TO All The CAD DESIGNERS

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Posted by Gabe at 03/21/2001 10:29 PM EST


Student on team #384, Tucker TIgers, from JR TUCKER HIGH and Infineon/Invensys/SHowbest Fixtures/ Nasa Langley .



I am head of design team on team 384 and recently.. i started to use autodesk's inventor software... Previously i used mech desktop..

I was wondering what everyone else used to do the cad drawing for their robot.

Thanks ALot
-Gabe

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Posted by Ken Leung at 03/22/2001 2:22 AM EST


Student on team #192, Gunn Robotics Team, from Henry M. Gunn Senior High School.


In Reply to: TO All The CAD DESIGNERS
Posted by Gabe on 03/21/2001 10:29 PM EST:



From year to year we have been thinking about upgrading our design software, and every year we came to the same conclusion: we don't need any better ones.

We've been using AutoCAD all the time we've been in FIRST, and it have served us well. During our usual design process, all we needed doing in CAD is a master blueprint of the robot that help us manufacture components and integration of every parts.

All the students needed is a clear drawing of each parts with correct dimension to work on the machine...

However, some of the students feel the need to use some better 3D design software to help them visualize the components, and so they use some of the more popular ones.

3D Studio Max is one of our top choice, as well as Rhino. Also, I know other teams use software like Inventor and Solid work. I personally used Pro Engineer, and felt that it's a much better 3D designing software than others, but it takes too long for our students to learn to adapt to that environment...

It is a lot of fun learning to use the more advance software, as well as a great educational experience. But, I must say, those software are great, not necessary.

I recommend the more experienced students in a team learn to use them, while some of the less experienced members spend more time in AutoCAD to get a more solid foundation of designing before jumping ahead...

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Posted by Wayne Wnuck at 03/22/2001 12:15 PM EST


Engineer on team #177, Bobcats, from South Windsor High School and International Fuel Cells.


In Reply to: TO All The CAD DESIGNERS
Posted by Gabe on 03/21/2001 10:29 PM EST:



: I am head of design team on team 384 and recently.. i started to use autodesk's inventor software... Previously i used mech desktop..

: I was wondering what everyone else used to do the cad drawing for their robot.

: Thanks ALot
: -Gabe

[archiver]

Posted by Elgin C at 03/22/2001 12:52 PM EST


Engineer on team #237, Sie-H20-Bots, from Watertown High School / NVCC.


In Reply to: TO All The CAD DESIGNERS
Posted by Gabe on 03/21/2001 10:29 PM EST:



I'm the intern CAD Guy on Team 237 and we started using SolidWorks on the robot. The high school team adopted the college I go to to do CAD work this year. The college even intergrated the CAD work for the robot into the curiculum for my CAD Design class.

The problem we had with CAD was that in only six weeks there is very little time to go through the steps of sketching a part, drawing the part in CAD, revising the part and then finally making the part.

It turns out that I ended up reverse engineering 95% of the parts on Version 1 of the robot. It was very helpful since we were still making parts after we shipped the robot that would just "snap on" when we got to regionals.

I agree with the other guy that a pencil was probably more used in the design of the robot than a CAD system but the feeling I got from the team members that have worked on the team in previous years is CAD is still a valuable tool in the process of robot design.

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Posted by Ed Sparks at 03/22/2001 9:14 PM EST


Engineer on team #34, The Rockets, from Bob Jones High / New Century High and DaimlerChrysler.


In Reply to: Re: TO All The CAD DESIGNERS
Posted by Elgin C on 03/22/2001 12:52 PM EST:



: It turns out that I ended up reverse engineering 95% of the parts on Version 1 of the robot. It was very helpful since we were still making parts after we shipped the robot that would just "snap on" when we got to regionals.

Hmmmmmmm.................. Check those rules .........

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Posted by Elgin C at 03/23/2001 11:55 AM EST


Engineer on team #237, Sie-H20-Bots, from Watertown High School / NVCC.


