ok for the 3d printing of the "structure" but then how to make it reflective? do you use regular allumination chamber or what technique ? which precision you can achieve to validate the prototype ?
Although the laser sintering printer downstairs produces quite nice surface finishes. Not good enough for an optical mirror, but definitely good enough for mm-wave antennas.
Print your model in ABS. Smooth it by putting it in a paint can on a little stand with some acetone soaked rags below for about 1/2 hour. Paint with some of this paint. You will be amazed.
If you had a specific design in mind, it might actually be more satisfying to generate the STL triangles directly. You can fit your parabola in 2D (by, say, computing reflection angle to a fixed focal point), then just rotate and dump out STL.
This is a nice tutorial, but it seems a bit kludgey (and I'm guessing part of that is due to Fusion 360's "not quite a fully finished CAD system," though they are making pretty good progress with it, and I find it's a fairly nice program, especially for the price, (free to hobbyists) and it includes CAM abilities.)
I would think OpenSCAD would be pretty decent at this, but honestly, I've never tried making parabola's or similar with it.
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[ 2.2 ms ] story [ 33.5 ms ] threadAlthough the laser sintering printer downstairs produces quite nice surface finishes. Not good enough for an optical mirror, but definitely good enough for mm-wave antennas.
Print your model in ABS. Smooth it by putting it in a paint can on a little stand with some acetone soaked rags below for about 1/2 hour. Paint with some of this paint. You will be amazed.
(1) https://www.amazon.com/Krylon-1010A-Premium-Metalic-Original...
The wiki has a nice intro to the subject:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabolic_reflector
I would think OpenSCAD would be pretty decent at this, but honestly, I've never tried making parabola's or similar with it.
A quick google found this openscad script for parabolas: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:84564