johnston
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| posted on 10/1/09 at 09:46 PM |
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What auto cad is everyone using???
Basically I'm not workin at the minute due to a wee problem with my hands, boredat home and cant go finish my other projects I've
started.
So thought I'd start learning an auto cad program and design my chassis around my donor..
Any recomendations from anyone??
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londonsean69
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| posted on 10/1/09 at 10:20 PM |
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I use AutoCAD 2008 all day at work, but it is cack for 3d.
I also play around from time to time with Autodask inventor, which is quite powerful.
I'm not using either to design anything on the roadster though, as most of it is already laid out in the book.
What I have used it for is nesting all of the chassis plates onto manageable sheet sizes.
Sean
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Bigheppy
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| posted on 10/1/09 at 11:51 PM |
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Cadbury at this time of year 
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NigeEss
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| posted on 11/1/09 at 12:45 AM |
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12. Old but good enough for me.
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londonsean69
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| posted on 11/1/09 at 09:31 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by NigeEss
12. Old but good enough for me.
Wow, that is old, when I started doing CAD we were on version 12, in DOS.
Still, at least it had a GUI, some of the other programs just had text input, then, hopefully, a drawing popped out at the other end
I assume you are going to want a copy 'for evaluation', rather than paying the £4k one of the major CAD packages will cost??
Sean
PS johnston you have U2U
[Edited on 11/1/09 by londonsean69]
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johnston
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| posted on 11/1/09 at 10:02 AM |
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ah yeah evaluation jobbie 
and cheers sean!
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flak monkey
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| posted on 11/1/09 at 10:51 AM |
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Autodesk Suite 2009 (Autocad, Inventor etc) at work, Solidworks 06 at home.
David 
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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loggyboy
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| posted on 11/1/09 at 11:05 AM |
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Use 2007 LT at work, just about to upgrade to latest (2010?)
Use 2004 LT at home, which is mildly annoying as it just has the odd silly differences to 2007 that mean you endup spending a few seconds longer doing
something simple. (like trimming or extending using draging to select multiple items)
If you want a cheap option then use sketchup, its a free download and IDEAL for doing 'simple' 3d objects like a chassis.
Mistral Motorsport
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delboy
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| posted on 11/1/09 at 11:08 AM |
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2004 at both home and work, I have to say that from 2000 onwards, while there have been some improvements I don't think for home use or to learn
the basics that it would matter too much. It's not the most simple or intuitive software to understand without some tuition.
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londonsean69
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| posted on 11/1/09 at 11:28 AM |
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LT is a lot better than it used to be, but it's still something like £700 if you buy it.
I haven't used LT in ages, but IIRC you couldn't run lisp routines on it, and I don't think it had any solid modelling
capability.
For what I do at work, using LT would mean everything takes me twice as long.
To use AutoCAD in a simple manner is actually very easy, it's when you start to use the proper functionality like annotative text and
dimensions, layers, xrefs, blocks and dynamic blocks etc. that it starts to get a bit tricky.
As far as 'evaluation' copies go, check the torrents**, although I believe you can get a pukka copy on a 30 day trial from many Autodesk
vendors, but after 30 days expect to stump up £££££
I 'think' you can also get student copies for something like £150, but I think they print something like 'Educational use
only' on your prints.
For 3d, there are better options, like Inventor (I have only 'played' with this) and Solidworks (never used)
Not to mention the really serious CAD packages like Catia and Pro Engineer (These are used by manufacturers)
AutoCAD is also known as KiddyCAD, because compared to the big Solid modelling packages it can be somewhat lacking
Sean
**Legal nonsense - Downloading copyrighted software for use is illegal, and I would never, ever suggest that you check on any of the torrent sites for
a feed Just be aware it's about 700mb downloa for AutoCAD 2008 (They are up to 2009 but I haven't tried it)
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Paul_C
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| posted on 11/1/09 at 12:56 PM |
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CAD Drawing software
I have used AutoSketch 8 to draw an isometric view of Ron's (Westfield's!) finest and attached a JPEG file.
Unfortunately the help function in AutoSketch 8 doesn't work with Windows Vista and there don't appear to be any upgrades and
doesn't appear to be available any more.
I have tried SketchUp and I think it's worth a try though it doesn't handle tube intersections well. The way round it is to intersect the
extruded section with a plane when it is OK.
If the professional mechanical software is anything like PCB design stuff then it's overcomplicated, difficult to use and way overpriced.
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Dick Axtell
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| posted on 11/1/09 at 02:52 PM |
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Using AutoCad 2004 - but only very occasionally. Too much other software stuff to learn.
Solidworks looks an attractive package, although not too sure about cost/value for home use.
BTW - Asked the guys on the Aspid stand, at Autosport show, what s/w they used for their solid modelling. Bloke fobbed me off, saying it was developed
inhouse. No chance - they spent all their time on the vehicle design, and the software to run their trick electronics.
Work-in-Progress: Changed to Zetec + T9. Still trying!!
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D Beddows
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| posted on 11/1/09 at 03:30 PM |
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Did you actually mean which version of Autocad should I learn or did you mean which CAD program should I learn?
If it's which version of AutoCad then, although it doesn't really matter tbh as they all basically do the same thing, I would say 2006 or
2009 as 2007 and 2008 both have one or two 'features'/bugs that can be quite annoying. 2009 is by far the best AutoCad yet.
If it's just which CAD package then it has to be Solidworks, no contest - forget AutoCad!
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