IRONCAD vs Fusion 360 Lesson 3 Assembly 3D Modeling Techniques Defined
Streamlined Sketching/Feature Based Modeling Single Model Environment and
AIDs - Two Files!
The modeling technique is
hugely responsible for the level of productivity. Those of you that
are only trained in the sketch, sketch, constrain, constrain world
are truly limited by not using the freedom of Streamlined Sketching
and Feature Based Design,
that is available in even the most Pro/e-ish of CAD systems. If your
designers are designing in these very unproductive and time
consuming processes it might be time to review your standard design
processes. Don't have any do you?
These articles started out as
product comparisons, but quickly turned into a study in 3D modeling
techniques. When I introduce IronCAD's very
flexible design paradigm I have a hard time to get the Pro/e clone
users, like Solidworks and other programs to understand the drag and
drop design paradigm.
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your legacy engineering information.
IronCAD Self-Pace Training Course I saw the
following video challenges on linkedin and thought I would give it a
try on IronCAD. This will give you an idea how different
and flexible IronCAD is compared to the conventional Pro/e clone and
to the not so conventional Fusion 360.
Assembly is the very
best feature of IronCAD. With its true single model environment it
offers the highest level of productivity. Watch how we use drag
and drop with a minimum of sketching to complete this job in no
time. There is no better program that can manipulate parts and an
assemblies in a 3D space.
While creating 3D models from a drawing is the very best
way to learn 3D CAD and maybe some design techniques is does not
expose the designer to the design flexibility necessary in product
design. IronCAD is all top down due to the single model environment.
Creating mating parts is a cruise. But modeling is just one aspect of a
well designed productive 3D CAD system. IronCAD vs Fusion 360
I would do a
video, but I really am not good at it. So I will show you step by
step. I will try and get IronCAD support to create one. They are
very good. I always create the part before I watch
the Fusion 360 Video, so as to not taint my process. Of course,
there are a multitude of ways to create a model. There is no right
way, just more productive ways. From what I have seen from these
very complicated processes done by the Fusion 360 fellow, it is not
just limited by the 3D CAD system.
The modeling technique is
hugely responsible for the level of productivity. Those of you that
are only trained in the sketch, sketch, constrain, constrain world
are truly limited by not using the freedom of feature based design,
that is available in even the most Pro/e-ish of CAD systems. If your
designers are designing in these very unproductive and time
consuming processes it might be time to review your standard design
processes. Don't have any do you?
These have actually turned
these into exercises in
modeling techniques as compared to showing a more productive CAD
systems. Again, I say there are many different ways to model a part.
I see with my exposure to direct edit modelers like CADKEY, I
rarely sketch like you see the Fusion 360 fellow doing. I have always
created my basic sketches by mostly creating offsets and extending
and trimming or. It seems to be much easier. I never put in a fillet that
can be created later. What do you think? Of course, this take a good
understanding of descriptive geometry.
I will introduce you
to Streamline Sketching and Feature Based Modeling. Here is IronCAD. We set the units to
millimeters.
The Fusion 360 presenter does this part with
sketch, sketch, constrain, constrain. I will show you a much more
productive modeling technique that is much, much simpler and easier
to edit in the future. Feature based design can be done in most
packages. IronCAD is built around this design paradigm. Even though
we can completely design by sketching, most of the functionality is
focused on dragging the positive and negative shapes and sizing them
with handle that snap to any feature.
I do notice that all of the required
dimensions are not on the drawing. I have detailed the clamp at the
end of the article, if you are interested in creating this assembly in your
current CAD system.
We will first create the clamp. We drag a
block into the scene and size it.
We will now take
the center cut out by dropping a hole block and sizing it. We locate
the block, by pulling the handles with the shift key selected to faces and
points we want to align. We can then edit the distance as required,
many times dragging the block to match a face then subtracting the
distance.
We create the
small lower hole block as shown then create the 2 chamfers. Default
is 45 degrees. You can see since we are not using the catalog, it is
automatically hidden to provide a larger work space.
We select a chamfer and we have a variety of
easy to use options. We select distance and angle.
