01-12-2012, 04:50 PM
Hi,
Well said Gary; I think Nick is on a different planet to us mere mortals.
It's only a week ago that after 14 years of nothing but failure with using CAD that I still could not use it even to draw in 2D. I must have spent hundreds of hours trying assorted CAD and drawing programs ending up using "Paint" for virtually producing a non scaled sketch.
During this week I have not been able to play around practicing with EMS because I became seriously de-railed due to my very basic computer on-board graphics not allowing me to transfer 3D to either my printer or files. On top of this as fully discussed in another thread I found two yellow question marks stating the computer had an Unknown Device. This really did rattle me and after many hours frustration and a great deal of help from you kind forum members I ended up thinking I would have been happy if the unknown device was a bomb. I'm too polite to express my true feelings on this matter but it totally scattered my thoughts for days on end.
Well Joe; please put your pencil and paper away because there is a CAD program that you hopefully will quickly use as explained below.
I stated that I intended to stick with EMS (emachineshop) and I've already posted some success but things have progressed light years to my advantage. It took four hours of fierce determination and concentration to produce the 2D drawings using EMS but at last after 14 years my foot was on the CAD ladder.
The day after drawing in 2D successfully for the first time I thought I would have a try using 3D. An hour later I had a wonderful fully scaled 3D drawing of a clutch mounting I'm currently working on. Not only did I have the drawing I was absolutely amazed by viewing the drawing in 3D being able to view it from any angle; how the heck could I produce something like this as I've only just done my first 2D drawing; to say I was over the moon with delight is an understatement; I was truly gobsmacked at this success.
Last night my chum David kindly sent me a copy of a back panel section drawing he had produced using "Paint" and David had added dimensions. Out of curiosity I decided to have a go at using his details in the hope of producing both 2D & 3D drawings.
At first I admit it was a bit difficult in getting the slot shape drawn; but with patience and looking at the tutorial I drew a single slot but when I tried to repeat the lines seperated allowing me to move only one line at a time? Again I viewed he tutorial and found I needed to use the "Group" function; brilliant I not only had a perfectly scaled slot but now I could repeat (copy) it as many times as required so I repeated lots of them.
Next job was to try to get them all to align. As an experiment I drew a rectangle and scaled this as I would a radio back panel; with the rectangle easily drawn I set this to fill the screen. Now using temporary lines I slowly built up the first row of slots; I found if I simply drew a straight line to align the slots to it didn't work as the spacing was all over the place. I set the top tool bar right hand setting at 90 degrees then I started to add the short temporary lines. Using Davids measurements the spacing between the slot center was 13mm the slots being 6mm wide each.
I drew a 25mm line down from the top left hand corner of the rectangle and the end of this line then gave me a "Snap" point; next I drew a horizontal line from the new snap at 25mm and this gave the first snap for the slot. Whilst drawing these straight lines it is very important to press and keep pressed the Ctrl key on the keyboard; this ensures a straight line and not a zig-zag. I then added the temporary snaps for the remainder of the top row of slots; these were added one by one each spaced at 13mm using the scaling adjustment on the top tool bar which is highlighted.
Now it was simple to nudge all the repeated slots into place one at each snap point knowing they were now in perfect alignment.
Adding the lower rows of slots was a doddle.
I added a snap point at each side of the rectangle then using the left mouse button keeping it pressed selected the entire row of slots by drawing a box around and close to them; select either Line; Repeat or as I did I used the repeat icon on the top tool bar and the repeated slots appeared over and near the original slots and the whole row of slots was simply nudged to the two new snap points then a mouse click installed the row at one go; how good this felt; and by now I had gained a great deal of confidence and quickly added the third row of slots.
To remove a line is dead easy; select with the cursor and when highlighted hit the delete key on the keyboard. I did this to remove all the temporary lines.
Then for interest I added a square at the bottom left hand. All the while I was drawing I was "saving" just in case. I now had a 2D drawing and was very pleased with it but what about 3D.
