Anyway, I'm curious: is this simplicity just because STL is old and predates 3D printing, or are other 3D object description languages equally limited?
3D printing is 25 years old, but did not really take off before thanks to patents and limited availability of tech needed.
STL was made for 3D printing.
AMF has been made as a replacement, and the standard support curved surfaces. However, the AMF reader of Cura does not.
STEP files support curved surfaces (but Cura cannot read those)
What is generally done to get high resolution models is exporting it with many small facets for the curves. I usually use 0.4mm segment lengths.
As for software. OpenSCAD would suit you. You can also look at DesignSpark-Mechanical, which does not have a huge learning curve, but is very powerful.
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gr5 2,224
So much!
Welcome.
Regarding cad software - I really love sketchup because I know it. It's pretty damn easy. It's free. It's from google. The free version doesn't let you do boolean operations (like subtract a cylinder from a square to make a hole). But it's pretty good. Also sometimes it gets slightly buggy when there is rounding error and your flat surface won't fill in because one of the 50 odd points is at the wrong z height but it's not visible.
However if I were to do it again I think I might rather learn blender. But I really don't know what's the best. Blender is also free.
If you want to "design STLs yourself with your own code" I recommend you look at openSCAD. It's a programming language to create STLs. It has an amazing debugger and it does variables, "for" loops and such and comes with lots of free libraries that have things like screws, gears, 3D fonts, etc. It's what "Emmet" uses over on thingiverse and he's my favorite person on thingiverse. He's amazing.
Regarding strength. PLA is pretty damn strong. I'm always printing hollow objects with .8mm shell thickness and it's pretty strong. A .4mm string filament coming out of the nozzle, after it cools, is hard to break with my fingers. Having said that you could add "fins" to your lug holes. Or you could add hollow cylinders in the area that have an inner diameter of say .01mm and Cura will print "shell" up against it. Some slicers will change infill density and other parameters for certain areas of your print but of course these slicers are very complicated to use.
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