Cad

ranch23

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Ok fellows, read the E Machine Shop posts. I build custom rifles and do some manufacturing. Would like to add some CAD to my bag of tricks. The closest college appears to use Surf- Cam. Thoughts? And then obviously up to CNC.
 
I like Alibre. -a lot. In the past several years, I tried at least a half-dozen of the big name CAD programs. I'd spend 4-5 days doing the tutorials and interactively using the program -And I got nowhere. This was with the full-demo versions of SolidWorks, AutoCad, Pro-E etc. Also purchased AutoCad thinking it must be fairly easy to use. Nope... BTW: I'm an electrical engineer in real life so, complex programs are nothing new to me.

I tried the demo version of Alibre, watched 45 minutes of online tutorial videos and two hours later was making simple parts. Liked it so much, I got the professional version. Here's something I made tonight in a couple hours. I've only had the program a couple weeks -but admit burning the midnight oil, mainly because it's fun and addictive. This is the first CAD program that ever struck me so well.


BTW: If you click the PDF image, you can use the mouse buttons and scroll button to move and 3D rotate the image. Some of the clone versions of PDF readers don't handle it too well though. Use Acrobat Reader.

Ray
 

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e machine shop is not perfect, it is free
when it exports to a dxf it relocates the part away from the x y zero, if you know it, it's fine. thats not a problem in d2nc that i use to make the g-code because it lets you decide where you want zero to be and it only looks at the dxf as an object.
e machine shop is just so easy to use and learn but it is not a profesional platform. most of the softwares i tried to use wanted me to type in a location for each item i was placing on the screen, emachine lets me draw it first then enter size and drag it to the location. it will show centers to align items and you can copy mirror flip rotate. you can also add the z axis depth if you wish to see it in 3d. i dont use z depth i add that later in d2nc as the machining depth
steve
 
I like that. I use ACAD and Solidworks, but I'll look into that as another option.
 
If you decide to get Alibre, I'd highly recommend purchasing the online training videos. They are awesome. This seems to be the secret sauce (along with a fairly good user interface / GUI) of their program.

The Personal Edition is very good and it's identical to the Professional version except the ability to do Sheet Metal and create Bill-of-Materials. Also, the pro version comes with a part catalog so you can just pull-in standard parts w/o having to draw them.

BTW: No affiliation with them other than being a satisfied customer.


Im looking at Alibre now.
 
here is the last drawing i did in emachineshop it is a cnc controller enclosure the outline on the right was used for the cnc plasma to cut out the sheet metal. and all the openings were milled into the folded box. this drawing took me about a half hour. I am not a talented person i just look for the easiest way to do things without learning everything. einstein said "dont waste your time remembering anything you can look up" I dont want to learn an entire program i want to use it and add knowledge as i need it. sorry it is fuzzy i took a pic of the screen it's faster than converting a dxf to jpg.
steve

DSCF0524.JPG
 
Before I retired from working I have used many different CAD programs such as Inter-graph IGES ,Micro station, Medusa and AutoCad plus some others and liked AutoCad the most. AutoCad seems to work the best for g-code using Vector Program and some other oddball stuff that I did over the years like Post Script for art work. I like AutoCad for UNIX when writing programs because using multiple open windows is nice to try files without changing the programs. Just my opinion and did learn it very quick not like the other Cad programs. I do like Vector for generating g-code and I am going to try Inkscape for gears when the need arises.
Paul
 
Steve,

I downloaded the EMachineShop program and put it on the other computer, played with it a lil this evening, I think I can get used to it.

Doc
 
it was funny i was talking about emachineshop bugs and just recieved an updated version
maybe they fxed what i have found
steve
 
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