New Years resolution!

ConnorBC

Ok, so I am a little late getting started! LOL I am currently in the middle of starting a new compound bow company with two other partners, both in a different country (USA) and in different states from each other. Iam located in British Columbia, Canada.Can it possibly get more complicated??? Anyway, each of us bring something to the table with regards to talent. I am the designer and person responsible for drafting parts and components. Another partner creates the 3D models and required blueprints and the third partner does the testing and quality control.

My New Years resolution for 2009 was to learn to create less complicated models myself to help cut down on time etc. My question is, is SketchUp a good starting point for me? I have no computer drafting training at all, but my traditional drafting skills are well practiced. I would be interested in modeling components which would require threaded through holes and countersinks mainly, nothing too difficult. Our parts and components are all CNC machined and cut via WaterJet.

I have been playing with SketchUp all day today and I am convinced that SketchUp will be great for creating the models required for WaterJet components, but would really like some input with regards to our CNC machined components.

Any advise or comments would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all for your time.

Regards,

Connor

remus

Hi connor, from the sounds of it SU could be quite good for you. As you mention though, the CNC may be a sticking point.

The only workflow i know of for exporting to a CNC machine involves going via the .stl format which can be a bit clunky. The other problem is that SU is a polygon modeller and thus you cant get truly accurate bends and curves. Considering you'll probably want quite a high degree of precision when machining components id imagine this could be a problem.

Having said that theres no harm in giving it a go. Try drawing a a relatively simple component and see how much success you have in getting something usable from the CNC machine.

You might find This plugin of use for cleaning up your model before you export it to .stl.

ConnorBC

Good morning Remus, thank you for the advise. I will definitely download CADSpan and give it a test drive! I have a friend who is a genius with SolidWorks and can check it's viability for me.

Connor