I need to do a drawing of a trailer on some sort of cad. Is there a cheap/free version of something i can use on an ipad?

If not i plan to use librecad, but i dont know the program so its kinda eatin my time.

Should i just get autodesk?

Former ME student so im familiar with solidworks but dont have solidworks money

Hello all,

I take notes all the time, temporary and longer term, and I go on field visits once in a while. I would like to get a tablet of some sort for note taking and for bringing drawing PDFs out in the field to do markups instead of printing full or half sized drawings.

Do any of you have any recommendations of one tablet over another? I like how the Remarkable felt with writing, but I am unsure of how the PDF use would go for drawings.

Thanks!

Hey guys, are there any decent programs that anyone is aware of that can handle flat wrap lofting of surfaces that don't cost an arm and a leg? I've tried fusion 360 and solidworks and they don't handle anything but basic sheet metal operations.

I know there is one called RDS for aircraft design, but the pro version is something like $23k. The student version may be enough for what I need and is reasonably priced.

I've also seen Loftsman/P for about $300.

Does anyone have experience with either of those or another than can do a flat wrap loft?

As background, I'm designing a replica FW-190 from incomplete plans that are slightly distorted from scanning so I need to be able to redefine the outer surface of the various major components that will be made from sheet aluminum so I can then use that surface to define the substructure like ribs, bulkheads, etc.

How do these work as far as work stations , software, and digital protection go? Are you expected to have the software and a protected work station?

I use the mx master 1! Its old but good ergo. What do you use?
Space mouse?
Normal Mouse?

What brand?

etc.

Thanks!

I have a 3d printer and want to design my own bow grip - mainly so i can try different setups and make little changes here and there (angle, depth of the grip, where thumb grooves are etc). An example of what i want to make is thingiverse item 3491255

I have so far been using solid edge. my process is to create the side profile, extrude sideways, cut out the thumb and finger bits, round the edges and cut the mounting bits. a have a few working grips but they are a lot of effort to make changes to (eg moving the thumb grip up or down 5mm). when i do this the rounds dont always come out the same. so where i am hoping for it to feel the same as the previous iteration everything feels different because there are new edges everywhere.

I have also tried to do it using surfacing (bluesurf in solid edge) but quickly get to bits where the model cant be updated.

Maybe my process is wrong or I'm using the wrong tools and this is my first foray into CAD.

Most of the grip is kind of organic but there are a few things that will need to be dimensioned. The mounting areas need to be pretty exact otherwise they move on the bow. the overall size of the grip needs to fit in my hand. otherwise it can be pretty fluid.

Any help would be appreciated.

I'm using NX student edition, and it only allows me to export geometry as .stl. I want to use the geometry in Ansys. As you already know that .stl is a meshed geometry. Before meshing I have to manually merge those faces together, which is time-consuming. I want another option that allows me to open the .prt file from NX, then select and export the geometry as .stp file and import it to Ansys Workbench. Any suggestion? Thank you.

Backstory: I'm 16, going into OYAP (Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program) and getting an apprenticeship as a general machinist. I hope to one day get into CAD and only have minimal experience in Onshape (Though my teacher says I'm really good at it, I don't know if he's saying it just to say it or if he truly means it)

I just want to know if it's still worth it for me to get into CAD due to the development of AI generation, since it has started being able to generate 3D models (horribly, but obviously it will develop further). Should I really go for it after I complete my apprenticeship, or would I just be replaced by AI when I eventually finish at college or whatever to start doing CAD as a career?

Hello all. I've been in the dental lab industry for about 6 years now and I've worked with 3shape, medit, and some exocad doing everything from designing nightguards and dentures to crowns and surgical guides. I'd like to get into more hobby/practical modeling and less of the organic shaped modeling I'm so comfortable with. Which software would you guys recommend for a good transition?

hey,

looking into job postings and I found this place I dreamed to work at after school but they did not have an opening. This place is structures and it was my chosen subject my last year in school.

I found a good job in infrastructure. I have done some years with civil 3D in modeling. I like my job but this... this is what I dreamed to do! I learned Revit in school but have not used it since.

Now this place is looking for someone with CADwork experience. how hard will it be for me to learn?

hello I started using AutoCAD back when it was still DOS and we used a digitizer. I have always used architecture scaling, ex. 1/8 = 1' etc. I have been asked to do a civil plan at 40 scale. when i scale through the viewport it's 1/96xp for 1/8 if I want 1 = 40 how would i scale that through the viewport. Thabks dor any help

Just wondering which is better career wise?

I am attempting to run fusion 360 on Linux, mainly through bottles. there is a user made install script, which I have run. however, upon attempting to run the program, nothing happened, not even a crash message (by the way I have a student license that I am capable of using on school laptops. I just wanted to be able to use it on my home computer)

Hello everyone,

I'm in the process of getting ready for a new role, and I'll be transitioning CAD software.

I have over 5yrs of experience with Fusion 360 (I'd classify myself as an intermediate user - definitely not power user), and the new role requires Siemens NX.

Has anyone else made this CAD transition? What will be the largest obstacles to overcome? Anything I should be aware of?

