Team 1114: Simbot Solidworks Series

[akoscielski3]

Hall of Fame Team 1114 Simbotics is proud to present the Simbot Solidworks Series. This is a series of Solidworks tutorials made to teach FRC students and mentors how to use Solidworks.

The Simbot Solidworks Series consists of 35 YouTube CAD tutorials, starting from downloading Solidworks and going all the way to creating your own Simbot style sheet metal drivetrain. We hope these videos will help all FRC teams utilize CAD to design a simple and effective robot!

You can watch the series by clicking on this link

If you have any questions or concerns you can post them here, or email CAD@Simbotics.org.

[Jay O'Donnell]

This looks awesome! I'll definitely be checking it out when I can.

[NWChen]

Fantastic. Thank you Canada.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by NWChen

Fantastic. Thank you Canada.

Seriously though I want to run over the border and give you guys a hug.

[AdamHeard]

Awesome.

Thanks so much for doing this!

[orangemoore]

This is awesome.

I have a side question, will you be posting you 2015 CAD anytime soon? I am interested to see how the system work more closely.

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by orangemoore

This is awesome.

I have a side question, will you be posting you 2015 CAD anytime soon? I am interested to see how the system work more closely.

We should be uploading the CAD to the website soon, along with the design book and poster we make for championships.

[Ari423]

I made a separate thread for a number of virtual KOP software downloads, but I figured I should ask here too. Can teams who didn't download Solidworks during the season still download it now or must we wait until kickoff (assuming Solidworks is nice enough to donate again)? What about other software downloads and memberships?

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by Ari423

I made a separate thread for a number of virtual KOP software downloads, but I figured I should ask here too. Can teams who didn't download Solidworks during the season still download it now or must we wait until kickoff (assuming Solidworks is nice enough to donate again)? What about other software downloads and memberships?

You can follow the instructions in video 1.2 and get Solid works before kick-off. Your license will last until the end of 2016

[LuukVoesten4481]

I watched all the video's and learnt some very nice trics for drawing even faster . Especially the last chapter of the series about the drivetrain could help many teams, it gave us some other insights (don't know if the word is right in these context).

Thank you 1114!!

[akoscielski3]

Now that the 2016 FIRST Championships is over I thought it would be a good time to ask about the Simbot Solidworks Series that we created last year.

I was hoping to get some feedback on them. So, if you have watched them:
- What did you like about them?
- What did you not like about them?
- What should be added to the series (features of Solidworks you wish you could be covered)?
- Did you find any errors in the videos that should be corrected?
- Do you have any other comments or feedback?

This offseason I am hoping to expand on the series of videos.

Thanks for all the feedback!

[tim-tim]

Aaron,
Thank you and 1114 for putting these together. I haven't watched all of the series yet, but did pick through quite a few videos. As someone that only uses SolidWorks while mentoring, unfortunately I use Creo for my day job, I have missed out on a lot of the shortcuts and things that make SolidWorks great.

I learned a lot from the videos I did watch. I am always trying to catch up on the shortcuts that are not totally obvious. Sure you have the mouse gestures and the ability to change different things on the keyboard; but I recently learned about the "s" key. Kind of feel like I should have known this... Also some of the "Smart" mate shortcuts, holding the "alt" key. I just stumbled across this the other week. I always go into work complaining after learning something in SolidWorks and find I can't do it in Creo that (easier) way.

More direct answers:
I like the length of the videos - short and to the point.
The layout/organization of the sections seems logical as well.
Easy to find information.

I don't like that I haven't watched all the videos yet.

For people like me that maybe aren't experts in SolidWorks or don't have people using it everyday with them, it would be nice to get to know some of the more hidden things that SW offers. Anything to really help save time would be appreciated.

Not entirely on topic, but the handling of COTS and/or library parts is something we are constantly battling. We used GrabCAD this year with a bit of success; I think training could make it work pretty well, but curious if you (or others) had any insight.

Thanks again for the great resource!

PS - sorry for the long response