CAD program - Where to begin

[Pops]

Need some help here folks.

I have a copy of TurboCad and am trying to learn how to use it. I'm about to go back to pencil and paper!

Is there a good tutorial on how to draw? TurboCad has a tutorial but it is too detailed (ex - "Lets show you how to turn on your computer. Great! Now lets show you how to start up TurboCad.....").

I'm looking for something that explains how to make drawings. Ex. Use the polyline tool and draw all the lines of your drawing. Don't worry about getting the perfect, we will show you how to correct that in a minuet. OR visualize your end drawing. Draw rectangles and circles for each piece then we will show you how to put them all together.

2D or 3D, I don't care, I just want to make some simple to medium, blasted drawings.

Any thoughts, ideas, web links or book names would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks Pops

[Lawrence L'Hote]

AHH feel yo pain. I tried to make Turbocad work for me for nearly 10 years making drawings for my physics teaching but finally abandoned it for SmartDraw.

Most any decent CAD program is not for the casual user and is not intuitive. Since you've probably already pained(pun) for the TurboCad my remarks probably help little. Larry

[Swingman]

I suspect everyone goes through the same thing when thrown in the deep end of the CAD pool.

I finally decided to start thinking like a woodworker; if I need 4 stiles for the project, I draw a _perfect_ stile, then make copies, ad infinitum ... that's where the time savings come in. Once the parts are drawn, I "zoom in" to a gnats ass perspective and put them together.

Biggest problem I still have is getting the scale right to start with. Once you figure how to make a rectangle/shape of the correct dimensions by inputting the dimensions in with the keyboard with the correct units, and with a scale you can live with, you're on your way.

Don't know if this is an accepted method or not, but after struggling with CAD programs, it at least allows me to turn out shop drawings, which was the point all along. It's amazing now how many of my projects actually look like what I dreamed up in my mind before starting. :)

Actually look forward now to using the CAD program and CutList to really 'think out' projects before starting ... it does make a notable difference in the final product.

FWIW, I bought a copy of QuickCAD ... can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems more user friendly to me. YMMV

[j]

OK I"ve just startede looking at these programs myself. I've looked at DeltaCAD, and EasyCab and I"ve got eCabinetSystems on the way. Why would I use a full blown CAD system to do cabinets? From my limited use of cabinet software I can tell it how I make my cabinets, butt joints, rabits or dados and when I say the cabinet is for instance 32" high by

18" wide that the piece I cut for the bottom is going to be 32 3/4" wide to extend into the rabits at the bottom of the sides. From what I've seen in this DeltaCAD I have to crate each individual piece so if I change construction methods I need to create new objects instead of just changing the check mark in the construciton techniques. Then what do I have to do in a CAD system to get a cut list? Are there cabinet making ad ins for CAD systems? I would guess there is for AutoCAD but what are we talking in price here, probably into 6 figures.

[CW]

[Leon]

First off, have you had any formal drafting instruction? I have used probably a dozen different versions and brands of CAD in the last 18 years. I had formal drafting training in school and was glad I did when I began using CAD programs. For me the CAD programs were intuitive as I knew what to do and what I needed to look for in the programs to draw. If you are only going to do a few drawings, do them with a pencil and paper. If you are going to use a CAD program often, I would advise getting a drafting book and learn the basics so that you will know what tools to use and how to use them for any specific CAD program.

Anyway, for most people CAD has a steep learning curve unless they have had formal drafting instruction.

Learning CAD is kinda like learning to ride a motorcycle, its relatively easy if you already know how to ride a bicycle.

[Tom Watson]

At the risk of getting my head taken off for presuming to teach CAD drawing, when I barely get by in it myself, I'm listing some of the things I've shown other guys to help get them started. I use TurboCad Pro Version 5.0 and I don't know how it will compare to the version you are using. I don't draw the way I show below but it takes you through a few of the very basic steps.

1. Open Program.
2. Screen 1 - Select: "New From Page Setup Wizard." (NEXT)
3. Screen 2 - Select: "English." (NEXT)
4. Screen 3 - Select: "Fractional." "1/64"." (NEXT)
5. Screen 4 - Select: "Let TurboCad Get Paper Size From Default Printer." (NEXT)
6. Screen 5 - Select: "Absolute." "1 : 1 (Full Size)." (NEXT)
7. Click "Finish".
8. You Should Now Be At The Drawing Screen.
9. Go To Diagonal Line Icon on the Toolbar. Click and Hold until drop down menu of icons shows. Click on Rectangle Icon.
10. Move Cursor to Lower Left Area of Screen. Click and drag rectangle up and to the right. Don't worry about the size of the rectangle. Do not click again.
11. Hit "TAB". "Size 'A' Box" in lower left corner will be highlighted. Enter 24 for width of rectangle.
12. Hit "TAB". "Size 'B' Box" in lower left corner will be highlighted. Enter 48 for height of rectangle.
13. Hit "ENTER".
14. At top of screen click: VIEW then ZOOM then EXTENTS.
15. The screen will resize to show the whole rectangle.
16. At top of screen click: MOD then SNAPS then NEAREST ON GRAPHIC.
17. Move Cursor close to lower left corner of rectangle. Click and drag up and to the right.
18. Enter measurements in "Size 'A' (width of original rectangle) and 'B'(whatever height you choose) Boxes as above, using "TAB". Hit "ENTER".
19. Go to Double Rectangle Icon on the Toolbar (next to Rectangle Icon). Click on it.
20. At top of screen click: FORMAT then PROPERTIES then DOUBLE LINE.
21. In the highlighted box marked "SEPARATION" enter "4in" (without the quotes).
22. In the "REFERENCE" area click "LEFT". Click "OK" to exit screen.
23. Move Cursor to lower left corner of rectangle. Click and drag up to the right. Do not worry about sizing it. Do not click again.
24. Using "TAB" to move between boxes, enter width of original rectangle in "Size 'A' " and whatever height you choose in "Size 'B' ". Hit "ENTER".
25. At top of screen click: VIEW/ZOOM/ZOOM OUT. The screen will resize.

