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b. A window should pop up that looks something like this<\/p>\n

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c. Click New or File -> New to create a new file. Select “Part” and “solid” and give your part an acceptable filename (letters and numbers are allowed).<\/p>\n

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d. Check “Use default template” and click “OK.” A workspace should pop up that looks something like the following. The thing that looks like a star in the middle is actually three planes intersecting. Your view may be in a different orientation, so it may not look like a star.<\/p>\n

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e. There are three perpendicular planes and an origin in the center. Try zooming in and out with the scroll wheel. Hold down the scroll wheel (a.k.a middle button) while moving the mouse to pan your view. Hold down the middle button and “Shift” key while moving the mouse to move your view. Lastly, under the “View” tab, click on “Refit” to automatically center your view<\/p>\n

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\n<\/p>\n

2. Sketching a rectangle<\/h4>\n

Let’s build some knowledge we can “draw” upon later!<\/p>\n

2-a. Now, we are going to extrude a rectangle to create a rectangular prism base for our name plate. To do this, click the “Extrude” button under the “Model” tab.<\/p>\n

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b. If you already had a plane selected, the view will shift to a top-down view. If not, click on one of the three red planes in the center of the screen (you’ll have to click the red border to select the plane). The camera will rotate so that you are looking at the plane from a top-down perspective<\/p>\n

Note: Beware that clicking the center mouse button (the scroll wheel) is a shortcut for accepting the sketch or extrusion, so you should be careful not click the center button unless you are moving\/rotating your view. If you accidentally do something you wish to undo, there is an undo button in the left of the very top of the window, next to the save icon. Undoing may take you back further than you’d expect.<\/p>\n

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c. Under the “Sketch” tab, click on “Rectangle” to begin drawing a rectangle<\/p>\n

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d. Click on the origin (the center) – you’ll notice your cursor conveniently snaps to it as you get near it. Then move your cursor a bit up and a further right. so that you see a rectangle labelled with ‘V’ and ‘H’ on its vertical and horizontal sides respectively. Make sure that these sides are of different length (otherwise, you’ll draw a square instead). Note: If it appears that the ‘H’ line is vertical not horizontal, remember that you may be viewing the drawing plane at an angle of 90 degrees, so don’t worry.<\/p>\n

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e. Click again to place the upper right corner of the rectangle. Press “Esc” or click the select tool under the “Sketch” tab to exit the rectangle drawing tool. Your rectangle will turn solid and its sides will be labelled with their lengths (dimensions)<\/p>\n

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f. Double click a dimension to edit it. Type the new value and press “Enter.” Please make the rectangle 100 wide by 20 tall (units are mm for this print). It should look like this:<\/p>\n

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g. You have successfully sketched a rectangle in Creo. Congratulations! Click the green “OK” checkmark in the “Sketch” tab to accept your sketch.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/p>\n

3. Extruding the rectangle<\/h4>\n

Let’s get a more “solid” grasp of how to use Creo!<\/p>\n

3-a. Now that you have accepted the sketch, it will turn orange and become a 3-D solid object. The extrusion tool takes a 2-D sketch and gives it a thickness. In the next few steps, we will adjust this thickness and complete the extrusion process. Your screen should look something like this (you may wish to adjust your camera to view the object)<\/p>\n

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b. Notice that the extrusion dimension (in blue) is very large. We want to change that dimension to 2. This can be done by editing the label or by typing the new value (“2”) in the Extrusion tab.<\/p>\n

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c. If it looks like the 100 by 20 by 2 rectangular prism above, click the green checkmark under the “Extrusion” tab to accept the Extrusion<\/p>\n

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d. The part will now turn grey, indicating that it is now a solid object in your file.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/p>\n

4. Preparing to add text<\/h4>\n

This is some “text” level shift!<\/p>\n

4-a. Now that we have our rectangular prism, we would like to carve letters into it (extrude them inward to remove material). This will be done by clicking the “Extrude” tool under the “Model” tab and then clicking on one of the two large rectangular faces of the object (highlighted in green below).<\/p>\n

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b. By clicking on this face, we are selecting it as the sketching plane for our extruded text. The view will rotate automatically to show the plane from a top-down view.<\/p>\n

Note: If your view rotates the second you click “Extrude” without giving you the option to select a surface, that means you already had a surface selected. If your view doesn’t look like below (if the view is of one of the smaller faces of the rectangle), click the “X” next to the checkmark in the “Extrusion” tab to cancel and then try again after selecting the proper face of the object.<\/p>\n

