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Software for Isometric Drawings and simple schematics
This thread has 10 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Friday April 4, 2014 at 15:14
Ernie Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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That's all I need to draw at this point.

I've needed to draw up a piece of sheet steel, bent into a bracket, with a couple of other pieces of steel welded to it to create a custom bracket, nothing too too difficult.

Schematics would be just basic system layouts.

If the big boys like AutoCad can do this, great, but I don't want at this point to have to climb a big learning curve. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 2 made on Friday April 4, 2014 at 16:08
FASTLs
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Have you looked at AVSnap. I have used it in the past and it was simple to use and FREE!

Fastls
Post 3 made on Friday April 4, 2014 at 17:28
highfigh
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On April 4, 2014 at 15:14, Ernie Gilman said...
That's all I need to draw at this point.

I've needed to draw up a piece of sheet steel, bent into a bracket, with a couple of other pieces of steel welded to it to create a custom bracket, nothing too too difficult.

Schematics would be just basic system layouts.

If the big boys like AutoCad can do this, great, but I don't want at this point to have to climb a big learning curve. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Sketch-Up works, too.

Simple shapes, or lots of curves and angles?
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
Post 4 made on Friday April 4, 2014 at 18:01
bcf1963
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Do these have to be "pretty" because you will show them to customers, or will "utilitarian" suffice?

For plain old utility, if I just need to do something simple, very quickly, is still pencil and paper! I can get something drawn, and be on to other things, is much less time than almost any tool I've ever used.

If you need pretty, then the decision is much more highly based on what you'll be drawing. For drawings of metal, sheet metal, etc... any CAD program will work, but if you've never used 3D cad software, get ready for a pretty steep learning curve. From what you're saying, I doubt you need 3D CAD software. SketchUp is cheap, but a bit buggy if you really need to do things like generate STL files for others. AutoCAD will not likely be something you want to use for any casual use, as it is really pricey. It isn't even thought of as among the best packages out there anymore.

If you're willing to just use a 2D tool, I like Visio, as you can make shapes, and then interconnect those shapes. Doing this takes some effort, but once you have shapes built for your commonly used items, future drawings take much less time, as you just reuse the shapes you've built, and just interconnnect them differently.
Post 5 made on Thursday April 10, 2014 at 06:27
emerlin
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Ernie and I have the same basic need, but I need something that can keep scale. For like built-in cabinet drawings or front wall layouts. Any recommendations?

Not trying to hijack this thread, but I will close mine down and keep one going.
Post 6 made on Thursday April 10, 2014 at 08:17
highfigh
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I would recommend some drafting education, for anyone who hasn't done this in the past. Previous experience may have been in high school and this may amount to just a refresher, but in the time it takes to look for a software package, someone could learn to do an isometric drawing with correct dimensions. A small-ish board, some triangles, a t-square, some vellum and pencils are cheap and it's a good skill to know, anyway. Plus, if the software turns out to be a PITA, stops working, takes too long to learn or can't save in formats used by others, paper still works fine.

It's not just you and Ernie- I would bet that most CI could use something like this, but lack of time, drafting experience or the program's learning curve may be a problem.

Has anyone asked a cabinetmaker what they use?
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
OP | Post 7 made on Thursday April 10, 2014 at 15:29
Ernie Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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On April 10, 2014 at 08:17, highfigh said...
I would recommend some drafting education, for anyone who hasn't done this in the past. Previous experience may have been in high school and this may amount to just a refresher, but in the time it takes to look for a software package, someone could learn to do an isometric drawing with correct dimensions. A small-ish board, some triangles, a t-square, some vellum and pencils are cheap and it's a good skill to know, anyway. Plus, if the software turns out to be a PITA, stops working, takes too long to learn or can't save in formats used by others, paper still works fine.

This is all true. It just requires either planning your scheduling, purchasing, and record-keeping desk so that you have space to do drawings at the drop of a hat, or a totally different drafting board, even if small.

The last few times, I have sketched something out and discussed it briefly with the sheet metal guy who's making it. That has the added benefit that we find here when we ask how to do something before we've decided on some nutcase approach: the sheet metal guy can point out simpler ways to accomplish the same thing.

It's not just you and Ernie- I would bet that most CI could use something like this, but lack of time, drafting experience or the program's learning curve may be a problem.

Mostly the time, in my case.

Has anyone asked a cabinetmaker what they use?

Good idea.  I'll ask a couple.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 8 made on Thursday April 10, 2014 at 18:00
highfigh
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On April 10, 2014 at 15:29, Ernie Gilman said...
This is all true. It just requires either planning your scheduling, purchasing, and record-keeping desk so that you have space to do drawings at the drop of a hat, or a totally different drafting board, even if small.

The last few times, I have sketched something out and discussed it briefly with the sheet metal guy who's making it. That has the added benefit that we find here when we ask how to do something before we've decided on some nutcase approach: the sheet metal guy can point out simpler ways to accomplish the same thing.

Mostly the time, in my case.

Good idea.  I'll ask a couple.

I started to take drafting classes in 8th Grade, took full-year drafting classes through high school and went on to study architecture before deciding that I didn't want to be an architect. One full quarter in HS was devoted to pattern development, including patterns for anything that starts as flat stock and could have taken any form after it was shaped, including simple curves, cylinders & cones (whole, or truncated at various angles), polygons and combinations of these.

