CAD software recommendations

[igor]

Bit like me mate. I have never needed to know how or why it works. I just use it.

[shizzl]

3 hours ago, Bearded Baldy said:

At this point it should be glaringly obvious that i know just enough about computers to not get electricuted, and that is about it.

More than me then

[Bearded Baldy]

Set up a second monitor to watch tutorials and have a play this week on freecad.

Then immediatly couldn't be bothered when i realised an updated version had come out.

Had a play around this morning though, managed to go beyond the basic 3d printer style stuff i had been doing. And made a revolving crank setup including the animation.

Camera wouldn't focus with it turning....

Until today i could have made all the parts, but had absolutely no idea how to assemble them and set things up. 

MangoJelly Solutions is the guy i watched. Will try more of his stuff tomorrow and report.

[Bearded Baldy]

Question for those clued up in solidworks, how do you take a 3d scan stl file and make it something editable.

I have a scan of a solo seat cowl/cap for a motorbike, that i want to remove some lugs and add extra ones. And no idea how to do it.

[ThePog]

3 hours ago, Bearded Baldy said:

Question for those clued up in solidworks, how do you take a 3d scan stl file and make it something editable.

I have a scan of a solo seat cowl/cap for a motorbike, that i want to remove some lugs and add extra ones. And no idea how to do it.

Solidworks is pretty shit for editing scans, you can basically only bring it in as a graphics body which cannot have operations performed on it. I have been told that fusion360 can make an stl in to an editable body, but I tried once and it/me was fucking useless.

You best bet is Onshape, it imports an stl as an editable surface with certain limitations. But you should be able to create other surfaces and cut the scan with them, or do mutual trims etc.

Just make sure the file isnt too big otherwise you will be there for a long time.

I have found Bambu studio to be pretty good/quick at reducing scan size without losing heaps of detail. You just ignore the error when it is a meter bigger than the build volume.

[Bearded Baldy]

Thabks for that. Doesn't help that i have no real idea what i am clicking on.

Is a lot more user friendly than freecad though. Just have to unlearn some habits as it seems SW does a lot of things automatically that i had to learn to do myself in freecad.

Next thing to learn is how to add a plane on a set angle to an existing sketch. Youtube should be able to help for that though.

[ThePog]

45 minutes ago, Bearded Baldy said:

Thabks for that. Doesn't help that i have no real idea what i am clicking on.

Is a lot more user friendly than freecad though. Just have to unlearn some habits as it seems SW does a lot of things automatically that i had to learn to do myself in freecad.

Next thing to learn is how to add a plane on a set angle to an existing sketch. Youtube should be able to help for that though.

Are you trying onshape? If so getting planes in place is kindof more difficult than sw, although you can make a 3 point plane from points on the scan which can be useful for orientating things

[Bearded Baldy]

The angled plane was for something else, not the scan.

Have not tried onshape, i dislike the lack of privacy etc. Not that anything i do is cool or would be worth copyrighting haha.

Current project is making a tablet mount for my daughter to clip on side of her bed. So i dont have to wake up early on weekends she can entertain herself. Onto mk3 so far, gets easier each time as i learn slowly from each round of cockups.

[NickJ]

11 hours ago, Bearded Baldy said:

Question for those clued up in solidworks, how do you take a 3d scan stl file and make it something editable.

I have a scan of a solo seat cowl/cap for a motorbike, that i want to remove some lugs and add extra ones. And no idea how to do it.

ooooh, this is a pretty painful operation that SW needs to address, i've found fusion to be easier so my complicated scan workflows happens there.

Like pog mentioned, shrink them as much as possible in Bambu before getting into SW if you have to use it

My usual go to in SW is import the mesh, use the mesh tools to set up some planes to then build around the mesh as a handrail. surfacing or directly editing a mesh sounds like all sorts of not fun with SW.