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c. By default, Creo comes with several fonts installed. However, we would like to use a font from Windows instead. In order to do this, we have to add a link to the directory (folder) of fonts. To do this, click File -> Options. A menu will popup in a new window. Open the “Configuration Editor” tab on the left.<\/p>\n

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d. Click the “Add…” button at the bottom. Type “pro_font_dir” in “Option name” but do NOT click “OK” yet! We will change this folder to be the one where our computer stores all its default fonts.<\/p>\n

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e. To do this, click the “Browse…” button. Navigate into the main hard drive’s directory. Note: Your computer may look different than below.<\/p>\n

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f. Double click to open it. Inside it, you’ll see a directory called “Windows.”<\/p>\n

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g. Double click it to view its contents. You’ll see a folder called “Fonts” select it by clicking on it once and then clicking the “OK” button.<\/p>\n

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h. The window should now look something like this. Click “OK”<\/p>\n

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i. Click “OK” on the large pop-up options window. A warning might pop-up asking if you’d like to save these settings in a configuration profile for future use. Click “No.”<\/p>\n

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\n<\/p>\n

5. Adding your name<\/h4>\n

Achieving “name” and fortune!<\/p>\n

5-a. Under the “Sketch” tab, click “Text.”<\/p>\n

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b. Then click anywhere inside your rectangle making sure that the point you place isn’t snapping to align with any of the edges.<\/p>\n

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b. Then move your mouse pointer above the first point. You’ll notice that a ‘V’ or an ‘H’ will appear next to the orange line to indicate that it is vertical or horizontal (as it should be) – if you don’t see this, that means you are drawing a diagonal line and shouldmove your cursor over. The goal is to place this second point above the first, not below, not to the left, not to the right, not on another plane of existence, but a few millimeters directly above! Click again to place this second point to complete the line. A window will pop-up.<\/p>\n

In the window, manually enter your name. If your name contains non-alphanumeric characters and you are having trouble typing it in the box, seek help. Using the Font drop-down menu, select the font “Franklin Gothic Heavy.” This heavy font is the same font used in the classic movie Rocky. Select “Center” from the horizontal alignment drop-down menu. The aspect ratio should be left at 1.0 and the slant should be left at 0. Click “OK.” If at any point, you wish to bring up this window again, double click on your text and this window will pop up.<\/p>\n

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c. Press “Esc” or click the select tool (under the “Sketch” tab) to exit the text-drawing tool. Your text should be outlined in green (or orange) and dimensions should be labelled, indicating its size and position on the rectangle.<\/p>\n

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d. Center the text horizontally by changing its horizontal distance (from the left edge of the rectangle to the center of the text) to 50. Due to letters that hang down like ‘g,’ ‘j,’ ‘p,’ ‘q,’ ‘y,’ you must vertically center your name manually. To do this, adjust the text’s height and distance from the bottom edge until the text looks to be of a good size. Make sure there is about 2-5 mm of space on all four sides of the name, like in the image below.<\/p>\n

Note: If you find that your name is too long to fit on the rectangle and still be a reasonable size, try using just your first name. If your name is short with lots of blank space to the left and right, consider using both your first and last name. To edit your name, double click the text’s outline and a pop-up window will appear.<\/p>\n

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e. Accept the sketch by clicking the green “OK” checkmark under the “Sketch” tab
\n<\/p>\n

6. Extruding the text<\/h4>\n

“Hole”y smokes – we’re almost done!<\/p>\n

6-a. You may find that the letters are extruding away from the rectangle (the wrong direction).<\/p>\n

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b. If this is the case, click the change direction button to flip the direction of extrusion (under the “Extrude” tab)<\/p>\n

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c. Material will now be removed from the rectangle. If this is not happening, click the “Remove Material” button to toggle it.<\/p>\n

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d. Change the depth of the extrusion to 2 by editing the dimension or typing the value in the “Extrude” tab.<\/p>\n

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e. Click the green checkmark under the “Extrude” tab to accept the extrusion if it looks like the picture above
\n<\/p>\n

7. Saving as STL file for printing<\/h4>\n

You’ll have to “save” your excitement for a bit longer!<\/p>\n

7-a. Now it is time to save the file in a format that can be 3-D printed. The mojo printer accepts .stl files, which are composed of a triangular mesh. Your object should look something like the image below.<\/p>\n

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b. To generate the STL file, click on File -> Save As… -> Save a Copy. A window will pop-up. Navigate to the folder in which you would like to save your file. (You can’t save into the Fonts folder – that is protected by Windows). Then give your file a valid name (alphanumeric characters and dashes are fine). Under the “Type” drop-down menu, select “Stereolithography (*.stl).” Click “OK”<\/p>\n

