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I got up and running with Solidworks in about an hour after watching a couple of Youtube videos. It's point and click, it's not rocket science.

by phaed 10y ago

rebootthesystem 10y ago
That's pretty funny. I've been using Solidworks for somewhere around 12 to 14 years. I also run Siemens NX. Clarification: Not saying it's impossible to learn. All I am saying is that a very, very, very, very small percentage of 3D printer buyers develop the chops. Don't confuse an intuitive UI with mechanical design. It's the difference between the intuitive UI of a word processor and writing a novel. The same could be said of, say, Python. Easy to learn from a few videos on YouTube. There's a vast difference between that and actually producing good, efficient, fast, sophisticated and accurate software. I've been programming, designing hardware and electronics for over twenty years. There is no way anyone can obtain the equivalent chops and experience from a bunch of videos on YouTube. Maybe they can learn to use Altium Designer, Solidworks, a compiler or two and Xilinx's FPGA toolset. That does not mean they can actually design products at all. That takes years or learning and dedication and is hard. Learning to drive Solidworks from a few YouTube videos does not make that person a mechanical engineer or a mechanical designer beyond the basics. Example, unrelated to 3D printing: Design a differential, cable-driven wrist actuator with 3 degrees of freedom. Use a combination of 3D printing, machined parts and off-the-shelf hardware. Use SW to run load analysis on the parts and assemblies. Calculate allowable dimensional tolerances. Produce mechanical drawings with annotations for class of fit of various components as required. Now make the entire assembly (all components) parametrically driven by a reference sketch. Automatically produce a new set of prints and revisions if any dimension is changed. In other words, if you change one gear all other components in the actuator redefine themselves based on the new gear and so does the assembly. If the new gear is large enough to accommodate four mounting holes rather than two, it should implement those changes automatically. I still hold that creating anything truly useful for 3D printing requires background that most people don't have and are not interested obtaining through hard, self-directed work.
- WillPostForFood 10y ago
  What you are saying is true, but you are also setting a ridiculously high standards with examples like "differential, cable-driven wrist actuator with 3 degrees of freedom." There is a lot of room between that and what a beginner in solidworks or tinkercad or blender can do. Just some time browsing Tinkercad's gallery of things. I promise you most aren't products of mechanical engineers (nor will they threaten the jobs of mechanical engineers. https://www.tinkercad.com/things/ https://www.tinkercad.com/things/
  - jjeaff 10y ago
    Exactly. I don't need a 3d printer to build my own cable driven wrist actuator. I just need to print a beefed up version of that weak hinge you included because you spent so much time building a fancy 3d model in solidworks that you forgot to test your final creation in real world conditions.
    - rebootthesystem 10y ago
      > spent so much time building a fancy 3d model in solidworks that you forgot to test your final creation in real world conditions And that, almost precisely, betrays a lack of understanding of mechanical (or electrical, or architectural, etc.) design. CAD is a tool for documentation and, to some extent, verification. A mechanical engineer (or self-taught designer) isn't made by being able to use the tool. Mechanical design starts with a fundamental understanding of principles, techniques, structures, familiarity with historical solutions to similar problems and a deep understanding of DFM as well as DFMEA. CAD isn't about creating fancy 3D models at all. You can use 3D CAD to design things that are impossible to make. I think you are equating 3D CAD with mechanical design, which isn't quite right.
- davidivadavid 10y ago
  But that's true of anything non-trivial. What would be some resources one could use to step up from Solidworks warrior to "decent enough at mechanical design that you wouldn't make a pro cringe"?

I got up and running with Solidworks in about an hour after watching a couple of Youtube videos. It's point and click, it's not rocket science.

by phaed 10y ago

I got up and running with Solidworks in about an hour after watching a couple of Youtube videos. It's point and click, it's not rocket science.

rebootthesystem 10y ago

That's pretty funny. I've been using Solidworks for somewhere around 12 to 14 years. I also run Siemens NX. Clarification: Not saying it's impossible to learn. All I am saying is that a very, very, very, very small percentage of 3D printer buyers develop the chops. Don't confuse an intuitive UI with mechanical design. It's the difference between the intuitive UI of a word processor and writing a novel. The same could be said of, say, Python. Easy to learn from a few videos on YouTube. There's a vast difference between that and actually producing good, efficient, fast, sophisticated and accurate software. I've been programming, designing hardware and electronics for over twenty years. There is no way anyone can obtain the equivalent chops and experience from a bunch of videos on YouTube. Maybe they can learn to use Altium Designer, Solidworks, a compiler or two and Xilinx's FPGA toolset. That does not mean they can actually design products at all. That takes years or learning and dedication and is hard. Learning to drive Solidworks from a few YouTube videos does not make that person a mechanical engineer or a mechanical designer beyond the basics. Example, unrelated to 3D printing: Design a differential, cable-driven wrist actuator with 3 degrees of freedom. Use a combination of 3D printing, machined parts and off-the-shelf hardware. Use SW to run load analysis on the parts and assemblies. Calculate allowable dimensional tolerances. Produce mechanical drawings with annotations for class of fit of various components as required. Now make the entire assembly (all components) parametrically driven by a reference sketch. Automatically produce a new set of prints and revisions if any dimension is changed. In other words, if you change one gear all other components in the actuator redefine themselves based on the new gear and so does the assembly. If the new gear is large enough to accommodate four mounting holes rather than two, it should implement those changes automatically. I still hold that creating anything truly useful for 3D printing requires background that most people don't have and are not interested obtaining through hard, self-directed work.

WillPostForFood 10y ago
What you are saying is true, but you are also setting a ridiculously high standards with examples like "differential, cable-driven wrist actuator with 3 degrees of freedom." There is a lot of room between that and what a beginner in solidworks or tinkercad or blender can do. Just some time browsing Tinkercad's gallery of things. I promise you most aren't products of mechanical engineers (nor will they threaten the jobs of mechanical engineers. https://www.tinkercad.com/things/ https://www.tinkercad.com/things/
- jjeaff 10y ago
  Exactly. I don't need a 3d printer to build my own cable driven wrist actuator. I just need to print a beefed up version of that weak hinge you included because you spent so much time building a fancy 3d model in solidworks that you forgot to test your final creation in real world conditions.
  - rebootthesystem 10y ago
    > spent so much time building a fancy 3d model in solidworks that you forgot to test your final creation in real world conditions And that, almost precisely, betrays a lack of understanding of mechanical (or electrical, or architectural, etc.) design. CAD is a tool for documentation and, to some extent, verification. A mechanical engineer (or self-taught designer) isn't made by being able to use the tool. Mechanical design starts with a fundamental understanding of principles, techniques, structures, familiarity with historical solutions to similar problems and a deep understanding of DFM as well as DFMEA. CAD isn't about creating fancy 3D models at all. You can use 3D CAD to design things that are impossible to make. I think you are equating 3D CAD with mechanical design, which isn't quite right.
davidivadavid 10y ago
But that's true of anything non-trivial. What would be some resources one could use to step up from Solidworks warrior to "decent enough at mechanical design that you wouldn't make a pro cringe"?