Hard Drawing vs CAD

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Bill Gruby

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The title alone is controversial but let it be known I am asking a question about you and no one will disrespect someone else for their viewpoint. You have my word on it.

QUESTION : Do you still hard draw your prints or are you a CAD person. Tell me why you prefer your way. New guys I especially want to hear from you. This is an open discussion for all. Keep it clean please.

"Billy G"
 
Great question Bill and I see no reason why anyone would have hostile responses... Great topic!

I like 3D CAD to speed-up how I optimize the part. For me, this makes the dimensions more efficient etc. I often don't print-out 2D drawings and just take the profile/sketch dimensions of the 3D drawings into the shop.

For really simple things, I don't bother with a CAD drawing and just draw what I want on a piece of paper.

When I have a project with a lot of different parts that fit together, CAD is really helpful to assemble it first and make sure it all fits.

It takes a little while to learn CAD and you need to make a commitment to yourself to learn it. Once you do, it's much faster for me than drawing on paper if it's a complicated part.

Ray
 
Re: Hard Drawing ve CAD

Bill,

As an older guy that I am, 55, I still sharpen the pencil and ruff out the idea first. Then I may get out the mechanical drafting set.
If it looks good I will take the time out to use the 2D software SolidEdge. I also have used DanCad 3D for twenty years to control
my 3 axis stepper table. Dancam and Dancad along with other software for printed circuit boards, Orcad, Easytrex, along with others.
I have used AutoCAD over the years. I just never got the hang or starting with a software drafting program first. Most others I worked
with used software only. Of course they were younger than me. :whistle:

John
 
We will have to be solid works certified and proficient with cam before we graduate. So I play with cad now to ease the learning curve when we get there.

For landscape design I prefer paper and pencil. I can whip out a 5k design on paper in less time then measuring. If a client needs cad for their hoa, I will do it. But they gotta pay for all that.
 
For me I always fall back to CAD as that has been my primary job for 20+ years. If I do some designing in the shop I usually make a few quick sketches but before long I'm at the keyboard to complete the details or to fully model the pieces so I can see problems or mistakes. Not that I've actually completed much that's very complicated but it's nice to be able to have a design come to life.
I'd like to get into Solidworks but haven't had the access to learn it so I stick with Autocad for now.
 
I've had a couple customers request a CAD drawing. If they want a full .dwg or .stl file, I charge extra. If it was a part that I made a CAD drawing for my own convenience, I always give them a dimensionless PDF or JPG file for free. Most fellas find it impressive and it gives us a few things to chat about as we shake hands.

Ray
 
Bill Gruby said:
The title alone is controversial but let it be known I am asking a question about you and no one will disrespect someone else for their viewpoint. You have my word on it.

QUESTION : Do you still hard draw your prints or are you a CAD person. Tell me why you prefer your way. New guys I especially want to hear from you. This is an open discussion for all. Keep it clean please.

"Billy G"
Click to expand...

I do some of each and often sketch things out freehand. Before that, though, I work much of it out in my head.
 
OK, my turn. Nice replies fellas. I prefer Hard Line. It's the way I have always done it. If I buy prints that are CAD I always find them with what seems to me as missing lines. Very rarely do they have hidden lines on them. It's hard to trace where a part goes when all the lines are the same. Then there are the ones with different colored lines, even worse. I know there is a "Standard" for CAD but it is veered away from all to frequently. Maybe I am old school but I will stay the way I am.

"Billy G"
 
I make a rough sketch of the project first to create a concept, and then get out the ruler and rough out some dimensions. If the geometry of the part requires some trig calculations, then I will fire up the CAD and let it do the hard thinking. Especially angles, arcs etc: Finding a dimension over balls is much easier for me in CAD. Also, if I have to layout hole patterns, I will do it in CAD and print it out full size, then glue it to the workpiece. I find it more accurate than my layout skills.
 
My day job involves the use of CAD every day (I use KeyCreator) so I naturally go to that, unless it's something so simple that a hand sketch will suffice. I haven't done a formal paper drawing in years; CAD is so much faster (not to mention more accurate).
 
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