Solidworks 2010
 

Does anyone on here use it, I just got last night and installed it this morning, haven't gotten a chance to play around with it and have never used it before.

Well just wanted to see if there were any other users on the club. Comments, tips, tricks will be appreciated, thanks guys. :icon_tup:

Got started on the sturt tower bar I want to make, here is the brace so far, about 20 minutes of work.

I use solidworks, although I use an older version currently.

Intake Manifold...

Let me know what you guys think.

i'm a very avid solidworks user. if your just getting started the tutorials are actually fairly helpful, but if you have any specific questions I'm sure I can answer it for you.

Thanks. its appreciated. :icon_tup:

why is it that everyone has to have cad cam and cnc machines to make anything anymore?-i make everything from scratch -lay it out on sheet metal and figure out the pitfalls of the machining tooling placement and design before you make it .just my 2 cents-----jason

and for the price of a crappy old g and m code machine (what most can afford) you could buy way more machines and tooling than the cost of one machine that takes up a ton of room (unless you have the$ to buy a table top hass model makers mill - most the time the old school machines are way more handy than a mazak the size of a tank anyways---i have ran cnc and manual machines by the way ---oh the hass machine is huge as well you cant make that big of parts in it either-i dont even know if you could fit a full size kurt vise on the table?

give me a regular bridgeport a good lathe with a tail stock a vertical bandsaw and a couple of welders anyday over all that crap --oh and if you want a rotory table with your cnc thats going to be another big chunk of change as well-mine come on and off with a couple of bolts no electrical crap to burn up along with all the other servos that fry out on those machines-and yes i do know you can get a cnc bridgeport as well-no thanks i dont even need a power drawbar either ---the hands on stuff is way better to me unless your going to make 3000 of one part------anyone on here that can run a real machine?---with out mazatrol or g+m codes----honestly i hope so ----makes you have to use your hands and your brains

I use solid works. But not always for CNC purposes. You can design a product and save on material cost through trial and error. Especially on something like an intake manifold where solid works has flow dynamics to test it.

Software like this is useful in so many ways. I somewhat agree though, because i sometimes prefer using manual machines over a CNC, and design as i go. But you can NEVER duplicate the steady smooth hand of a computer. I would like to see you machine a velocity stack on a manual mill...

oh and dont forget about the 3 phase power and the oil coolers that you need to run a lot of these machines unless your doing it at work ---under the table (dont get caught ) i live out in bfe and almost all my machines are single phase ---well i have a bridge port that i bought and hooked a phase converter up to --and a hardinge turret lathe (that was a tough one to get going) it has a rotory phase converter and a step up transformer to get up to 440 off of single phase and still only draw only 16 amps at start up ---only a few amps running-super handy machine 8 tool turret --i made all the tool holders for it as well -thse machines can still be bought cheap --i only paid 300 bucks for my hardinge -because of the 3 phase issue

why wouldnt i be able to ---thats crazy---you must not have that much experience ----set the compound on the lathe and run it out -readjust and match the taper --if your talking a radius before the the taper your goin to have to use a special tool just for cutting a radius$$$ i dont have one so i would step the shape and make a radius gauge to match it up ---ive been around the block a while ---im a tool and die maker

to get a large enough hole for a stack you would have to have a big lathe --mine swings 31 1/2 inches and has a number 4 taper in the tail stock --enough for a very large drill to rough the hole out to have more than enough room for the boring bar -never made a stack but im guessing the angle is somewhere around 5 -10 degrees---one degree is around .017 in an inch

and i wouldnt even try to make that on a vertical mill ----and with canned cycles on a g+m it would take forever-----a veriaxis mazak with the tornado milling cycles it could be made easily ---but show me someone that has the $ or the room at home for that machine---where i work if you get caught makin crap for your self -----------ah can you say shit canned? and most the time a stack is made of sheet metal anyways ---and im thinking of ones like on a v-8 not the short ones ive seen on rice burners

im just glad some one on here has an interest in making their own stuff not buyin autozone made in china crap ----i like my machines because i have got them back running and they were cheap ---too bad the tooling isnt ----have you bought a carbide endmill latley?1/2 2 flute $50.00-----its sad the car hobbyis nothing like it was when i was a kid and my dad was building street rods--the rod like what you are making is somewhat like what im going to need for my car (only a lot more heavy duty ) i putting a 462 (real )big block chevy in my fc-its funny how people think the 427 aluminium ls motor is a big block ---its not its a small block

