Recently I started taking a CAD course learning Solidworks. I got through all the sketching, and 3d modeling aspects – but haven’t started assemblies. I wanted to learn this because I have a Kobalt saw my friend gave me, but the housing for locking things to angles (45, 33, etc..) broke so the pin slides out.
I spent 15 hours taking the course and when I got to a stage I felt comfortable with, I started modeling the broken piece. It only took me one prototype and one adjustment (holes were too small) before my final piece was printed and I am very satisfied.
Download/Rate on https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7376501
I definitely feel like I learned a lot more in the two weeks I did the course, than I had in the 30 years I’ve been “Doing CAD”. My father is an engineer and I grew up with him using AutoCAD on Windows 3.1 era. I found myself skipping a lot of instruction on the course because it’s stuff I know already, which always feels good.
This isn’t the first thing I’ve modeled and printed, but it’s the first one on Solidworks that I’m proud to share. I’ve used Solidworks, Solid Edge, Autodesk Fusion 360, etc over the years for CAD, as well as Blender, Maya, Autodesk 3DSMax.
The downside of Solidworks for Makers is they watermark their files, so you can open a file made in SWFM in SWFM, and a file made in SW, but not a file made in SWFM in the standard SM.
