Design Aid

[tipusnr]

Do any of you use CAD to design your jigs and fixtures? I would like to do some drawings of my ideas but haven't a program that will easily allow it.

I have done the tutorials in programs such as AutoCAD R14 and get through the exercises quickly but stumble when using it for anything practical. Also would like to stay on the cheaper end of things, if possible.

 

[jdavis]

We use AutoCAD Lt 2001 in our drafting class. Our students draw a pen design and then our Technology Systems students turn the design. Works well for us

 

[alamocdc]

Bill, most of the CAD programs I've seen have a pretty high learning curve. I found a few free programs (non-crippled) that you may find useful.
http://www.cadvance.com/
http://www.givemepower.de/FelixCADlt_promo.html
http://users.pandora.be/desi-iii/MainFrmE.html (supposed to be easy to use)
http://www.cadstd.com/lite.php (actual freeware)

 

[KingBubbaTruck]

I'm a pretty high tech guy, but I have to admit, for jigs and shop furniture (boxes, etc...) I usually go low tech. A tablet of quadrille (graph) paper, a mechanical pencil, and a triangle are about all I use.

If it's something nice, I will go with Visio, It's really super easy to use (for me at least), but it's not cheap.

I tried using turbocad for a while, but I just couldn't quite get the hang of a cad program.

I haven't used it but you might want to give OpenOffice a try. I think they have a program that is supposed to be 'Visio Like'

http://www.openoffice.org/product/draw.html

Worth a shot, and the price is right.

 

[JimQ]

The Delta CAD v. 6.0 from http://www.deltacad.com/ is a good program with a fairly quick learning curve. You get a fully functional 45 day trial version for free. The full version is only 39.95.

JimQ

 

[wdcav1952]

Originally posted by KingBubbaTruck
<br />I'm a pretty high tech guy, but I have to admit, for jigs and shop furniture (boxes, etc...) I usually go low tech. A tablet of quadrille (graph) paper, a mechanical pencil, and a triangle are about all I use.

If it's something nice, I will go with Visio, It's really super easy to use (for me at least), but it's not cheap.

I tried using turbocad for a while, but I just couldn't quite get the hang of a cad program.

I haven't used it but you might want to give OpenOffice a try. I think they have a program that is supposed to be 'Visio Like'

http://www.openoffice.org/product/draw.html

Worth a shot, and the price is right.

ROTFL, KingBubbaTruck as a high tech guy! Sorry, but the dichotomy between your handle and high tech tickled my funny bone!!! []

 

[KingBubbaTruck]

It's something I struggle with Every day. []

As you can imagine, there aren't a whole lot of hunting, fishing, woodworking, Linux Wrangling, Data Modeling, F350 Diesel Dually driving rednecks that do Perl/Web/Java programming work in the wilds of downtown SanFrancisco....

My coworkers consider me a bit of an oddity, but they enjoy the flat work (Small Boxes) and pens that I make... []

Actually, I pretty much work out of the house anymore, so I don't have to go to the office very often, but let's just say I'm a bit of a fish out of water down there.

Another odd thing is that I met my wife at work in San Francisco. We like to say that we were the only two 'RedNecks' in the office, it was inevitable we would get together!
(I'm using the term RedNeck loosely, because while we didn't grow up in the south, we sure enjoy the types of activities that I think most rednecks would enjoy, you know, hunting, fishing, camping) [8D]

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

I'm one of those dang fools who once I get an idea for a jig I go straight to the shop to build it.

I know how to use autocad. By the time I fire up the software, design it, tweak it and make it look pretty on the screen, I could have what I need already built.

 

[wdcav1952]

I hear you Brent. I am a Southern Redneck. Back home some of us liked to say we were a dangerous blend, Rednecks with education! [] One thing about my Southern drawl living here in Pennsylvania, people are always happy to help me with winter questions like "Wotinell is a snow thrower?" [][]

 

[tipusnr]

Thanks for the comments. I agree that it sometimes is easier just to build, tweak, build but my shop time is more limited than my computer time.

Also, if something works, I want to be able to share it and don't intend to devote a lot of time to photography that may, or may not, show how it's done.

I'm going to look at the hot links provided and see what happens.

 

[Glass Scratcher]

Redneck is a state of being. Not necessarily a state of geography.

Oddly enough, having been born, raised and work in the South, customers and clients from "other places" often ask me where I'm from. Apparantly the "ya'll" doesn't give away my accent.

 

[woodwish]

I think this is just a personal thing, but I spend most of my day at work dealing with computers in some manner. I know a CAD program would probably be better than my pencil and pad of paper, but somehow I would rather sit in my shop with a cup of coffee sketching ideas than spending any more time on the computer. Only overlap of computers and my shop is this board after I come in from the shop, but I'll agree that CAD programs can make life better.

 

[KingBubbaTruck]

I think any Jig worth making is work making at least 2 or 3 times until you get it right. The way I work is that I get a basic idea, and slap something together out of scraps. If it doesn't work quite right, I'll junk it. If it works ok, I'll use it a bit and then think about what would make it better. Then I'll put together a finished product.

If this was software, I'd call it sort of an iterative development approach. Often times I'd rather just get something out there, and see how it works, than spend a lot of time designing it.

I've redone my pen drilling jig 5 times, and today, Occams razor finally sliced that sucker open.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occams_razor

Instead of any number of clamps and right angle fixtures, it finally dawned on me to just use my cross slide vise and two pieces of hardwood with a v-notch in each of them and magnets on the back to hold them to the vise jaws. Simplest jig ever. Way simpler than the more complicated versions I had put together, and, even better, it worked (And sadly, much better than the versions I'd spent more time and effort on...)

There's a trade off to be sure. A well designed object is a thing of beauty, but for me, since I work with computers all day long, I'd rather do my design time in a 3d mode, with actual objects, than on a computer. It helps to balance me out after a day of coding to actually work with something physical instead of mental. It's why I like woodworking some much (and hoping i get better)!

 

[DCBluesman]

Tip - here's a newly announced piece of freeware. I don't know if it will work for what you're doing, but it's probably worth checking out. http://www.sketchup.com/

 

[Mudder]

I use Solidworks 2006 at work and it does quite well but there is nothing that beats the graph paper & pencil for shop jigs.

When I get tham all done on paper I might draw them in Solidworks.

BTW: a seat of solidworks is a minimum of 5K and then there is the yearly subscription fee if you want to keep up to date, but it is one slick program