15:47 <gbruno> [github] t-paul pushed 1 additions 2 modifications (Add book Make: Calculus.) https://github.com/openscad/openscad.github.com/commit/1f6f9ecfe55c284c5dfe1eb869f8cb214739bee9

17:01 <J1A8440> improved the  look  and marking https://pasteboard.co/ekDdWV7bxu4Q.png

17:13 <teepee> very cool

17:18 <J1A8440> Thx Ü (it also can do offsets and delta)

17:20 <J1A8440> but it can not merge near points or remove intersections  or limit the radius

17:20 <J1A8440> so you have to know what you are doing when using this

17:43 <poisond> you can't pass a module as a parameter, can you?

17:43 <poisond> I'd need to have multiple different children but that becomes unreadable

17:57 <J1A8440> you can index children

17:58 <J1A8440> and special variables ($) are available in children

20:02 <gbruno> [github] t-paul pushed 1 modifications (Merge pull request #4290 from hexane360/macos-dir-fix Add error check to userConfigPath on mac.) https://github.com/openscad/openscad/commit/ea8950bd3cd7f06da333c15463492e484098e591

23:24 <souvlakeeb> Hello, this is my first hour with openscad. I'd like to make a simple part for which the tutorial hasn't given me all the tools I need. I want to make a simple keyboard switch tester. The shape is a rectangle with one row of 4 square holes in it. Each square hole is 14x14.

23:26 <souvlakeeb> Each square hole is 5 away from the next edge-to-edge and 5 away from the top and bottom edges of the rectangle, if viewing from the top and longest dimension is running left to right.

23:27 <souvlakeeb> The leftmost and rightmost edge of the rectangle have an additional 5 of material, making the leftmost and rightmost hole 10 away from the rectangle edge, edge-to-edge

23:27 <souvlakeeb> I hope I explained it well, a picture would have been easier

23:35 <Virindi> you want something like

23:35 <Virindi> difference() {

23:35 <Virindi> translate([xxx,yyy,zzz]) cube([xxx,yyy,zzz]); //A hole

23:35 <Virindi> //more holes...

23:35 <Virindi> cube([xxx,yyy,zzz]); //The main body

23:35 <Virindi> }

23:37 <Virindi> to see where a hole is being drawn, place a # in front of the line:

23:37 <Virindi> #translate([xxx,yyy,zzz]) cube([xxx,yyy,zzz]); //A hole

23:37 <Virindi> (to help debug hole placement)

23:37 <souvlakeeb> Ah okay! I didn't realize I could repeat translates in the same difference call

23:38 <souvlakeeb> Is there a concept of creating variables? Say I want to set spacing to 5 and reuse that throughout

23:38 <Virindi> foo = 5;

23:38 <Virindi> translate([foo,0,0]) ......

23:38 <souvlakeeb> too cool!

23:38 <Virindi> there are loops as well of course

23:38 <souvlakeeb> Thanks for the help! That should be all I need!

23:39 <Virindi> each 'module' (such as cube()) can have any number of modifiers in front of it (such as translate(), rotate(), scale(), etc)

23:40 <Virindi> :)

23:43 <souvlakeeb> Very nice!

23:43 <souvlakeeb> Is there a way to use an external editor?

23:44 <Virindi> window->hide editor, design->automatic reload and preview

23:45 <Virindi> I use geany, there is a syntax highlighting definition for it somewhere online

23:46 <souvlakeeb> I use spacemacs, there might be a package. Thank you very much for the guidance!

23:47 <Virindi> if you plan to 3d print this object, remember to add extra dimensions to the size of your holes to account for 3dp wall error. generally a hole should be 0.15 to 0.3mm larger than the object which must go into it

23:47 <Virindi> (the exact amount depends on your printer and how tight you want the fit to be)

23:48 <souvlakeeb> That's good advice thank you!

23:48 <souvlakeeb> The part will be laser cut

23:49 <souvlakeeb> I will be using sendcutsend. Putting together a split keyboard design if I can manage it

23:50 <souvlakeeb> Yes there seems to be an emacs package: scad-mode!

23:55 <souvlakeeb> Is there a way to print a variable value to make sure it's correct?

23:56 <InPhase> souvlakeeb: echo(x);

23:56 <Virindi> if you are not using a super fast computer then you may also find it helpful to install a recent openscad and enable vertex buffer preview, which is in the preferences

23:57 <souvlakeeb> Okay great! Thank you both!

23:58 <souvlakeeb> If I can find the answer to this question in the documentation please let me know, but I haven't found it. How does grouping work? Say I want `foo = (1 + 2) * 3;`. I'm getting complaints about the parens

23:59 <Virindi> that should work