[DinerKid]

Another aspect of this discussion which is emerging, is to what extent teams use CAD during their design process. I have seen teams that use CAD to make sure that things fit simply by modeling blocks that are roughly the shape of a mechanism, organizing the blocks and then saying "ok the shooter must be no bigger than the block" and so on.

There is a big difference between modeling a rectangular prism called, "electronics board" and placing individual electronics components.

There are also plenty of teams who model in every fastener, and every hole. As others have mentioned, this becomes more important when parts are being cut with CNC tools.

~DK