How do go about learning CAD?

Though you can gain the basics of using cad easily it does depend heavily on where you want to go and what software that company uses.

There are the big three PTC with Pro/E, Siemens PLM with NX (the UG has now been dropped) and Daussault/IBM with Catia v4 and v5 (v5 was meant to replace the older software and provide a new kernel and interface, but a load of customers didn't want to change), and then a bunch of toy software of varying guises and capabilities. There is a student version of Pro/E and equivalent cut down versions of the other two. I wouldn't think about buying a copy of the full blown software as Pro/E started at 20K 5 years ago and was the cheapest of the 3.

Many companies have their own drawing and dimensioning standards many of which don't resemble the standard ones.

There are also many set modelling procedures that need to be followed as the geometry will be sent off to manufacturing and also, in many cases, be used for analysis and optimisation purposes which require specific construction orders and dimensioning.
 
Jonny69 said:
What you might want to do is brush up on technical drawing and dimensioning standards so if you have to take off 2D views you can do them properly. Lots of people can model in 3D but not many can dimension a drawing up properly.
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That was the exact point i was going to make. It's easy to draw lines or a 3D model, slightly harder to do it with any sort of discipline and logic. But regardless you have to know draughting standards, we get loads of people in here, they've done a Solidworks course at Uni, what they have covered is usually extremely basic, and most don't use ACAD anymore (or have no wish to learn it since it's 2D) but the software can be taught easily enough. it's the knowledge of what to draw and how to display it that is the tricky bit.

As someone stated a lot of companies have their own standards (some good, some bad) but understanding things like BS 8888 (or 308 depending on the company) etc. can go a long way.

Having said that there are many routes you can go, depending on the CAD type you are after, 2D can be used a lot in archetecture/mechanical/landscaping etc. 3D can be used for development, CAM purposes, rapid prototyping even promotional media etc.

Also target industry will influence software decision, Automotive uses Catia quite heavily, Mechanical use inventor/Solidworks graphic design use Max etc. so that;s another factor to consider. i've been a Mechanical draughty/designer for 5 years now and in that time have had experience with several different systems, you get to know what works and what doesn't and even get an idea of other software packages from clients you deal with as they require documents in certain formats etc.
 
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Im a waterjetter so i have to turn the custmers drawings into dxf format before i put on the tool paths with the waterjet software .use alfacam for this and was self taught with the help of the supervisor (only been there 1.5yrs)
 
Jonny69 said:
What you might want to do is brush up on technical drawing and dimensioning standards so if you have to take off 2D views you can do them properly. Lots of people can model in 3D but not many can dimension a drawing up properly.
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A lot of people cannot even model properly in 3D. They can produce something that resembles the final product but feature creation order will be all wrong (important for parametrically altering the design and feature suppression), dimensions will be non existent, referenced off the wrong features and fail convey the design intent and boolean operations carried out without fully intersecting the bodies.

We actually have an entire group at work whose roll it is to produce the 3D models and the drawings from them. The definers (designers in old speak) produce non-parametric sketches which contain the key dimensions and the intent. Well they should if they followed the procedures correctly.
 
Jonny69 said:
What you might want to do is brush up on technical drawing and dimensioning standards so if you have to take off 2D views you can do them properly. Lots of people can model in 3D but not many can dimension a drawing up properly.
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I know CAD is progress and progress is good blah blah but having worked in engineering for almost 20 years the difference in ability of the designers that learnt on paper to these CAD draughtsmen is easy to spot. (It also reduced their pay by quite a margin)

10 years ago when a designer gave me a drawing to work a modification it was more or less spot on with very few changes needed. I think a lot of that is due to the effort a rework would take so they made sure it was 99% the first time. It may have taken longer but it was more accurate.

Now when given a drawing off some spotty teenager that he's banged up on a PC it always brings a smile to my face when there is a heap of things in the way of where the modification is supposed to go. Never even bothering to visit the ****ing aircraft just using the basic aircraft model as his guide.
 
I learned on vellum with pens and a knife, I must have been one of the very last people in the country to use that stuff :D
 
@OP

I started learning this as part of a night-course after work in September. I have done my first practical test and and getting ready for my 2nd now. I simply looked at all the local colleges and uni's to see what courses they were running and which was best suited to me.

I paid for the course myself and it cost me about £350ish but a lot of the people doing the course with me had it paid for them as either part of an apprenticeship or by work. The one thing I have found funny about it all is the varying level of ability of the people in the group. Some of use have picked it up rather quickly and are cruising through the course quite quickly where as others are kind of struggling and the rest just going at a good pace.

