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Good books on mechanical design/CAD ? — Parallax Forums

Good books on mechanical design/CAD ?

bulkheadbulkhead Posts: 405
edited 2006-04-16 11:23 in General Discussion
I'm looking to get a few books to learn how to use CAD to design things (I have no experience whatsoever) as well as some books on mechanical designs. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Comments

  • mountaineermountaineer Posts: 27
    edited 2006-04-14 21:08
    The premier software and industry standard is AutoCAD. They have a bunch of different packages based on your needs. As far as free cad packages go, take a look at IntelliCAD. To my knowledge, it only does 2D stuff, though this is often best for people making stuff in their garage. For instance, you can make a template of a part on CAD and print it out. You can then attach the template(I heard rubber cement works well). This is good if you want to make many of the same parts or if you need to be very precise. Also, it you make a standard interface between parts, it makes stuff a lot easier down the road.

    As for learning how to use the programs, most have comprehensive tutorials that walk you through it. Doing is the best form learning in this case. It may seem like it takes forever to make a simple part, but stick to it. It gets much easier as you get more experience.

    botguy
  • StarManStarMan Posts: 306
    edited 2006-04-14 22:37
    Umm....I feel I need to pipe in here.·· I've been doing mechanical design for 25 years now.· I started out on a drafting board and since then I've used many CAD packages. ·I must say that AutoCAD is one of the worst for mechanical design.· I recommend avoiding it.

    I would try to find a good true solid modeling package that fits your price range.· There are many packages out there that are designed specifically for mechanical design where your designs can be intuitively created in true 3D space.

    I personally use SolidWorks and, IMHO, it is the premier mechanical design package.· But it is expensive.· I believe there are a number of low cost clones out there to choose from, though I haven't researched them.· As far as books go, they are mostly tailored to the specific software so find a few candidates and see if anything has been written about what you've chosen.

    Chris I.
  • Kevin WoodKevin Wood Posts: 1,266
    edited 2006-04-15 08:47
    Get some books on engineering graphics and technical drawing / illustration. CAD software needs to be approached within the correct context, and most software books are teaching the CAD program, not the underlying theory behind the problems you are using the software to solve.

    You can also do alot of technical illustration with a drawing program like Illustrator, or CorelDRAW. It might even be easier to develop ideas, since drawing programs tend to be a bit more free flowing than CAD, which is typically designed for rigid, repeatable accuracy.

    Here is a link to a site I found years ago when learning CorelDRAW. You might find it interesting.

    www.techdrawingtools.com/learn.htm
  • stamptrolstamptrol Posts: 1,731
    edited 2006-04-16 11:23
    To echo some of the previous posters' thoughts......learn the design process first. The CAD system is just a tool much later in the development.

    The best book for getting the design juices going is "Mechanisms and Mechanical Devices Sourcebook" by Chironis and Slater. It will not only show you some of the most interesting mechanisms ever designed, but also shows hundreds drawings used to explain the designs.

    Your local public library can probably get it on inter-library loan, or most of the big box book stores can order it.

    Cheers
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