In Reply to: Making Parts after Ship Date ???
Posted by Ed Sparks on 03/22/2001 9:14 PM EST:



Well like I said I'm the CAD guy on the team. I talked to the Mechanical team and it turns out they didn't make any parts. They were just toying around with the idea of another way of manipulating the bridge if our original idea failed, so they used my CAD drawings to get some accurate numbers and draw up some sketches. Well it turned out that our original robot did not do so good at regionals so when we got back from our regionals we made our changes then before we had to ship it again.

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Posted by Bob Drexel at 03/22/2001 3:30 PM EST


Engineer on team #358, Titans, from Hauppauge and Festo Corp..


In Reply to: TO All The CAD DESIGNERS
Posted by Gabe on 03/21/2001 10:29 PM EST:



As the main designer/detailer for team 358,I used a two platform approach. I used Acad 14 in 2D for basic geometry concepts (i.e. overall size, relationships with playing field, mechanism travel, etc) due to my extensive use and experience with it. This allowed me to quickly formulate basic constraints for the size and shape of our conceptual design.
With the basic geometry done, I then used Inventor to create a detailed 3D model of all parts and assemblies. Since I was new to the Inventor package the start up time required to become proficient with it took about three days (able to create basic geometry and quickly produce details). I also used this new learning experience time to assist our student mechanical design team to learn Inventor, now have one student who assists in detailing (a great benefit).
It took two weeks (can’t count the hours) to completely (85%) design the Bot in 3D. Many problems that we would have experienced during assembly (after the parts are made) were eliminated due to the advantage of virtual assembly. And the always butt biting problem of weight was eliminated (nearly) because of the “Materials” and “Properties” features in Inventor that give back key data on items such as mass, center of gravity, and Mass Moments. This saved me much time and many mistakes in calculating.
The extra up front time was well worth it because everything fit right the first time!! And, the ergonomic benefits by putting it together in cyber space various times and in various ways really paid off at our regional. Due to “cyber revisions”,I was able to change a drive motor in 3 minutes after our rookie driver smoked it in practice trying to do skid steer spins in high gear. If it weren’t for 3D design I would have buried the motors within the Bot (first concept of drive design) and really had a problem.
Bottom line, throw away the pencil, 3D design is the wave of the future.

!!!CATCH THE WAVE!!!

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Posted by Jason Iannuzzi at 03/22/2001 4:00 PM EST


Engineer on team #11, Marauders, from Mt. Olive HS. and BASF, Rame Hart, CCM.


In Reply to: TO All The CAD DESIGNERS
Posted by Gabe on 03/21/2001 10:29 PM EST:



Two of us did most of the design.

I use Solidworks 2001. The other engineer uses *gasp* Anvil 4.0. Anvil is a pretty old 2D system, but it's quite simple to use and powerful if you know what you're doing. Solidworks is great, but large assemblies can really bog down my system.

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Posted by Ellery at 03/22/2001 4:23 PM EST


Engineer on team #191, X-CATS, from Joseph C. Wilson High School, Rochester NY and Xerox Corporation.


In Reply to: TO All The CAD DESIGNERS
Posted by Gabe on 03/21/2001 10:29 PM EST:



Team 191 - X-CATS used 100% Autodesk Inventor since we gave a summer class to some of the girls on our team last summer. I've personally used , Pro-E, SDRC-Ideas, Catia, and Unigraphix. It's not to hard to get around and use it.

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Posted by ChrisH at 03/27/2001 12:02 AM EST


Engineer on team #330, Beach 'Bots, from Hope Chapel Academy and NASA JPL, J & F Machine, Raytheon, et al.


In Reply to: TO All The CAD DESIGNERS
Posted by Gabe on 03/21/2001 10:29 PM EST:



I used the AutoCad R14 they gave us a couple of years ago. I tried to install Inventor, but it declined to lower itself to my trusty P2 166.

I would prefer to use Unigraphics or Catia but my employer would frown on that. Our other mechanical designer uses pencil and paper.

For some things I use a pencil too. But I find it easier to visualize in 3D. It also helps to keep all of the holes aligned. Especially when parts are being made at different places

Chris Husmann
Team 330 the Beach'Bots