If you do it through a college they generally wont expect you to have any qualification to do it, unless you are trying to get right on to the higher level course where they may want prove you can use the software. Also beware most of the courses if you start on level 2 such as I did will make you do a NVQ in ICT which is really dull and boring if you know the slightest things about computers. Thankfully I was excempt due to my A-Level in IT.
 
dannyjo22 said:
Never even bothering to visit the ****ing aircraft just using the basic aircraft model as his guide.
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Bit different when you starting on a new aircraft programme though and theres nothing to visit ;)

Those wooden models they used to build as mockups at Airbus took quite a while.
 
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Im a the director of a multidiscipline engineering Consultancy... read contract CAD monkey. Ive worked in Aerospace (AC primary structures on CATIA v5 and gas turbine work on UG NX2) and am now working on vehicle packaging at Jaguar LandRover again with V5 which is really the tool of the industry with V4 still making an appearance.

Intially to work on Airbus products I had to attend a Airbus UK functions and methods course on CATIA v5, which was a 10 day course and costs something like £1500 for the course at somewhere like IBM in warwick. Ive also done the FORD C3PNG course on CATIA and Teamcentre, so in terms of suitablilty for a role its great and will open doors to employment however a great deal can be self taught. At uni (BEng Aerospace Engineering) amongst Microstation lessons and drafting I was pretty disappointed by there application to design project work so self taught on Rhino. Within this as per most software the tutorials are really thorough but I guess if you start with an engineering background it helps immensly.

My first job at a local company was autoCAD on MDF patterns for a CNC cutter for caravan furniture, Im now doing package studies in an automotive advanced engineering department on prototype Hybrid vehicles and use a 3D virtual CAVE with 4k res projectors. Both are essentially Computer Aided Design... what sort of industry or work do you want to get into?
 
might be a silly question, but with CAD do you need to be able to draw with pen and paper or is it all done on the computer? :)
 
Jonnycoupe said:
Bit different when you starting on a new aircraft programme though and theres nothing to visit ;)

Those wooden models they used to build as mockups at Airbus took quite a while.
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Yeah granted something like the 400M is all from mock ups. Mostly my experience is with existing aircraft. Or like the 400m Testbed where they slaved the 400m engine on the 130 airframe. Was that you that drew the engine fitted to the wrong wing? :p

Now that was a funny day when airbus visited.
 
chrisxuk said:
might be a silly question, but with CAD do you need to be able to draw with pen and paper or is it all done on the computer? :)
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In a word no, you don't need to be able to draw on paper or film any more. I think very few places do this any more with exceptions being older companies like Marconi (now BAE systems etc) who have 50+ years of drawings stored on film that need ammending from time to time.

Most things are stored, prototyped and tooled electronically now so the ability to draught by hand is mainly for bragging rights and a way for insecure older engineers to try and cut down younger engineers ;)

However, it is always handy to be able to bang out a quick set of views for the guys in the tool room to quickly knock something up.
 
dannyjo22 said:
Yeah granted something like the 400M is all from mock ups. Mostly my experience is with existing aircraft. Or like the 400m Testbed where they slaved the 400m engine on the 130 airframe. Was that you that drew the engine fitted to the wrong wing? :p

Now that was a funny day when airbus visited.
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Nah nothing to do with the engine, as if play with US products anyway :p I did a bit of work on 400M Air to Air refuelling bracket on the front spar though.

What happened there then? I cant imagine they were too fussed where it went when it wasnt making its rated power anyway :D
 
They drew it fitted to the left wing. The same side as the 130 exit door which has caused them a load of grief for flight testing and running. I think it's flown twice now, brave test pilots.
 
Minor bump here... Anyone know if the bundled tutorials in Solidworks are any use? We've got a few spare network licenses of Solidworks Premum at the moment. I would quite like to get an idea of how to use the software so figured I'd stay in late and get the learning hat on.
Currently when we're setting stuff up to "test" new Solidworks settings, I do the setup but then have to waste people's time getting them to work on it. I'd quite like to be able to setup and test an install myself. (We've had an absolute mare of a time with SW2009 so far)
 
It's a ridiculously large piece of software, I'll give it that. I haven't the space or a licence unfortunately, so even if I did want to learn it I'm stuck :(
 
Autocad 2009 can be had for free if you're a student.

However, there are issues:

-You need to be on a course at a college, and have a current and valid .ac.uk (or equivalent) email address associated with it.

-Everything you plot from it will have 'CREATED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT' printed around the border.

-The licence is valid for the academic year plus a few months.

You may also have to be enrolled on an engineering/CAD based course, but I'm not certain of that.

Go here for further info:

http://students3.autodesk.com/

It certainly helps to know drawing standards, especially where dimensioning is concerned, and again the standards for certain features within drawings such as gears and threads etc. This might bnot be of particular concern depending on the area you're looking into.
 
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