Introduce myself
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hi all,
my name is conrad. I am a midlife cabinet maker who has recently become the proud owner,(ok, manager)of a cnc router. Welcome to the twenty first century! Problem is that I am still in the eighteenth century. I am supported by a couple of young designers who have grown up with drawing programs and are very good at producing my cnc files and shop drawings, but I still need to learn this stuff, if for no other reason than to know what i should be yelling at them about. My needs are almost entirely 2d, modeling and presentation is done by others.
My question, am I in the right forum? I am a competent draftsman,just need help with finding the right buttons on the computer,(vista). appreciate your help. -
Welcome Conrad from another midlife sawdust maker (but I am retired from professional woodworking, 'cuz software pays better).
I didn't hear anything in your post about SketchUp. Are you using it? Are you looking to use it? Are those whippersnappers shoving it down your throat?
Someone, somewhere, has a plugin for SketchUp that allows you to export your model for input into a CNC machine. I don't know any specifics or how good it is, but someone is doing some work in this area.
What are YOUR needs? For the one-off items I was making when building cabinets, high-end built-ins and furniture, SketchUp worked just fine. I'd slap a few dimension lines on a detail section, print it out, and that was good enough for me.
I guess it depends on your workflow as to whether or not SketchUp is in your future.
Do tell more.
Todd
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hi Todd,
yes, I have decided to learn Sketchup. Gotta love the price, plus it seems that all the literate people around me know a little something about Sketchup. I tried emailing a dxf from Sketchup to my workstation, and it converted to g code just fine. We use Enroute for tool pathing.
My needs are fairly simple. I need to be able to do details on the fly,a blow up of a particular joint say, in response to a design change, or because we have had a brilliant idea. I have 6 bench guys to keep busy, going back to the designers with every little thing is a pain. I would be doing a lot of drawings to print, as well as a few for the cnc. -
hi James,
thanks for the link, I feel very at home there. I think I need to start out a little lower down the ladder though. The folks on that forum are all doing what I want to learn to do. I still need help with the basic commands,as well as learning to think about drafting in a different (new)way. I have a copy of SU for dummies. very helpful, but I need more drafting specific help. -
Welcome Conrad, you have certtainly come to the right place. The help you receive here by the community is fantastic.
Ask away whenever you need to
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Hi Conrad and welcome (or did anyone already say that?)
Aaanyway, don't get confused by those woodworkers down at the special forums - they are mostly the ones that are here (at the Newbie section) as well to help out "hopeless" new members. And if not - well there are the "rest" but I'm sure you won't be unanswered.
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