Now you've done a few of the most basic tasks to make a drawing. Have fun.

Regards, Tom Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania

[Tom Watson]

Please note that MOD should read MODE.

Sorry.

Regards, Tom Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania

[Rico]

As a person who is barely able to get by yourself, but working at it, you are more qualified than an experienced user who has forgotten what it was like to learn. Particularly for those who didn't have a good drafting background to start with.

CAD vs manual drawing is a lot like power tools vs hand tools. If you already know how to do the job with hand tools, then learning to do the job with power tools is easy.

If you don't know how to do the job with hand or power tools and buy a garage full of power tools, you have a steep learning curve ahead of you.

Dick

[Martin McCrorey]

This may not be for everyone, but somebody needs to mention it.

You can get a very sophisticated 3D CAD program free for individual use, fully functional with no time limit, from

It is called ProDesktop, and it is made by the same folks that produce ProE and sell it for big money to big companies.

ProDesktop has a tutorial that takes a while to get through (any good CAD program has so many features and controls that it will take a while to learn) but if you do the tutorial and then jump into a project, you will learn to do a lot with little effort.

My first project with this program was a swivel-topped cabinet for a dollhouse stand, and my second was an equatorial platform for keeping a telescope pointed at a point in the sky. In both cases the drawings had moving parts that let me move things through the range of motion to see what they looked like and check for interference. In general, you design parts (alone or in the context of the main assembly) and then put them in the assembly with particular alignment/distance constraints to other parts, and it is possible to define constraints that allow controlled movement of parts. This was especially important for the equatorial platform, which was quite complex mechanically.

I had only a little CAD experience (early Autocad) but got through the tutorial OK.

There are probably dedicated programs for such things as cabinet layout that make specific types of projects much easier with less learning curve, and for material planning and cutting it would be hard to beat Cutlist Plus, but this software is really outstanding and free, so if 3D CAD interests you, check it out.

[Lawrence A. Ramsey]

[Brian in Vancouver, BC]

Martin;

The 3D CAD package you mention looks interesting, but when I go to their site, I don't see anything that looks like a free download feature. I only see choices that seem to result in purchase options. Am I missing something? Can you give me a more precise link to the "free" software.

I used AutoCAD since about version 4 until retirement (finishing with AutoCAD 14) and since retirement I have been using IntelliCAD, however I have never done 3D since it seemed so daunting a task. Sure would like to give it a try if I can find a link to the free software package.

Brian

[CW]

yes. its good to see someone say this. There are far to many people that think all they have to do is learn a program and they are a drafter. It doesn't work that way.

[Brian in Vancouver, BC]

[Lazarus Long]

Yes, yes, yes! The new guys that are hired all have cad training at school, but don't seem to "get it" for actually making a drawing. Some are good, but many aren't.

BTW, I've been at this for over 25 years.

[Tom Watson]

I studied mechanical drawing in the early seventies.

Just went to grab my old text book off the shelf:

Mechanical Drawing, French and Svensen.

The earliest copyright date on this text is 1919, so I figure a lot of guys have gone to school on this one.

Ya know, I finally had myself set up with a good board, lotsa templates, nice drawing tools, and a comfortable stool - and then along came CAD...

I still clamp the articulated arm onto some ply or MDF once in a while to draw full size.

Anybody still have the "French Curve" that was an outline of a reclining woman?

(still got mine)

Regards, Tom Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania

[A Dog Named Stain]

What's a french curve grandpa?

S. (who scoffed at the idea of multiple pencils (F, HB, 7H, etc) and could draft an entire house with a single 2H pencil)

[Nova]

About 10 different sizes and an old wooden triangular architect's scale.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

[Tom Watson]

Yeah but do you have a "French Curve" that looks like the one I just posted on ABPW-ABPF?

(tom - who used to use the boxwood scales but switched to a metal one 'cause he was always nicking up the corners of the wooden ones and even though he was taught better than to use the scale as a straightedge he never really got used to the idear real good so it was important to have an un-nicked edge ta run the damned pencil on)

Regards, Tom Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania

[Scott Brownell]

I'm sitting here trying to figure out what you mean by "scale". Are you talking about proportions of the pieces or are you doing your actual drawing to a scale like you would normally with pencil & paper? I ask because the only time I concern myself with "scale" is when I'm ready to print out the plan to fit the paper, the plan is actually "drawn" at

1:1. I use Visual Cadd and am not familiar with how Turbocad works, had imagined the same but it sure wouldn't be the first time I was wrong today. :-)

Scott