[ASD20]

It definitely is possible to learn CAD well enough for FRC in the offseason. As the design lead of my team this year, I had to lead the CAD of our robot and had no real CAD experience prior to last Summer (unless you count SketchUp). So, over the summer, I taught myself to use inventor. I learned a lot from doing that and I have a few pieces of advice on how to do this. I am not a CAD expert, but rather an expert on being a complete CAD rookie.

1. Make sure you have a project
It is really hard to stay motivated and interested when just following tutorials or CADing random things. I first started designing a button board and then a t-shirt cannon robot which we eventually built. Having a project gave me motivation and also a lot of practice and ability to learn from my mistakes due to the size of the project.

2. For FRC, you don't need to know what most of the CAD software does
95% of the parts I design are made almost entirely of circles, rectangles, and hexagons arranged in a circular or rectangular pattern. Most of the more complicated parts are COTS and you can just download the models. However, I will say the one thing you should learn as soon as possible is that pattern tools are your friend. Trust me, I probably drew 200 individual 1/4" holes spaced 1 inch apart before I learned about patterns. Assemblies for robots can be difficult and I still don't know a lot of the best practices, but that is something you should devote more time to because a lot of robot CAD is assembling COTS parts.

3. Learn as you go
I wouldn't personally recommend going through complete tutorials, though if that's how you learn best, don't let me stop you. However, I find it is best to work on a project and when you reach something you don't know how to do, then go and watch a short tutorial or ask somebody. I find this is a lot more efficient and you will also learn a lot just from repetition, especially in term of good practices for easy modification and assembly. In my early projects the last few parts are noticeably (and somewhat entertaingly) better drawn and organized than the first parts.