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Re:I made a smart watch from scratch by simias on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @05:29PM (#19792135)
Very impressive and inspiring.

I've been thinking about making a custom keyboard for a while now but, while I have no problems with the electronic and software side of things, I'm a bit overwhelmed with the 3D modelling required.

I tried learning Blender but it really feels ill-suited for designing physical objects. The author mentions considering openSCAD but I've heard pretty bad things about it so I haven't really given it a chance yet.

The person making the dactyl keyboard had a very interesting talk where he explain how he basically ended up writing his own DSL in clojure on top of openSCAD, maybe I should try that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk3A41U0iO4 (if you enjoyed TFA you'll probably like this video as well, it's a step-by-step explanation of how he designed his dream keyboard).

Otherwise I suppose I'll have to betray rms and try this freeware Fusion 360 thing.

Re:I made a smart watch from scratch by jononor on Thursday May 02, 2019 @06:46AM (#19806479)
FreeCAD is the FOSS equivalent type of tool to Fusion360. Lots of learning material available on YouTube. I have designed wearable electronics / jewelery in it several times.

One can drop down to Python to do code-based parametric there also, with cadquery. But even as a software developer, I have only done that for 2 out of over 100 designs. I have also maybe 2 times used the OpenSCAD importer to include some existing designs as parts into my project.

Re:I made a smart watch from scratch by gouh on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @07:01PM (#19792872)
Blender is more artist-oriented and maybe not the best suited for industrial design. But FreeCAD seems quite powerful and could be a good solution for you
Re:I made a smart watch from scratch by allanrbo on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @05:37PM (#19792221)
OpenSCAD actually comes pretty natural if you are used to writing code
Re:I made a smart watch from scratch by skummetmaelk on Wednesday May 01, 2019 @06:37AM (#19795913)
OpenSCAD is nice for simple geometry, but products today never have simple geometry. Doing bevels in openSCAD is a nightmare for example, and bevels are everywhere.