Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

CAD is theonly way to go for 663. Without CAD, your machinist might get mad if you need to add a hole here or there. It is much easier to do when teh part is already dialed in. CAD (solidworks in our case) also helps our team determine how much we weigh. (sually light be 5 lbs). I believe that any project that involves machining should be done in CAD. You willl find out that a "real" engineer is required to build their project in CAD BEFORE it hits the machine shop. There is no such thing as a drill.

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

Thank you all for your helpful responses. On 1250, no one even knows there is an Inventor award. I guess that tells you how important CAD is on the team. ;)

In defense of the team, there is a shortage of computing facilities to perform this work so a single designer is doing it at home. More an exercise in documenting the design rather than design to build.

As this was posted in the CAD section, I am not surprised to find that most of the responses were on a positive note. Maybe I'll try in the general forum and see what happens.

Good luck with all your entries!

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

I believe the CAD drawings are very important to design. Our mentors however did not think it was. So when we came upon the problem of not having the right wheels because we were making the robot basicly as we went we had run into the issue and had to reorder wheels. Needless to say for all those who don't think its important there is a prime example. That and if you are really savy about using it you can model everything down to bolts and wires and can generally get to know your robot very well even if it is shipped off ;)

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

Inventor important to some extent. There have been plenty of times when we've saved hours of work by using Inventor. But the problem is when you make slight changes like drilling a hole here for weight, or simply throwing a part out and quickly cutting another one takes a lot less time. These quick changes put designers behind the manufacturers, and then catching up with a manufacturing team that usually has 3 or 4 times as many people on the design team it's impossible. Complete robots, including electronics, pneumatics, animations are all things that take so little time compared to Inventor. Also most teams work till the last minute, then when the robot is gone it's impossible to get measurements. All of these factors lead to the impossibility to use Inventor completely. I will say team 103 used inventor a lot. We designed every one of our prototypes, and even used it to lay out a schematic for electronics. This was due to successful communication and working along with our manufacturing guys.

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

CAD is the oxygen for engineering. It's the baseline for all that we do -- atleast to start. It helps us see things we would not without designing.

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

CAD? What's CAD?

Really our team is starting to use it more. Part of the problem is that we build before they can CAD an idea. As the students improve I am sure that it will become a starting point not a middle ground.

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

I definitely agree here. On MORT, we design a lot of our parts in CAD. (With the exception of our frame which was drawn out and mocked up entirely using cardboard.) We have electrical diagrams, CAD files of any parts that have detailed machining (mostly so we can CNC) and I think that this year it really got out to the masses as both the end effectors and drivetrain teams used CAD people and software to help their design process.
On the otherhand, quick fixes (weight holes, corner rounding, last-minute changes) are done without design work in advance, leaving the CAD team to walk into the shop everyday to ask "What did you change today?"

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

For us, CAD(Autodesk Inventor) was become the golden rule. It has given us two ubercool chassises that are awsome. The arms are a different story. But yes, CAD gets massive props on our team. If you have'nt done so, have you been living under a robot?!

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

Without Cad on our team, no robot would ever be mad. For the past 3 years now the robot has been completely made on cad before made in real life. This helps do it right the first time and gives the students real life experience in designing parts for most anything.

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

Yes CAD is very important on our team. It helps everyone see their ideas and also helps save alot of money when it's time to prototype. I personally don't do much CAD and work but I do do alot for FIRST which helps keep me on top of these skills if I ever need to use them for work.

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Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

sadly our robot seemed to be built before cadd was even mentioned. My son was the only one who tried to cadd but it is so hard with 7 sets of hands building and only one cadding. we took lots of pictures but overall as a rookie team cadd was not really used. now Paint on the other hand was used in the design as it is simple, clear, to the point, and everyone on the team understood it instantly. now we are working on the cadd more as a documentation of what the team went through to get what it has now.


I hope that next year CADD will take a larger part in the design but it is hard when all the kids really want to do is build.

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

I suggest you guys do some summer classes in CAD because your teams seems really eager to use computer programs to draft designs, but just doens't have the knowledge. Once you know inventor, it's really easy to use, so I think that a few classes from a mentor or student on the team could really help out.

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

Team 213 relies on Autodesk Inventor from the beginning until the end of the season. The two student design leaders (a friend and I) are the lead Inventor modelers on the team, and are often doing most of the modeling the parts. I also teach the younger members how to use the program, and I am pleased to say that they were very enthusiastic about it. Inventor is a very powerful and useful tool that has streamlined the efficiency of our manufacturing process.

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

On our team, if you wish to make a major modification to the robot, you must fully draw it in CAD first.

Re: Does CAD get respect on your team?
 

CAD is all well an good, but personaly, our team uses Solid Works, and thanks to one of our engineers, we have a whole computer room with it loaded on every one.