off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
(OP)
hello sorry about the topic i posted here but i was unsure of where to post this so here goes - all of our engineering dept uses solidworks to create their designs -
i like to layout my parts & assembly in autocad then import my sketches to solidworks thus creating my parts & model - i am getting alot of flack from the others
about the way i work - i am not holding up any projects nor have i been late on a release date - on the other hand i have been early most of the time -
my work is always complete & my designs seem to be well thought out & almost error free - others are complaining that i am just not with the program &
i must abandon my way of doing things & get on board w/ the rest of the class - i thought that the end result was what was important not how we get there -
the engineering takes 1st priority not what cad system you use & the product must be right - maybe i am wrong - would like to here others views on this if you please -
also some i work w/ are "tellling on me to the teacher (read my boss)" about why i work this way & it is starting to impact my work & my morale -
if i am wrong i will "get on board" & be a team player even though i really do not like the team all that much - thank you
i like to layout my parts & assembly in autocad then import my sketches to solidworks thus creating my parts & model - i am getting alot of flack from the others
about the way i work - i am not holding up any projects nor have i been late on a release date - on the other hand i have been early most of the time -
my work is always complete & my designs seem to be well thought out & almost error free - others are complaining that i am just not with the program &
i must abandon my way of doing things & get on board w/ the rest of the class - i thought that the end result was what was important not how we get there -
the engineering takes 1st priority not what cad system you use & the product must be right - maybe i am wrong - would like to here others views on this if you please -
also some i work w/ are "tellling on me to the teacher (read my boss)" about why i work this way & it is starting to impact my work & my morale -
if i am wrong i will "get on board" & be a team player even though i really do not like the team all that much - thank you





RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
> they are just a bunch of sheep that don't like deviants
> your drawings are just not consistent with SW, and they think that's bad
> your drawings are just not consistent with SW, and they're difficult to maintain by someone other than yourself
TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
Is your method of working future proof? What if your company decides to stop supporting autocad because you're the only one using it?
NX 7.5.5.4 with Teamcenter 8 on win7 64
Intel Xeon @3.2GHz
8GB RAM
Nvidia Quadro 2000
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
My own view is that resorting back to ACAD is kind of a crutch and I try to avoid it. At the same time drawing in SW drives me crazy. SW drawings drive me crazy. The kicker is that, after the job is modelled and SW drawings made, we have to produce an ACAD drawing to turn over to the machine shop. Don't ask.
But in the end, if your use of ACAD is causing you uneeded heartburn, well...
Regards,
Mike
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
When you port into Solid works are you making sure everything is fully constrained using functional dimensions/relationships etc. or do you end up with fairly dumb sketches as the foundation for your parts?
Having got caught up in multi CAD debacles where certain people insisted on doing their own thing and then seeing this cause problems later, (& without being expert on either software you mention so not perhaps grasping some intricacies) I'd be wondering too why you don't just work in Solid Works rather than having the extra step.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
Are you willing to take a few hours and learn how to use the SW sketching 2D tools effectively?
"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
Ben Loosli
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
I sometimes import 2D DXF into Pro/E when I want to migrate some legacy design. I will create a new sketch for my solid features referencing the imported geometry. Then I delete all the references and give the new sketch a proper dimensioning scheme and proper references to datum planes, etc. So now I have native Pro/E geometry that exactly matches the imported geometry. I can hide and unhide the imported geometry at any time to verify that any changes are intentional. I can even delete the imported geometry and my model does not fall apart. I can use all my section dimensions to drive relations, drawings, etc. the way a solid model should.
----------------------------------------
The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
My experience of AutoCAD and SolidWorks was that the transition was far more involved than it was to go from a drafting board to AutoCAD. SolidWorks is a design tool. AutoCAD is a drafting too.
I do not see what you can do in AutoCAD that you cannot do in SolidWorks. Maybe the stuff you design is easy to describe in 2D.
--
JHG
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
work on several parts together at one time along w/ the complete machine in the backround as an outline only -
our "stuff" is really very simple weldments & machined blocks - nothing very fancy or complex at all - new is not bad it is just a comfort level - thank you again
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
You do it your way, and let the other guy do it his way.. See who's better/quicker,etc...
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
I picked one interesting part, and had a go. After a few minutes I stopped to study the drawing again, and then said something like " I must be blind, because I do not see that the threaded holes in the array are dimensioned."
The CITM looked at a drawing then kind of back pedaled with " they're usually M10 blah blah blah."
I should have just made the model with threaded holes the size of manhole covers.
I didn't want to work there anyway.
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
I still hate SW's drawing tools.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
Solidworks, and the Program I use, Geomagic design, do not let you do this as easily, because they want you to draw components, then assemble them.
One of the good, and evil things about A-cad, was that you could edit a dimension on a drawing, without changing, the lines, thus losing the parametric connection. But at the same time getting a revised print to the shop faster, even though it was no longer to scale.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
"One of the good, and evil things about A-cad, was that you could edit a dimension on a drawing, without changing, the lines, thus losing the parametric connection"
Our 'solid' program allows this but does kindly underline the not to scale dimension (though there is an option to turn it off). That said, in most cases I'm not convinced this is much quicker than doing it properly.
