Revisiting a Model Building Series

A few weeks ago I brought up the idea of taking on a public project that people could contribute to. The main point of the project would be to get people participating and to show people who are curious what it’s like to work in Solid Edge. When I proposed the idea earlier, it turned out to be bad timing. It was running into a Local Motors / Edison2 contest. Sorry that I just dropped it suddenly, but I felt like I needed to let that pass before turning loose on another project.

Here’s how it will work. I’ll act as the project manager and do some overflow work. I’ll ask for a lot of input along the way. People can sign up for various parts of the project. Since we don’t know how many people there will be, and how fast we’ll get the work done, we’ll establish a variable level of detail. If there are only 2-3 people, we’ll just get the main systems done. If we have 10-12 people, maybe we can get as far as wiring and that level of detail. We might have some sort of central concept to work from, but there will certainly be some sort of a layout sketch that allows a way for each system to attach or reference the rest of the design.

I’d also like to use this to see how some of the design methods like master model and layout work in Solid Edge, or maybe they don’t make any sense here. Either way, I learn by making mistakes, and this would be a great place to make some mistakes where it doesn’t cost anyone anything. This is mainly for fun and for learning, I don’t want to cause any conflict with this project. Maybe we can raise some money and get a couple of these printed as a scale model and show it at Solid Edge University. Just thinking of ideas, I can’t promise stuff like that at this point.

The first thing to decide is what sort of project to take on. I’ve got some ideas, but I want some input as well. I want it to have a combination of styling, mechanism design, some framing or sheet metal, maybe some analysis, motion, and some rendering. Pick your favorite 3 from the following list, or if you have some better idea, leave a comment. Also leave a comment if you just want to embellish on one of the ideas you selected. Like If you like antique aircraft, maybe you’d like to suggest the Wright Flier or a P-51. Or maybe you select Other and want to suggest a piece of movie technology such as a Klingon Bird of Prey from the Next Generation.

Anyway, just have fun with it, and remember pick 3.

[poll id=”13″]

11 Replies to “Revisiting a Model Building Series”

  1. I tried a couple times to get a VW beetle modeling project going and a few people have chipped in some parts on GrabCAD.  It might prove useful for all the VW modders and hackers out there.  Plus, the folks that write VW manuals could finally get some good drawings (1/2 are hand sketches!).

    Just a thought… maybe hard to do if you don’t have parts on hand to look at.

    Mark

    1. I like the idea of a VW, maybe you could take yours apart and scan all the parts ;o)

      GrabCAD has a habit of misappropriating data. I sent them an invoice for $3600 for work of mine that they have represented as someone elses work without permission.

      Anyway, I think we’re headed in a non-automotive direction. Andrew commented earlier that everyone does cars, and he’s right. But then there are boats and farm equipment on Siemens marketing materials already too. Anything we pick has already been done.

        1. I’ve got a scanner, which works ok for reference data. Other cheap ways to scan parts are to just take orthogonal pictures, or even to put parts right on a flat bed scanner. That helps you get data for 2D views. Make sure to include a ruler or scale item. I like doing reverse engineer jobs. It’s fun to see how close you can get your model to the real thing.

           

  2. Wow, some great ideas here. Maybe we’ll have to do a few of them. I’ll let the voting go for another day, then we’ll do a second round of voting to include the suggested ideas and narrow it down. Keep the votes and ideas coming.

  3. I would love a steam locomotive.

    But for testing purposes, a plane or boat should be more suitable to try the surface tools.

    By the way, it is a great idea to investigate about the use of the master sketch to drive the assembly and individual parts.

  4. A whole house.  I think weldments could be used for the framing, harnessing and piping could be used for the electrical and plumbing.  It would be interesting to push the software and see if a whole house is reasonable and if things could change relatively easy, ie changing room sizes later on in the project.  Analysis on HVAC using fluid flow could be interesting too – best placement of units and vents.  Renders of rooms, etc…  Material useage estimates based on the model (how much lumber is needed, length of wire, pipe, etc…).

     

     

  5. If you want to ‘really’ do a P-51 Mustang you can buy all of the production drawings, I checked on it about 15 years ago.  I am a big fan of the P-51, I was going to model it in Solidworks.  The problem was that all the drawings were all on microfiche rolls and I would of had to buy a reader too.  Back then the microfiche was about $800 dollars, the reader a lot more.  To much money so I abandoned it.   But maybe today they have everything in PDF format.

    Maybe if the P-51 or another plane that sparks interest if the PDF files are available for the real deal.  Maybe Siemens could pay for them.  Just a thought.

  6. I’m up for anything other than a car!
    Cars have been done to death, let’s try something other than the ubiquitous car projects.
    I can help with motor motion, simulation and synchronous. I’m not that great with surfacing though.

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