Computer-Aided Design

The CAD week's assignment was to draw and sketch our final project demonstrating 2D-3D modeling skills. I'm using almost daily Autodesk software and CorelDraw, and since both of the programs can support natively a wide range of formats I decided to go for them. Unfortunately, both of them are commercial software's, but in their defense: Autodesk has agreements with Universities and give out free licenses for students, educators and even laboratories.

Firstly, I have tried to sketch out in 2D the essential mechanical parts of the project with all the details I could. I haven't took in consideration dimensions, I just waned to have an overlook on the mechanics. Basically, I have sketched out the axis movements with all the necessary details for a better understanding.

After the initial drawing I still had many mechanical details to define and therefore I have tried to draw separate drawings for each carriage, X and Y. In the next picture we can see the intended movements by each carriage. The Y carriage has two nuts embedded and by moving the rods the nuts will move in concordance. The details of the X carriage shows the actual movements of the Y carriage. One stepper motor starts spinning the bigger gear and the movement will translate to the two roods of the Y axis.

After I have figured it out the basic details necessary to model the project in 3D, I have started working in AutoCAD. At this point, it was necessary only to follow the steps, the details and to build the mechanics from bottom to top. I haven't paid much attention on dimensions, as I was mentioning earlier, but I really wouldn't like to oversize this interactive game.

The overall experience, was a really good one and I have learned how many details and situations you have to take in consideration to even sketch a working project.