I am a big
believer in "NOT" sketching blends and chamfers. Who always wants to
go to the sketch to change a blend? Or actually anything? As you can
see we rarely sketch. We could design this by sketching only if we
like. Again that is my biggest problem while trying to show
Solidwork users drag and drop. They are in the sketch, sketch,
constrain, constrain mentality like the fellow doing the Fusion 360
presentation. He could have easily did a bit of feature design in
Fusion 360. Especially the blends and chamfers.
We create the
outer edge chamfers by selecting all affected faces and edges.
Now for the
threaded hole. We select the custom hole from the catalog, drag it
on the the face and define it.
We locate the hole with the
triball.
You can see the thread hole in the history.
Before
the fellow with Fusion 360 is done with the sketch, we have the
body
created. I find designing with features is much faster and much
easier to edit than basing all of the design on sketches. I am sure
there is a much easier way to do it in Fusion 360.
Now for
the screw. We don't have to create a new component we just create
another part in the same space. We will create a screw with no
head.
I will remove the internal wrenching feature, just to keep the part
clean. Notice the new part in the history tree or what IronCAD calls the
scene browser.
Now we
will put a cap on the screw thread
We drop
a hole on the face it automatically centers on the cylinder.
We use
the triball to locate the hole and align it.
Now we
add the pin on the bottom by dragging a cylinder to the center of
the screw and size and add the chamfer.
We
align the screw in the hole in the clamp, of course, using the
Triball!
We drag
a cylinder on to the scene resize it and add the blends and locate
the Triball in the middle to align with the screw.
We
align the pin with the screw and we are done ready for the final
part.
Now for the swivel we drop a cylinder and size it.
Now to
add the chamfer and counterbore hole
You can see I created
the counterbore first then dragged the smaller hole to the center. I
could have just created a counterbored hole but this is just too
easy.
We again use the powerful and flexible, yet easy to use, Triball
to locate the swivel. Sadly, bringing our exercise to an end. You
can see how much more pleasurable IronCAD is to use. I didn't use
one sketch in this complete project.
Here is another
clever way to create the swivel. I will do a bit of sketching. We
drop a cone on to the end of the screw. We drag with the "right"
mouse button selected that will give an option of creating a new
part. Dragging with the "left" mouse button selected automatically makes it a feature on
the existing part.
We
moved it to the end of the threads and edit cross section. You can
see the entities that make up the cone. All drag and drop features
are made up of a sketch. We will just alter that sketch to create
the swivel. This is of incredible value when you need to create a
custom revolve. We turn off the catalog for more work space (it can
be set to autohide).
We just
sketch the shape of the swivel. I would never design this way on
such a simple part, but it is a fun way to design. I don't think I
have used the spin wizard for years.
Just
select okay and you have your swivel. So easy and so fun!
Since the body is not completely defined
in the original isometric, here is a drawing of the
clamp. IronCAD offers a separate drawing module. Since this is a
single model environment, you create configurations to separate your
parts and assemblies. We have created a "body" configuration to
create this drawing.
Here is
a zoomed in view for better viewing.
It is
very important that you look into how you or your engineers are
creating the parts. Streamline Sketching and Feature Based Modeling
is easy to learn and implement. It, alone, will increase
productivity 10X. Now, IronCAD with its unique integrated
history/direct edit functionality can increase your productivity
another 5X or more with changes! Again, time is money in
engineering.
More on Streamline Sketching and Feature
Based Modeling.
3D CAD Modeling Techniques To experience this increased level of productivity, please download
IronCAD for a 30 day evaluation. Legacy data is no problem, IronCAD
can read the native files of all of the popular programs. IronCAD is
a great replacement for the subscription only Autodesk and PTC
products.
Give me a call if you have any
questions. I can set up a skype or gotomeeting to show this part
or answer any of your questions on the operation of IronCAD. It
truly is the very best conceptual 3D CAD system.
If you are interested in adding professional
hybrid modeling capabilities or looking for a new solution to
increase your productivity, take some time to download a fully
functional 30 day evaluation and play with these packages. Feel free
to give me a call if you have any questions or would like an on-line
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