CAD type program for designing folders?

[stoneman]

Bill, thanks for the suggestion, I downloaded it last night.
I used to use CAD a lot in school, and I think it would help for initial folder planning.
Take care guys.

[Frank Niro]

What can be extremly helpful and not all thast expesive any more is to get a scanner if you want to be able to size your drawings either up or down. Just the simplest thing to do with a scanner. And Ray, I do check your web site regularly, enjoy seeing pictures of your work, as well as follow your helpful remarks and equipment building information. As you said, perhaps another time somewhere although I'm sure not much of a traveller. Frank

[Don Robinson]

Originally Posted by Ed Caffrey

I've been thinking about this for a while now, and thought I would ask the question......

Is there a resonable CAD type program out there, that would allow the designing of folders? Some of the features I am looking for are......

1. Fairly short learning curve on the software

2. The software must have the ability to see the mechanical action of the folder (blade arc from open to closed)

3. Not be an overly complicated software such as AutoCad.


I've looked at a few programs available over the net, but none have given me enough details to make me want to purchase them. Does anyone have/use software of this type for designing your folders? If so, please give me some input on your experiences.

Thanks All!

Ed, I use a simple CAD software named "DeltaCad". It cost me $49.00.

I'm a heavily experienced designer, and in a former life, I used the very expensive and extremely hard to learn software for mechanical design.

DeltaCad lacks a lot of functionality that the expensive programs offer, however it's just the ticket for designing folders.

Google DeltaCad, and download the trial for free. If you have trouble learning, I'll help you. When you get the full version, it comes with a book, which makes it easier to learn.

You can see some of my DeltaCad designs for folders on my web site. I also offer these designs for sale, along with my "How To" books.


Try it. Expand your horizons, you old great knifemaker, you!

By the way, while I still had access to AutoCad years ago, it took me 7 months of spare time to design my first linerlock. Doing that, I understood the exact function and interaction of the lock parts and knew my first linerlock would be perfectly functional. I made 3 prototypes, sold two the day I finished them, carried the third for around 7 or 8 years, until I finally retired it a few months ago. Now I carry one of my wharncliffe framelocks.

[Ed Caffrey]

Thanks Don!

I downloaded the program, and played with it a little......it's going to take some learning, but it seems much easier than the "high dollar" programs. I'll keep you posted on my progress with it.

[Don Robinson]

Originally Posted by Ed Caffrey

Thanks Don!

I downloaded the program, and played with it a little......it's going to take some learning, but it seems much easier than the "high dollar" programs. I'll keep you posted on my progress with it.

If you get stuck I can probably help you. Email me anytime.

[Kevin Wilkins]

I've used Adobe Illustrator to design every folder I've ever made. The latest version of Illustrator has an excellent export to .dwg and .dxf feature and there is no problem to import the design into AutoCad 2000.

Illustrator isn't a CAD programm, it's a drawing and illustration program, but the ability to rotae parts around a axis you select let's you quickly simulate the blade rotation for a folder. The learnng curve is not very steep if you have sort of drawing / computer experience. If you buy the program and go through the handbook, you should be up and running in a week.

I have my design master drawings saved and can easily print out a set or midify a design to suit the order.

I can't imagine doing that on a drawing board. The time savings with the computer is the difference between making a loss or making a profit. If you make knives for fun, then it won't matter how long you spend on one; if you make knives on a professional basis as a business, then it will.

[Jon Christensen]

Bill,
Thanks for the emachineshop link. Downloaded it yesterday and already have one folder designed and another started. It wasn't too hard to learn. I took some Autocad in college (version7 &9) a looooooong time ago so that helped some. Haven't messed with the 3d part yet but maybe someday when I'm bored.

Jon

[Ed Caffrey]

I've been playing with DeltaCad the past couple of days, and like what it does. Last night while surfing around the web, I found a program called QuickCad 8....... it claims to be easy to learn, and the price was right at only $47 from CDW.......so I ordered a copy. I should arrive in a week or so. Until then I'll continue to play with DeltaCad and try to understand it more.

[Don Robinson]

Ed, once you understand the basics of getting started, the rest comes intuitively.

Each time you start something, it gets faster.

[Tom Anderson]

Before I became a full time knifemaker, I worked in a CAD/CAM world and needed to learn the basics about various programs to perform my duties.

Like any software, choosing one that is top heavy with extensive menus will greatly increase the learning curve. Comparing progarms like AutoCAD? to basic design programs is like comparing Photoshop? to Photoshop Elements?. If you don't need to download data to a CNC machine, don't choose a CAM ready package. I doubt most knifemakers would need to do any 3-D Finite Element Analysis, either. That would be like using a sledgehammer to swat a fly.

There are many "basic" CAD programs that cost under $100.00, yet will help you design almost any kind of knife imaginable. The program I use (purchased for about $30.00) is called KeyCAD, and I use it for all my knife designs. Unlike AutoCAD, you don't need to enter coordinates to draw - just choose the rectangle, circle, line, spline, or other icon and start drawing anywhere you want to on the sheet.

