Let's design a wall plaque

Are you fascinated by 3D printers? Good news - we’re going to design a wall plaque that can be 3D-printed using Onshape CAD. Onshape is relatively new and entirely web based. Here’s what it looks like when you start sketching:

Start by clicking on Sketch and selecting the top plane to ensure your design is properly oriented for 3D printing.

Use the dimension tool highlighted below to make the plaque 200mm wide, 150mm tall, and 5mm depth.

Setting the width and height is easy enough, now extrude 5mm:

We have a basic 3D object now! Let’s add a lip using the same tools used above: rectangles, dimensions, and extrude.

This extrude was another 5mm, but I think it’s too deep. Fortunately you can always go back and revise your design so let’s change it to 2.5mm:

The sketch regenerates anytime you make a change. I think the shallower lip looks much better.

This is a fantastic base that can be reused for many projects. Now for some content! Start Sketch #3 and add your text.

Make the extrude dimension the same as the lip and finish off your text.

“Beware” is too close to the top lip so I’m going to move it down by editing Sketch #3. I click the top of the text, select “Transform Sketch Entities”, and make a 5mm adjustment:

That looks much better! I uploaded this design here: https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-beware-of-dog-he-s-a-hacker-100813

Our plaque is ready for the printer!