AutoCAD Question

[emanjamin]

I am brand new to AutoCAD and I was wondering how to make the 3D drawings? I have seen the slug body CAD file and I know some people have rotatable 3D images of this. I was just wondering how to do this.
Thanks,
Emanjamin

[Tim Taylor]

not really something that you can learn from forum posts. I would suggest a book or, better yet, get Solid Works.

[Anti-You]

He is right. This takes much work I've taken classes for it and still don't understand it. Buy a book or take a class.

[Vanced]

I have been making a living with AutoCAD For years now... and there is no quick and easy answer... My only suggestion if you want to learn AutoCAD got to the nearest local college and enroll in some basic classes... If you are determined to learn on you own there are plenty of teach yourself books out there with step by step lessons in them... Long and slow process to get from the start to be able to handle 3D features...

If you are just looking for some basic information look at www.autodesk.com and here is the link to some of the tutorial information..

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/linkedsumindex?siteID=123112&id=2387188&linkID=2475176

Good Luck...

[emanjamin]

I am already at college...

Well, I am already at college, there is a plus. However I am studying to become a drug dealer (aka Pharmacist) so I don't have any time at all for any other classes.
I have been admitted out of 140 who get in to the College of Pharmacy here at Ferris. 739 people applied this year! Wow, I think I just got lucky!
Anyway, I think I will be looking around for a book.
Thanks,
Emanjamin

[Fred]

modeling solid objects with anything fancy in them is a pain in the butt with AutoCAD...

if you really want to try it...

Open up the AGD supplied cad file...
save it as something else so you can start fresh if you screw it up...

draw a polyline that matches the end of the sluggo (round end), and use the Extrude command to create a solid tube with the same profile as the Sluggo.

Now draw a circle that matches the various inner diameters, extrude it, line it up, and subtract it from the model... do this for all the holes...

now you have a 3d sluggo (in theory at least), start creating 3d shapes (revolve is a good too, extrude, etc), line them up in the 3d sluggo and start subtracting... you can't add any material outside of the outer diameter.

have fun, remember, radiuses and straight lines are good, splines are bad... as far as ease of machining goes.

---Fred

[Mr. Frodo]

Modeling 3D in ACAD begins with a very patient learning curve. Take a college course to learn the basic commands and expect to spend a lot of time practicing. Don't expect to learn everything form a class, though. The chance that you get a professor who actually applied ACAD 3D modeling is very slim. They tend to teach from an instructor's manual or just go over the tutorials and let you draw for the rest of the time. You're going to get most of you skill from actually playing with it. To give you an example, I began working with AutoCAD version 2.17k and started getting into 3D modeling with Version 9. By now, I think I'm pretty good, but there's still a lot to know.

3drotate (or was it rotate3d?... It's been a while Since I last designed anything) will be something you'll use A LOT. An if you value hard drive space and minimal load times, blocks are you friends.

[emanjamin]

Thanks

Thanks guys,
This will give me a good start at a long road ahead of me.
Time to do a little book shopping

[chiefal]

Autocad

I picked up Using Autocad 2004 Basics by Ralph Gradowski put out by Autodesk press, seems like a good start. really starts from the basics, which is good for me.