3D cad design sequence

[Jasonb]

, I am going thru it trying to find that 'hole' command (which I haven't found yet), but am glad to be looking, as I am reminded of some stuff I forgot that will be handy and useful.

Look at and read my replies over the last two days Atom3D DOES NOT have the hole command only Pro and Expert have it

 

[oldCB]

Here is an engine that was developed from three photos of an old engine from England.
I modeled one part at a time, assembled the parts, 3D printed patterns, cast the engine, machined and assembled it.

Did not use constraints on any of it.

View attachment 141345View attachment 141346View attachment 141347View attachment 141348View attachment 141349View attachment 141350View attachment 141351View attachment 141352View attachment 141353View attachment 141354

 

[Richard Hed]

Look at and read my replies over the last two days Atom3D DOES NOT have the hole command only Pro and Expert have it

That's what I thot, however, going back thru the tutorial, I am finding things I forgot that are very useful. I just want to see Gordon succeed, is all. I thimpfk that Alibre's tutorial is not very good, I mean as far as it goes,it's just fine but it doesn't go far enough.

 

[Jasonb]

Richard it is a tutorial for a "first Assembly" though a lot of the Atom tutorials are a bit basic.

Anyone starting out with Alibre would do well to watch some of the other tutorials, they may have a couple of things in them that can't be done with Atom but I would say 95% of the content is applicable to all their products.

Have a watch of some of these exercises, number six has some "project to sketch" that you were asking about. Also see how he makes extensive use of constraints as he sketches.

https://www.alibre.com/modeling-exercises/

 

[awake]

Not to nit pick but tolerances don't represent the errors of the machine, they represent the allowable deviation from the nominal dimension

Quite right; I knew I was over-simplifying there. Perhaps a slightly more accurate way to say it: You give the CNC a specific number to shoot for. Any deviation from that number represents the error of the machine and tools (e.g., wear on a cutting tool). You decide if the deviation is within the tolerance you desire / can accept.

But the key point in the discussion: you DON'T send the CNC something like 0.375 +/- .002 -- you don't send tolerances TO the CNC.

 

[GreenTwin]

I would advise that folks who are trying to learn 3D modeling not get too obsessive about every single detail and every aspect of the 3D program.

Better to start with some 3D models that may not be exactly perfect or optimized, or many not conform to what others think is the exact correct way to do things, and make some things, and learn as you go, instead of getting mired in the minutia of every aspect of 3D modeling, and give up before you even get a change to make any significant models.

Its a fine line for sure.
You can start driving a car without learning how to be a race car driver; that can come later.

Just a few thoughts.
Been there, done that.

.

 

[Gordon]

I am slowly learning how to do things with Alibre. There are a few things that I really miss from Visual Cadd. The thing I miss most is being able to place things at a predetermined point using relative location and being able to enter actual location. Also with VC I can terminate a command with the mouse instead of always having to go to the keyboard to hit escape. I must have hit the right muse button to terminate a command a few hundred times.

 

[ShopShoe]

GreenTwin,

I can second your thoughts in post #126 above. Learning generally is better at first than sweating over every detail.

Also been there and done that,

--ShopShoe

 

[Jasonb]

I am slowly learning how to do things with Alibre. There are a few things that I really miss from Visual Cadd. The thing I miss most is being able to place things at a predetermined point using relative location and being able to enter actual location. Also with VC I can terminate a command with the mouse instead of always having to go to the keyboard to hit escape. I must have hit the right muse button to terminate a command a few hundred times.

I answered your question about placing by co ordinates in post 117, it can be done.

No need to hit escape all the time you can go from drawing lines straight upto the circle tool or any of the others, the line being dragged by the mouse will just disappear when you click something else.

 

[minh-thanh]

I would advise that folks who are trying to learn 3D modeling not get too obsessive about every single detail and every aspect of the 3D program.

Better to start with some 3D models that may not be exactly perfect or optimized, or many not conform to what others think is the exact correct way to do things, and make some things, and learn as you go, instead of getting mired in the minutia of every aspect of 3D modeling, and give up before you even get a change to make any significant models.

Its a fine line for sure.
You can start driving a car without learning how to be a race car driver; that can come later.

Just a few thoughts.
Been there, done that.

.

That is absolutely true for me.
Almost all of my plans have 19mm cylinder diameter and 19mm piston..., shaft and bearing: all has 14, 12, 10 , 8 mm diameter...
I don't care about dimensional tolerance when I design
When I finish the cylinder I will make the piston to fit that cylinder, when I make the shaft I will make the bearing to fit the shaft or the shaft to fit the bearing....
Draw an engine and learn from it.
X axis and Y axis + Z axis = 3 D .
Simple thinking . Don't complicate

 

[Gordon]

Slowly getting the hang of this. Playing around with assembly now that I have enough parts designed to put something together. I am finding that constraints are both a good thing and a bad thing. Too many constraints and things cannot be placed where you want them because previous constraints do not permit it. Trying to find the conflicting constraint can be difficult some times.

