Efficient Design approach

[EricH]

Originally Posted by neoshaakti

So you can you upload a CAD file of a part to say a CNC or something?

Theoretically, you can put a CAD into a CNC. However, in practice, it has to go through other programs that actually generate toolpaths.

Some people prefer to have a CAD program generate a drawing and give that to a machinist.

Oh, and the program's tutorials are usually good enough for FIRST purposes.

[R.C.]

Usually, you would want to go from Solidworks or Inventor to a CAD/CAM program. Such as MasterCam or Cadcam.

[,4lex S.]

I think that in order for the whole team to work efficiently, you should all start on the same page. If you come up with your basic design, you should be able to plan out how big your electrical board and other components should be so that the fabricators and electricians can get to work quickly. CAD is very useful, not just for part creation, but also space management (even if its just a bunch of blocks representing subsystems).

So basically what I am suggesting is that you plan the space in your robot from the get go, and make a decision on robot form that you will stick to early.

[Doctorwho]

The other benefit of using CAD is that with programs such as Solidworks and AutoCAD you can go to the FRC website or other parts suppliers such as Andymark and download 3D CAD files of parts from the FRC kit or from the company's catalog.

On 467 we used a big plotter printer to print out 2-D CAD images which we then cut out and then attached to our sheet aluminum. The benefit of this is that we could more reliably make precision cuts and drill more precisely.
More precision= less wasted material= more money for other stuff.

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by Doctorwho

The other benefit of using CAD is that with programs such as Solidworks and AutoCAD you can go to the FRC website or other parts suppliers such as Andymark and download 3D CAD files of parts from the FRC kit or from the company's catalog.

On 467 we used a big plotter printer to print out 2-D CAD images which we then cut out and then attached to our sheet aluminum. The benefit of this is that we could more reliably make precision cuts and drill more precisely.
More precision= less wasted material= more money for other stuff.

Agreed, Also solidworks and other Cad programs can calculate weight, stress, and other important factors. BTW, the programs are pretty close.