# Tag Info

18

AutoCAD is a computerised drafting package that lets people draw pictures. Mechanical engineering is more than just knowing how to draw pictures in two or three dimensions. Amongst other things, mechanical engineers are required to know about: Strength of materials Energy Power Torque Stresses Bending moments Couples Torsion Efficiency Thermodynamics Heat ...

10

Answer: Yes, this is exactly how it is done in the real world. What you have described is what I do in my job to check systems in CAD. Since you indicated you would like me to step through my design process, I have detailed it below. Note that most of this does not involve CAD. CAD is invaluable, but only if you are prepared to get out the pencil and ...

10

Yes, this is normal. By default, SolidWorks renders curves on the screen using less than the highest possible level of detail that your monitor is capable of displaying. The point of this is to allow the screen to be redrawn quickly as you edit your design and change the view. The more detailed the curve, the longer it takes to redraw the screen; depending ...

8

Before I start, let me disclose that I don't know a lot about the details of infrastructure projects or your file format, but I think the general considerations are fairly universal. There are a number of considerations when providing your digital model to a contractor, and in my work I have decided to offer them my model in some situations, but not in ...

8

No. AutoCAD isn't going to teach you mechanical engineering any more than a compiler will teach you software engineering. You have to actually learn some things, then you will pick up experience by doing. Also AutoCAD is a tool for describing mechanical parts in machine-readable form. It's not going to design a part for you, or teach you how. Without a ...

7

Most soda cans in the US are on the order of 0.1 mm thick according to the sources I've seen. So 0.25 mm seems plausible to me, assuming that you made no errors in your calculations.

6

It approximately means it is allowed or forbidden to have scratches at the place of round. When you are making cylinder surface you can to do it many different ways: milling, welding, soldering. In one case must be strong requriment for smoothness of surface (for example in bearings need to minimize friction). In other cases it is allowed to have scratches (...

5

As Fred alluded to in the above post, mechanical engineering is a vast topic. It takes time and commitment to become a mechanical engineer. Also AutoCAD or 3D-printing alone is not mechanical engineering. AutoCAD and 3D-printers are tools used by mechanical engineers. By the way, there are few good self-taught mechanical engineers. Following a four-year ...

5

This type of feature is typically called a "loft", but I would caution you that this should be used only if needed. Lofted features will cost you a lot of money if you try to get them machined. If you're going with 3d printing it doesn't matter too much (complexity is free). That said, here's some pictures of before: And after a "loft" command: When you ...

5

The Wikipedia page puts tin foil thickness at between 0.2 mm and 0.006 mm. That means that the upper end of the tin foil is easily comparable with the thickness of my box. Ooook. Let's look at this, from an engineering perspective. First, scales. The smallest measurement from Wikipedia vs the largest is a 33x factor difference. This is perhaps hard to ...

4

The type of machine that runs the simulation (e.g. super computer, slide rule, pen and paper, etc.) is less important than the physical and mathematical models that describe the process being simulated. Throwing more computing resources at a simulation whose fundamental equations are flawed will not improve the accuracy of the solution. To answer your ...

4

The usual practice is to refer to measurements on a drawing as 'dimensions'. For example you might say 'dimensions L1, L2 and L3 are determined by calculation'. The term dimensions also implies that you are talking about nominal values whereas 'measurements' implies real world data. The difference between dimensions and measurements is defined by ...

4

Imagine you were driving a car along the path shown in a cross section view of the radius - you need to make a 90 degree bend, and you need to stay inside the cones that denote the tolerance band. In the first image, you find yourself about to hit the cones, so steer sharply left, then almost hit the other cones, so steer right, left, right etc. In the ...

3

I've used Sketchup for the last 6 years as my go-to 3D engineering program. When combined in the Pro version with Layout, it can be fully dimensioned, rendered, and turned into full scale 2D production drawings that the shop can build from. In the trial version, without the Layout program, it is only conceptual. That being said - Sketchup is intended for ...

3

The accuracy of a simulation depends more on how well your equations and assumptions model reality, than the resolution of the simulation (computing power, as Carlton has stated). More computing power does let you have your solution in much less time however. A model, by definition, is not the real thing. No model can be trusted unless it is tested in the ...

