Hard Drawing vs CAD

I like gel pens...they will let you design on institutional toilet paper when in the initial stages of a project. Over time I have used everything from soapstone on the concrete floor to AutoCAD 2012 Inventor Light (which I bought & don't use much more than 10% of it's "features").

As others here have testified, go with your comfort level and use methods as tools rather than the greatest thing since folding money. I've designed complete glass tube forming machines using vellum and templates with the help of a ruler. Cad is super if you are drawing layouts for complicated assembly machines. However
if the power goes away the gel pens and a pocket calculator are your friends.
 
Draw it. If i get bored i'll draw it in sketchup.
 
I almost always start with a rough pen-or-pencil and paper sketch - it's the quickest way to get an idea "out of my head" and help me to visulaize what I want to do. Then, if I need something more complicated, I used LibreOffice Draw (similar to Visio, but it's free and runs on Linux, Mac, or Windows). I've played around with CAD, and I can definitely see the advantages, but for the simple things I do it's overkill. With LibreOffice Draw I can play around with design ideas and get some basic CAD-like capability with less complexity. If anyone want to learn more about LibreOffice Draw, I've put together a short overview with some examples at this link:

https://sites.google.com/site/lagadoacademy/libreoffice-tips/libreoffice-for-cad
 
My two cents. My CAD Prof. said to me, "never give up hand drawing, because you can't know why you're drawing it without it". I use Auto CAD 2000 all the time, but, start with a hand drawn sketch first. When I want a 3d model I use SolidWorks 2007. As for the many CAD software, yes there are too many, but then, how would the softawre companies make any money? I have always advocated standardization. One industry standard software for 2d, and one for 3d. Let all the others be for hobbyists. My two cents only
 
I generally prefer a hand drawing to CAD; a hand drawing with a bit of line work to accentuate details can be much easier to know exactly what you are looking at than simply a bunch of computer generated stuff, and I especially appreciate nice hand lettering as well and stylish arrows at the end of dimension lines. I worked in our engineering office for a month as part of my apprenticeship and got to know the engineers and appreciate their styles of drafting; one, Rudy Bergantini used line work on side views of round details; when you saw one of his drawings, you instantly knew what it was you were looking at.
On the other hand, I can appreciate CAD also, as has been pointed out to me by an engineer friend who designs fighting vehicles, that one can add or remove levels of detail in layers from Cad drawings; get down to the basid plain design, and then add sucessive layers of detail as desired.
 
I'm a draftsman by trade, so my home projects get laid out in CAD during my breaks. Sometimes I have a rough sketch to guide me, but lately I like to just jump right into 3d Inventor with just an idea in my head. I like the freedom to let something develop that way & find it quite enjoyable. It's quite a difference from what I do during my work..
I'm surprised by how many people here have CAD programs at home.
I still own the scale that I used in high school drafting class near to 40 years ago, on the shelf beside me now. We got to buy the old drafting sets for $1 when they were replaced.
 
I do mostly 2d drawing but what I like about auto cad is the ability to overlay different aspects and make sure they will fit when you build it. Also as in the titlting furnace I just built i used the rotation feature to find the different pivot points and the resulting positions of the lifting actuator. it saved a bunch of guessing when I built it. I also used it to lay out the holes for the dividing head plates that I'm working on.

My son does cnc so i've never gotten into 3d although with the advent of th 3d printers I may have to break down and go all the way. If i don't use it fairly often a forget where everything is.
 
I dabbled with AutoCAD when I was working and got a reasonable familiarity with it. When I retired, I found Intellicad, which works almost exactly like AutoCAD. I have been using it for about 10 years now, and do all but the simplest jobs on it. When we moved after retiring, I made cad drawings of my plot plan, wiring, construction details, etc. I even drew my motorhome's track to make sure I could get it into its place.

All my machining projects are on cad. I often start with pencil sketches to get a general idea, then it's off to the computer where I build an assembly of all the parts. I then copy off details to the bottom area of the drawing and dimension them. When I get done, all the parts fit! I love it! Not formal, but very useful.
 
I trained as a draftsman in the mid 60s. At that time part of the training was being able to envisage what was required and doing a freehand, in proportion, 3D sketch of it. I earn't my crust as a drafty until the arrival of CAD in the late 80s. At that time, as far as I could see the only advantage of CAD was that changes were so easy to make. It was disappointing to see another skill disappearing, I still think that a well done pencil on paper or preferably ink on mylar drawing, has "soul", which very, very few CAD drawings have.
Having been retired for 5 years, my "idea development" process is, 1/ Think about it, 2/ Freehand sketch and sort out overall dimensions, 3/ Produce a TurboCAD "sketch" in 2D, 4/ Develop CAD until the part, or parts can be made. 5/ Print good quality part drawings

Good topic!!
cheers
Bill
 
I have used CAD for 35 odd years now (I am 67). Started using OrCad and EAGLE for printed circuit board work
and AutoCad for sheet metal work.I have also used Inventor and various proprietary programs such as AMANDA
PUNCHING machine cad.I have also used various programs for electrical drawings,power and control.To my opinion
a rough sketch on paper is enough for the development of an idea and for very simple parts.For serious work is
always 3d AutoCad.It is very useful for visualisation,communication to other people and ,very importand,archiving.
My 2 cents.
Ariscats
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top