CAD Help

W

Wapiti

Joined
Sep 25, 1999
Messages
493
I met a local water jet shop owner recently and he said he would be happy to jet some blanks for me. I would like to give it a try, just to see what it is like.

He said it would be great if I could give him CAD files of the pattern. Then he would just charge me for the cutting time, or work a trade.

It has been many years since I have done any CAD work, so I thought I would ask those that know here.

I am not sure what type of files he needs, but he said he uses AutoCAD.

I do all my designing on paper at my drafting table, so how would I best convert those to a file in a format that would work for him. I just need two-dimensional outlines, just like my patterns I make in my shop, so nothing fancy.

So first, what program would be best for me to do this in? I use GIMP and Inkscape regularly for photo and drawing; would one of them work for converting, or should I use an actually CAD program?

Can you recommend a low cost or free one? I have heard good things about Archimedes and Sketchup, and Emachineshop has a free simple CAD download.

What steps would you suggest?
Seems like I would start by scanning my drawings into a jpg, then opening that in a drawing program, tracing the profile and saving that layer in the appropriate file type.

Do I have that right, or is there an easier way…

I will still probably continue doing my patterns the old fashion way, since I am a hobby maker, but thought it would be interesting to give the water jet a try for some of the standard patterns, like my throwing knives, etc. that more lend themselves to this approach. Might save some time at the bandsaw and grinder…

Thanks,
Brome
 
If you have not done cadd it can be pretty difficult to get your design from paper to computer. he should be able to import to his water jet using a scan of the blade profile or of you paper copy. It is usually easier and less costly to have them set up. There are waterjet companies that specilize in blades and can work from you drawings.
 
Brome,
Any software that can save in .dxf, or .dwg. will probably work. I just did a quick search for ".dwg freeware", and came up with this. Some of them look promising. I HAVE NOT used this site before, and know nothing about them, but it might be worth a try. None of them should be too hard seeing you need just simple lines and arcs, and most of these programs have some sort of tutorial. Good luck.

http://freeware.intrastar.net/cadsoftware.htm
 
Thank you for the suggestions.
I will take a look at those programs.

Knowing what kind of file type I need really helps.

Any other suggestions or tips on the process of getting from my paper drawings to a .dxf or .dwg file would be greatly appreciated.

Brome
 
I think there may be a way to import a jpg into autocad and have it trace any lines I detects when you import it.
I never used it, most of my CAD work was architectural and was too complex. But for a single line blade shape it may be just what you're looking for.

Also, autocad is "freeware" under the right circumstances...
 
You could scan your drawings as a jpg and import them into CAD. You can try to keep the scale 1:1 however for reference if you had say a 25 cm line drawn on your page for reference he could then scale it to the proper size. Then all you would have to do is 'trace' your drawings in cad to create a .dwg file or .dxf.

PM me if you want more details. I might even be able to do it for you :) :thumbup:
 
You can insert it into auto cad by using the insert/Raster Image command.

If you have trouble I do this sort of thing all the time. I draw blades in autocad daily and I dont like to offer this to many but if you sent me a scanned image of you knife I will send you a DXF from autocad that he can use.

Does he need lead in and lead outs added or does his software do that on it's own?
 
Biggest problem going from drawing to Cad file, is the arcs are no longer arcs. They are .001-.010 polylines. This causes some CNC programming troubles. A manual cleanup can get rid of this problem fairly quickly.
 
There are arcs in Autocad. Its an arc tool. Should be little to no issue with that.

Dont draw it in spline lines. Just draw it with regular archs and lines and Pedit it afterwards.
 
MadBug, reply sent.

Thank you to everyone for all your suggestions and offers to help me with the conversions.

This is truly a stand-up community, but we all knew that already.

Brome
 
you can download a student version of auto cad for free right off there site the only difference is when you print stuff theres a watermark thats says EDUCATIONAL or something not a big deal at all.
and its a 3 year free thing.
 
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