Create gaps in between bodies

[banksysan]

If there a way, either in Fusion, Mesh Mixer or Cura, to define some minimum width between touching bodies or to shrink a body (so that there is a gap between them) so that one will fit inside the other?

I know I can use push/pull on faces, or scale a whole body.  Is this the correct way to do this?

[etfrench · Accepted solution]

A joint would be the proper way to do this, although you'll need to test how Cura will interpret the different origins for the parts. 

Measure, then Scale

Designing in place would be another option.

[banksysan]

What do you mean by designing in place?

[banksysan]

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@etfrench wrote:

Measure, then Scale

Designing in place would be another option.

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I was hoping there was a shortcut.  C'est le vive.

[davebYYPCU · Accepted solution]

There is, Cura is probably the same as my slicer, 

load both, change one to provide the gap, by scaling in X Y but not Z, by say 2%

Therefore the owl would be 98%.  Size is by testing for most printers.

Might help....

[Anonymous]

When I have to build two pieces of a housing that must be joined together with an overlapping edge (one recessed, one extended), I first draw a splitting line on the Sketch where I want to modify the feature.  Then I split the body with that line as the splitting tool.  Next, I use Offset Face to adjust the feature on the split body section that I want to change.  Finally, I use Combine to execute Join, Cut, or Intersect of the fixed body and the modified split body, depending upon which Boolean operation you desire.

[smith9]

Here is another solution - it is analogous to using two cookie cutters on your body

For example if you wanted to create a 

1. Take a body
2. Create a sketch that is parallel to the face you want to cut (e.g. if you wanted a cutout on the top face of a cube, you would select that upper face as the sketch plane) - it also does not matter if your shape is irregular.
3. On the sketch create the shape of the cutout.
4. Select the shape and create an offset of the size of gap that you want.
5. Close sketch and choose Modify > Split body
6. Choose your body as the "Body to split"
7. Choose your shape as the splitting tool
8. Next repeat using the offset shape as the splitter tool
9. You will now have 3 bodies, one for the main shape, one for the gap and one for the insert shape
10. This solution works best if you are cutting all the way through a shape, although there are approaches you can take like cutting the body in half if you only wanted a recess half the depth of the shape, then you need to recombine the bottom half of the cookie cut parts