I just mentioned an excellent CAD program called DraftSight in my Ground Station thread over in AP/FPV (http://southernoregonrc.com/index.php?threads/my-fpv-ground-station.4771/#post-23030). I wanted to start a thread here for anyone that might want want to further discuss DraftSight or maybe suggest other good CAD programs. I only mentioned the program in my other thread because I was about to upload CAD files there for my project. I'd like to avoid getting a CAD discussion going in my Ground Station thread. Thanks! ...Tiger
I'll take a look at it this week and let you know my thoughts. I've used SolidWorks, MaterCAM, Turbo CAD, AutoCAD, Bob CAD, and maybe a few others. SolidWorks is my go-to, then MaterCAM when I don't need the bloatedness of designing in 3D, or if I'm not going to send it to any of the machines I work on then AutoCAD as most of the industry will accept those files for submission. The big problem for most with the CAD software I use is obviously $$$! Bob CAD and Turbo CAD are both less expensive offerings that I still use on occasion - mostly when I need to send something to my plas table. They're both very quick to design in and automatically convert to G-code. BTW, the 1/4 scale wakeboard RC boat I'm working on is designed entirely in SolidWorks. I am working on it with one of the engineers I work with and it's almost ready. I sometimes get quizzical looks from the other engineers when I walk into thier area. After all, I'm just a welder, what do I know about their uppity world of design
DraftSight Setup - I'm going to post my ground station drawing over in FPV in a few minutes and for those that are going to view it using DraftSight for the first time I wanted to point you toward some screen setup changes you'll want to make. As I recall, the default setup looked pretty horrible. If you follow the directions below, you'll have what I'm using and at the same time you'll see where to go to change things however you like it. I suggest you try my entries before you make any big changes of your own. Some of what I'm about to give you may not need to be changed. I have no way at the moment to really know what I changed from default so I'm going to give you everything in the section of interest. This will deal mainly with screen related colors. I'm going to download a new copy of DraftSight one of these days and install it on a different computer. When I do that, I'll write down all the things that actually had to change. Then I'll come back and edit this post. There are more things that should be changed than I'm posting here, but for now this will at least get you going. Click on the menu sequence below and make any changes required. Tools - Options - System Options - Element Colors (then set the following) Command Window Background - White Command Window Text - Black Cursor X - Red Cursor Y - Green Cursor Z - Blue ESnap Cue - Green Model Reference Guides - Black Model Background - White Model Crosshair - Black Shtet Reference Guides - Black Sheet Background - White Sheet Crosshair - Black Tools - Options - System Options - Default Scale List (then set the following) Click "Imperial" (I think the default was Metric) If "1:1" isn't clicked in the scale box, you should also click that. If someone would give me a list of which entries are already correct, I will shorten up this list. Tnx! ...Tiger
