Introduction

Hi All,

Connor here, presenter from the CAD course.

Happy to answer any CAD related questions you might have, so fire away!

Excited to see what projects you use your new CAD skills on and what designs you come up with, so make sure you share them on here.

This course came up at about the perfect time, because I'm into 3D printing, and I'm getting to the limits of what I can do in the slicers I use, and I have a few projects on the docket where I will need to get some things made for me.

I have played with AutoCAD years ago, like back in 2003 or so, and made some simple 2D drawing back then, that I have since lost and need to recreate, so again, perfect timing.

The modules I've gone through so far are good and I can see setting up the basics.

My plan is to watch through all of them first, then go back through and use the software along side.

I had been playing with OnShape for the last little while, and following some other tutorials, but hadn't designed anything of any note yet. But it seems like there are many similarities to that program, as you mention in one of the introduction videos.

That's great to hear, CAD would have come a long way in accessibility and usability since 2003.

I'd be interest in how you find slicing in the fusion360's CAM workspace compared to the other slicers.

It's nice being able to do CAD and CAM in one program.

We thought it was important to discuss the basics and learn the fundementals of CAD then move into more advanced features, rather than just showing how to model certain parts.

This way you should have a solid understanding of CAD and apply that to your own projects.

Thank you for this course, this is the course I didn't know I needed!

I've already been designing a bunch of my own parts in F360 and getting them produced by places like SendCutSend, with great results so far. Mostly just simple stuff, brackets, adapters, mounting plates, etc.

But I'm just kind of a noob at the CAD design, I learned it in some classes in school, but never got really good at it. Just good enough to be able to get something useful out of it. But I'm really muddling my way through most of it.

Now that I've been through just a few of the modules in this course, it's significantly improved my workflow and understanding of the tools available.

This is definitely going to help me design better parts, in less time.

Thanks Matt,

Sounds like you've hit the ground running.

We had a chat with SendCutSend at SEMA and they provide a great service.

Most CAD programs are extremely powerful, so there's always new things to learn.

It all goes a long way in designing what you want in the most efficient and effective manor.

Enjoy!

Excited to dive into this course. Been using CAD to design an adapter plate and flywheel for my current project and will be looking to step up to suspension design, body parts, and aero. Surface modeling has been my Achilles heel.

Looks like you have some solid skills already.

We do cover some surface modelling in the course so hopefully that helps, although we don't dive too deep on that topic.

In saying that a lot of the ideas with lofts and sweeps are transferable to surfaces.

Maybe something we can look at more in the future, along with diving deeper into the more advanced stuff (simulation, generative design, CAM, 3D scanning...)