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Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [cad]

Computer-Aided Design is the use of computers in the engineering design process. It involves drafting, modelling, simulation, optimisation, and creation of technical documentation. The term CAD is often used to denote software for computer-aided design.

204 questions
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How did mechanical engineers work before SolidWorks?

I am studying a bunch of stuff related to mechanical engineering and am considering an eventual switch to the field after taking the necessary classes. I'm older, and I took drafting classes in high school and part of college. I'm familiar with the…
CL40
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How to work on big CAD project in team?

I'm always confused on what is the effective way to work on CAD with multiple team members to make it efficient. So far, as I'm freshly graduated I only work on a project where I'm the only one using the CAD software. At best there's only two of us,…
el-cheapo
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SOLIDWORKS - 3D Sketch of Trombone

My task is to create a 3D Sketch of a trombone like the one below My professor recommended defining the points 1-4 and putting a spline through them. I did that, but my resulting design looks weird. It curves inward between points 1 and 2 before…
Melanie
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Is "pitch diameter" the same as the distance between the centers?

I am designing gears in FreeCad, and printing then on a FlashForge Finder. I want to know if the pitch diameter is the same as the distance between the centers of the two gears. Both gears are external spur gears.
Avagadro's Number
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How to compare small and large scale model of an IC engine to predict force, torque, rpm etc generated by actual engine?

I have this 6 cylinder radial engine designed in Solidworks. Rendering Blueprint (Source:Inventor Wizards) And I want to perform some motion analysis on this engine to make some prediction about it's feasibility. So by now I have successfully…
Asker
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How do I loop through annotations in NX using the NXOpen API in VB?

I'm writing a script to extract all the dimensions from a 2D drawing in NX. In doing so, I have been able to get the dimensions and tolerances on all sheets, along with the zone numbers. This has been fairly easy. However, I'm running into a brick…
stonecharioteer
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Best Practice for Tracking Vendor Firmware Rev

My employer has had me create a model of a vendor product (using OnShape) and make a simple drawing with some overall dimensions that we can hand to customers. However, they want to include the firmware revision of this product in the drawing. I'm…
Optimum
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Get average shape from 10k + files

We have a ton of ergonomic data in STL files. We would like to use that data to define a basic shape for our designs. So what i am looking for an algorithm or software solution that is able to scan the data and calculate an average shape. I have…
Chris Holstein
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Solidworks Loft error (guide curve not intersecting with profiles)

I am trying to add 'finger grooves' to my model of a brake lever and want to use a loft to do so. I have created (to my knowledge) all required sketches for the loft but SW gives me an error when trying to select a guide curve... (please see image…
Maarten -Monica for president
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Converting Creo files to STP on linux

I need to send out some PRT files for tooling that have been made using Creo. I do not have a windows PC or mac available at the moment, only linux. Does anyone have some advice how to go from here?
Frido Emans
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Is it Possible to Automatically Transform an Image of an Object into a Line Drawing in AutoCAD?

I have many photos of devices which must be traced into AutoCAD. Is there any software for tracing object edges/outlines automatically so that a Primary Plan of the object can be made in AutoCAD? For example: the photo below, shows an object I would…
Soheil Paper
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Rivet pattern management in Fusion 360

As a follow up to this question, I have a question about rivet hole management in Autodesk Fusion 360. I've got two pieces, a flat sheet of aluminum and an inverted hat channel that I want to rivet together. The easy (and naive) way would be simply…
Green
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Orthographic project (section view) dimensioning a counter bore?

The following question was given in a book as an autocad assignment. The section depicted in the diagram is not a counter-bore or a spot face hole. But the professor is telling that the hole is a counter bore. This is the correction suggested by…
Vinay5forPrime
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What is "reversal" in mechanical engineering drawing?

I've come across these terms "reversals allowed" and "reversals not allowed" in a sample drawing while reading a GD&T course. What exactly are these terms? What do they mean?
Somanna
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Different results for every cloud compare aligning module

I have tried cloudcompare and the aligning ICP module like this: and give transformation matrix lie this: For one STL file twice and get different result for under 0.1 value in max distance like show at below pictures: first one : Second aligning…
Soheil Paper
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