now that i think about it i could make a stack on a vertical mill --it just depends on how tall the stack is ----if you roughed a hole thru the middle on the lathe (this is dependent on the outside being a for the most part solid diameter )at least an area to locate on. then use a 5 c collet to hold on the outside with a collet closer mount it on center on a rotory table and this is where the length is the problem (like more than 3 inches)the tools would not be long enough . you could even use a tapered die sinking endmill $$----or the common sense way to make one would be on a lathe a boring bar and an insert doesnt cost jack compared to the tooling you would need on a mill for anything long and it would take no where near the time to make---if the outside is tapered it would be a whole new ball game but could be done.jason

He didn't ask about your abilities or your opinion 'gearhead670' not to mention you posted 6 times in a row? Having a conversation with yourself?

He asked, "Does anyone on here use it, I just got last night and installed it this morning, haven't gotten a chance to play around with it and have never used it before.
Well just wanted to see if there were any other users on the club. Comments, tips, tricks will be appreciated, thanks guys"

I have used the older versions, and looks like you getting a good feel for things. I use AutoCAD on a daily basis for 8 hrs a day. I played with Solidworks in school and took a few classes. It seemed much easier than Inventor.

CNC is way more effecient at making parts that doing them 'by hand' not to mention they're more accurate and faster to produce.

Old guys just can't imagine a computer controlled mill doing a better job than they can.... Just like robot welders...

im not sayin i a mazak is a killer machine iveset them up and ran them --but the bottom line is with all the software in the world without a machine it does you no good ---and if your makin all the parts at work i hope you own the place thats for sure. and im not as old as you think!its not that a cnc isnt faster and better than a manual machine its that most people will NEVER have a mazak (even an old one in their garage) id love to have a mazak vqc 20/40 mill but in order to own one you would have to have 3 phase right off the road and one heck of a lot of space for it. and by the way i run a weld logic robotic welder at work thank you very much

and its all talk -why not -dont seem to be too many people on here that dont get all bent out of shape talking about the what if or why --hell id buy a fleet of fast cars if i could afford them -but best i can do is build them ---best part is i enjoy doing it

I bet you are a great machinist.... But one thing I'm sure of is, your full of yourself and stuck in your ways.

Why so scared of software? I use solid works renderings for a visual and design ideas. You can also test fit in solid works to see if changes need to be made. Stress factors, weld strength, flow testing, strength issues, ect. ect. ect. Try that with a pencil and graph paper. You'll be there for weeks filling up notebooks with formulas and re-drawing everything. When i can do it all in an hour with Solid Works.

Then have a 2d print made as a reference when machining on a manual machine... I suppose you never use power feed either, huh? Why make things harder on yourself. Technology is your friend. Especially when it's easily understood tech.

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I've run both CNC and maual machines before, and I prefer CNC if for the time savings alone. Manual machines have their place, but CNC is the way of the future, like it or not. There are things CNC can do that are just impossible (or at least impractical) on a manual machine (like complex 3D tool paths). It's this reason that I went out and bought myself a nice 4 axis CNC machine. Granted it's no HASS, but it's perfect for what I do. It's even made in the USA. That being said I still sport an old Logan 200 manual lathe, and I love it as well.

As far as CAD goes, i'm right with sen2two. The practicallity of seeing the deisgn, interferences, and design flaws before ever making a chip is priceless, even for a hobbiest such as myself.

you must be the minority if thats the case (owning your own cnc at home that is) i have a huge garage but even buying the smallest (within reason )cnc would be way impractical as i have 3 mills and 3 lathes already as well as 2 band saws 2 drill presses (one with a dedicated tapping head) a surface grinder a press even an old ass filing machine ---my garage is 50 by 30 and to have any more room to add --what i would want (20/40 vqc mazak )would never fly -also a mazak has no where near the guts my old brown and sharp has -im so not full of my self i believe some of the people on here have a complex or something! and running and programing cnc machines thru the years i know how involved g+m code programing is -the programs are huge !mazatrol isnt bad at all but a lot more pricey a machine to buy -its great that rousting a few poeple on here lets me know that there are at least a few on here into machining -no one except you has answered the where you make your parts issue yet --just the holders to start with are super expensive for any kind of cnc as well-the tooling (cutters endmills turning tool holders ) but it part of the game .my brown and sharp takes a cat 40 taper and im glad i got more than a few when i bought the machine in pc`s.-again if i had a shopping center for a garage and a bank roll of a stock broker id have me at least a veriaxis mazak and an inergrex----whats money ya know!!

