Curious how many designers use cad programs

[rlury]

im going to school for mechanical engineering and take classes for cad programs, i was wondering how many people actually use cad programs to design their parts. in the shop we kinda just see what we need take some measurments and build. how is it for you guys.

[dezertrat82]

When i first started fabricating. I built it first and then spec'ed it out and input'ed it in the cad program for easy future reference. Now that I'm more efficient with cad I tend to use cad first and then build the part.

[DUMP!]

99.99999999999999% of what you see here http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31417 was designed in the computer first. There are a lot of people and shops that use one form or another of computer aided design.

Dump

[151fab]

im going to school for mechanical engineering and take classes for cad programs, i was wondering how many people actually use cad programs to design their parts. in the shop we kinda just see what we need take some measurments and build. how is it for you guys.

I had to take the cad classes at my school as well. The problem is; they only required the Autocad classes. Seems like they would update the curriculum and require solid modeling. It's so much easier to manipulate and make changes. Also any misalignments or interferences scream out with solids, not so much with simple wire diagrams. After two semesters of Autocad; I still choose it last when using cad in real the world (I have Autocad, Solidworks, and Mastercam at my shop). Everything I build gets drawn in cad first, even a simple bumper or roof-rack. It gets drawn up first just because it's funner to make changes on the computer than it is with bent, laser-ed, welded structures. What programs are they teaching you?

[OneUpFabrication]

ya here are some cad drawings of my upper and lower arms boxed and in wire frame form. also my spindle upright and my bulkhead.

this is for a 69 baja im building should be sweet 20+" of travel
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/oneUPfabrication/oacad6.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/oneUPfabrication/oacad5.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/oneUPfabrication/0_acad2.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/oneUPfabrication/0acad4.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/oneUPfabrication/0acad3.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/oneUPfabrication/0acad.jpg

[Scooterinvegas]

Solidworks, and Bend-Tech Pro

[JESSE_at_TLT]

I used AutoCAD (2D) for years, but like desertrat mentioned, it was more useful for keeping track of critical dimensions than anything else. Since I got into SolidWorks, I'm using CAD to design everything I build. It's been kind of a steep learning curve, and there's still a lot I don't know, but it's totally worth it.

[piratelab]

Solidworks is now 50% of what design we do and its starting to take over... it takes time out of design/fab much more efficient... What classes are you taking? And what school?

[rlury]

Its a community college for now but after reading the replies I got the student edition of solidworks, that's an amazing program. When I was taking classes at New Mexico State University we were using ProE Wildfire I like solidworks a lot more

Thank you again for the replies.