(Topic ID: 326138)

DE Jurassic Park T-Rex Arm Fabrication

By SgtPin18

1 year ago

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Latest reply 1 year ago by Jackaltr
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Linked Games

Jurassic Park Data East, 1993

I'm looking to get the Jurassic Park T-Rex arm metal fabricated. I am barely good enough to create an STL model of the arm in SketchUp. I had it 3d printed, and the arm immediately broke with the tension of the spring. The metal fabrication place I talked to won't touch it without the STEP file, which I have no idea how to do. I can provide a copy of the STL file to anyone who thinks they might be able to help.

FYI, I'm not trying to make this to re-sell. If I can get this created, I'll provide the details to people who might need it. I bought a re-import game that was missing quite a few parts and this is the last piece I need to make a fully working game.

It will be challenging to get a good conversion from STL to STEP. That said, not necessarily impossible, depending on the complexity of your design. See e.g. https://forums.sketchup.com/t/exporting-to-step-format-stp/5649 and https://forums.sketchup.com/t/export-to-step-file/170190. One post in there suggests that the FreeCAD program can do a good job converting STL to STEP.

If you are using a paid version of SketchUp, see e.g. https://homedesigninstitute.com/question/544/can_sketchup_export_step_files/.

A quick search shows a number of other possible solutions, e.g. https://anyconv.com/stl-to-step-converter, https://3d-convert.com/en/convert/stl-to-stp.html, https://all3dp.com/2/stl-to-step-how-to-convert-stl-files-to-step, etc. I didn't bother to actually look at those pages...I figure you can do that and see if they suit your needs.

For future reference, you will probably find other 3D design tools more appropriate, both for dealing with situations where you'll need a STEP file instead of STL, and just from a general feature and reliability point of view as well. SketchUp is really bottom-of-the-barrel in my opinion. Tinkercad is a great place for beginners, and other more full-featured programs like Fusion 360 or OnShape (free for non-commercial use), or Solidworks (a not-unreasonable $100/year), are more powerful and yet are IMHO much easier to use.

You may find it more expedient to just redo the design in one of those programs. Having done it once already, you may find the workflow a little more efficient, even if it means learning a new program at the same time.

Quoted from pete_d:
It will be challenging to get a good conversion from STL to STEP. That said, not necessarily impossible, depending on the complexity of your design. See e.g. https://forums.sketchup.com/t/exporting-to-step-format-stp/5649 and https://forums.sketchup.com/t/export-to-step-file/170190. One post in there suggests that the FreeCAD program can do a good job converting STL to STEP.
If you are using a paid version of SketchUp, see e.g. https://homedesigninstitute.com/question/544/can_sketchup_export_step_files/.
A quick search shows a number of other possible solutions, e.g. https://anyconv.com/stl-to-step-converter, https://3d-convert.com/en/convert/stl-to-stp.html, https://all3dp.com/2/stl-to-step-how-to-convert-stl-files-to-step, etc. I didn't bother to actually look at those pages...I figure you can do that and see if they suit your needs.
For future reference, you will probably find other 3D design tools more appropriate, both for dealing with situations where you'll need a STEP file instead of STL, and just from a general feature and reliability point of view as well. SketchUp is really bottom-of-the-barrel in my opinion. Tinkercad is a great place for beginners, and other more full-featured programs like Fusion 360 or OnShape (free for non-commercial use), or Solidworks (a not-unreasonable $100/year), are more powerful and yet are IMHO much easier to use.
You may find it more expedient to just redo the design in one of those programs. Having done it once already, you may find the workflow a little more efficient, even if it means learning a new program at the same time.

Thanks for the info. I had considered that, I just really don't do hardly any CAD work at all. I use SketchUp for modeling my basement and I like the components that already have pre-made pinball machines, lol. I'll look into converting the file, I suppose and go from there. If I have to re-make it, I can try one of the free ones you mentioned.

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