EN2X10 Group Design Project/Integrated Product Design

Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

Information Pack

1.     Context

In EN2X10, the focus is on providing a basic knowledge of CAD design. We will have one supported computer lab session where you will have the opportunity to gain experience of SolidWorks by following its initial tutorials. In addition, for those responsible for designing the rover chassis or who would like to gain more experience and skills, additional resources have been provided.

The CAD software that you will use during the computer-based lab session is called SolidWorks. CAD stands for Computer-Aided Design. A CAD software that enables the generation of an electronic model of an engineering part in three dimensions is also referred to as a “3D CAD” software. SolidWorks is an example of a 3D CAD software. Such types of software are widely used in industry as they not only enable the creation and modification of the design of a part, but also allow for the generated 3D model to be further analysed and subsequently optimised. For example, engineers may want to understand whether a particular component might yield or fracture under the action of a given load. Such analysis can be conducted directly with the created 3D model of that component through a process known as Finite Element Analysis (FEA). You will learn about FEA in Year 2 with the module “Design” (i.e. EN2602 for Mechanical Engineering students or EN2604 for Medical Engineering students). With the CAD laboratories this year, you will learn:

•    How to create the 3D model of a component with SolidWorks.

•    How to generate the 3D model of an assembly made of several individual 3D components.

•    How to create a 2D drawing from a 3D model.

You should also note that SolidWorks is a software that also enables many other types of engineering modelling tasks and analyses in addition to those listed with the above bullet points. While SolidWorks is relatively prominent in industry, the skills learnt with this software are reasonably easily transferable to other 3D CAD software (such as Creo or Catia). The SolidWorks knowledge that you will gain will also be used in Year 2 and likely support your Year 3 dissertation (module EN3100) and MEng projects in Year 4 (should you be enrolled on, or decide later, to complete the MEng programme).

1.1   Additional resources and opportunity to sit SolidWorks CSWA certification

While the initial CAD computer lab session + SolidWorks tutorials should provide you with the basic skills required to complete the Individual CAD assessment, this is just the tip of the iceberg of what is possible using SolidWorks/CAD.

For design of the Rover Chassis, you will need to develop additional skills in SolidWorks.

To this end, we also provide additional resources from a more in depth 1st  year MMM module – EN1217 Applied Design and Practice, which covers a roughly 8 week period following SolidWorks tutorials, culminating in the opportunity to sit an industry recognised SolidWorks CSWA certification.

For those who are interested and are willing to self-study, we will provide the opportunity for a limited number of spaces to sit the CSWA certification with the EN1217 cohort. Spaces will be prioritised on interest and performance in the CAD design assessment.

NOTE … Passing the certificate is difficult - Students needs to achieve a mark of 70%, and the full EN1217 material is the bare minimum for passing. The success rate for MMM students last year was ~10%.

2.     Organisation

The CAD resources are organised into a series of SolidWorks “sessions” . The first EN2X10 Session is a timetabled session, where you will work at your own pace through various SolidWorks tutorials which are embedded within the software. The following sessions are ‘self-study’ sessions you may work through at your leisure.

Sessions marked in red are ones which are not provided as part of the SolidWorks tutorials, while ones marked in orange are tutorials which are repeats of the ones suggested in the initial EN2X10 tutorial (you do not need to repeat these). 

Table 1 SolidWorks Sessions

You are expected to work through the SolidWorks tutorials at your own pace, asking for assistance from the staff and PGR students at hand as and when you require it. If you do not work through all the tutorials within the timetabled sessions, you are expected to complete them in your own time. In addition, you are strongly advised to further practice what you have learnt outside the timetabled sessions to improve your own proficiency. To help you with such further practice, examples of additional parts and objects to model are also given in this information pack. The general guidance given is that if this is your first time working with SolidWorks, you should spend at least as much time working on your own as spent during the timetabled CAD labs.

SolidWorks is available in all the computer rooms in the Trevithick building, and the computers in the Electroncs labs. You are free to use a computer terminal when these rooms are not being booked for other teaching purposes. You can also download the student edition of SolidWorks on your personal computer or laptop. Please note however, that downloading the software onto a personal device is not required to complete the CAD labs.

To complete such “personal installation”, you need to access the instructions given on Learning Central. Any issue with the installation of the software on your own device should be referred to IT Service Desk (IT-[email protected]). Importantly, please note that SolidWorks cannot be installed on Mac-based devices or tablets. If you do download the software successfully onto your laptop, you should complete the CAD labs in room Trevithick/2.06 where staff and PGR support is also provided.

It is assumed that you have no previous knowledge of SolidWorks when you start these CAD labs. As mentioned earlier, a number of additional exercises are given in this Information Pack to provide you with further opportunities to practice.

The next section of this document explains how to access the tutorials after launching the software. Sections 4 to 12 provide additional specific information for the CAD sessions listed in Table 1 above.

3.     Accessing the SolidWorks tutorials

Once you launch the software, you should see the following window on top of the background SolidWorks screen, (see Figure 1 below).

Figure 1. Pop-up upon launching the software

From the SolidWorks interface shown above, click on the tab “Learn” (see Figure 2 below) and then on the link “Step-by-Step Tutorials” . A second window, as shown in Figure 3 below, appears next to the main SolidWorks window with a link to all the available tutorials.

Figure 2. Accessing the SolidWorks tutorials

Figure 3. Interface for SolidWorks Tutorials

There are over 40 lessons available from the SolidWorks tutorials. You will not undertake all of them. The specific lessons that you need to complete for each CAD session was given in Table 1 earlier (see page 4) and further information is provided in the following sections of this information pack. Note that some of the lessons that you will undertake are available under the tab “Getting Started”, while the remaining ones are accessed from the tab “Basic Techniques” or “Advanced Techniques” . It is important that you take a moment to identify where these tabs are located as these correspond to the information given in the column name “Directory” in Table 1.