What have you drawn and built entirely on bobcad??

[AMCjeepCJ]

I drew this on bobcad for a customer from a handsketch... I hate hand sketches for blueprints!! I then imported it into Alibre to photorender it... I'll try to post the actual wheel in the next two weeks, (before chrome)

I hear people griping about bobcad but for me its really helped modeling in bobcad verses other programs for the exact reasons some folks don't like it... I love Alibre but you pick the right tool for the job and I was amazed how easy it is in bobcad verses Alibre when trying to copy a sketch...

LOL, I s'pose if the whiners spent as much time learning it as dissin' it, they might find things they like about it...

I'm new to Bobcad version 20 & Pro-X but I can go from a hand sketch to what you see in about 1 1/2 hours now, (with g-code for much of it) and I think I'll have it down to 45 minutes in short order...

I'm all about the cheap price, even though I've run into tons of "problems" learning to do this... Usually at 3:00am on Saturday moynin'...

So, I'd really like to see anything artsy anybody has both drawn and cut with bobcad products...

BTW, I cut this (both sides) in a 10.5" x 18" wheel for a custom bike... I'll be doing the front next...

Oh, for any newbies out there, making the spikes is incredibly simple with practice... If I did it a lot, it would be easy to draw it and have g-code in five minutes or less if you have the right methods~

Just for arguments sake, I'm not saying bobcad is wonderful, I'm just wanting to see the capabilities that others have harnessed to get ideas of its full potential...

(Editors note: I didn't draw the hub in the pics so don't worry about the gaping hole in the centers, lol)

[HuFlungDung]

Wow, take a box of bandaids to the carwash with you when you get that one muddy

Nice job!

[AMCjeepCJ]

I made one spike in a bunk piece of aluminum and thought it was super cool so I put it in my coat pocket, lol yeah, it popped right out the side!! I reprogrammed and blended the tips out to a .02" radius in the wheel and have the 'look' without the scars

[jphagen]

Well we will see if this works.

[threed]

I also do wheels mostly one off and wide 300, 330, 360, and the fronts also. I have just started with Bob and trying to use the proX in some what the same manor as your drawing/pic. I will have a couple wheels at the Cincinnati dealer expo. I hope that is not the way you cut the center of your wheel blank or you have a very odd way of attaching the hub. I am very curious as to your method of changing drawings to cad files and three d images. Give us all a more detailed explaination please. Gary

[AMCjeepCJ]

Accidently sent it three times!!

[AMCjeepCJ]

Accidently sent it three times!!

[AMCjeepCJ]

Originally Posted by threed I hope that is not the way you cut the center of your wheel blank or you have a very odd way of attaching the hub. I am very curious as to your method of changing drawings to cad files and three d images. Give us all a more detailed explaination please. Gary

Hey Gary,

Nope, I didn't put the hub in anything like what you see, actually I just didn't bother drawing it for times sake. Anything that doesn't make you money / costs you money, so I didn't see any point in drawing it, that and the company I built it for was making their own hub on site. The hub is just a standard two piece bolt through design, so you know there is just a lot of extra stock and six clearance holes in the center.

As for how I do it, I'll answer specific questions if you get stuck but I'm not going to explain in detail 40+ hours worth of research, sorry about that, hope you understand. The flip side of the coin is, if you put the time in and have a specific question, I'd be MORE than happy to answer, lol, besides chances are you could figure out an even faster way of doing it than I have.

Just for starters though, Pro-X WILL NOT give you lines good enough to cut parts on, sorry. That tidbit of info should save you several hours right from the git-go. I do use Pro-X on every part but then I have to modify the lines it gives me, hope this helps!

By the way, the purpose of this thread is to see what people have drawn and built entirely on Bobcad, it's such a cheap system to buy that I was curious just how complicated a part people are making with it!! (Read: I'm always looking for ideas to test it's limits)

I'll be at Cincinnati too, lets see if we can stop by your booth or meet up to chit chat, I'll be there with some business partners and we'd love to see what you can do, cuz' sometimes we have extra work to farm out to good shops.


POST SOME PICS!!

[threed]

All my rear hubs and wheels use 10 bolts, I ahve never seen a six bolt setup on a 18 x 10.5 wheel? Gary

[AMCjeepCJ]

Hi Gary,

I use five bolts to hold it together, I said six holes because of the axle hole, there are another 5 bolts that hold the rotor on, is that where our numbers differ?? I could have said, 5 or 10 bolts, I said six holes just trying to describe the missing part of the pictures but sending a shot with a hub installed hides the detail of the Bobcad part, sorry about the confusion. My original hub was built at Rowe. That is where I first saw the basic split configuration of everyones hubs, I've since made it made it a lot stronger and easier to setup in machines.

You can email me at carl@miabc.us this thread is for pictures of Bobcad parts, not how to make the parts... We could start another thread on how to go from sketch to 3-D solid model to finished parts, I'll post if you start it!! Just send me a link~

Thanks,
Carl

[tjones]

I no longer build my parts completely in Bobcad. The main reason is not that it can't be done but the ability to change a feature somewhere in the middle of the design.

If I spend 10 hrs designing a part and the customer decides he wants this outside corner radius changed from a .75 to .25 then I could have a real mess. Imagine being able to just click, type new radius, and then click again. Well you just can't do this in Bobcad because it is leaning towards Cam and not full use of Cad.

I use a parametric Cad software called Alibre Design. Instead of a dumb solid I have a solid with features that can be changed in seconds compared to minutes or hours. You can get the free Alibre express from www.alibre.com and do some really nice stuff. I personally like using the parametric features to tie dimensions to variables. Change the variable and the part changes size. For $99 on the express and you get the export module that will input and output iges,step,dxf,dwg and more. Bobcad opens the step files with no problem and I can be running in minutes when I need to change part forms.

This is not intended to dump on Bobcad but I use it to speed up my work and save money because I have customers who are always changing part design. Bobcad is an easy to use solid cad invironment but it just makes dumb solids.

[AMCjeepCJ]

I love Alibre, I bought the full version awhile ago. I prefer Alibre for everything except making wheels from sketches, it's not very satisfactory for converting a sketch to a 3-D model when everything is free form... I'm still learning though, so maybe I'll figure out an easy way to get what I need but for now, dumb solids are fine... Even when they change a design it normally sets me back only seconds to a couple minutes~

Any pics of parts you've cut with Bobcad, even if you modeled them elsewhere??