CAD Software

[Hoeman00]

Do u have a tech school nearby?
When I went thru Tool and Die apprenticeship we had 3 cad classes and they used Autocad.
The schools have a license to let students have it to do homework /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
To pay for the class wasn't that expensive ($250+/-) for the basic class and the books gave us have good instructions.
This would kill 2 birds w/ one stone.

 

[DannyWilliams]

Bob, sounds like your fired up and ready to go. I own a BX2200 and have fabricated a few implements. I didn't use a CAD program...didn't have one. I just looked at various things on the net, got some ideas and went on from there. Check out the link to see some of the things I've put together, such as (FEL, cat 1 hydraulic top link, hydraulic side link, rear mounted spool valve to control TNT, 3pt. forks, front reciver bumper, 3 pt. hydraulic boom/hoist and custom mounted Top.

http://community.webshots.com/album/64671033wFJmcn

Why do I do this....I just like building things and using my welder.

Good luck with locating a CAD program and designing your own implements. Ya know, I've heard that some people are using programs such as WinMX to share various programs/files....music, movies, applications (such as Cad programs) etc. You might be amazed at what you can find. As someone else said, "I would never do this", however I did hear the big boys talking about participating is such activities....just thought I'd pass it along. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

DW

 

[bobsedor]

Thanks Danny,

I have actually followed along with some of your other posts and seen your pictures, nice work. I am in a similar mode and want to build some stuff with my welder. I thought using my interest and skills with the computer I could possibly do some computer design and then build. If only there was more time! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Also, many thanks to all of the others. The information is all useful and appreaciated. As usual, the folks on this board are full of valuable information.

Bob

 

[daveMT]

I have used QuickCAD and love it. I use it for house plans, but it comes with examples of mechanical drawings. It doesn't have the power of an AutoCAD, but for what I needed it works great.

 

[Schultz]

I downloaded and installed the ProDesktop, my interest would purely be home use like your needs. Right now, I do my design work on my lunch hours or slow times using a full ProE 2001, plus my work computer is probably 10 times faster than my home computer. The ProDesktop does pull up native ProE part and assembly files just fine, but I was disappointed that it couldn't pull up ProE drawing files. For me it seemed more difficult to use than the full-blown ProE version, but everything has its learning curve. Unfortunately, it doesn’t use the same commands as the full version. I haven’t figured out how to spin the objects or assemblies yet. I guess I’ll just have to read the directions and go through the tutorial.

Since your making assemblies and other things that have to fit, my experience is that it's substantially easier creating things in 3d solids. Once you get use to thinking in 3d all the time you never want to go back to 2d cad. You can start by creating a general model of your tractor's attachment points & obstructions, then design from there and be fairly assured it will fit and go together well.

One other good add-on, not sure it will work with ProDesktop, but it works with ProE and other cad software is Procision mechanical analysis software from Rand Corp. They have a free six-month trial version. It blows away any FEA/mechanical analysis software from PTC or anyone else. It's extremely fast, and unlike all other FEA software its easy to learn (took me less than hour to get started), after using it on one project we dumped ProMechanca.