haha, no kidding. if I had the space and money i'd have a bunch of super cool toys. i personally have my CNC mill, my manual lathe, band saws (vertical and horizontal), press, grinders, drill press, bent sanders, and a TIG welder. I need to start collecting some sheet metal tooling!

amen to that!---id love to get a brake and at the very least a shrink stretcher (i think eastwood sells those ) and a plasma cutter ---those are very handy for stainless

the nice thing about having a bandsaw is that even with sheet metal you can switch blades (18-24 pitch and cut it as well (anyone with a band saw knows ya cant cut thin stuff with a corse blade) my vertical band saw is homemade --uses vw hubs as the driver wheels and has almost 3 foot clearance to the blade ---uses a 20 to 1 gear reduction 3 pulley diameters to slow down or speed up the band speed ---it has good do-all blade guides --bought them-must have

my belt sander is homemade as well uses 4 by 36 belts the driver and idler is made of 6061 and hasa crown machined into them to track the belt-ive made a lot of my stuff -id love to have a tig with a water cooled torch i have 2 tigs 2 migs --after a while a person gets so much stuff that the space of the garage becomes the problem

I personally prefer my cnc over a manual mill, especially since I can use the keyboard and use it like a manual mill. I'm still looking for a small manual mill for secondary operations and when I just need to do something simple. Everything has it's place, and most people/businesses end up catering to what their tools allow them to do. I do a lot of small part and for me through put is very important, I couldn't achieve the same production levels without a cnc machine. Typically when I am in the shop it goes as follow:

CNC mill running 30+ minute cycles
Me operating the larger manual lathe
Small lathe running on autofeed
Tumbler deburring parts
Bandsaw cutting stock to length for future jobs.

I also find that CAD really helps when designing complex parts from scratch that require a lot of reworking and test fitting. I still rely on regular drawings though for simply one offs. Really it just comes down to finding the right tool(s) for the job, and thats going to be different for everyone.

i have to say its a blessing just having the ability and the means to be able to think up a way to make what i want or need without having to pay to have it done .i dont think i ever make the same thing more than once-unless i make a pair of something that is -and no matter how many machines i have (or tooling )i always yearn to have more.there are always good and bad with anything in life -if i ran coolant on my bridgeport it would make a mega mess as that mill is within 6 feet of the door to my house from my garage . to have an enclosed cnc with coolant would be a tool saver and a time save thats for sure.its kind of like making parts from 6061 or 416 stainless ---night and day --i make apart for other every now and then but my shop is mostly for me -helps to have a job as a machinist as well---

Wow gearhead thanks for taking this thread way off topic dude....

This thread is about solidworks not your gloating.

To make a point both items I made in solidworks are with the sheet metal tool, it’s not just for machinists, but fabricators in general.

exactly why i want to start using it.

We use solidworks for our formula SAE car and we all love it. We start everybody off by doing the tutorials as they really do teach you a lot. Our baja team uses inventor but they want to switch over to solidworks but it was basically a stubborn guy that finally graduated that was stopping them. Also, a neat thing to do is there are websites that you can submit your models too that will give you a quote to have it rapid prototyped. I can't remember the website off hand but it's fun to make a scaled down part just to show around at the shop.

Being a machinist it may be nice to be able to do everything from your head, but there's no way I could walk up to a company and describe the parts we get made without taking hours. Obviously we lack experience but it's so much easier to just send a company a model for them to look over then try and make 30 different drawings.

FSAE is full tube chasis right? Thats really cool, I'm trying to get into welding/fab right now (I'm a mechanical inspector ATM, boring as hell lol) Hopefully I'll be getting a Millermatic 211 in Oct. but we'll see what happens.

I use a slightly older version of Solidworks daily, very easy to use software. I use it for conceptual drawings of multi part assemblies for myself or work.