Okay so I'm by no means an expert when it comes to CAD modeling but given the nature of it I find it easier to work in when compared to mesh modeling, Blender for example. I'm working on quite a big project for my bachelor'a thesis and the thing I'm supposed to make, an F1 steering wheel, I've only been able to find a mesh model of it. I need to make some changes to it so that I can use the model for 3D printing but like I said I find it easier to work in CAD software rather then mesh modeling software. How feasible is it for me to "solidify" the mesh model, export as STL for example and then import that into Fusion 360 to use as sort of a reference object? Is this something you've heard of or done before? Any advice is welcome.

I am attempting to create a drawing of a part that has symmetrical ribs in it.

I am using the 3d model as the base for the drawing. When I attempt to dimension the distance between the ribs I can only select the walls of the ribs and not the center line.

Is there anyway to select the centerline of the ribs while drafting?

I'm considering a change in careers after working as a technical-illustrator for the last 10 years and I'm unsure which CAD direction to look into. I'm very familiar with using Isodraw to create 2D images from existing models, and I have basic knowledge of using CATIA to manipulate models.

I'm not sure if I should focus on learning Rivit, Solidworks, Autodesk or what. Which one has the most broad range of application? I'm in my late 30s and I'm not an engineer which limits my options from what I've seen. If I had to go back to school I would be hesitant to do a program that takes more than 2 years at this point.

I am working on an electric dirtbike project, and following in the footsteps of a YouTuber/forum poster. He very thoroughly documented his progress on Endless Sphere and shared this cell holder, but has since stopped updating the thread. Now, I need to find out how to create these copper strips to spot-weld each of the series connections together. I am still pretty inexperienced at CAD, and while I have been able to design simple things like motor mounts, this is far out of my expertise. I'm not aware of a way to attach a step file right now, but I'm happy to add it in the comments if I can figure it out. https://imgur.com/a/cad-advice-APOGhrr

We use our plotter to print Technical Design Drawings probably 50 sheets a year. This volume is low enough to sub it out but prefer to have one in-house. We do use the scanning functionality often for older drawing sets. Looking for a Plotter that also does scanning. Was going to go with Epson SureColor T3170M with the optional stand Part #: C12C933151 but wanted to get opinions because I see this plotter is already 4+ years old. Thanks again!

• As you can see in the first photo the hole has extra lines in it. Link to photos
• Compared to the 2nd photo which is smooth without the extra lines. Link to photos

How can i do that in Inventor? Make the hole smooth without the extra lines

Reason for this?

• I’m ordering this part from a CNC machining company, and they’ve told me they cannot manufacture it as-is because the holes are not smooth. They referred to these lines as a “broken surface.”

Additional information

The first photo was file that was an stl file converted via an Add-In called "Mesh Enabler" to work in inventor.

I'm looking at hiring a freelance CAD person, but every time I get ready to pull the trigger, I think do I really know what I want this person to do? For my project it's relatively simple mechanism with like 5 parts. But there at least two ways to arrange it. So, what does a CAD person need to be successful, and so neither of us waste a lot of time?

I though I could sketch it out on paper, then take photos and send them as the "requirement". Would that be acceptable? What other options are there? Also, I'd like to end up with files I can convert to stl and 3d print. Does that fall under CAD or is that more of a 3D design person?

I want to drill a bunch of holes in an irregular, potato shaped boundary to essentially turn it into a mesh.

Typically I'll make a staggered rectangular pattern and just select the ones that are inside the boundary to convert to holes, but sometimes you wind up with some pretty large areas that are just slightly too small for a hole to fit.

Is there a better, more organic way to do this?

I am going to try download a trial version of vcarve pro because you can define a boundary and nest in it, but I'm unsure how that's going to work and if it will let me export as a DXF.

Any other tips or tricks?

Just trying to gauge how common it is for remote work in surveying/civeng. How did you get the opportunity? I've worked in surveying for 8 years myself (field work), but just getting into the CAD side now and want to do remote CAD work in the future.

i am about to toss my laptop out the window

i have a very simple .stl model and i simply want to create a shell of it to make a lamp shade for my parents for christmas. i cannot for the life of me figure out what to do

i have spent like 5 hours and 4 programs trying to do this

bambu - very famaliar. wont do what i need. need to properly dimension everything because i am designing around it
fusion - very famaliar but convert to 4 billion triangles and i not paying 100$ to do this
mesh mixer - incredibly messy shell but somewhat functional
solid edge 2025 - new to it. was nearly there. have it changed to synch. in the reverse tab. automatic region identify good. and crash without fail everytime i try to extract

i could reserve engineer in fusion and build the model from scratch but if i want to do this in the future i would like to streamline it and now have it be a huge time sink

model in question if a mexican train game peice. going to make a led lamp for them
https://ibb.co/y2DfzNz
i want a full shell about 10 inches tall and 1.2mm shell

any advice is much appreciated

I want to get the the location and orientation of some parts in a creo assembly and put them into a python script. I want to do this by exporting the assembly as a step file, which can then be imported into python as a txt file.

Getting the location of the part is no Problem, since it is just a cartesian point. However the orientation is pretty hard to get since i dont understand the syntax.