Making a window blind container.

[crasoum]

Hi, I've mocked up a 5 sided box, with a front I'm trying to make a track for a cover, and then the negative of the track to fit within the space I'm cutting out with the extrude option. 

I first tried to do a isosceles trapezoid prism, but my skillset is very lacking and I couldn't get it to be quite right, so instead I used a rectangular prism. 

I was able to extrude out the shape, and also copy out the shape and rotate it 90 degrees to become the cover, but the print came out and I had negative tolerance. I can sand this down, but I know there's a better way, I just can't seem to wrap my head around it. 

I've attached the 4 sided box, which is the precursor to what I did with the 5 sided box. I've also attached the 5 sided box, that the cover doesn't slide into the groove because the tolerances are uh.. 0. 

My ideal mockup would have been the isosceles trapezoid with the angles of the triangles cutting out to the 2/3 point of the print (1mm, since it's 3mm thickness.) 2mm back from the front so I can slot the blinds into the holder, and then put the cover in front so I can finally use my blinds like they should be able to be used. (Bought the house, the previous owner only replaced the blinds, but not the blinds holders. So every single blind in my house is just sitting there, but falls out if you try to use them without holding them in place. Super fun.)

I watched a couple of videos and tried to apply what they talked about to what I'm trying to do, but I guess I'm not tying it together right to work quite like I imaged, so what am I doing wrong, or am I mostly on the right track?

(V3 is actually the 4 sided box, v2 is 4 sides plus cover.)

[Warmingup1953]

OK what are you looking to modify or achieve?...This is very small?

[crasoum]

It's the end pieces for a window blind, that hold the blind to the wall/window. 

Print two, and they hold a window blind so you can adjust the shutters and or raise/lower the blinds. 

I was able to make one in another cad program, but I kinda hacked it together and was trying to do it with Autodesk so I could just change a few variables and print others for other blinds I have that are different sizes. 

Picture below.

[Warmingup1953]

Ok is this where you want to head?...Ive just roughed it

[crasoum]

Ha, yea actually that looks exactly like what I'm trying to do. 

Glad my description wasn't lost in my rambling. 

[g-andresen · Accepted solution]

Hi,

watch the sreencast and follow the timeline

günther

[crasoum · Accepted solution]

Thank you so much, this helped a lot of things click. 

If someone else stumbles across this because their sketch disappears after extruding you have to go back and re-allow the image of the sketch to play with it, and extrude it again, at least that is what I had to do, and that is where I was the most stuck. 

Thanks for showing how the lines work, and how you set up variables for the constraints from the edges and all that, I know it was a simple box, but this should make my adjusting the 3d prints a TON quicker, as before I was hacking at it on another platform and it was... uh... Hacky. 

I followed your timeline, but when I made my final edits, I started with a new component and edited the projection and cut out extrusions from there. I also bumped up the offsets to .2 each side, since I have a .4mm nozzle.

Thanks again! This should make my wife a little happier now that I can fix the blinds.