973 Remote Assistance and Mentorship Program (RAMP)

[DampRobot]

Adam, have you ever used the "Copy with Mates" tool? It looks like you could save some time on stuff where you're inserting multiple parts at once, like those wheel trucks or gussets. I learned about it last year, and it saved me a ton of time over individually dropping in parts and then adding mates.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

Adam, have you ever used the "Copy with Mates" tool? It looks like you could save some time on stuff where you're inserting multiple parts at once, like those wheel trucks or gussets. I learned about it last year, and it saved me a ton of time over individually dropping in parts and then adding mates.

Nice! I'm already learning some new features. This is a cool one.

Also, Joe, you are correct. I noticed the other video sizes came later. Good to know.

[Travis Schuh]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

First video is out, I'm going to try to do a bunch before kickoff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCjBx3TXB6Y

Youtube capped my video to 360, anyone know how to fix that?

I watched your video just to see what cool solidworks/design tricks you use (gotta love youtube 2x), and figure I might as well share some of my favorite with you. Particularly because you called out that you enjoy hearing about other's favorites.

I personally prefer to have only one contiguous outline in sketches (instead of having overlapping contours and selecting the regions when executing the feature). I realize it may take a little more time, but it makes me happier and I think it may reduce confusion when adding more contours back into sketches. I find the power trim tool to be pretty effective at turning things into non-overlaping closed contours. I probably would have used it on the gearbox, but doesn't look like it would have done much good on the gusset.

Also, on the gearboxes, I find myself drawing the pitch circles and then dimensioning the circles apart by the .003 spacing. This is just one of the many other ways as you mentioned. I recently found that when dimensioning between circles, you can select the arc condition between center (default), closest, and furthest. This saves me a lot of time over drawing construction geometry, constraining it to be the minimum distance between circles, and then dimensioning that. I think solidworks lets you alternate which condition it places it down with if you hold shift as you place them, or you can change it afterwards by going to the second tab in the property manager when selecting the dimension after the dimension is placed.

I look forward to the rest of your videos.

-Travis

[AdamHeard]

Three new videos up! A rambling finish to the WCD, and then two short videos; one on symmetry/mirrors and one on pocketing.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX0Y...fYoImiw/videos

Originally Posted by Travis Schuh

I personally prefer to have only one contiguous outline in sketches (instead of having overlapping contours and selecting the regions when executing the feature). I realize it may take a little more time, but it makes me happier and I think it may reduce confusion when adding more contours back into sketches. I find the power trim tool to be pretty effective at turning things into non-overlaping closed contours. I probably would have used it on the gearbox, but doesn't look like it would have done much good on the gusset.

Oh boy. You're not going to like the pocketing video that just finished uploading...

I agree with your point, and I'm a bit sloppy in that regard but generally do trim to make things clean (except in the pocketing example).

Thanks for the tip on the gears, I was doing PD circles + .003 and then also doing the OD (as I like seeing the clearances) as a radial dimension off the PD, but I kind of got sick of drawing all that and it was visually clunky.

[Travis Schuh]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Oh boy. You're not going to like the pocketing video that just finished uploading...

It made me cringe a little, but I do appreciate how quickly you laid out that pocketing. I will have to give it a try on some parts and hope that Austin doesn't kill me for it.

-Travis

[TD78]

Adam,

Great thread and videos. I've forwarded them on to my team and I might have sparked interest in a few new people already. I think it helps seeing something people can relate to created in the SW environment vs. going through a standard tutorial video. It was mentioned to me that you were going a little fast...but I understand that was probably slow for you. I just tell them to stop the video until they can catch up. It was good to see that I'm not the only person who abuses construction lines. Also happy to learn new things...the symmetric mate is very cool...and I'll have to check out some of the other ones mentioned recently (like copy with mates). Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing more videos.

[mplanchard]

This is a wonderful idea Adam. Thank you for helping so many. Marie

[Nemo]

Adam - thanks for all of the great technical and discussion you've contributed over the years. I definitely pay attention to what you say.

