I have been using solidworks a lot over the last few day and i forgot how bloody good it is.
After some initial teething trouble, ie trying to remember things after 3 years of not using it, i was able to build a very crude miata lower ball
joint and then design my suspension around that, this is not so crude.
Now its done, I have the complete lower wishbone assembly,and its a doddle to modify components. I even changed the design because it looked crap.
I know some people think CAD is a waste of time, but i might have spent weeks mucking around fabbing a wishbone and making a pigs ear out of it before
i got anywhere near how i wanted it.
Even though i sepnt the best part of a day and a half on it i think i will still save time over not using it.
Hopefully next time i will be quicker with the program too!
[Edited on 7/1/08 by liam.mccaffrey]
I'm with you mate - its just a more comprehensive version of "measure twice cut once".
Its not fool proof but its much cheaper to spot a gotcha in CAD than after you've spent blood sweat and tears building something.
I'm running SolidWorks on an old lap top (1G RAM and a 3 year old CPU). Does any one know what spec is required to attempt to some FEA on a
Locost chassis?
Couldn't agree more.
Every time I just go out to the shed to 'have a go' at something without having modeled and drawn it out first ends up as a cock up.
The rate at which you can iterate through potential designs and their problems has to be 10X faster than without a decent cad package.
I struggle more with the fact that some people just don't get it and think that time f**king about with the 'puter would be better spent in
the shed welding a half arsed design together.
Solidworks gets quite a few mentions on here. The nearest I get is Autocad at work. Is Solidworks straightforward enough to use (in CAD terms) and what sort of price is the package?
To be honest you can't really compare SW to AutoCAD...autocad is great for 2D...I use it a lot for machine layouts, floorplans, electrical
diagrams etc....but for solid modelling you really need a proper solid modeller...TBH AutoCAD's 3d capability by comparison is crap.
SW pricing is around 3 to 5 k US dollars depends of version...
HTH
the educational version is about $250
if you can persuade a steyawdant to buy it for you
Hands up who's actually PAID for their software then?
quote:
Originally posted by Doug68
Hands up who's actually PAID for their software then?
I did
quote:
Originally posted by Puk
I'm with you mate - its just a more comprehensive version of "measure twice cut once".
Its not fool proof but its much cheaper to spot a gotcha in CAD than after you've spent blood sweat and tears building something.
I'm running SolidWorks on an old lap top (1G RAM and a 3 year old CPU). Does any one know what spec is required to attempt to some FEA on a Locost chassis?
quote:
Originally posted by liam.mccaffrey
I did
Can you get the student editionof Solidworks in the UK, or better get it form A.N.Other source ?
Cheers Phil
yup i got mine in the uk twice, i moved to the states 4 months ago, i only posted in dollars because my US keyboard doesn't have a pound sign
http://www.co
msol-online.com/content.php?si=315&prodid=43149&anzeige=Produkt&alleprodukte=2&shop_customercategory=2
Excellent, Cheers Liam