One think about our alternate Solid Program is (at least with the required effort if you so choose) you can get a pretty nice drawing out, certainly better than I ever managed on Pro E and better than most SW drawings I've seen. (Don't mean to plug alternate software just responding to what others have said.)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
Have you ever used part templates in SW? I suggest that you invest a few hours in making your own part templates of parts that you use often in your machines, like: a shaft, a round tube, square tube, retangle bar, square bar, rectangle sheet metal plate, sheet metal ring, revolved shaft, revolved stepped shaft etc etc. Place these in a separate directory and point in tools-options-document templates to that folder.
Make sure you give all these .prtdot files the right custom properties with them already. If you now start a new machine, your sketching will be much less, since you can use your library with part templates. Just select the right part template and only modify the dimensions quickly. Maybe you now can even work directly in an assembly! Your sketching will now only be for adaptations (holes etc) to existing parts. When generating the drawings the bom can be filled quickly with the right properties that you have given to the part templates. Don't tell your SW collegues that you do it this way
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
1) make a bunch of 2D views in autocad, and transfer these to SW and make a solid model in SW ? 0r
2) are you just arranging your views in SW and printing on a SW drawing frame ?
if 1) ... why ?
if 2), then there is no underlying model and if someone else has to change the drawing later then they'll have a lot of work to do.
and no model to import into the next ass'y, no virtual ass'y.
do you still run windows 3 ? or wordperfect ? for me, you should get your company to pay for SW training, if you're experienced in AC then it shouldn't be that hard.
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
Yes, you can draw a 2D sketch in SolidWorks, and use it to control your 3D geometry. You can also make the sketch parametric.
Right now, I am working on an optical system, and I am using a 3D sketch to control the routing of optics. Getting light from some lasers to a scanner is proving to be horribly non-orthogonal. This would have been quite a challenge on a drafting board.
--
JHG
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
Back when I actually designed things for a living I very much preferred working in a solid model environment - even though the tools were exceedingly primitive compared to what is available today.
For the way I think I found it much more efficient and intuitive. The design exists in my mind, then it gets directly "created" as a solid model.
Working in a 2D tool involves the intermediate step of translating the vision in my mind into orthogonal projections. For me that interrupted the creative process to figure out the mundane details of drafting.
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
When I worked on a board (oh, so briefly... old enough I am), I had to practice holding and turning the pencil and making good letters. Since then, I have transitioned to AutoCAD, UG, Pro/E, and SW. Each time, new skills to learn and master, and old skills to set aside.
In failing to embrace SW, you are cheating yourself out of many valuable lessons. The more you cling to a competency of fading relevance, the less you are gaining in new and more relevant competency. Get into it, learn it, make it your b!+©# and get dangerously great with it.
Keep the old lessons, but move on to new skills. That, or see if anyone in 1990 is still hiring.
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
Company policies are made to get structure in the organisation. But details as how a person works, is up to your boss. I think the way you work, works for you and the result is the same.
The software programms you work with are only tools. It is all about the result. If your work you deliver at the end is conform company policy, and collegaes can work with the result. What is problem. Your are most efficient this way.
Keep up the good work.
Johg
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
The books were seriously out of date, of course, but helpful eventually. I worked through all the tutorials, which were also seriously out of date, so sometimes I got confused because I was looking for stuff that wasn't there anymore, or had been moved or just renamed.
I couldn't make use of many online tutorials, because the company blocked YouTube from their network, and just flat would not negotiate about that, or pay for any more training. The local VAR was extremely helpful, to his great credit.
Then they laid off the junior SW expert, and then the senior SW expert, and then it was just me and a new-hire drafter who was newer to SW than me. Now the drafter and I are gone, and their lone EE, who struggles with AutoCAD, is trying to keep up, with zero training and zero available time in which to be trained.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
Resume hits round file PDQ.
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
the engineering takes 1st priority not what cad system you use & the product must be right"
What you said would likely be what most managers would say in a speech to an engineering society. But in actual practice they value employees who are not PITA's much more than they would like to admit. In terms of job security for the typical engineer, an average one who is pleasant to deal with has the edge over the more talented and productive one who causes grief for the boss.
RE: off topic question about why i am forced to change my way of engineering
I do a lot of mechanical systems design (gearboxes, actuators, etc) and I also prefer to start new designs by doing a 2D layout in an old version of AutoCAD 2000. Once I am happy with the 2D AutoCAD layout I then build a database of parametric solid models/assemblies using CATIA V5 and a PDM like SmarTeam. However, when I am done there is no link between the AutoCAD 2D geometry and the CATIA solid models. And once the CATIA solid models are built I rely on them exclusively for the remainder of the design, analysis and drawing work.
The reason I often start with a 2D AutoCAD layout is that most of what I design involves axisymmetric parts (bearings, gears, shafts, etc), and it is very quick and easy to do accurate 2D layouts in AutoCAD. The 2D layout also helps me to figure out how I will construct my CATIA part models and structure my CATIA products (how each part/sub-assy feeds into the next). Time spent upfront planning how to construct parametric models and assemblies is always worthwhile since it can save lots of rework headaches later on. Modern parametric CAD systems use a complex system of links and geometric relationships between individual part model features to create assemblies, and with large projects there can be dozens of engineers concurrently working from a common database. Even simple changes made to individual part model geometries, or how the constraints/relationships/links in a product model are arranged, can easily create a domino effect on numerous related models. It is surprising how much engineering time and budget is spent continually correcting issues with broken/dropped links between CAD models.
While I also catch some grief from younger coworkers over my use of 2D AutoCAD layouts, I honestly feel the time I spend on these layouts at the start of a design project is very worthwhile since it makes things go much smoother later on.
Regards,
Terry