Hi Everyone!
I'm a newbie in this very good forum. I have plans of building my own sports car one day and as of now, I am still at the 'planning' stage. I've
browsed through most of the threads here and I seem to notice that a working knowledge of CAD would really be beneficial.
I can say that I can draw and understand mechanical drawings (on a drawing board with a T-square, traingle, pencil, etc. etc.) But when I tried to
download those free CAD software, I cannot seem to make something out of it.
What software would you recommend for a CAD newbie like me. Any CAD tutorial sites would come in handy as well.
Thanks for all your reply!
Jaime
no a working knowledge of CAD is not really needed.
anyways, i find AutoCAD the easiest but then i use it evryday and its not free. you can go for something called intelliCAD which is free (i think) or
turboCAD. intellicad is closer to autocad.
cheers
fin
quote:
...mechanical drawings (on a drawing board with a T-square, traingle, pencil, etc. etc.)
hehee.. until last week.. i think the last time i was on a proper drawing board with was about 10 years ago...
I use the big boys CAD. Unigraphics which has a feature of virtual testing built in. Helps you to not over engineer stuff therefore make lighter and
better parts. Its expensive though. Other software thats pretty good is Solid-Edge or Pro-engineer.
Best thing for you to use would probably be AutoCAD and its realy easy and fast to use. Only thing is the 3d is poor. It has all its own tutorials
on it so you could teach yourself it.
If you do get autoCAD try to get the 2002 version as its far superior to AutoCAD 14 and mechanical desktop. 2000 version is ok too.
Is there anywhere that this can be downloaded?
I am a newby here, but thought you might like to know my history on the subject...
I have been using CAD programs dating back to '87 running AutoCAD on a 286! I have used Solidworks, Mechanical Desktop, Inventor, Catia,
Pro-Engineer, PDGS, Ideas-Master Series, Trispectives/IronCAD, MatCCAD, AtuoTrol and probably a few more I can't remember off hand.
AutoCAD has been around the longest being the first program to run on a PC. That doesn't necessarily make it the best. AutoCAD started out as a
very good 2-D architectual tool and has had many upgrades to it over the years. To make autoCad compatible with earlier versions it has taken along
all previous history of changes whether they be good or bad. As you can imagine this has made the kernal of the program extremely large. I can
remember that in version 12 to 13, I think it was, that they added 200 new comands, deleted around 100 comands and simply changed the name of 100
comands! Although i have more experience with AutoCad than any other program I would say that they have consistently lacked a year or two behind the
more innovative programs.
Inventor is also made by AutoDesk and is very easy to use. I don't know the price of this without buying AutoCad along with inventor/mechanical
desktop. Still would be a good choice for you. My step-son just completed a course on Inventor and then one on AutoCAD. He hates using AutoCad now.
(Should have learned AutoCad first!)
Probably the best midrange program is Solidworks. It has very good sheet metal tools. But probably still out of your price range.
It sounds like you may want to first try a program called IronCAD. This is the easiest 3D program I have used. The nicest thing about this program is
that you don't have to set up any constraints or even know any dimensions before you start peicing a model together. I did the beta testing for
this back in '95 when the program was $299. Now it is around $5000 US.
The good thing is if you call the company you can request a trial CD good for 30 days. This is good to note for any programs you might be interested
in...ask for a trial, or beta version to try out. Most programs give you full capabillities for a set amount of time. Long enough for you to print out
your chassis design.
I hope this was of help...
Hi DJ,
I currently run Mechanical desktop as my "weapon of choice" after years of plain AutoCad and prior to that, Cadam (though I only go back to
about '91...late starter...:-))
I'm currently trying out Inventor, and I like a lot of the features, however a couple of things are bugging me.....holes seem soooo long winded
compared to desktop, and (a critisism of many solid modelers also) the 2D output side seems weak...almost an afterthought it appears.
I also bought trispectives when it first came out, but found it both very cool yet useless...:-(
Back to car building.....:-)
oh yeah usual blatant website plug...:-)
http://www.desicodesign.com/meerkat/
I use Uni-Graphics and a 2D package called Medusa (a specific package for designing pumps) on a daily basis. I can also use Autocad and Inventor.
Uni-graphics is by far the best 3D package but at £60,000 (yes £60,000) for the software and licenses starting from about £11,000 it might be a little
steep. It is also very difficult to use. You can go on a 5 week course but at £1,000 per week that too is expensive.
Inventor 5 on the other hand can be bought for about £5 from carbooters (total legal officer) and is so easy to use a trained monkey can do it (if i
can use it anybody can, did i mention i play rugby??)
As for 2D Modeling Medusa is much quicker and easier to use but is unobtainable, Autocad 2000 is easy to use
as well, you can also get this for £5 at the booter too.
Personally i would get Inventor, 3D modelling is much more rewarding aesthetically than 2D, and also you can produce 2D drawings from your 3D models.
Cheers
Welshy
PS You don't need an understanding of CAD to build a Locost but you can never have too much knowledge.