Belt Buckle

I have a design for a belt buckle that I am making a desperate attempt to model in AutoCAD and having a very difficult time due to the curvy, artsy, and mechanical nature (my background mostly in civil engineering) of it. It is beyond my skill level at this time. Can someone perhaps come up with a belt buckle design and post it here and explain how you did it please???

I plan to patent my idea and if I can't get a hold on this 3D modeling I'm gonna have to hire someone else to do it probably.

So im assuming you dont want to post a sample pic of your desing since you are trying to patent it????

I was thinking I'd like to have a go with it, but yeah, if he's going to patent it he probably doesn't want to post it and being that he doesn't actually know me, I doubt he'd give me a copy. Esp. since I'd be using it for learning more than anything else.

Then again, there are a thousand different objects I could be working with for the whole "learning" thing.

Maybe he will post something that is similar to what he is looking for and we can try it out and walk him through the steps....

Just pick a style based on the plate kind like this as opposed to a standard buckle. I guess what I'm struggling with most is how to get the concave shape of it.

And of course I cannot disclose the design in a public forum.

I'll play with it a little bit, but my first thought is that they generally are curved rather than what I'd call concave(or convex depending on the side you're looking at. Creating a curved surface shouldn't be too difficult (again, haven't actually played with it yet) and then cutting it with the outer surface of a cylinder or elliptical cylinder (or w/e your bounding shape is) shouldn't be too too bad.

If you're looking for a concave spherical shape, then creating a sphere and slicing off a piece with a PLANESURF usually does the trick for me.

I'll let you know if I come up with something solid (i.e. making the curved surface etc.) - no pun intended.

This may be a little bit simpler than you're looking for, and I can only figure out the backing really. If you've got the design curved onto it (as opposed to flat and attached to the curved backing), then I need to spend a lot more time looking at how to

What I did was made an arc, copied it to a distance equal to the thickness of the backing, made a poly line out of them, and extruded the resulting cross section up.

I then made an ellipse (this can be really any shape that you want the outline of the buckle to be - I just went with the traditional cowboy thing) that I liked the dimensions of, extruded it, put it through the middle of my extruded arcs solid, and then used the Boolean INTERSECT to give me this object that really looks more like a pringle than a belt buckle, but you get the idea.

Let me know if this was even remotely helpful please.

Is there suppose to be an image???

Is there suppose to be an image???

Nope, I rely on others to read my mind to determine what I'm talking about.

BuckleBacking.dwg

:shock:"YES! YES! That's sooo much better!" (Sorry. Had a Dead Milkmen flashback.) Now I am seeing the light, or at least a glimmer of it. Thanks a bunch. I'll report back if I need more advice.:wink:

Muhahahahaha!

Fools!

I am now going to steal your so called "belt buckle" idea and patent it for myself!

Though such a buckle i can finally achieve my goals!

*twirls his sinister mustache*

Anywhos, will you be showing us a promo of this "belt buckle"? And if its just some 3d portrait of Ron Paul... Heads are gonna roll

Hahaa! No it's not going to be Ron Paul, but that might be a great idea!

If I can stumble through the process and get the patent I will definitely post it here after patent approval. I think the idea has a lot of potential, but we'll see.

Hahaa! No it's not going to be Ron Paul, but that might be a great idea!

 

If I can stumble through the process and get the patent I will definitely post it here after patent approval. I think the idea has a lot of potential, but we'll see.

Don't forget to get a poor man's patent as soon as you have the design done.

Print out everything and mail it to yourself registered mail, then whatever you do, don't open it.

Don't forget to get a poor man's patent as soon as you have the design done.

 

Print out everything and mail it to yourself registered mail, then whatever you do, don't open it.

Where did you hear that fantasy?

Please cite references.

Where did you hear that fantasy?

 

Please cite references.

It doesn't get you anything a patent does, it just proves a date at which you had the design complete if it's challenged. Registered mail is tracked, so the date it went through the postal system is also tracked.

Can't actually cite anything, it was part of a discussion I had several years ago. This is a case of me passing on completely unsubstantiated information, but it makes sense to me, and that doesn't happen often at all.

It doesn't get you anything... This is a case of me passing on completely unsubstantiated information, but it makes sense to me, and that doesn't happen often at all.

This is perhaps the most commonly repeated fallacy in the invention realm. The postal service makes no requirement that a package have any contents or be sealed. A hole big enough to drive a truck through.

This is perhaps the most commonly repeated fallacy in the invention realm. The postal service makes no requirement that a package have any contents or be sealed. A hole big enough to drive a truck through.

My bad... Rusty, listen to me about making a curved backing, not about anything law related.

Dear Rustysilo,

I am designing belt buckle right now in Rhino. I am nearly complete and I will print it on my Makerbot Dual 3D printer to post on model sites. I am fairly new the world of 3D but have been doing 2D design most of my 47 years. (Or since I had my first 286 pc).

I run an internet sign business as my job, but plan to do designs for people in my spare time. The 3D work will be a nice compliment to the sign biz. If you still need a copy of the buckle let me know. mcartworksigns@gmail.com

... If you still need a copy of the buckle let me know. mcartworksigns@gmail.com

uhmmm, six years have passed. I don't think I would post my email address here.