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So where I work I design/machine plastic extrusion dies. When I first started here, they gave me a seat of Solidworks, I'm guessing because they knew I was familiar with it. But it's not really ideal for what I'm doing. I'm essentially doing 2d design work that needs to translate to my CAM easily. Doing this kind of design work in SW Drawings isn't really what it was made for, and it really starts to choke when I end up with a shitload of entities in a drawing. Also not having a Z axis while working in the drawings is a pain in the rear end sometimes. I was just going to get a seat of AutoCAD, but the OP shits all over it. But I'm not sure what the better alternative is.
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Jan 12, 2022 17:57
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 14:17 |
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Wanderless posted:You might take a look at eDrawings since you have a SW license already. I've never used it for complex drawings but as far as I can tell it is about as close to a 2d AutoCAD clone as you can get. I was always under the impression that edrawings was more of a viewing/publishing tool than a full fledged cad system, am I wrong there? Checking out the website it's a bunch of marketing bullshit jargon I don't understand.
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Jan 12, 2022 18:15
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biracial bear for uncut posted:There is absolutely nothing stopping you from working in a Part file and sketching whatever you want in a single sketch, then saving it as a DXF or whatever your CAM software wants when you are done. Assuming this is for a laser or waterjet software (or maybe some flavor of wire EDM). Yup, these are for Wire EDM. This is kind of what I'm doing now, except instead of working in individual parts I'm doing sketches on one SLDDRW file. Every tool I make has multiple plates of some fairly complex geometry so it adds up. I did start messing around with making solids of the plates, but the vast majority of the plates I make have profiles of different shapes top to bottom (4 axis in Wire EDM terms) and doing lofted cuts with complex geometry in SW makes me want to die. So I end up with a drawing with front and back views of a bunch of plates that ends up being too big for what SW is intending to use their drawing function for. Draftsight I think might be more of what I'm looking for here.
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Jan 12, 2022 18:26
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Nooo, drink the bleach! Another problem with doing it this way is the plates in a stacked die need to flow from one shape to the next so it's much easier to have them all laid out next to each other for making changes. The same thing also applies to extruding cuts through. Also sometimes the shapes will overlap each other so I'd end up cutting off pieces of the other side when cut through. Also just downloaded a demo of Draftsight, not sure if I'm a huge fan. Ugggh I like SWs sketching tools, I wish the slddrw side of things was more robust.
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Jan 12, 2022 23:02
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I'm well aware I'm not using it for it's intended use (as I did say that), hence me coming here asking for alternatives. I suppose the idea of just having a sldprt file with a bunch of sketches scattered all over it and no solids just also struck as me not really intended use also. I'll give that a shot. A Proper Uppercut fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Jan 13, 2022 |
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Jan 13, 2022 19:12
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oXDemosthenesXo posted:Can you post a picture of the tool you're trying to model? I think I know what you're working on but images would clarify alot. This is just a pretty basic one-  That's just the front and back views of the plates, and a calibrator off to the side. I don't actually need solids of anything, aside from some of the more complicated calibrators for ease of manufacturing. My CAM does a much better job of connecting upper and lower profiles of the plates than SW does with a lofted cut. All I need are the top and bottom views like I have here. Time-wise, the way I'm doing this is actually pretty quick. And I know SW isn't the best suited for this particular kind of design. And I don't know why you're making it sound like I'm arguing. I'm not, I already said I'd give working in a sldprt a shot.
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Jan 13, 2022 19:40
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tylertfb posted:I made a mockup of this on Solidworks (that I use here at work) and making a rough prism (4" x 3" x 1" as a guess) and then making sketches on the two faces is simple enough. Then you can save as DXF, and chose which sketch you want output by changing the visibiltiy of sketches (all the sketches you don't want output set to invisible...) I tried the fusion cam at my last job and it's pretty inadequate for the 4 axis stuff I was doing and am doing now. I've also used SW in my past job shop life to export dxf off of faces for CAM geometry and it works really well for that. I guess what I was just trying to avoid making solids off all these blocks when I don't actually need solids. I realize I don't necessarily need to do that, may take a shot at layering reference planes.