Adam and 973 are awesome. Super friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. I hope a bunch of teams get in touch via this RAMP program and bring their programs up a couple of notches.

[AdamHeard]

Good news! Four new videos are up.

Bad news, Travis won't be my friend anymore most likely.....

Anyone have recommendations for how/where I should start dumping all these CAD files?

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Anyone have recommendations for how/where I should start dumping all these CAD files?

Google Drive?

[DampRobot]

Some other CAD commentary for you to mull over (now that Travis won't be your friend anymore...):

It seemed like a lot of your sketches for parts put essentially all part geometry into one sketch. I'm not saying that the way you're doing it is wrong or bad, but I've always been taught that having multiple 3d features produces a more robust and adaptable model than including a lot of complication in sketches. Additionally, I hope that when I teach kids to CAD with a lot of features (for example on frame tubing, first the profile extrusion, then any wheel holes, then top gusset holes, then gearbox holes, etc), that they realize that the way they model a part should reflect what depends on what and how it will actually be manufactured. Of course, I can definitely see how you might find putting a lot of stuff in a sketch faster.

Also, I'm totally in the same boat a you for construction geometry. It's a really neat and agile tool which you can always find clever ways to use.

Finally, for those situations where you want to put a fillet somewhere where there are two edges so close together that it would break the normal fillet command, use face fillet mode. You have to manually select the two faces you want to "join"with a fillet, but it is generally a much more robust tool. It's great for forcing all those weird fillets where the edges don't quite work out right.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

It seemed like a lot of your sketches for parts put essentially all part geometry into one sketch. I'm not saying that the way you're doing it is wrong or bad, but I've always been taught that having multiple 3d features produces a more robust and adaptable model than including a lot of complication in sketches. Additionally, I hope that when I teach kids to CAD with a lot of features (for example on frame tubing, first the profile extrusion, then any wheel holes, then top gusset holes, then gearbox holes, etc), that they realize that the way they model a part should reflect what depends on what and how it will actually be manufactured. Of course, I can definitely see how you might find putting a lot of stuff in a sketch faster.

Same here actually. But I distribute part geometry into different sketches because I'm more prone to goofs and mistakes

The configurations tool was one of the most useful things I learned during internships. Glad these videos exist so I can teach other kids in a really well presented manner.

Thanks again for these, Adam. Looking forward to more information on best practices for elevator designs. These videos are perfect right now while I have time to CAD stuff up!

By the way, I can't even imagine the amount of restraint you're showing in not using the keyboard and mouse shortcuts lol

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

Google Drive?

I've had tons of problems using Google Drive for CAD. It likes to change everything I upload into word documents. Dropbox is probably a good place to start.

I really prefer the "everything in a sketch" approach to part design. Being able to click one thing and see all of the variables you can change rather than digging through a dozen different cuts and extrudes is just more efficient.

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I've had tons of problems using Google Drive for CAD. It likes to change everything I upload into word documents. Dropbox is probably a good place to start.

Was more of a joke since Adam is definitely sipping the Google Drive koolaid (as am I).

However, as long as you don't select the "convert documents to corresponding Google Docs format" option when uploading, Drive should be sufficient to host any file formats you'd like. However, I can see how, if you make the mistake to convert a file, Google Drive can be very annoying for hosting CAD files. I would definitely agree with Dropbox, Box, etc as more fool-proof options.

[Coach Norm]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Good news! Four new videos are up.

Anyone have recommendations for how/where I should start dumping all these CAD files?

Adam,

Thanks for the tutorials and for the peak behind the hood of how your design. I have shared these with my students on 2468 as well as our 3D Design and Presentation teacher here at Westlake High School.

I have learned something from each of the videos I have watched. Some of them I will have to watch again to be sure I get all the little gems in each. This is a great resource for teams and individuals.

In regards to CAD files, what about 3D Content Central?

Thanks and looking forward to more videos and learning from you and the others that are posting here.

Coach Norm