I selected the outer rectangle and on the top tool bar went to the "Z" axis adjustment. At first I cleared the box then entered 3mm and set it on the picture with a mouse click. Clicking on the 3D pyramid on the top tool bar brought up the image allowing me to rotate it; as I'm only experimenting I then went back and increased the panel thickness (Z) to 10mm to make it stand out more. I now had drawn the panel in both 2D & 3D but although the slots appeared as "Daylight" holes the bottom left hand square did not; I selected the square and again using the Z settings I added 10mm; whoops; this time when viewed in 3D the square had become a square protruding on the panel when in fact I wanted a hole (Daylight) I tried once again; selected the square but this time added a minus sign in front of 10mm; it worked as now it viewed as a hole; I could have selected "daylight" I believe but I still have a great deal to learn. It took an hour and a half to draw the panel and view it in 3D.
Considering I've failed with CAD for 14 years I reckon EMS is absolutely brilliant and although the explanation above is very long winded with a little practice it takes longer to write about it than to do it so please do not be put off as my intention is to encourage others to have a go who have found themselves in a similar CAD position to me.
I emailed the drawing to David last night just before I knocked off and asked him about it this morning. David was already on top of the job; he had not only printed off a copy which he kindly showed me but he had been able to view it in 3D rotating it on his computer; now that's what I call the icing on the cake.
At last I can finally draw using CAD; it gives me such a wonderful feeling of satisfaction and has now opened up a whole new world for me to explore; I've got a long journey ahead of me to reach Nick's CAD proficiency but what a great start.
I'll now add the drawing but don't know if you will be able to access it in EMS; it's worth a try but I'll also add a 3D picture in order to show what I've been on about.
Because of my poor computer on-board graphics I am unable to transfer 3D images and images I have are distorted so please bear this in mind and this is why I'm buying a new computer in the New Year.
If you can view the 2D drawing in EMS then please select the pyramid on the top tool bar which opens up the 3D view; this to me is amazing as the picture can be viewed from any angle using the mouse; if not at least I've tried.
Emachineshop CAD in my opinion should be released as a stand alone drawing package; it has enabled me to progress rapidly. Good luck.
Sorry I'm unable to transfer the picture as the file type is not allowed so I've taken digital images using my camera and downloaded them in order to post them; hopefully they provide an insight into what can be achieved using EMS.
Kind regards, Col.
Well said Gary; I think Nick is on a different planet to us mere mortals.
It's only a week ago that after 14 years of nothing but failure with using CAD that I still could not use it even to draw in 2D. I must have spent hundreds of hours trying assorted CAD and drawing programs ending up using "Paint" for virtually producing a non scaled sketch.
During this week I have not been able to play around practicing with EMS because I became seriously de-railed due to my very basic computer on-board graphics not allowing me to transfer 3D to either my printer or files. On top of this as fully discussed in another thread I found two yellow question marks stating the computer had an Unknown Device. This really did rattle me and after many hours frustration and a great deal of help from you kind forum members I ended up thinking I would have been happy if the unknown device was a bomb. I'm too polite to express my true feelings on this matter but it totally scattered my thoughts for days on end.
Well Joe; please put your pencil and paper away because there is a CAD program that you hopefully will quickly use as explained below.
I stated that I intended to stick with EMS (emachineshop) and I've already posted some success but things have progressed light years to my advantage. It took four hours of fierce determination and concentration to produce the 2D drawings using EMS but at last after 14 years my foot was on the CAD ladder.
The day after drawing in 2D successfully for the first time I thought I would have a try using 3D. An hour later I had a wonderful fully scaled 3D drawing of a clutch mounting I'm currently working on. Not only did I have the drawing I was absolutely amazed by viewing the drawing in 3D being able to view it from any angle; how the heck could I produce something like this as I've only just done my first 2D drawing; to say I was over the moon with delight is an understatement; I was truly gobsmacked at this success.
Last night my chum David kindly sent me a copy of a back panel section drawing he had produced using "Paint" and David had added dimensions. Out of curiosity I decided to have a go at using his details in the hope of producing both 2D & 3D drawings.
At first I admit it was a bit difficult in getting the slot shape drawn; but with patience and looking at the tutorial I drew a single slot but when I tried to repeat the lines seperated allowing me to move only one line at a time? Again I viewed he tutorial and found I needed to use the "Group" function; brilliant I not only had a perfectly scaled slot but now I could repeat (copy) it as many times as required so I repeated lots of them.
