Hello all, Found open RC by shear accident. So my son (now 10) and I are just getting into carpet cars and open track, and was wondering what this the simplest 3d cad program for designing and printing of parts? I have been reading up on the different FDM vs SLA printers but havent bought one yet, any suggestions? thanks in advance for any help
TinkerCAD is probably the simplest application and supposedly offers a nice introduction to CAD programs. Never used it myself, but hear a lot of kids are started on it.
From there I would personally go with Fusion360, which is free to use by hobbyists (just download the student / free trial). Its more advanced then 123D Design and a better implementation of parametric modeling in my opinion.
While parametric modeling is intended for engineers to create sketches to exact dimensions which are then extruded out to provide the model depth, alternatively you can take a more sculptural oriented approach using applications like Blender…but that is personally beyond me.
There are plenty of other applications available, like Trimble Sketch-up or Meshmixer, with various degrees of usefulness and utility, depending on what you are familiar with. After using them to create or modify your model file, an STL, you will then feed that file into a slicing application.
The main purpose of the slicing application is to slice your model into thin representations of your model into 0.1+ sized slices. In the case of FDM printers, the software then converts that slice into gcode, instructing the printer where to move the hot end of the nozzle to extrude plastic. In some cases, the slice will be exported out as an SVG image file for SLA printers to expose to resin one layer at a time.
The gcode file (or SVG’s) can then be loaded on a SD card to print from your printers control board or sent via USB using an application on your computer to control the printer.
Whew. Sorry for the word vomit.
let me flesh out mine a little with a second post. I first started with Blender, it was great, but have now switched to Fusion360. Blender has some really great resources on learning the program quick: CGcookie has quick classes that really help you quickly learn, but it is not a parametric modeler, so although you can build cars in it, it really becomes time consuming when you want to change features. In fusion360, it is really easy to change features. The learning curve is a little steeper, but I would mainly say that is because the instructional videos are not very good, they do not walk you through step by step, but if you mess with it you will pick up on the program and when you do, you will be in love with it, so I suggest Fusion360 because it is a powerhouse!
If you are planning on designing and building your own car, then you will want a parametric modeler.
Well being a fabricator here at my distillery I tend to like to make stuff. So i love the idea of making every bit of the car and its parts and try to teach my kid how to make things also.
Secondary question, what do you think the learning curve is with autocad 15 vs the above programs. I already can do, what I call it is, technical drafting
@Ant_Chia I’m assuming “autocad 15” is autocad 2015. Both programs are very similar, but if you are building a car you should use either Autocad Fusion360 or Autocad Inventor. If you know drafting then you should have a leg up because you will know how to make sketches, so it should be pretty fast for you.
Thanks for the input. Any on FDM or SLA.
A lot of chemicals involved with SLA printing and the printers tend to be more expensive. You probably want to stick with FDM to start.
I have both, but the FDMs are a lot cheaper to run and the build size of the bed is a much larger than retail home SLA printers. Also when a part is done with SLA you have to wear gloves and clean the part of epoxy with chemicals, not a procedure that you want to do constantly when building an Rc car.
or with a 10 yr old. good point thanks