New AutoCAD Student

[ReMark]

First piece of advice, buy a copy of AutoCAD 2007 3-D Modeling, A Visual Approach by Alan J. Kalameja. It comes with a CD-ROM and an online companion resource. The book is published by Thomson-Delmar Learning.

 

Second piece of advice, would be to setup and save a workspace dedicated to 3D. Populate your workspace with toolbars geared toward 3D and commands not already covered under tool palettes.

 

Third piece of advice is quite simple...practice, practice and practice again. Create solids using primitives and your own linework. Union, subtract, intersect and get used to utilizing the solids editting commands.

 

Fourth piece of advice would be to keep in mind, that before you union two solids or subtract one solid from the other, place a copy of each object off to one side just in case you want to go back and make a substantive change to the geometry.

[Stangman]

As a current student of autoCAD myself, I think I have a few tips to help you on your way.

 

First, don't assume an object is symmetrical because it looks that way. I've been given hand sketches with dimensions on them and told to draft them on autoCAD. I'd be going along just fine until I reach the end and realize, I had tried to take a shortcut and mirror something that shouldn't have been mirrored.

 

Make use of the plot preview. I know when I was just learning, I'd plot something and then realize I had hidden lines so close together they looked like solid lines or I had lines of different thicknesses on top of one another and it plotted out thicker than I wanted because I didn't remove or change the properties of the line below.

 

You'll never learn everything. There are so many commands, so many possible ways to achieve the same goal, and obviously lots of things you'll probably never use that you'll learn. The thing is, if you learn something and forget it and then get a job where you need it, then you've already seen it once and it'll come right back to you. If you never use it again, eh...never know when it might become useful. And most employers won't expect you to know everything the first day. Once you learn their standards, things will just become committed to memory.

 

Once again, layers are your friends...don't forget them. It's easy to just start flying while drawing and forget to switch to a new layer, then you'll have a mess on really big drawings.

 

Save often. Sure autoCAD will back up your files every once in awhile, and most companies will, too. But it's never fun when you've spent the last how long adding stuff and then Windows crashes or even AutoCAD shuts down. It can be annoying and a pain to retrieve those files, and sometimes it's impossible if those changes were made before a backup was created.

 

You have autoCAD in front of you, just start drawing. Don't worry about scaling until you need to, which is when you start inserting text and dimensions, otherwise just draw it. And, of course have some fun experimenting. Sure some of the system variables can be confusing, but generally most of the stuff you'll want to mess with can easily be changed back to defaults by simply not saving.

 

Have fun...

[slimjramirez]

Lol. Good god's urge, meng.

 

Things to focus on:

1) don't be afraid of learning something new

2) have confidence; knowing that you're expendable is one of the greatest understandings one can have. Know what you're doing, but don't think you're always right.

3) Stick around here, and you'll know this progam better than the people who wrote it.

[studiorat]

WELCOME!!! Just a lot of practice and you will be answering questions before ya know it!!

 

 

 

Learn to use paperspace.

 

Start with 2D then work your way into 3D.

 

Practice...alot.

 

Then along the way try your hand at some customization.

 

Keep asking questions.

 

Never stop educating yourself.

 

Explore every aspect of AutoCAD.

 

Enjoy.

 

BTW...welcome to the forum.

[extremeregime]

Totally understand what you mean. After my first day of AutoCAD class in college, this is back in September, I was ready to drop out. I left with a headache and so confused from that class. All I was saying to myself, there is only so many hours left until I can leave for the day and go to my construciton job where I know what I am doing.

 

I think the issue is the way they teach how to use the software. I suggests you pick up some of the basic commands, F8 to turn ORTHO on for example. After that just spend time on sites like here CADTutor. Thats what I did to get through semester one, and now I decided to join the forum.

 

Your only limit after getting familiar with the interface is your imagination. Don't let AutoCAD limit your imagination because its limited you.

 

One thing I do recommend is making sure that you are clear on how to do your drafting on AutoCAD. I will give you a perfect example of what I mean by this. I'm back in college, taking architecture so I could learn to do desings for buildings. Well after working the construction feild for about 2 minutes I found out that lumber is not exactly the size its is sold at. 2x6 is 1 1/2 x5 1/2. However, not one of my profs have told us when we are designing a home, which size do we use. Might sound like a dumb question but its the truth.

[ReMark]

It's referred to as a 2x6 but it is drawn actual size ( 1.5x5.5).

 

When we use terminology such as "2x6" we are referring to the "nominal" size or rough size when the lumber is first sawn. Actual size is never used when calling out lumber on a drawing. The reason surfaced lumber is smaller than nominal size is because material is removed during the planing process.

[Fire_col]

Yeah that's pretty much across the board nothing in engineering/construction ever really matches up to what they're called. In fact when I think about it none of the pipe work or steel or concrete members I have ever drawn have been the measurements they're called off as.

[Crazy J]

It's referred to as a 2x6 but it is drawn actual size ( 1.5x5.5).

 

When we use terminology such as "2x6" we are referring to the "nominal" size or rough size when the lumber is first sawn. Actual size is never used when calling out lumber on a drawing. The reason surfaced lumber is smaller than nominal size is because material is removed during the planing process.

 

If you get into some older homes, you might find some rough-hewn (I think that's what you call it) boards behind the walls, and then they might actually be 2x4 instead of 1 1/2 x 3 1/2... I've even found some "2x4's" in between....

