Hello everyone. I'm new to SU. I've been playing with SU Pro 8 for a few weeks now and really enjoy the program. I have never played with this type of 3D program before and have been told that SU is a great way to eventually jump into SolidWorks.

I have always enjoyed traditional drafting since high school. I am currently designing and developing new compound bow components. I have been submitting all of my traditional drafts to a second party for modeling and would like to speed things up by building the models and generate the required PDF's and DXF files right from the start.

I am able to generate simple components to scale but feel I am still some time away from completing more complex models. I will endoubtedly have many questions while learning SU.

Thanks everyone! I look forward to being an active forum member and hopefully can contribute to the forums very soon.

Connor

Hello everyone. I am brand new to SketchUp Pro 8 and I am new to posting on the forum. I am trying to thread holes in a part and cannot for the life of me, find information on how to do this! Can someone help me? I must not be using the Search function correctly?

Thanks in advance!

Connor

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

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