I bought a drafting machine on ebay a few years ago and once I finish setting it up, it's gonna be great. I have a drawing table with a fixed top, but I plan to make it adjustable & larger, so I can use 24" x36" paper/vellum. I have seen boards and machines online for great prices, but I wouldn't bother with a lot of the new stuff- it's flimsy, I doubt it's accurate and it would be a waste of time and money. We used Keuffel & Esser drafting machines when I was in high school and they were very good.

You comment about working with a sheet metal guy made me laugh- I did a sketch for a sheet metal shop last Summer and the piece they made was nothing like what I drew. The funniest part is that I offered to make one from a piece of paper while I was in their office and the guy said it wasn't necessary.

What I wanted from this shop was a back splash that's about 10' long- it consists of one piece that's 10' long, 2-5/8" wide with a 15° bend at 1/2" and a complementary bend at 2-1/8", so this part is parallel to the 1/2" area, which would be used to screw the back splash to the wall. The 15° angle is to shed water and the bottom would have i]laid flat on the 2x4 and screwed down. The end cap was supposed to fit under the back splash and the 2x4 would have been notched to accept this.

I DREW THE EXACT SHAPE OF THE END CAP AND THE BACK SPLASH. What they sent was a 10' long piece, bent 1" from each edge, at 90° and a little rectangular piece that was about 1/2" x 3" with little tabs that were bent at 90°.

A lot of sheet metal guys are great at communicating and understanding the concepts presented to them and that saves a lot of time. Some cabinetmakers are similar and will actually offer to do things like make shelves with slots, for cooling, cutouts for more than one speaker wire at the back, know that we need more than the width, depth and height of the equipment to put this stuff in the cabinet and that it needs to cool when it's operating. Some don't know and don't seem to care.
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
OP | Post 9 made on Thursday April 10, 2014 at 19:05
Ernie Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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On April 10, 2014 at 18:00, highfigh said...
I started to take drafting classes in 8th Grade, took full-year drafting classes through high school and went on to study architecture before deciding that I didn't want to be an architect. One full quarter in HS was devoted to pattern development, including patterns for anything that starts as flat stock and could have taken any form after it was shaped, including simple curves, cylinders & cones (whole, or truncated at various angles), polygons and combinations of these.

Very Very Cool.

I bought a drafting machine on ebay a few years ago and once I finish setting it up, it's gonna be great.

I'm assuming you write this with the humor it deserves.  This pretty much expresses what I did.

You comment about working with a sheet metal guy made me laugh- I did a sketch for a sheet metal shop last Summer and the piece they made was nothing like what I drew. The funniest part is that I offered to make one from a piece of paper while I was in their office and the guy said it wasn't necessary.

Did you talk with him about it?  Better, did he show any interest in it?  I got lucky by finding a sheet metal shop connected to a hardware store, and at least one guy there who was interested in custom stuff unrelated to the normal sheet metal work.

What I wanted from this shop was a back splash that's about 10' long- it consists of one piece that's 10' long, 2-5/8" wide with a 15° bend at 1/2" and a complementary bend at 2-1/8", so this part is parallel to the 1/2" area, which would be used to screw the back splash to the wall. The 15° angle is to shed water and the bottom would have i]laid flat on the 2x4 and screwed down. The end cap was supposed to fit under the back splash and the 2x4 would have been notched to accept this.

I DREW THE EXACT SHAPE OF THE END CAP AND THE BACK SPLASH. What they sent was a 10' long piece, bent 1" from each edge, at 90° and a little rectangular piece that was about 1/2" x 3" with little tabs that were bent at 90°.

What they sent?
This is custom and maybe it would have gone better all in person.
Your description above doesn't state the angle of the second bend, but leaves "complementary" to the intelligence of the bender.  The picture should have done it, but it often doesn't!

A lot of sheet metal guys are great at communicating and understanding the concepts presented to them and that saves a lot of time. Some cabinetmakers are similar and will actually offer to do things like make shelves with slots, for cooling, cutouts for more than one speaker wire at the back, know that we need more than the width, depth and height of the equipment to put this stuff in the cabinet and that it needs to cool when it's operating. Some don't know and don't seem to care.

And sometimes we end up with something unusable.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 10 made on Friday April 11, 2014 at 07:03
highfigh
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please delete

Last edited by highfigh on April 11, 2014 07:13.
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
Post 11 made on Friday April 11, 2014 at 07:03
highfigh
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On April 11, 2014 at 07:03, highfigh said...
Well, the thing is, the drafting machine is a lot larger than the drawing table, so I need to make a whole table with a tilting top, drawers, etc. If this Winter had been decent, I probably would have done it but all of my woodworking equipment is in the garage and I just didn't want to work out there. The machine in this link is the same, so the board needs to be about 36" x 48".

[Link: ebay.com]

Show interest? He didn't seem to mind that we were there, but I couldn't tell if he was actually interested. I asked if he wanted me to make a 3d mockup while I was there and he said he knew what I meant. I beg to differ.




Too much like this drawing-

Last edited by highfigh on April 11, 2014 07:12.
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."


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