I've played with "TurboCAD", and it also seems fairly easy to use. As already mentioned, there are other inexpensive programs available that will do the job without too many "complications."

As far as the "time invested" is concerned.....

It might take longer to draw your knife in a CAD program, but modifications are lightning fast compared to pencil and paper. The shortcuts, especially with folder design, are intuitive. Get the blade/lock/stop pin geometry correct and simply copy it into each new drawing. The same goes for hardware like screws, pocket clips, etc. - just save them as templates for later use so you don't need to draw the same geometry over and over. Use the duplicate function and draw as many as you need. It only takes seconds.

The "cut and paste" function also makes trying different blade shapes in different handles much faster than drawing by hand. You can also change the size of any object in a matter of seconds.

The other benefit of using a true CAD program is the fact that it will do all the math for you. I haven't opened my trig book in years, because it's so much faster to draw the geometry and dimension it with CAD.

A lot of these benefits can be overlooked if you're not familiar with this type of software. If you can find someone who has been using the software for a while and is willing to act as a tutor, that's even better.

For me, learning to design in CAD was kind of like learning to type in Word?..... At first, it was difficult. Then it got easier. Eventually, I could type faster than I could write - and the spell checker came in pretty handy, too!

[Kevin Wilkins]

Great post Tom! I can only second everything you've so clearly stated.

I've done mechanical drawing by hand and with a computer: the computer is better!!

[HermanKnives]

autocad seems pretty complex and scary but if you learn the things you need for knife design and only have those menus up its is really quite easy. I design all my knive in autocand now. so many advantages like juse resisizing an entire knife in a few clicks if you want paper patterns of a certain size is real nice. There is an autocadLite that does everything one needs for knifework and rotating that blade sure is handy

[Otha]

I do all my designing in AutoCAd, it does take a little longer to layout the initial design but after that, like tom said, changes are fast. Makes great templets so not need to keep metal templets laying around just print/plot out a new one. I recomend learning to use one of the cad programs.

Otha

And what Tim said too.

[Ed Caffrey]

Well, it's been a week since I ordered Quickcad 8 from CDW. It's not shown up, so I decided to call them and see where it was. I was told that Autodesk, who makes Quickcad, has discontinued the software, and will not be replacing it. I asked the salesman why I had not been notified, to which he had no answer.

Anyway, if anybody out there has Quickcad 8, and is looking to part with it, I'm in the market for a copy with the manuals.

I did look on ebay and found a copy fairly cheap, but made sure I sent the seller an email to ensure that it was undamaged and that all the manuals came with it. I'm waiting on the reply.

Maybe I'm just not meant to use Cad software! :confused:

[cwp]

Ed, all,

I am not sure how this would work, but from what I can see it is a fairly complete CAD program. The price is also right, in that it was released as open source.

http://brlcad.sourceforge.net/

Below is a basic description of the package. Just saw this released and thought it might fit the bill.

--Carl

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Abstract

Since 1979, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory has been developing and distributing the BRL-CAD constructive solid geometry (CSG) modeling package for a wide range of military and industrial applications. The package includes a large collection of tools and utilities including an interactive geometry editor, raytracing and generic framebuffer libraries, a network-distributed image-processing and signal-processing capability, and an embedded scripting language.

What is BRL-CAD?

Since the late 1950s, computers have been used to assist with the design and study of combat vehicle systems. The result has been a reduction in the amount of time and money required to take a system from the drawing board to full-scale production as well as increased efficiency in testing and evaluation.

In 1979, the U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) (now the U.S. Army Research Laboratory [ARL]) expressed a need for tools that could assist with the computer simulation and engineering analysis of combat vehicle systems and environments. When no existing computer-aided design (CAD) package was found to be adequate for this purpose, BRL software developers began assembling a suite of utilities capable of interactively displaying, editing, and interrogating geometric models. This suite became known as BRL-CAD.

Now comprising over one-half million lines of C code, BRL-CAD has become a powerful constructive solid geometry (CSG) modeling package that has been #######d at over 2,000 sites throughout the world. It contains a large collection of tools, utilities, and libraries including an interactive geometry editor, raytracing and generic framebuffer libraries, a network-distributed image-processing and signal-processing capability, and a customizable embedded scripting language. In addition, BRL-CAD simultaneously supports dual interaction methods, one using a command line and one using a graphical user interface (GUI).

A particular strength of the package lies in its ability to build and analyze realistic models of complex objects using a relatively small set of "primitive shapes." To do this, the shapes are manipulated by employing the basic Boolean operations of union, subtraction, and intersection. Another strength of the package is the speed of its raytracer, which is one of the fastest in existence. Finally, BRL-CAD users can accurately model objects on scales ranging from the subatomic through the galactic and get "all the details, all the time."

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The BRL-CAD package is a powerful Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) solid modeling system. BRL-CAD includes an interactive geometry editor, ray tracing support for rendering and geometric analysis, network distributed framebuffer support, image-processing and signal-processing tools. The entire package is distributed in source code form.