After a week+ of off and on learning I am where experienced users would be before lunch.

 

[Richard Hed]

Slowly getting the hang of this. Playing around with assembly now that I have enough parts designed to put something together. I am finding that constraints are both a good thing and a bad thing. Too many constraints and things cannot be placed where you want them because previous constraints do not permit it. Trying to find the conflicting constraint can be difficult some times.

After a week+ of off and on learning I am where experienced users would be before lunch.

Yup, been there done that. I was watching a video of one of the lessons that one of the fellows HMEM put up for us to veiw, I would have done it completely differently , however, I didded learn some new trix.

 

[Gordon]

I have watched a bunch of videos and written tutorials and even when they are doing what I want to do it takes me a bunch of tries to actually duplicate it. Usually they are doing something with the mouse like right click or left click that they just assumed that you knew about. I am having a problem with figuring out how to place and rotate parts so that they are in the correct orientation to apply constraints. I have not seen a list of the various mouse actions available.

 

[Richard Hed]

I have watched a bunch of videos and written tutorials and even when they are doing what I want to do it takes me a bunch of tries to actually duplicate it. Usually they are doing something with the mouse like right click or left click that they just assumed that you knew about. I am having a problem with figuring out how to place and rotate parts so that they are in the correct orientation to apply constraints. I have not seen a list of the various mouse actions available.

Ah, when in sketch mode, the little box in the upper right hand cornere disappears--right? But you can go to "view mode" on the ribbon and turn it on. Also, don't forget you can use both mouse buttons "down" to rotate the view. That's something I find useful, but forgot till I went thru the tutorial again.

I do just like you do--that is, I work a command till I get it right. Takes many tries, bbut I find it so fun (fascinating) that I keep at it till I gets it.

 

[GreenTwin]

I crash right into the next command, without closing the last command dialog box.
Does not seem to be a problem in SW, and saves a lot of keystrokes.

.

 

[johnmcc69]

"After a week+ of off and on learning I am where experienced users would be before lunch.".

Guess how "Experienced users" started out? Yep, same as you. Show me a 1st time 3D cad user who didn't want to smash the keyboard...Well, you get it.

Keep at it Gordon, you'll "Get it too", & when you do, you'll enjoy using 3D.

I do just like you do--that is, I work a command till I get it right. Takes many tries, bbut I find it so fun (fascinating) that I keep at it till I gets it.

Yep. Just like that.

John

 

[GreenTwin]

Making 3D models is addictive.
Like potato chips, you can't just make one.

.

 

[Bentwings]

amazon has a number of books just look at reviews and select one that fits your needs some are very basic some are much more detailed there system specific ones for most butrelatively new user search around. . As new user I can feel your pains just try to keep in mind that 3D solid modeling is much like being in the shop with unlimited machines Some times you can get caught trying to make an impossible part. To me this means maybe rethinking what I was trying to do
Guess how "Experienced users" started out? Yep, same as you. Show me a 1st time 3D cad user who didn't want to smash the keyboard...Well, you get it.

Keep at it Gordon, you'll "Get it too", & when you do, you'll enjoy using 3D.


Yep. Just like that.

John

 

[Gordon]

OK Slowly learning here. I got enough parts to get started so I tried to make an assembly. After a lot of trial and error I finally got some thing together. I am finding that constraints are both a useful tool and very easy to get the wrong constraints. Try inserting a new part and then find out that previous constraints do not let you do what you want to do. That means go searching for the previous constraints and find the ones which turned red and then modify them or delete them. For instance I positioned the piston in the correct center and rotation to the cylinder and then tried to move the piston to be concentric to the connecting rod wrist pin hole and when I move it it sent the cylinder down inside of the crankcase. I keep discovering things which make life easier. For instance trying to locate the wrist pin hole in the connecting rod is difficult because it is hidden behind the cylinder. I was going through the connecting rod tree until I found the right feature until I found that I can hide the cylinder to find the correct feature.

I have to do some more playing around with colors and opacity etc to have thing show without making them too dense or disappear entirely. Words of wisdom from experienced users are appreciated.

I also want to try animating things to see what happens when the crankshaft turns. I don't want to get too far down the line on the assembly because I am sure that I am going to have a similar problem of something having the wrong constraint which will not let the assembly turn.

Thanks to those who have given me advice on this thread.

 

[kuhncw]

Gordon,

You're off to a good start.

Chuck