Best Time Savings

[Sam Skoglund]

I can hopefully provide some tips in the CAD modeling section of work...

Our team is quite small and I am essentially the only individual who knows how to use CAD on our team. Here is how I am able to work efficiently to try and match the CAD achievements of teams with many more people:

First of all, don't start the actual CAD model until you can't visualize it in your head in any more detail. The more you design in your head, the more you can fix before it is CAD modeled. That way you don't have to go through and redo entire subsystems quite as many times.

Also before starting the CAD model, draw the entire frame out on paper in all the different views (sides, top, bottom). This allows for the CAD to go quick once started because you can copy off of a piece of paper. This goes for other mechanisms as well but in a less detailed manner.

Don't CAD model anything unnecessary. Make sure to think about where bolts and wires and tubing will be fitting, but don't spend the time modeling them all in.

While CAD modeling, the biggest time saver for me has been this spreadsheet that I created. I used to end up with about 20 windows open on my laptop, but now with this I only need solidworks and the spreadsheet. It has info on all of the parts our team uses, and calculators for all types of power transmission and pneumatics. Also in other tabs it has an inventory, a space for pasting values from the calculators for future notice, and the CAW. It wont work for you when viewing it because the files are on my hard drive, but the titles of each part are hyperlinked to the drawings for quick mechanical reference. I would highly suggest designing a spreadsheet like this tailored to your team's specific mechanical design style.

I hope some of this helps!