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Knife Making Discussions A place to discuss issues related to all aspects of the custom knifemaking community. |
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#1
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CAD Program
Is anyone here using a CAD program for folder design? Or maybe suggest a good economical program. Maybe "good" and "economical" can not be used in the same sentence. Anyway I would like some suggestions if anyone has any. Thanks. |
#2
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I have used a program called delta cad. I is a pretty simple 2 d cad program. I'm no expert but I like it and it does what I want. I use it on folders to design and refine my hand drawings. I.E. put pivots in the right place. See how the knife folds (you can step move the blade through the folding cycle). Resize and shape blades, handles etc. You can even rescale your drawing size with it. I haven't had any experience with other programs so I can't compare. You can download a fully function version as a demo at www.dcad.com. I think it is good for a month or two. Also order it from there too. |
#3
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Tony- Is it possible to import your drawings from the scanner into the program? I've drawn up my folders and would like to start with the rough drawings instead of beginning from scratch. James |
#4
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Yes. That's what I do. I pencil draw or design my knives and scan them into my computer as bmp files. Then import the bmp into the CAD program and draw my lines right over the bmp picture. Then you can move the CAD lines off the picture and edit them as you want. It has really helped me reduce grinding up steel. I can make it work on paper first and then print out the paper for a template. |
#5
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thanks tony. I tried it and already have clean versions of my patterns to toy with. Still trying to figure out the basics, like setting points for my pivots, but man, they sure look cleaner than my #2 pencil drawings. James |
#6
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I Use AutoCad 2002 and CadOverlay to do all my design work. At times when I have trouble with it, I'll put it in 3D and aninamate it to see if the parts will work. I scan it in as a tif file and then import it to Acad and trace it 1 to 1, I keep all my patterns on file, then just print it out full size and there is the template. Saves a lot of time and on space taken in the shop with templets hanging everywhere. Blademan James |
#7
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I have 3 different CAD programs AutoCAD 2000 QuickCAD CADKey 98 I use the QuickCAD for all of my folder designing. I paid $30 for the program and it has more than paid for itself. QuickCAD is easy to learn and use too. I too can scan a pencil sketch and overlay it onto my drawing and trace the sketch. Then I can refine it so that the whole thing works. Barry Jones Knives |
#8
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delta cad is great
I use delta cad to lay out all of my stuff, from figuring out how much flooring I am going to need to complete a project to laying out the curves in the Dirk that I am going to build (my first blade ever). Did someone say that you can take scan's of your work and put them into Delta? Dan Robinson |
#9
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try Vectorworks
Vectorworks is great all around. It does more than autocad for alot less money. It will give you andavnced 2d/3d capibility that most can't offer. If you want to hear more call me at 888-646-4223 ext 637 my name is Ben. look at www.vectorworks10.com
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#10
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Acad 2000 here. Just designed my first knife with it. I am able to use it just because it is on my workstation at work and I use it everyday for engineer jobs. It is a super program as someone was saying I can roll, pivot, flip, rotate and spin to see if everything works. Quite expensive though. You might try Acad lite. Good luck.
Chris S. |
#11
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Here is a site that I found some time ago. It is a very good tutorial on using photoshop to design any knife you want.
http://www.knivesby.com/phill.html |
#12
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Vectorworks is much better than autocad and is tons easier to learn. Autocad is cumbersome and the lite version is 2/d only. For the same price you buy Vector works and get 2d/3d. Not only that, but if you wanted you could send IGES files to be machined. I see no real value in autocad lite. It is alot of money for a lackluster program. I have a few major manufacturers already doing their design with it. The best part is the ability to create the drawing and have it machined.
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#13
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autodesk inventor 6 is good and will do all you want and has a short learning curve it allso comes with autocad . autocad lite is limited and Vectorworks i don't know but i have used a lot of 2d/3d software from autocad 11 to catia v5 and so far i like autocad the best
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#14
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Most people that use autocad go to school and learn it. For most people the learning curve on autocad is horrible. Also Vectorworks offers the same capibility for much less money. Autocad Inventor is several thousand dollars per seat.
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#15
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Mastercam offers a couple different packages that are quite reasonable for Drafting and design work. In my opinion Mastercam is very easy to learn and is pretty powerful for the price.
__________________ Shawn Scott |
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blade, knife, knives |
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