Hard Drawing vs CAD

I guess I am in the "thinks with a pencil camp". In fact I belive a good #2 Pencil is one of the most underatred Engineering tools out there.I will usually doodle and at times to actual back or the envelope calculatons :) But once I get a concept fleshed out I like to put it down in 2D cad for my own stuff.I like having a print in CAD because it allows me to make a printout to hang from the machine out in the Garage and if it gets illegible due to greasy fingerprints/ cutting fluid, I can just print another one:)
I have been using Pro/E at work for the last 18 years, so I am pretty good a 3D stuff, but for the kind of work I do at home, I am sticking with 2D for now. It is actually kind of nice to go back to doing 2D layouts just to keep the noggin sharp. Plus, I don't have a seat of 3D at home :) I am currently playing around with FreeCad, and the modeling looks like it might be interesting. So far the main branch dosn't have any good detailing functions, but I think somebody is working on it.

As far as 3D cad goes, I like to use it to "Machine" parts from raw stock. I think that helps me with coming up with parts that can actually be produced. I have seen other people come up with parts that are easy to model but difficult or impossible to actually make :)

For 2D I have been using QCAD for a couple of years now. I like that it is just a simple 2D package that can read/write DXF and DWG files. The menus are fairly simple and there are some libraries for bolts and threadded holes. The full version runs ~$45 so it's also pretty affordable. They have a community edition that is free and has ~80% of the features. The main ones that are missing are DWD and polyline support. But it is really nice to try out and see if the workflow works for you.
 
For initial ideas and simple stuff, nothing beats pencil and paper. For more complex drawing I use AutoCAD and Mastercam. Once I got over the learning curves, I found using either program easier and faster than manual drafting, but even then there is pencil and paper next to the computer to jot down notes and keep track of things. The best things about CAD are being able to draw one 3D model and then generate any view with no extra work and get dimensioning accurate to 4 or more decimal places if needed, and the multi-axis toolpath generation in Mastercam is amazing. I know there are other CAD/CAM products out there that are just as good or possibly better, but these are the ones I have the most experience with. The people that write all of these CAD/CAM programs are geniuses.

jj

BTW: I was taught manual drafting and technical freehand drawing in high school more than 45 years ago. I did some more in college. Then, many years later, I learned CAD/CAM in school. I'm currently learning SolidWorks because it was suggested by a prospective employer that it would be good to know.
 
I'm an older retired EE type. Now I'm just interested in hobbies, mostly hamradio. I'm using an older Craftsman 109 and now setting up
my new to me CZ300(chinese lathe) bought used here. I use a soft package called 'CadStd' and 'InkScape' along with a couple of other drawing packages one of my son's got for me. I used to do hard drawings, but think it takes too much time re-drawing and hen-scratching. I did a lot of electronic projects in the past, and still do some, but for the machine work, my machinist buddy suggested cad type drawings or similar, so that's what I've done. BWT I'm 71, so anyone can learn.

One of my first projects was simply making a couple of chucks that hold PVC pipe, so I can make essentially perfect
inductor coils for radio trapped-antennas. Used cad for that also, even though it wasn't really necessary, helped to
learn the cad program though.

cheers:))
 
I started using AutoCAD in 1987 when I joined a major corporation and had one of the first PC computers in the company. I became proficient in AutoCAD and found it quicker and easier than working on paper. The biggest advantages was the ability to do quick revisions and to actually "build" a system and fit the pieces together. CAD offers the advantage of accuracy and the avoidance of calculation errors and if it "fits" in CAD, it will fit in the real world.

In 1995 I designed my 1/2 scale traction engine completely in AutoCAD. When parts came from the foundry, they came in random order and I was able to build "as per the drawings" and everything worked out perfectly. I wouldn't have had the confidence to 'build out of order' from paper drawings!

Now, at age 64, I am struggling to learn 3D CAD to take it to the next level.
 
I've "learned" Solidworks 4 times now. I don't use it enough so everytime I go to use it its a major learning curve. I have used Visual Cadd for yrs:
http://www.tritools.com/v6_home.php

I can not use it for months and go right back to it. Its a 2D package of course. Its fun to watch all the rookie "engineers" whip out crappy 3D designs time after time - their favorite "tool" is the radius button - every corner gets a .062R and triples the cost of the part when they really mean "break edge". The bottom line is that its not 2D or 3D or this software or that software - its the idea or concept that counts.

Jim
 
I use mostly TurboCAD and have been for as long as I can remember. It is just faster for me than drawing by hand and I can make revisions quickly.
 
Paper and pencil is great for sketching and roughing out an idea. I still carry a sketch pad into meetings and site walkdowns.

CAD is far superior for detailed design and long term documentation of designs in the commercial/industrial world I live in.

Then again, I'm an Engineer in a consulting firm...our standards are not necessarily the same as yours. You gotta use what works for ya, and especially for 1 off or hobby work CAD isn't necessarily the best. But for us, where we have to document and update things over the years, CAD is required. Once you get used to working in a good CAd program, it is hard to go back to hand detailed paper drawings.

I have a set of 1920's era drawings for our church. Starched linen material, hand drawn...the artistry is amazing. It likely took them months to draw. We can whip out the same engineering detail in days now with a good CAD designer and program.
 
I have so little spare time and so many projects that anything I intend to make tends to get turned over every which way in my head for up to 12mths before I even start working on it, so I've already ironed out a bunch of bugs by the time I start drawing stuff out. I've thought about software, especially for the added perks like working out thermal dissipation and stuff, but for what I do the learning curve is too long and steep for me to work up much enthusiasm about it. I'm also not much of a software type of guy, I prefer having stuff in my hands like a kid with blocks and holes to stuff 'em in. As an additional plus to drawing stuff out in my notebook, it's usually so mixed up that I have to read through it several times to find the measurement I want, so I'm continually refamiliarised with the project :)
 
I'm in my mid 50's and I learned hand drafting for mechanical and architectural design. I was very comfortable drawing by hand. In fact the first few CNC projects that AI did were all drawn by hand because I was clueless with CAD. In 2000 I was able to take an AutoCad class, then I got a job doing design work where I used AutoCad R14. We bought Inventor, so I took a class in it. Now all my design work is done in Inventor 2011. For the occasional AutoCad work (usually for CNC paths) I use AtoCad 2000. I have AutoCad 2011, but I really don't care for it, mainly because I need it so rarely I can't be bothered to learn it.

I design and make complicated machines and enclosures. I would be severely crippled trying to do them in AutoCad, and totally useless trying to design them with hand drafting. Inventor is awesome, and I am really a fairly basic and unskilled user of it.
 
Ray C said:
Marcel / All,

Everyone is different with different preferences but, I found Alibre/Geomagic to be very easy to learn. I tried many other programs and this was very intuitive for me.
Ray
Click to expand...

I agree with Ray, I see things in 3D and the parametric modeling method fits the way I think, Just create what you see then worry about dimensions etc. I almost never produce an actual drawing. I start with a quick sketch followed by a 3D model followed by the part with the CNC Mill.
 
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