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Jan 13, 2022 21:46
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Ambrose Burnside posted:Would anybody be able to convert a single .sldprt into a .stl for me? i’m travelling and have access to a large-format printer but don’t have access to my computer/any of my CAD software I should be able to, I'll PM you my email.
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Jan 16, 2022 13:36
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oXDemosthenesXo posted:
"Ohh uh can you send over a stp file instead because we're really cheap and a month behind you?" Ugggggghhh
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Jan 17, 2022 10:52
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So in reference to earlier discussion on the best way to use SW for designing my tooling. Been meaning around in a sldprt file. I like how using sketches on multiple planes works/looks- Issue I'm having now is importing to CAM. Is there a way to export two sketch planes like this and keep the Z distances intact? Or a way to export a solid model as a wireframe? I tried IGS but couldn't seem to get anywhere. I just want to avoid using solids in my CAM if possible as it's much easier to work with lines/curves.
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Jan 24, 2022 13:41
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jammyozzy posted:I'm afraid I can't help with your exact issue, but I am so relieved to see you trying out working with sldprt files. Even as a non-SW user the description of your previous workflow was setting my teeth on edge! I think I'd kill for an AutoCAD 2.5d-ish like program with SW sketching tools. They work really well, and I'm still more comfortable working in a paperspace like environment. Edit: huh, I actually got it to work. Was able to export 2d sketches and they stayed on their Z axis levels. I think it may have been working before, but when I open the files in my CAM the lines come in invisible and I need to reset the line attributes. Not sure what the deal with that is. A Proper Uppercut fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Jan 25, 2022 |
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Jan 25, 2022 10:54
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Christ, that's still around? My new job already had a seat of Bobcad they were using, and I was dreading it because of past experiences. I've grown to actually really like it, though I'm only using it for 3 axis milling and wire edm. Also they've really eased up on the sales calls, that was always my biggest issue. For the price it's definitely a competitive option IMO.
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Jan 30, 2022 23:42
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All this bullshit with SW just makes me think of Windows back in the early-mid 2000s, and how the licensing was such a pain in rear end, and expensive, and piracy was rampant. Since they kinda straightened that out, made things a lot easier and cheaper,I almost feel some kind of goodwill towards them. I can only imagine that piracy numbers have gone down drastically too.
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May 21, 2022 12:30
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Good Will Hrunting posted:Oh no, not a wrap, I was more thinking I'd like to make cookie-cutter-esque 3D printed objects in the shape of whatever mice I'm using at the time and not have to go through this annoying process for fitting the back/butt/sides perfect every time and trimming them down etc. Basically cookie-cutters for arbirarily different shaped mice that were broken into quadrant like the ones I linked above. 3D models for mice have become quite common and easy to get, so I was wondering what the level of effort would be to generally do this if I wanted to switch mice or try a few different types of grip tape. I do things like this at work with recreating customer parts for prototypes. I scan the object on a flatbed scanner and import it into Solidworks and just trace it. It works surprisingly well. After you have the outside shape it should be pretty simple to trim it into pieces in CAD.
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May 22, 2022 18:56
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honda whisperer posted:Made a thing at work. Got a production job, at least for us, and designed and made a pyramid to run 3 parts at once. It didn't crash and I'm very happy. That's awesome. Those trunnion tables are really cool.
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Nov 4, 2022 11:18
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Hadlock posted:So Inventor is Autodesk's stab at competing with/against Solidworks? Interesting Yea it's the 3d modeling companion to AutoCAD.
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Nov 14, 2022 23:47
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Having trouble figuring something out in Solidworks- I'm trying to have a lip run around this cutout on a tube. I can't seem to figure out how to make it follow the contour created by the intersection of the cut and outside of the tube. If I do a swept boss I can't figure out how to make it follow the contour of the cutout.
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Nov 22, 2022 13:22
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Ah, never mind, I also just figured it out. I ended up making an intersection curve where the cutout was and used that as the sweep profile, worked beautiful.
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Nov 22, 2022 13:49
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His Divine Shadow posted:Legal requirement. Also never heard of a 3d sketch before. I have real problems wrapping my head around that idea. Like isn't a 3d sketch what 3d modelling is. It's a little weird to get used to, but it's just a sketch where you're not constrained to a single plane. It's a bit different than modeling because you're using sketch tools to draw lines instead of extruding shapes.
