Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Autocad advice?

["james" <james@whototake.com>]

Hi John, it's been a little while since the last time I used Autocad but
here are some things that may lead you in the right direction.  If you can
afford it, mechanical desktop is a nice tool to use for 3D design work.  It
allows you to add lots of details to the part in 3D.  Then if you need to
have the part made, it will draw and dimension the different viewports for
you.  It does an ok job, but some touching up will be necessary.  Then while
in the 2D view you can type in a new dimension and the part will
automatically be updated in all the views as well as the 3d view.  For 2D in
regular autocad you can use something called an Xref.  You pretty much would
draw everything as a seperate component in a separate file, then you Xref
them into the assembly drawing.  After that, if you change any of the other
drawings, it will automatically be updated in the assembly drawing.  If you
just merge the drawings together, when you make a change to one, you will
have to manually change the other.  But in my experience, if you want to
draw and assemble in 3D, Mechanical Desktop is a good way to go.  It comes
with several tutorials to help you get started also.  If I missed something
or am wrong about something, please don't hesitate to point it out.  Like I
said, it's been a little while.  Hope it helps.

James
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Farrington" <jrf@prismnet.com>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2002 12:36 PM
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Autocad advice?


>
> I'm wanting to learn Autocad for my own use, and was looking
> for some very general info on the proper techniques for designing
> something with it.  Not the actual drawing of it, but how to use
> layers and the organizition of drawings, and templates.
>
> Maybe someone can answer some of these questions:
>
> As an example, let's say that I was going to design my own
> submarine, and do it in 3-D.
>
> I want to be able to design the entire thing right down to the
> o-rings, and all the way up to the overall shape of the sub.
>
> My questions are with how I'd organize all of drawings.
>
> I'd like to be able to pull up the overall drawing, which has
> every single component of the sub, but would also like to
> be able to look at, and work on, nothing but a single thru-hull,
> or viewport.
>
> ie.  Do I put a viewport frame in one drawing, the viewport acrylic in
>      another, the rim in another, etc.?
>
>      And then, somehow magically define the location of the viewport
>      pieces and then be able to bring up an assembled drawing of the
viewport,
>      and at a higher level, an assembled drawing of the entire sub.
>
> I know that you can merge drawings, but I would prefer to not have to
> do that to see a final drawing of the sub (this would require 8 identical
> viewport drawings, etc)
>
> ie. Is there a way to draw the hull section of the sub in one drawing,
> and tell it 'at locations (x1,y1,z1) and (x2,y2,z2), there are things
> called 'viewports', that are defined in another drawing, viewport.dwg.
>
> So, if someone understands what I'm asking, and uses, or has used,
> Autocad to a great extent, I'd be interested in hearing some of the
> ways that designs like this are organized.
>
>
> Thanks for any help.
> -John
>
>
>