[doorknob]

I tried using SolidEdge a year ago, but gave up on it because I couldn't figure out how to specify exact dimensions for line lengths, diameters, placement of hole centers, and the like.

I probably gave up on it too soon, and so maybe I need to give it another look.

[Beefy]

Hi Doorknob,

if you are willing to fork out about $200 you could purchase the Personal edition of Alibre Design. I have this and it's sketching is easier and more intuitive than SolidEdge plus you get the PDF user guide which is quite decent. Then there's the helpful user forum and some Youtube videos. Only problem is it is not a drawing program, but if all you need is 2D sketches you might like it. It has 2D DXF export and 3D STL export (it is an easy to use 3D solid modelling program). Another issue is with the personal version you only get a license for one computer. That's why I looked into SolidEdge2D and Draftsight so I could at least have 2D sketching on all my computers.

SolidEdge give their 2D away for free but provides minimal tutorial materials to get you well aquainted with it, go figure. Probably have to spend plenty time on the SolidEdge forum asking questions. Having Googled quite a bit about SolidEdge vs Solidworks, many have said SolidEdge is quite a good product but is very badly managed as far as marketing, etc goes.

[doorknob]

Hi Doorknob,

if you are willing to fork out about $200 you could purchase the Personal edition of Alibre Design.

I appreciate the suggestion - I may very well do that sometime down the road, but within the past month I have purchased both a PM45M mill and a G4003G lathe, so my hobby budget has been exhausted for the time being. For now, "free is good".

[hq308]

I tried using SolidEdge a year ago, but gave up on it because I couldn't figure out how to specify exact dimensions for line lengths, diameters, placement of hole centers, and the like.

I probably gave up on it too soon, and so maybe I need to give it another look.

Specifying exact dimensions is easy, you enter the dimensions in the box at the top of the screen as you draw and you can also enter change the dimension after it is drawn by using the 'smart dimension' tool. Spend a few minutes doing the built in tutorial and it should make it a bit easier to work out.

[hq308]

Here's a screenshot of the option box at the top of the screen when you draw a line.


You can specify the length and angle here before you draw the line.

[doorknob]

Specifying exact dimensions is easy, you enter the dimensions in the box at the top of the screen as you draw and you can also enter change the dimension after it is drawn by using the 'smart dimension' tool. Spend a few minutes doing the built in tutorial and it should make it a bit easier to work out.

Thanks for the info.

How about for positioning an element (such as the center of a circle) to specific coordinates?

[hq308]

Thanks for the info.

How about for positioning an element (such as the center of a circle) to specific coordinates?

I'm not aware of a way to actually specify the coordinates but at the same time I'm not sure that you would actually need that as there are many ways to accurately place an element. For example say you already had a circle drawn and you wanted to draw another 3cm over on the x axis and 2 cm up on the y axis, first use the line tool and hover over the first circle so the the centre highlights and you draw a line from the centre 3cm along the x axis then another of the end of that 2cm along the y axis and position the centre of the second circle on the end of the line.



There are many other ways to do it but it all depends on what you've got in the drawing to guide you. If you look at some of the options in the "Draw" section of the ribbon you'll see they have an arrow next to them which gives you different options, for example with the circle command you have the standard option of circle by centre but you can also do a circle by 3 points or a tangent circle as well as oval shapes by clicking the arrow.

It's probably also worth playing with the settings under grid options. Click on the drop down next to the grid (see below) and select grid options. Make sure 'Show readouts' is selected and you'll see the coordinates as you draw and 'Snap to grid' helps if you're trying to position something at an intersection of the grid. Changing the setting in 'minor spaces per major' can help too.

[doorknob]

I'm not aware of a way to actually specify the coordinates but at the same time I'm not sure that you would actually need that as there are many ways to accurately place an element.

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

The problem that I was having was that I wanted to lay out the drawing for a bracket that has twenty holes to be drilled, with three different drill/hole diameters, each with precisely-known coordinates (with the ability to show or hide the dimensions on a printout, and maybe also the capability of using the drawing as input to a CAM program that would automate the drilling and tool changes). Having a way to quickly specify the coordinates for each circle would be a huge time saver (over constructing each of the coordinates by relative reference to some fixed location).

I had expected that entering the coordinates manually would be a trivial operation, but was surprised to find out that apparently it was not.

[Beefy]

Hi Doorknob,

I too am surprised by the apparent lack of a co-ordinate system. Draftsight has it, Alibre has it, my cam software has it, etc.

I just tried a workaround. Create a vertical and horizontal line to represent your X & Y axis and put these on a separate layer. Lock these in place with the lock button (not the dimension lock button). Assuming all your holes are the same size, draw one circle and dimension it. Now do copy and paste, click the paste button for the number of holes you want. All the copies are placed directly on top of each other so it looks like there are no copies being created but they are there.

Now just drag all these (already dimensioned) copies to approx locations in the part then dimension them from your "X & Y axis". I reckon this is just as quick as manually entering XY co-ordinates and size for each circle. That's like a modified Draftsight / Autocad style drawing method but easier to do (at least I think so).

Now you could delete the XY lines or just make a DXF from the main sketching layer.

What do you reckon.

Keith.