I just got a job working for the College I attend. We fabricate food processing equipment for research and development purposes. My boss wants me to take a computer design class to learn how to draw up our ideas and present them to the fabrication shop that we have build our ideas, rather than paying them top dollar, I can save my boss hundreds if not thousands by designing and drafting up the drawing myself.
My question is, which program is better for 3D designs and which is more commonly used in the fabrication industy. The fabrication company we go through uses SW but the engineer is skilled in both AC and SW.
What course should I enroll in?

 

sw

 

Any version you prefer or recommend?

 

+1 for solidworks

 

A friend of mine is a 3d drafter and he works in solid works, as do most people in his industry. I spoke to a number of people at PRI this year and they were overwhelmingly solidworks users.

I've done a bit of 3d modeling in Pro-E, which is similar to solidworks (and semi interchangeable as far as compatibility) and solidworks just hands down is the best as far as ease of use and features.

 

I can give expert opinion on versions of AutoCAD but not SW.

I used A LOT of autocad and A LOT of inventor in college and had a 3d solids course with mechanical desktop (aka mechanical doorstop). Almost everyone I graduated with that does 3D cad for a living uses SW.

 

i like solid works 2008 and ProE.

 

What are the pros and cons of AC, i wouldn't mind taking it also in the summer if it'll benefit me.

 

Same here, PROE 2001 and SW.

I know 2001 is old, but it works really well. I use Solidworks for it very nice abilities to create drawings and cleaning up IGES files from PROE.

 

If you've never done any drafting at all before...I'd suggest Autocad. Once you get the 2d stuff down then move to Solidworks.

 

If you've never done any drafting before, I'd suggest SolidWorks. And if you have done drafting before, I'd still suggest SolidWorks.

Both my parents are military engineers, and I know that they recently switched from Autocad to SolidWorks. Currently I'm taking a class for it, and it is super easy to learn. Plus it is cool to make something on the computer and then see them later on the work bench.



Not quite finished, but you get the idea.

 

what other cad sofware systems are out

i need 5 names, price, advantages & disadvantages

autodesk
solidworks
pro desktop

what else?

 

I used NX alot

 

Pros: AutoCAD is excellent for 2D. It is excellent for automating redundant drawing tasks via autolisp, VBA, ObjectARX etc.. it's easy to use and pretty stable. There is decades of support plastered all over the internet.

Cons: it sucks for 3D.

You might be talking about AutoDesks product "Inventor" which is similar to solidworks? If you learn Inventor you will pick up solidworks and vice versa quite easily; autocad is a different animal all together.

 

CATIA by dassault is another

 

Thanks for the reference pics, that is exactly the type of work I would like to do, designing dies and other small components are our bread and butter. I just had a meeting with a CNC professor and he is willing to make my designs an assignment for his students, so it's a win-win situation. I get to learn SW and get paid, my boss saves money, and the CNC students get a grade.

 

Comparing Autocad to Solidworks is apples to oranges. (well more like rotten crab apples to oranges)

Autodesks 3d solid modeling program is called INVENTOR.

Comparing Inventor to Solidworks is oranges to oranges.


I use Inventor.

The inventor software suite comes with autocad also.

here is a little screenie of something i am working on atm

 

some other little simple odds and ends

 

Rhino, ONECNC.

 

Ruffryder, you need to invest in some new tooling man, and learn your speeds and feeds, the parts look better on the computer!

 

Catia is what alot of auto manufacturers use.

 

I used a program called Vectorworks for work. Would I suggest it? Never. Is it absolutely awful, no. It is really bad for REAL engineering, especially doing anything with tubes. Really unfriendly making it follow a path correctly, merge joints, or anything like that. I really don't care for the program overall.

 

looks like a manual turning lathe job

 

Umm, that would be my work.

And yeah, it was on a manual lathe...from the 1950's.

 

So? No reason you can't get a good surface finish on a manual lathe.