Gunner Asch on Sat, 07 Sep 2013 12:23:03 -0700
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Practice makes Perfect my son. You wanted a difficult project to keep
you amused ..and you picked a very good one!

there is amused, and then there is frustrated. There's wire frame
and there is "sketcher" - solids. Wire-frame lets you draw a circle
tangent to these three points. Sketch doesn't.
As I have said, I could probably knock this out on the drafting
table with paper and pencil faster.
But I am exploring some of the other areas of the program.

Thats exactly why I retain a nice big drawing board behind me as I
type. And I have all sorts of Cad/Cam programs on hand. While
Cad/cam may be cooler and High Techy!...I have great..great difficulty
in efficently using any of them to design something. Which I can do
quickly and easily using the drafting table. Yah..I know..Im an
anachronism....shrug

Two elements: Drafting , and using the computer.
Drafting: Can you visualize the 3D component from the drawings;
can you look at the 3D item and "see" the different views? Can you
then get the mental visuals onto paper is the next big step.
Using the computer is trying to get the software to reproduce what
you "see", and a lot of times, that is the "problem" with CAD = how
the bleep do I get the software to do what I want?
The advantage of the software, though, is when it comes to making
changes. Like when the client wants the widget/building changed to
include/exclude some feature.
If the "back ground" is done "right" then you can make all manner
of changes with a few clicks. E.G. scaling a Mauser Broomhandle up
from 9 mm to 45 ACP. [If memory serves, the 50 BMG is the 30-06 round
scaled up to take a .50 cal bullet. SO, a few tweaks, and any firearm
which will take the one, can now be made in the size to take the
other.] I've been working on some of that. This 6.35 Pistola, has
three parts with 18 holes all concentric. Figure the pattern once,
the rest is "easy". Use the original layout of the three holes, and
there's the barrel configuration.
But as you mentioned, as I've mentioned - if you don't use the
software all day, every day, getting that "easy" item onto the
computer screen can be a brass plated suppository.

Like I said, I'm learning some of the esoteric stuff. Like how to
make a parameter, which is then used in formulas to determine offsets
and diameters.



And I do love computers...so this is..... odd.....

Gunner
--
pyotr filipivich
"With Age comes Wisdom. Although more often, Age travels alone."