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c. A window will pop-up with some options. Type 0 as the value for “Chord height” and “Angle control” – this will set those options to their minimum values (which may be different than the values in the image below)<\/p>\n

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d. Check the checkbox next to “Step size” and type 0 as its value to set the step size to its minimum allowed value. Then, click “Apply” and wait a while until your model turns red (it’s really a bunch of tiny triangles outlined in red).<\/p>\n

Note: If you get an error about being unable to triangulate, try changing the values for “Angle control” and “Chord height” until it works – seek assistance if you are still encountering this error.<\/p>\n

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e. Once the object is in red, click “OK” to save the file. Patiently wait until it finishes saving the file. You are now done with the modeling portion of the tutorial. Now, it’s time to print your nameplate on the Mojo 3-D printer!
\n<\/p>\n

8. Importing your object into Print Wizard<\/h4>\n

Let Print Wizard work a little magic for you!<\/p>\n

8-a. On the computer adjacent to the Mojo 3-D Printer, open up the Print Wizard software by clicking on its icon<\/p>\n

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b. A window will pop-up asking you to find the file you would like to open. Select the .stl file that you had created in step 7. It will probably be in an undesirable orientation such as the one below<\/p>\n

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c. Click the “Orient Part” button and select the orientation that depicts the nameplate lying down on the plate with the text facing up (so that someone looking down at the nameplate from above could read the name). Make sure the text is not backwards! That is very important!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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d. Enter 0.7 for the scale (on the left) and make sure the units are Millimeters (mm). Set copies to 1.<\/p>\n

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e. Change Supports to “SMART” (minimum) and change the “Part Interior” to “Sparse – Low Density” using the drop down menus. These settings are important, since the print will take a lot longer otherwise.<\/p>\n

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f. After examining your part in the center of the screen, click the “Print” button in the bottom-right corner.<\/p>\n

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g. A window should pop up showing confirming that the print has been sent and providing an estimate of how long the print will take and its material consumption. At 0.7 scale, it should take approximately 15 minutes. At full (1.0) scale, your nameplate would take about 30 min to print.<\/p>\n

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9. Printing the object<\/h4>\n

It’s time to work your “mojo” on the Mojo!<\/p>\n

9-a. The file has been sent to the Mojo printer and is in the queue, waiting to be released. So, now, it is time to get the printer ready for printing. Your Mojo 3-D printer should be turned on (as indicated by the green light, Mr. Gatsby)<\/p>\n

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b. Now, open the door in the front. By gently pulling it down.<\/p>\n

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c. Remove the old build plate if it’s in there (it is a piece of black plastic). Then, grab a fresh build plate and insert it into the printer. It slides in and down, then clicks into place as it’s moved forward. Ensure that the two plastic containers on the sides that catch the excess plastic are not full.<\/p>\n

Note: The Mojo’s build plates are not intended to be reused. Thus, it is best to print as many items as you can per plate (a.k.a find some friends to make nameplates with!)<\/p>\n

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d. Close the door securely. The green indicator light will stop flashing and will turn solid green. You are now ready to print!<\/p>\n

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e. To begin the print, you’ll need to open up the “Mojo Control Pane” application by clicking on its icon.<\/p>\n

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f. A window will pop-up showing the printer’s supply levels and condition.<\/p>\n

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g. On the right side of the screen, you will see a preview of an object. Click on the drop-down menu below it to select your part. Once you have your part selected and see a preview of it in the frame in the upper right corner, confirm that there is sufficient model and support material by comparing the estimates with the remaining material levels (if it will be a close call, seek the advice of a professor or TA). Also, ensure that the print time is 10-20min per nameplate (print time is given in hours). For example, if you are printing 5 nameplates, it should take about 1-1.5hrs.<\/p>\n

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h. If everything is good, you are ready to go! Click the “Print” button near the bottom right corner. When the printing is finished, you will have your very own two-color plastic nameplates. Carefully peel the ivory support material off the plastic base to remove your nameplate from the black build plate. Your nameplate should sport two colors and look something like this (with grey being whatever material color you printed with).<\/p>\n

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i. Congratulations! You just designed and printed yourself a two-color nameplate – from scratch using the Creo software package and the Mojo 3-D printer!<\/p>\n

With skills like these, you can transform Princeton into “Prints-ton!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Open Creo and create new file Who “new” it would be this easy? 1-a. Open Creo by clicking on its icon, or by doing a search for “Creo” from the Start menu. There may be multiple applications installed with the name “Creo.” Click the one whose icon looks like this: b. A window should … Continue reading “Creo (Advanced) Nameplate Tutorial”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2905","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2905"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4079,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2905\/revisions\/4079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/josephhenry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}