Next job was to try to get them all to align. As an experiment I drew a rectangle and scaled this as I would a radio back panel; with the rectangle easily drawn I set this to fill the screen. Now using temporary lines I slowly built up the first row of slots; I found if I simply drew a straight line to align the slots to it didn't work as the spacing was all over the place. I set the top tool bar right hand setting at 90 degrees then I started to add the short temporary lines. Using Davids measurements the spacing between the slot center was 13mm the slots being 6mm wide each.
I drew a 25mm line down from the top left hand corner of the rectangle and the end of this line then gave me a "Snap" point; next I drew a horizontal line from the new snap at 25mm and this gave the first snap for the slot. Whilst drawing these straight lines it is very important to press and keep pressed the Ctrl key on the keyboard; this ensures a straight line and not a zig-zag. I then added the temporary snaps for the remainder of the top row of slots; these were added one by one each spaced at 13mm using the scaling adjustment on the top tool bar which is highlighted.
Now it was simple to nudge all the repeated slots into place one at each snap point knowing they were now in perfect alignment.
Adding the lower rows of slots was a doddle.
I added a snap point at each side of the rectangle then using the left mouse button keeping it pressed selected the entire row of slots by drawing a box around and close to them; select either Line; Repeat or as I did I used the repeat icon on the top tool bar and the repeated slots appeared over and near the original slots and the whole row of slots was simply nudged to the two new snap points then a mouse click installed the row at one go; how good this felt; and by now I had gained a great deal of confidence and quickly added the third row of slots.
To remove a line is dead easy; select with the cursor and when highlighted hit the delete key on the keyboard. I did this to remove all the temporary lines.
Then for interest I added a square at the bottom left hand. All the while I was drawing I was "saving" just in case. I now had a 2D drawing and was very pleased with it but what about 3D.
I selected the outer rectangle and on the top tool bar went to the "Z" axis adjustment. At first I cleared the box then entered 3mm and set it on the picture with a mouse click. Clicking on the 3D pyramid on the top tool bar brought up the image allowing me to rotate it; as I'm only experimenting I then went back and increased the panel thickness (Z) to 10mm to make it stand out more. I now had drawn the panel in both 2D & 3D but although the slots appeared as "Daylight" holes the bottom left hand square did not; I selected the square and again using the Z settings I added 10mm; whoops; this time when viewed in 3D the square had become a square protruding on the panel when in fact I wanted a hole (Daylight) I tried once again; selected the square but this time added a minus sign in front of 10mm; it worked as now it viewed as a hole; I could have selected "daylight" I believe but I still have a great deal to learn. It took an hour and a half to draw the panel and view it in 3D.
Considering I've failed with CAD for 14 years I reckon EMS is absolutely brilliant and although the explanation above is very long winded with a little practice it takes longer to write about it than to do it so please do not be put off as my intention is to encourage others to have a go who have found themselves in a similar CAD position to me.
I emailed the drawing to David last night just before I knocked off and asked him about it this morning. David was already on top of the job; he had not only printed off a copy which he kindly showed me but he had been able to view it in 3D rotating it on his computer; now that's what I call the icing on the cake.
At last I can finally draw using CAD; it gives me such a wonderful feeling of satisfaction and has now opened up a whole new world for me to explore; I've got a long journey ahead of me to reach Nick's CAD proficiency but what a great start.
I'll now add the drawing but don't know if you will be able to access it in EMS; it's worth a try but I'll also add a 3D picture in order to show what I've been on about.
Because of my poor computer on-board graphics I am unable to transfer 3D images and images I have are distorted so please bear this in mind and this is why I'm buying a new computer in the New Year.
If you can view the 2D drawing in EMS then please select the pyramid on the top tool bar which opens up the 3D view; this to me is amazing as the picture can be viewed from any angle using the mouse; if not at least I've tried.
Emachineshop CAD in my opinion should be released as a stand alone drawing package; it has enabled me to progress rapidly. Good luck.
Sorry I'm unable to transfer the picture as the file type is not allowed so I've taken digital images using my camera and downloaded them in order to post them; hopefully they provide an insight into what can be achieved using EMS.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