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Dec 8, 2022 10:27
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DR FRASIER KRANG posted:I made it in freecad and I uploaded a dxf file. If I was going to guess I would say your corners aren't trimmed and you may have little line segments hanging off of them. Edit: Actually you mentioning the cylinder tool makes me think you were doing this in 3D? If so, you shouldn't be uploading a dxf. Stp would be more appropriate. 3d wireframe dxfs generally don't work well for creating toolpaths. A Proper Uppercut fucked around with this message at 10:53 on Dec 17, 2022 |
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Dec 17, 2022 10:49
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meowmeowmeowmeow posted:You should always include at least one reference dimension for any .dxf you send anywhere just in case they import an inch file as mm or whatever, it'll prevent so many problems. Yea over 20 years at a job shop I can't count how many times something like this happened and would need to call the customer and ask if they want a 10 foot die cavity.
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Jan 15, 2023 17:37
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oXDemosthenesXo posted:It took me a good minute to realize that was one document, I thought it was several unrelated drawings. Does Fusion not come with a default drawing template? It does come with one. That drawing is a crime against humanity. On a Solidworks note, I wish the Offset tool was a little more helpful in telling you why it won't offset something. For the past year I've been listening to the Aubrey-Maturin audiobooks and won't shut up about them, so my wife got me this cool nautical themed fancy pen for my birthday. I decided I wanted to 3d print a holder for it and I wanted to do some kind of sailing ship embossed on the base. I found a DXF of one and it took me maybe 3 hours trying to offset the whole outside shape so I could do a thin extruded cut. The DXF is probably a traced image so there's all sorts of dumb poo poo that wasn't playing well, but I did get it evenutally. A Proper Uppercut fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Feb 20, 2023 |
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Feb 20, 2023 15:21
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NewFatMike posted:A thin feature is an option within SOLIDWORKS features that have it follow the outline of a sketch rather than the contour of a sketch. You don’t even need a closed contour to do it. I've had SW pick that thin feature before because it thought that's what I was trying to do but I never actually knew what it did. That probably would have saved me a buttload of time. Learn something knew etc
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Feb 20, 2023 18:18
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E4C85D38 posted:
Agreed, especially if you mainly need it for doing 3d printing, it's easily your best option.
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Feb 20, 2023 23:13
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You guys would probably kill me if you saw how I'm using SW. I mostly use it for 2d drawings of my extrusion die designs because I like the sketch tools a lot more than any other 2D CAD I've ever used. I also regularly delete all my relations because the shapes I make are so weird that it just complicates things.
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Jul 13, 2023 20:57
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LloydDobler posted:There's a way to have it not apply relations in the first place if that's how you roll. It's either in settings or you can hold ctrl while you drag and it doesn't auto-constrain. Ha yea I know there's a way to turn off the auto constraint I just haven't gone looking for it yet.
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Jul 13, 2023 21:57
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ryanrs posted:I have a Solidworks drawing of a part. I want to save the drawing as an image, either pdf or high res png. But I am having a very hard time setting the line weight of visible edges. There are like 3 different line width setting under document options. They do something, because I seem to be able to switch between micro-thin lines and merely thin lines. But try as I may, I can't get Solidworks to spit out an image with heavy lines. Can you make a 2d drawing and actually physically change the line widths? I do that sometimes.
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Jul 23, 2023 20:09
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Not sure if it would make a difference but maybe convert the view to a sketch, change all the line widths, and export that? I know I've done this before to get them to show up better. I think I save as a jpeg normally though.
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Jul 24, 2023 01:21
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honda whisperer posted:Ah yes when the hand sized weldments from water jet showed up on a 4' skid. Oh boy I've made that mistake before. We would get a lot of parts where they just send a cad file of the part but no print but we wouldn't touch it until they did.
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Jul 25, 2023 09:19
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 14:17 |
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I used to have to use Inkscape for a laser engraver and it drove me up a wall as someone used to regular CAD software and not super familiar with vector design type stuff.
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Mar 4, 2024 15:16
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