3

One thing that other people don't seem to have touched on is the utility of the simulation packaged in AutoCAD. It's a type of Finite Element Analysis, which is an incredibly useful tool, but one that must be wielded very carefully. You can model a part, load it into an FEA package, apply constraints and forces as the part would see in the real world, and ...

3

As a working professional ME with 18 years in the field, I'll tell you that there's a great deal of difference between what will work in AutoCAD (or any other such software package) and what will work in the real world. That's why we still review designs and build prototypes before going into production. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to get ...

3

First, we should recognize that parts aren't just blindly thrown onto a table and a generic mill used to cut whatever shape we want. Each part requires the proper tooling and fixturing. On a production level, the tooling is probably going to be a standard set of tools that you select from for most parts. Depending on what kind of parts you are making, ...

3

It isn't open source, but for students Onshape is free. Onshape runs in the browser so it will work on pretty much any current computer regardless of operating system. It is real 3D solid modeling with good 2D drafting. I've played with it some and it works remarkably well and as CAD programs go is easy to learn. Because it is cloud based, it greatly fosters ...

3

First, let's consider a Cartesian plane with the loading platform at the origin. It is obvious that the distance to any point is on the plane is: $l = \sqrt{x^2+y^2}$. If you extend this to the $3^{rd}$ dimension by plotting $l$ on the $z$-axis, you get an inverted cone with a pitch of 90 degrees with its tip at the origin. Your material piles will be ...

2

You can select a single body by this code: agb.AddSelect(agc.TypeBody, bodyname); Here is the script: (Key ideas: First, assign name "GEAR" to the gear body ag.fm.Body(2).Name = "GEAR";. Second, creat gear object by gear = selectNode("GEAR"); where the function selectNode(target) is at the end. Third, use agb.AddSelect(agc.TypeBody, gear); after ag....

2

I think that there's a problem with your analogy. Autocad is to engineering as is programming - to actually running your code with meaningful results. Otherwise it's just drawing. 3D printing is as the name implies, drawing. In three dimensions, rather than two. I suspect that you're looking at hobby level engineering if you're categorizing it as a "side ...

2

Almost any 3D CAD programs can make movies. How detailed you want the movies, various textures (i.e. "shiny metal"), etc... is where the devil resides. As long as your software will render the material properly to your satisfaction, and you are proficient in the software, it should make a movie and you should use it.

2

The conventional term would be a linear dimension if you just want to specify that your measurement is of a length. There are also angular dimensions for angles, and more complicated dimensional features like tolerances. If you're discussing the CAD drawing in terms of the CAD program (not just to describe the object it shows) and you want to identify your ...

2

First of all, the comparison you suggest isn't really valid since SolidWorks is really a parametric solid modeling software package, while The Autodesk Suite encompasses several different software packages, one of which, Inventor, is roughly the functional equivalent to Solidworks. In an attept to answser your questions: The surface modelling functions ...

2

It depends on the context. In structural engineering it means a connection that would be strong enough to develop a plastic hinge after the applied stresses surpass the design stresses. In trusses and spaceframes a joint that is not pinned can be designed to be fixed up to a certain limit and then fail in a controlled, energy consuming, ductile way. In ...

2

TO do this efficiently you need an analysis program than can automatically calculated the sensitivities of your design variables to the parameter changes, i.e. mathematically a matrix where the $i,j$ term is $$\dfrac{\partial\, \text{parameter}_i}{\partial\, \text{variable}_j}$$ for all the variables and parameters. That might mean you need a different CFD ...

2

This colander was definitely not CNC machined, it was injection molded. Without being able to inspect the part closely, I will guess that the shutoffs (the open spaces between the plastic ribs) were formed by a retractable feature in the mold which presses against the mold core during the injection process, and then is pulled away from the core when the mold ...

2

In ASME Y14.5:2018 5.16.2, the term reversal is used in the definition of CR: The part surface shall be a fair curve without reversals. The term is not defined. It probably means that the curvature sign (measured in 'some' plane) doesn't change as figure shows. For your information, in ISO GPS ('Geometrical Product Specification') tolerancing, the ...

1

This may be the fact that the Autodesk brand covers quite a broad range of software including more graphics orientated products like Maya and Mudbox which are intended for things like animation whereas Solidworks is more narrowly focused on engineering and manufacturing applications. Typically the more 'artistic' surface modelling software is focused on ...

Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible