Drawing board v CAD

I use both pen&paper and CAD as don't have an office full of CAD draughtsmen at my beck and call!

I first learned to use a 2D CAD program, Draft Choice for Windows (DCW), around 20 years ago. DCW at that time was ShareWare but when I discovered it had an excellent teaching program (for me that is) I paid for it and bought the printed manual. I quickly became proficient in using key strokes to access the commands.

Eventually, it refused to work properly and so I looked around for another program. I had TurboCad 4 on a CD so I tried that, and found it absolutely atrocious compared to DCW. I downloaded TurboCad 6 & 7 - no better, indeed V.7 caused a computer crash. In fairness, I think it may have been that the standard setup was so radically different to DCW's standard setup.

I then looked further and found , for £13, DesignCad Pro 2000. This worked well for me, right from the start, indeed in some respects it was similar to DCW. Later I bought an updated version Design Cad 3D Max v.17.2. To be fair, the later version did not give me anything extra over the earlier version, especially as most of my drawing is 2D. Nevertheless, I still use it today.

Today, I use Linux, and have successfully transferred DesignCad to work with Linux via the compatibility program Wine.

I have never had a drawing board. I do sometimes draw the occasional item on "the back of a fag packet" - or equivalent as I don't smoke, but if it's something I want to keep, I then transfer it into Design Cad. I don't necessarily design using CAD, but I'm slowly progressing in that direction.

Oh, by the way, I'm 74. Three years ago I successfully changed over from Windows XP to Linux Mint. I had already changed over to the Windows versions of Firefox, Thunderbird and Libre Office, so all I had to do was to discover how to transfer bookmarks etc (easier than the official guide implies). I used to use Paint Shop Pro (in a very limited way) - I now use The Gimp (still in a very limited way). And, with some help from someone on another forum, I've got a DOS based database working satisfactorily on Linux.

All of which goes to show that age is no barrier to learning new things.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

I was board-trained in Zimbabwe. In South Africa I got off the board(full-time) as a designer/estimator. Draughtsmen were well paid and contractors obscenely so. Came to the US - $7/hr. Went on a couple of CAD classes and was told - we hire schoolboys for $10/hr. I thought I was proficient but conned myself into believing I was not and that knowledge of all the software ins and outs was more important than actually being able to draw anything that would work or not break. I worked my way to engineer but CGLI is not known here and Incorporated Engineer equally.

The last time I spoke to a draughtsman he was getting $25/hr(with 20 years experience) and no health insurance. CAD has changed things - I'm not sure if it is for the better. Just as digital cameras have made everyone a professional photographer(I'll fix it in PhotoShop) CAD has made everone a draughtsman!

So as everyone who has posted on here has a computer (maybe a couple of people on phones) we can assume most are in a position to use CAD. I like hand drawing at a board and used to own a large 4' x 3' board with a draughting head. I had to get rid of it because of the space it took up.

Does anyone have experience of the smaller A3 boards made by rotaring and others. I like the idea of something that can be easily moved out of the way but still has reasonable functionality. Even as I am typing this I realise it may be a tall order.

David.

I used to do drawings on an A4 Rotring board which was a great improvement on the wooden one used previously.

I then bought DesignCad 3D Max but struggle with thinking in 3D so have moved on to DesignCad 2D.

I've recenly started trying to learn Fusion but find that I'm more interested in making things than trying to learn.

I'm 72 by the way so age is not the problem.

Brian

It is interesting that Adrian Newey the F1 designer still works on a board and it takes two CAD operators to keep up with him.

I started on a board 64 years ago, still use one. Rotring A3 for small drawings. I just find it quicker with a pencil and can quite easily "think" in 3D/2 D including rotating the image in my mind.

I am an ex pro. draffy, used board and autocad. I have an A3 board for home use and do not use the computer. I think better on the board, can fiddle about with it and throw away a sheet of paper if needed. I tend to just do layouts to get the feel and rough dimensions. Also can sit down in the living room and keep warm. Back when I was working for money all the rush jobs, eg a sketch for a night-shift welder, was given to me because it was quicker than cad. As for keeping records I trust paper more than electronics.

Spent first twenty five years of my working life on the board. In a break, went on a fourteen week (should have been sixteen weeks but I was on holiday for the last two) course of two and a half days a week using AutoCAD release twelve (Yep, long time ago). First two weeks were an absolute nightmare and the tutor confirmed that the worst people to teach were those who had spent years facing a lump of wood. However, it then started to click to the point I took and passed the practical and theoretical exams earlier than the course planning.

Observations, You NEVER have to sharpen a pencil, always have the correct hardness and line width after setting. NO ink smudges. No thin paper after rubbing out. After saving a drawing, the complete range of tools you.ve used to generate it are tied to it (for mods). Every thing is drawn Full Size (hard to grasp after years of scaling).Array - what a time saver as are the other tweaks, BUT it's a DRAWING tool, NOT a design tool.

 Was lucky to be taught on AutoCAD, all the others are intuitive based on the industry standard with their own variations on the "Master".

 I do a lot of rescaling mag plans using - - - - Photoshop!!!!    Yep, not a drawing program(me) but I'm cleaning and resizing, not redrawing so I find it quite adequate.

For "Designing", free hand sketch, you can talk via Skype, draw while talking and hold the paper up to the camera, much quicker than conventional drawing. If I want to keep it, scan to file or if I want to do a Rolls Royce job, commit to Cad.

  Regards  Ian.

Edited By Circlip on 18/03/2018 10:10:53

Edited By Circlip on 18/03/2018 10:12:11

I agree with Gordons comments about record keeping. I always print my drawings, even or especially, unfinished ones. I find it easier to work from a paper copy and it keeps the computer screen clean.

Brian

The thing I like about CAD is you can draw full size items which you cannot on on a drawing board. I once had a commision to make a triangle shaped steel grill to go under a set of stairs in France. The only way it could be made without going to France and taking the measurements myself. I got the client to measure the 3 sides and then I drew it up in CAD to get the correct angles.

Brian, I have exactly the same problem. It must be worth investing the time, but just can't get around to it.

I like to use both methods but on intricate things e.g. a gearbox I find that the great advantage is taking measurements with CAD to various parts without having to spend time on lots of calculations to the order of accuracy necessary for the job. I, too, am well into retirement. Colin

I'm somewhat confused. Two respondents both say that they struggled with 3D thinking in DesignCad 3D Max so they moved on to DesignCad 2D.

I use DesignCad 3D Max v. 17.2. I also have a copy of DesignCad 2000 which despite not mentioning 3D in its title is indeed an earlier version of v.17.2. In both programs, there is a button to switch between 2D and 3D modes. Hence I cannot understand why both people say that they moved onto DesignCad 2D which as far as I know is a 2D only version of the 3D program.

Could you enlighten me please.

Incidently, I, in the main, like about 99% of the time, use the 3D program in its 2D mode.

Peter G. Shaw

I have one, not hugely impressed. Flimsy, paper clamps are poor, ruler is a challenge to get locked in the right place.

The well-chewed wooden board and t-square I used at O-level was better.

Neil

I went from 3D FEA stress analysis to a stint of 6 months on AutoCAD to 3D SolidWorks. I find 3D CAD infinitely easier than 2D. The productivity of the design office where I work went up approx 3x when we got 3D CAD, which has meant the company has survived. Had we been doing the same with 2D we'd have been out on our ears, current jobs would be unprofitable so no workers.

At home, I use a fountain pen & scrap of paper for easy jobs, or lunch half-hour at work on 3D for the more complex stuff. Drawing boards are a skill I never acquired, and I never got highly proficient with AutoCAD. I wrote my own 2D CAD programme once, that worked the way I think, but 3D CAD proved quicker, and I don't have the programming skills for anything more sophisticated than a FEA modeller. The current data structures and surface calculation methods are way beyond my imagination.

Regards

Richard

The only CAD I ever knew was an old sod I had to work with,and he was a CAD,all the way !

My drawing board skills were of a type best forgotten,so I am a lost cause on both fronts.

I seem to just make it up as I go along,anyone else out there like me ? could we form a club ? Just asking !!

Hello Peter, The DesignCad 3D Max program that I struggled with was used in 2D mode for a while but became increasingly out of date so I bought the up to date 2D version which I still use.

I will get around to learning more of Fusion 360 but at the moment I'm quite happy to be making things already drawn in 2D.

Brian

I think that there is a more important issue here than drawing board versus CAD - having worked in industrial automation for the last 25 years, I fear that the understanding of what is drawn has slid away from us.

At school, I started using the board and tee square at 11 years old, being taught by Mr Turbin - an experienced draughtsman turned teacher. I started work as an apprentice and wasn't allowed to go on the board until the third year, having completed the training schools first year and some time on the shop floor.

I've just completed a project with one of my customers whose 3D CAD operators, whilst very capable on the computer, don't have the practical experience and therefore make silly errors claiming that 'it looked alright on the CAD' !

Any method of producing drawings is great, as long as one can pass over the intended information - what do I do, well a lot of scribbly sketches on scrap paper, some pencil drawings in 3D and 2D & 3D CAD - using the appropriate method for the job - as long as the information is easy to follow. My favourite - a quick 3D pencil sketch passes over ones ideas as quickly as anything.

Bob

I think it's easy to conflate the ability to think and design in 3D with the ability to draw (on paper or computer).

They aren't the same thing and it's just as easy to draw an 'impossible to make or assemble part on paper as it is on a computer screen.

Neil /

Quite agree - I've done it both ways around !