As for this interesting manual machining vs CNC, they both have their places, i myself would choose to use a cnc machine over a manual 90% of the time, but i know people who are exactly the opposite

-Jacob

I'm using SW 2010 now (FSAE as well). I've used Pro-E, SW and some CATIA. I like SW the best mostly because I have the most experience with it. It has been great for beginners too from what I've seen. It's pretty intuitive and if you need to figure out something new there are tons of tutorials.

I do intake design for my FSAE team (as well as a shit ton of other things).
The lower manifold is CNC milled plate / welded tube, the upper is rapid prototyped glass filled nylon, restrictor is composite, throttle body is roller barrel made by me on an old school mill and lathe. Everyone has their way they like but to have it all at your disposal and get to learn the advantages and disadvantages of each method is one of the best things about formula/school. It's a burden and a privilege, we have all this equipment but 1/10 the budget of most of the other schools around. Half the time we make things simply because we can't afford to buy instead of taking full advantage of being able to make almost anything we end up spending a lot of time making things most teams just buy.

https://img683.imageshack.us/img683/1486/intakep.jpg

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Interesting. Care to elaborate on that manifold? Also looks like it is plastic. Do you guys have a 3d printer?

We have to run a 20mm intake restrictor with the throttle up-stream. That is the reason for the venturi nozzle. I use GT-Power engine simulation software (hundreds of simulations) to come up with an intake and exhaust design. It's a 1D simulation software so you get basic flow and acoustic tuning. A really accurate model will give you almost spot on power curve, we're still working on perfecting our engine model. I didn't have much time to get into manifold CFD simulation but that is my challenge this year now that I have a handle on the engine simulation software. Yep the upper manifold is 3D printed from glass filled nylon. We don't have a printer but we have some great sponsors that hook us up.

madbouncy are you with the Illini team?

I'm guessing this 3D printing is like what we used to call stereo lithography except the parts are more durable? I'm intrigued by how many of you guys like SW. The engineers where I work don't seem as impressed. They seem to prefer UG, ProE, and Kubotech but i don't know.

I've been following this thread because I know it's a lot more inexpensive than the others and considering getting it..

Same principle as SL but little different process. This this is SLS, laser cooks the layers. It's seriously strong. We dropped a valve at 10K rpm 2 hours before we planned to pack up the car and head to comp. I was washing piston parts out of the intake at 4AM no damage at all. Throw in the dyno motor, transfer manifolds and wiring and no one would know other than "dyno" written in sharpie on the valve cover... :D

We know the feeling about basically building the car on your way to comp. This is our third year so we're still getting a feel for getting stuff done in time. We also have the same budget issue and we don't have much for machines either. The machine shop at school has specific people to run it and we can ask them for stuff but we're low priority. We basically try and get everything laser cut (sponser does it for us) and then we have a tig welder. Our first car was literaly 90% parts from a honda civic, turned out to be really heavy but it worked.

Any chance you did your teams oil pan? I'm working on making ours right now since we're finally starting to corner hard enough to starve our engine. Here is what I have so far.

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Madbouncy- How are you going to justify, to the design judges, your decision to stay with the wet sump? I would get a dry sump. One major advantage of a dry sump system is that it allows for a shorter oil pan which allows the engine to be mounted closer to the ground. This creates a lower center of gravity which leads directly to improved vehicle performance. Other advantages of a dry sump include constant oil pressure during turning, increased horsepower by creating negative pressure in the crankcase, the elimination of power robbing windage, lower oil temperate, and the ability to use less oil thus saving weight. Contact Dailey Engineering. His pumps are better than Pace's.

Dry sump is great but it's definitely out of our budget. Maybe down the line we can have somebody devote some time to it and get the bulk of the cost sponsored, but we have enough stuff going on now that it's definitely not an option for this year. Plus, we can get all the parts for the pan machined and welded for free and maybe, if we're lucky, get some of the raw material from sponsors. Either way, aluminum is always good to have and we have more parts that will be made out of the same thicknesses so we would have to buy the sheets for that stuff anyways. The engine was still able to be lowered a full inch and the judges will be fine with that since they understand that not everything on the car can be made perfect in one year, especially on a very tight budget.