This past year we’ve graduated many of our designers and CADers, and being able to CAD quickly and effectively will make or break our season.
Over winter break, we want to develop our newer members. From what I understand, the best way to accomplish this is to just CAD as much as possible. Are there any recommended mechanisms to model that would be most applicable?
Also aside from 973’s video tutorials, are there any other good resources to learn from?
The best way is to learn basics, and from there, learn how to CAD to your team’s manufacturing capabilities. If you want, drop me a PM and I can help you get started with what we do.
I’m a big fan of the Simbot Solidworks Series playlist for a reference point - especially since it’s divided up so nicely by what you’re trying to do.
Take advantage of your team’s SolidProfessor account in the virtual KOP.
I’ll throw this out there. SolidWorks has integrated tutorials for all kinds of things. Some people find them more useful than others and some of the tutorials really aren’t super helpful but that’s where I would start if I was you.
I agree that CADing as much as possible is the best way to improve but I think (especially if these new designers have no experience) the SolidWorks tutorials are the best place to start, then advance them to things like 973’s RAMP or the Simbot SolidWorks Series.
If you’re using Solidworks, I’ve found that the online videos on my.solidworks.com are useful to get familiar with the software. Some of the lessons cover information we usually do not use in FRC, but it’s useful to know anyway.
Here’s a little learning path I put together for some rookie CAD students,
Standard Curriculum:
Optional, but helpful:
11. Introduction to Sheet Metal (9 min): http://my.solidworks.com/training/master/305/introduction-to-sheet-metal
12. UI Customization (12 min): http://my.solidworks.com/training/master/191/ui-customization
Browse the full catalog at: http://my.solidworks.com/training/catalog/?&category=f%2Fdb_record_subtype%2FLessons
You can gain also gain access to some of the more complicated lessons if you input your Solidworks Serial Number and register as a student.
Note the key difference between teaching cad and teaching design. Michael’s list of videos will do a great job teaching your kids how to cad. Adam’s videos/Simbot Seminar Series will teach you how to design and CAD, though the focus is FRC-specific design. In teaching rookies, I’ve found that beyond the basics, teaching cad without design is a snoozefest. On the flip side, teaching design to rookies without any CAD knowledge is likely well above their grasp and will make little-to-no sense.
A great CAD teacher will start with the basics of cad, then work through a progression of projects where kids can get hands-on experience cadding FRC stuff. Start with some basic stuff, and as you get more complex the kids will ask about higher-level cad skills to make the process of cadding their projects faster and easier.
By effectively combining resources like the videos Michael shared (or equivalent for whatever CAD program you’re using), FRC design resources, and working closely with your CAD students to look at your/other team’s past robots, you can engage them on a level where they want to learn more, iterate, and are very excited to CAD up this robot come season.
The best way to teach people is to show them the basics of how to use the program, such as how to make sketches, make those 3D, and things like that. Once they know the basics, they can just practice and learn as they go. Have them try to make a robot or something else they like once they know the basics.
Teaching the tool, and teaching how to make the tool work are the easy parts. The hard part is teaching which tool to use when and how.
I didn’t get it when I was 18, but I do now that I am 50. You need to spend many hours to learn a skill, in fact if you think about it it take six months at a 40 hour a week job to get up to speed. An apprenticeship can be 2000 hours or more to really learn how to operate a lathe, or a mill. And four years of college to be an engineer.
So in my opinion, FIRST is really a two (minimum) or more year experience. Sure its a crash course, but to fully benefit from FIRST it takes a full four years. Get them started with the basics, and let time and urgency drive the expediency.
IF anything can be done, our students will find a way!
What CAD program are you interested in learning?
We at the Cyborg Cats have a semester long class taught by one of our mentors at school to teach the basics of CAD, and then a few student leaders teach those interested the applications of CAD in FRC after school.
After the kids know the basics, the best thing for them to do in my opinion is just CAD stuff. Tell them we need a mechanism that does x and is y big and whatever other information you want. From there, just let them struggle through it. It may take them a while, but it is an extremely effective way for them to grow their skills
I make the new CAD students watch all of 973s RAMP videos on YouTube. Adam does a great job about teaching FRC specific methods for stuff. It’s not the first stage in learning CAD but after you know the basics it’s a very quick way to learn some more advanced methods.