CAD tutorial

[mikeschn]

There's been several requests for a CAD tutorial, so I put up one here, drawing a simple teardrop...

But be warned... these are large pages, with large pictures, and lots of pictures too. A high speed connection is advised...

There are 5 pages...

http://www.mikenchell.com/tutorial/tutorial1.html
http://www.mikenchell.com/tutorial/tutorial2.html
http://www.mikenchell.com/tutorial/tutorial3.html
http://www.mikenchell.com/tutorial/tutorial4.html
http://www.mikenchell.com/tutorial/tutorial5.html

Have fun!
Mike...

 

[Gage-TNT]

Boy, I don't ever remember doing step one when I was working for a living But then again, that was over 10 years ago. Just a little trivia, I was part of a team that was developing the CAD CAM System for a major Aerospace Corp. in the late 70's and early 80's. I guess that's another reason I don't have a CAD program on my computer.

You all have a good day,
Gage

 

[mikeschn]

Gage,

Was that McDonell Douglas?

And yes, I remember those days... back then the first command was something like Add->Line->Horiz or something similar...

Mike...

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Nice tutorial. How much is IronCAD for a single seat license? I'm considering TurboCAD since IntelliCAD and VersaCADD are defunct. Well, IntelliCAD is still out there in about 9 forms similar to Linux, but not as cheap.

 

[mikeschn]

IronCAD runs about $5000... but if you have a son or daughter who is in college, with a college ID, you can use that ID to get a "student learning edition"... I think that's about $129.

Mike...

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Man that's as bad as Autodesk! Basic TurboCAD is $150 or less w/o student ID.

I'll wait till my wife goes back to school for her Masters, then look at IronCAD.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I downloaded the latest version of BricsCAD IntelliCAD V5 for evaluation. The Pro version is $450 with an included upgrade to V6 when it's relesed. The Classic version is $150 and students can get it for $50.

 

[mikeschn]

I notice that BricsIntelliCAD does ACIS modeling... that's the portion of the program you want to use...

Mike...

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Thanks Mike, I'll install it and check it out. May have to buy a book on how to use all these new features!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Whoa! Mike, I went to print the first page of your tutorial since I have 60 days to complete my design and finalize the drawings before my trial of IronCAD expires. I decided to print preview it first. I'm glad I did! It's 42 pages and that's just the first of five web pages. Anyway you can shrink the graphics down so it will print in about 8-10 physical pages per web page?

I want to try to incorporate Andrew's folding roof idea to bring the cabin up to 5' high when we need it. Can you help me model that when I have the basic design done? It's going to be a classic TD shape so the roof will be curved.

 

[mikeschn]

Well this really wasn't meant to be printed...

Besides using lots of sheets of paper, it'll use lots of ink too, with all the dark backgrounds...

But I wonder if there is a way to reduce the scale of the print job, either through your printer, or maybe by printing it to a pdf.

Let me look at that when I get home...

Mike...

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Sorry Mike I was too hungry when I typed that last post. Thinking clearly now with a full belly. Reminds me of those Snicker's commercials.

I can ALT-TAB between the two, but I'll save a copy of the HTML to HDD and remove the graphics! I just need the steps printed. If I get into trouble, I'll ALT-TAB to the pic.

 

[mikeschn]

I did tweak it a little bit... I enlarged the text, shrunk the photos, and printed it to a PDF. I combined all 5 html pages into 1 huge PDF, and uploaded it to the web... Did I say it was huge... It's really huge...

Okay, so it's only 42 megs. But I don't know if I would even attempt to download it with a modem.

It's here if anyone wants it...
http://www.mikenchell.com/images/tutorial.pdf

Mike...

 

[nater104]

Thanks Mike. Luckily I have DSL so its only taking about 6-7 mins.
How do you have time to do all this stuff?

 

[mikeschn]

How do you have time to do all this stuff?

I'm beginning to wonder that too.

I've also been experimenting with the best way to make drawings for the web... and I think they'll end up being pdf like Andrew makes...

Here's an example...

http://www.mikenchell.com/images/WINTER ... RAILER.PDF

Mike...

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Well, I took a break and went to get started on the 511 2+1 in IronCAD.

Everytime I go to Blend Edges for the first front radius the program locks up. I get an exception error and it will not let out, it just keeps looping the error message. Requires a three-finger solute to close the program.

Any ideas? Since it's a trial I don't have access to the PU1 update to even see if I can get this to work.

 

[mikeschn]

It sounds like a corrupted download, or a corrupted install. I would try uninstalling it, and downloading a new copy of the trial version.

Mike...

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Sent you a PM with the Error Messages I received on the re-install after re-downloading a new copy of the demo.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Ok Mike, V6.0 LT works! I've created an initial wrl file but I can't upload it to my personal album because the file type isn't allowed...

I don't have any other galleries to post it on yet. my website isn't up yet to host it on either...

Now I just have to figure out how to do all the other fancy stuff and export 2-D production drawings!

 

[mikeschn]

Send me the wrl file. I'll put it up on the web for you!

Mike...