3. Computer Aided design¶
This week I worked on using CAD to communicate my Fab Shop Lathe/Mill concept that will be part of my final project called “Fab Shop” I used the following types of graphics software to communicate my concept.
Raster CAD¶
Scan Hand Sketch¶
I scanned a hand drawn sketch of my Fab Shop Lathe/Mill concept
Gimp¶
I then used this scan in gimp as a reference to create a 2D CAD drawing.
I used the rectangle select tool and then color coded blocks representing different parts of the machine.
What was interesting about using gimp as a CAD tool was that it wasn’t as terrible as I first thought. Masking squares and coloring them in was pretty easy. Also the layer control allowed me to hide and reveal parts of the drawing.
Here is the native gimp xcf file: Sci_Center_MT.xcf
Vector CAD¶
Inkscape¶
Next I used Inkscape. This was even better since I could have machine components in layers and easily change the layers from background to foreground. Also rectangles could be grouped and moved around easily even after drawing. Align and distribute was quite useful as well. Path boolean operations like Union were quite useful. Duplicate was used to make 2x motors. Changes were quicker. Transparency allowed buried parts to be partially visible. Arrows were much easier to draw using lines and adding arrows to their end in the Command Fill and Stroke (Shift+Ctrl+F), Stroke Style (tab), Markers. The image below is a Inkscape native SVG file, so it can be downloaded in native format via a right click, save image as.
Future Work¶
The topics below will be completed as work progresses on my Fab Shop Final Project.