 

And if you use 1x4's, then they are usually 3/4 x 3 1/2, for example. But then if you go up to a 1 x 8, you only get 3/4 x 7 1/4.... That makes little sense to me that the amount less than the size it's called changes....

 

Either way it leads to fun if you assume you are dealing with something different than what you really are. I imagine you could google up a cross-reference listing what boards are called versus what they really are.

[Crazy J]

No JD, I'm not. You speak as though everyone is using 3D models to generate 2D drawings and that is just not the case.

 

......

 

Simply put, not all drawings have to be done in 3D nor should they be.

 

..........

 

I wonder how many certified experts know how to read a 2D drawing in the first place.

 

I'll add my $0.02 to the debate. I'm mostly in agreement with ReMark. When I only knew 2D AutoCAD, I used it to draw flat plans for a playhouse. Basically, a 11x8' shed with a barn roof. It had a little 3' porch with a loft up in the roof above it, and then half of the inside 8x8 area was a loft as well . I then built it, and a 3D model would have been totally useless for me. Now that I am gaining skills in 3D, I've thought about updating the file to 3D, just for fun and practice. But I haven't been able to devote the time to it. A 3D model would have allowed me to have an idea of what it would look like first. It could have helped me with the concept design, or perhaps it would have hindered me. Instead I started with some isometric sketches (with an actual pencil and paper), in various views, along with some top, side, front views, etc.

 

I've also worked with some customers will in the automotive industry, these customers being the OEMs, and many times the engineers there have a great grasp of looking at things in the 3D model, but when it comes time to being able to do a GD&T stack-up or understanding true-position, they've just never seen it, and so they don't understand it. Nor do they understand the value of it. And when parts don't fit together later on the line, this could be why. I learned all about these things well before ever doing any CAD myself or using anything in 3D. Just 2D prints that our designers had generated.

 

The reason I wanted to pipe up is to point out that the skills that it takes to fully understand a part... well, I believe that needs to start in 2D. CAD is a great tool, but if you can't understand how things actually go together, or how to make a sketch on the shop floor for a machine repairman or toolbuilder to use right then and there, but yet you can model some complex shapes in 3D... well, then you're selling yourself short. If you think about how basic-shaped parts are made on a mill, it is all really described by 2D drawings. It's all 2D cuts really.

 

Now, I know there are areas where 2D may not have all that much use, but as a general hands-on kind of mechanical engineer, I'm really glad I learned to 2D sketch and draw first. It will always help me in any kind of creative endeavour I take on.

[Crazy J]

I also wanted to mention Pinewood Derby cars. For those familiar, think about how your son would make that in your garage. They have a vice, a small saw, and some sandpaper. Start with the basics, no dremel or other type of special tools. So, they have this grand idea with a lot of curves and fancy shapes. And then I ask them how they plan to cut this... and they draw a blank. They stare at me and I tell them they will have to put it in the vice and make the cuts, one at a time, until all the material is removed. So they back up a bit, and I suggest they draw a flat 2D plan of what their car will look like, from all sides. It would be quicker and easier for me to just draw a line on their car where I know it should be from my experience of taking 3D ideas and putting them on 2D surfaces. I could even cut it out for them, give them the sandpaper, and go in and have a beer. Bu then they don't learn anything. So they do their 2D plan, and work with a ruler and transfer it over onto the sides of their blocks. And they figure out how they'll get it locked into the vice so they can make the cut they've drawn. And after each cut, we go back to the 2D plan and come up with what the next logical cut should be and talk about how the block now looks a bit different than the original 2D plan now since some material is missing. Eventually, they might get into drilling some holes or dremeling a feature or maybe using a coping saw to cut a curved surface. But that first year, a simple saw and a sanding block, and they've learned a heck of a lot to where in the subsequent years they are doing it nearly on their own without any of my help (thus more time for beer).

 

The vice and saw is akin to 2D drawing... the dremel and sandpaper and coping saw are like 3D modelling. Both have a time and place, but if you understand the 2D first, I say that most times you will be better off.

[ReMark]

I live in a house that was built in 1908 of rough sawn lumber. The only dimensional lumber in the house is what I've added over the years in the course of renovating it.

 

I don't see much need to be calling out rough sawn lumber unless one is going to remain a stickler for detail in building or renovationg a period house.

[Crazy J]

I don't see much need to be calling out rough sawn lumber unless one is going to remain a stickler for detail in building or renovationg a period house.

 

Right, exactly. I'm just saying (now from the building/fabricating side) that if you are used to new construction and stuff like 16" centers and you might be adding a 2x4 for a closet nailer. If you then have an old wall in your house opened up, and check the center, and do the math for the length of the 2x4 you need, but forget that the old wood is wider, you'll end up with a board that you cut too long. Better than cutting it too short, but you end up with a second cut. The old lesson that I've learned firsthand over the years now in new, old, or mixed construction and as the saying goes "measure twice, cut once and measure once, cut twice"!!

 

And this all gets back to the premise that understanding the underlying principles in the field you are drawing/designing for will give you better results in the end.

[ReMark]

After you've made that mistake the first time (forgetting that the existing 2x4 really is 2"x4") you're very unlikely to ever make it again. Believe me. Been there...screwed that up. I measure six times and cut three. LOL

 

For a real challenge try renovating a house with the old gas lines still in the walls (gas fixtures were all the rage before electricity) and knob and tube wiring. makes for a lot of creative thinking.