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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
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 Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 8:31 am Post subject: To CAD or not to CAD . . . that is the question |
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I tried poking around last night and was able to open the Dwg files
on the aero electric site. It took me a while to figure out how to
simply copy and paste items and then I had to scale them to make them
fit what I had drawn... Seems like i might save done time with some
decent training material. Are you aware of any?
That, my friend, is the $64K question.
We've had these discussions about the use
of CAD for doing wiring diagrams many times
over the years here on the List. I've always
encouraged individuals to acquire and become
reasonably conversant in some kind of CAD
program . . . but that advice is 'colored'
by my own utilization of AutoCAD which dates
back to 1988 or so running AutoCAD v2.17 on
a 4MHz PC-XT with 64K of ram, 20M HD, 9"
amber screen and a dot-matrix printer.
My comfort level with AutoCAD for the tasks
I do is very high. At the same time
I can tell you that I use less than 5% of its
capabilities. AutoCAD and clones understand
hundreds of commands . . . I can give you a list
of commands . . . about 50 . . . that suffice
for 99% of my drawing needs for the past 25
years. So yeah, I have a "training manual"
that is a subset list of the total command set.
Backing off a bit, let's consider the complexity
of your drawing task. Whether you use CAD to
produce the final wire-book or not, your
gathering of bits and pieces into recipes
for success is STILL best accomplished
on paper with pencil. Multiple sheets of
paper.
Do your wirebook with a #2 pencil on a good
quality bond paper punched to fit a binder
of your choice. NEAT doesn't count. Get all
the parts, wires and layout down on paper
as the draft. Keep a soft eraser handy
(we call 'em Pink Pearls) to make clean
changes to your deliberations.
Do one-page-per-system. Landing light on one
page, starter on one page, alternator on
one page, etc. etc. No single page need
be very complex or cluttered with information.
When the details are all recorded, NOW decide
whether you want to convert it to a CAD
drawing.
Trying to do original work in CAD without
a high comfort level is like learning
to operate an 18-wheel truck to move some
materials around to build a tool shed for
your back yard. The CREATIVE efforts for
getting the simple-ideas of an electrical
system on paper are diluted and confused
by trying to describe your thoughts and
observations in a new language that commands
a very complex tool.
If you decide to jump to CAD, fine. Make
that a separate task for learning the language
that drives the new tool. Alternatively,
consider taking your 'draft' sheets and
using a indelible pen (I like ultra-fine
Sharpies) to convert your drafts to finished
drawings. Make a copy of your pencil draft
and convert it to hard lines with the
ink pen. If you like the first one, then
do it a second time on your pencil copy.
Then use the eraser to remove your pencil
draft.
Virtually all schematics I post to the List
or my website are evolved with this process.
http://tinyurl.com/k7cvegw
When you're working on your wirebook, the
end product can look even better than these
quickly crafted sketches.
I am reluctant to discourage anyone from acquiring
CAD skills . . . but I question the return on
investment for $time$ it takes to acquire
useful competency with a very powerful tool.
The job might be reduced to a couple
of hours with an pencil, good paper, ink pen
and a Pink Pearl.
Sometimes the best way to drive the nail
is with a hammer. But I will dig up and post
that list of CAD commands that any wannabe AutoCAD
driver will find useful as a study guide. It
is indeed a powerful tool. It has greatly enhanced
my own career path.
Hmmm . . . this might be expanded inot a good
article for KitPlanes . . .
Bob . . .
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uuccio(at)gmail.com
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| Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 12:56 pm Post subject: To CAD or not to CAD . . . that is the question |
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--> AeroElectric-List message posted by: "Robert L. Nuckolls, III"
--> <nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelectric.com (nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelectric.com)>
Whether you use CAD to
produce the final wire-book or not, your
gathering of bits and pieces into recipes
for success is STILL best accomplished
on paper with pencil. Multiple sheets of
paper.
Thank you for the advice, I'm sure those words are wise ones... I'm curious about CAD so I think I will eventually put the effort in and learn it (thanks to the two people on the list who offered to relay a shipment of TurboCAD to me ... I absolutely love this list...). But for the moment I will draw everything out in pencil and paper as you suggest.
[quote][b]
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rickofudall
Joined: 19 Sep 2009
Posts: 1392
Location: Udall, KS, USA
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| Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 6:58 pm Post subject: To CAD or not to CAD . . . that is the question |
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IMHO TurboCAD is the worst way to go. Get Draftsight. It's a free download and uses the AutoCAD command set. It recognizes all dwg files and will even save them in the version of AutoCAD that created them. Like I said, MHO.
Rick Girard
do not archive
On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 3:55 PM, Sacha <uuccio(at)gmail.com (uuccio(at)gmail.com)> wrote:
| Quote: |
--> AeroElectric-List message posted by: "Robert L. Nuckolls, III"
--> <nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelectric.com (nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelectric.com)>
Whether you use CAD to
produce the final wire-book or not, your
gathering of bits and pieces into recipes
for success is STILL best accomplished
on paper with pencil. Multiple sheets of
paper.
Thank you for the advice, I'm sure those words are wise ones... I'm curious about CAD so I think I will eventually put the effort in and learn it (thanks to the two people on the list who offered to relay a shipment of TurboCAD to me ... I absolutely love this list...). But for the moment I will draw everything out in pencil and paper as you suggest.
| Quote: |
ist" target="_blank">http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?AeroElectric-List
tp://forums.matronics.com
_blank">http://www.matronics.com/contribution
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Zulu Delta
Mk IIIC
Thanks, Homer GBYM
It isn't necessary to have relatives in Kansas City in order to be unhappy.
- Groucho Marx
[quote][b]
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