AutoCad 3-D modeling for mechanical drafting.

I strongly disagree. There are folks on this forum that wear many hats ...

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Didn't mean to disparage anyone on this Forum.
I just thought that the guys over at CadTutor could have the technical answer about moving the UCS.

BTW I prefer 3D also AutoCad Mechanical Desktop, but I am trying to migrate over to Inventor (kicking and screaming all of the way)

It's relay logic vs. PLCs

From what I have seen unless you want to put the machine together on paper, 3D really doesn't have an advantge over 2D.

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I'm speaking from my own experience of course, but I can't fathom how someone could prefer 2D after switching to 3D, assemblies or not. By "switching" I mean taking the time necessary to become fully adept at using the software. (Some of my cubicle neighbors are unwilling/unable to learn and it takes them an hour in 3D vs 10 minutes in AutoCAD to draw a simple part--I'm not including people in that category.)

I would concede that for extremely simple parts with no assemblies, i.e. sleeve bearings and the like, there is no significant advantage to 3D. But for the vast majority of machine components, the benefits of 3D are too great to ignore. It simply comes down to the value of your time--if you do enough drafting work, the time savings will more than make up for the price of the software.

I moved from ACAD 2D to 3D years ago, and wanted to stay with Autodesk, so we bought Mechanical Desktop..........big mistake. As you have heard, getting the actual drawing produced from the model was way too hard. I did learn much about creating solids, so it wasn't a total loss. I did a few simple machines with it, but I just really left off alot of detail that should have been included. I will be starting Solidworks training soon, and I am very excited about it, as everyone I talk to seems to be on it or moving to it.

$.02

We've been using Mechanical desktop for years.
Whenever I clean up an old 2D drawing, I always model it.
Now it seems easy to create drawings from a model, but it was pretty tough at first.
Isometric views are so easy to draw if you have a model. (I'm not a draftsman, so I like to let the software do the work)
I really like it. I am only now starting to Migrate to Inventor because Autodesk is not going to continue supporting MDT.

I have to 2nd SD Scott with a recomendation of Alibre. If you want to kick the tires there is a free trial and if you want to have a good amount of functionality to play with there is a $99 Personal/Hobbiest version that sounds like it would doneverything you need right now. And there are built in tutorials to get you up to speed on allthe basics.

You seem to doubt the time savings of moving to solid modeling but in the words of an old shop foreman I once knew: "Believe me what I say" you will pick it up fast and then wonder how you ever lived without solid modeling for this long.

The other nice thing with Alibre is that it will run fine on a low cost PC.

I have been using a 2d autocad clone for some time. It's called BricsCad. I think the latest version can do 3d. I use it for electrical schematics. They used to use the old Intellicad geometry engine and it wasn't any better than intellicad. They have since completely re-written the engine and it is also a nice package. I run it on a windows 7 box.


http://www.bricsys.com/en_INTL/

This has all been very good feedback, fellas.

I plan to continue to learn using modelling with Autocad, since that's what we're invested in. I appreciate all the tips. Some of these basic things are probably all I really needed to kick start me down the right path to becoming more productive.

As for turning out simple drawings of machine shafts and relatively simple parts drawings, I will still do them in 2D for the most part, but when there's spare time, I will practice using 3D.

I don't think that there's much chance of getting the company to switch cad software any time soon, and the demand for drafting will probably drop off some, once I get all of these latest shafts and bushings drawn from some recent equipment installations.

Thanks again for your opinions.

We use SolidWorks. Yes we have a mechanical engineer too as well as computer/motion geeks. The 3D drawings made with SolidWorks look good.

We Actually use Solid Works as well since over 80% of our customers use it. But, for only in house needs, and in my humble opinion, Alibre has the most bang for the buck.