Rake for my little digger

[beefy]

Not a finished project but the design work finished, which I often consider the hard part, working out the fits, dimensions, etc.

Tired of "raking" with the excavator bucket teeth. Might build this one when I get my welding table knocked up.

EXCAVATOR RAKE.png (44.4 KiB) Viewed 7013 times

[jjellingson]

Nice, out of curiousity what software are you designing with, if I may ask?
Thanks in advance.

[beefy]

I actually alternate between Alibre Design (3D parametric modelling), Coreldraw and a bit of SolidEdge 2D Drafting, although I could easilly have done everything in Alibre (only have it on one computer though due to licensing).

Alibre Design Personal edition is only about $200 but check out what its limitations are. I paid another $200 for the training DVDs and another $50 for a book LOL.

The next versions up are about $1600 & $2000 (Professional & Expert) so the Personal Edition is a teaser I think but still extremely useful. I normally don't need anything more than the DXF import and export to give me 2D cut patterns from the individual parts, so as long as the Personal Edition can do that you could have a great 3D application for $200 bucks. Good support forum too.

Once you get to know it you'll find the 2D sketching part of Alibre Design quite powerful yet easy.

It's some of the best money I've spent.

Keith.

[jjellingson]

Thanks for the info, I am down loading the software now. I will check it out and see what its all about. Looks like plenty of training options available so that will be a big plus. Can I ask how much time you have in your 3D drawing you posted? Thanks again for the info. Looking like I will also become an Alibre user.
John

[beefy]

Probably a couple of hours in Alibre alone but because I drew some of the 2D sketches in Coreldraw then exported to DXF, imported into Alibre, it took a bit longer. The were export / import issues, one of which is instead of a drawing being at 90 degrees it ended up 89.9998 degrees. As far as software is concerned that won't mate up to something 90 degrees and gives you an error (which never gives you any clue as to what the problem is, so you have to experiment to figure out what's causing it).

I would say once you get familiar with Alibre, if you had to make another rake of different dimensions you might get the design done between an hour and an hour and a half. That would be all parts drawn, 2D dxfs made of the parts, & parts assembled to give the finished unit. All the slowdown is in the thinking of how do I do this and that.

Starting at the beginning ?? just multiply that time quite a bit LOL.

Keith

[jjellingson]

After some time checking this software out, I can see this will become a very powerful tool addition to the arsenal. After watching several vids on youtube I can see the advantages of parametric modeling. Now to jump in, take on the task of learning this software. More than likely I will start off as you did with the cheaper version and see what develops. Thanks again for the info.
John

[beefy]

Glad to help.

Alibre Design is often thought of as the lower end version of Solidworks. If you Google Alibre Design vs Solidwords you should find quite a lot of talk on the subject.

Alibre does have some shortcomings over Solidworks but for the money it is great, especially the Personal edition.

[beefy]

I mentioned earlier about checking out what the limitations are in Alibre Design Personal edition.

Well I just did a quick Google and as far as I can gather the big let down with Alibre Personal is it only exports STL, no dxf. Apparently it imports DXF & DWG but no exporting these.

That might make it a bit useless for some. I have the dxf and more export functionality but that is because I upgraded several times from a much earlier version of Alibre Standard, which did not have these limitations. So my Alibre Personal kept the features of the Alibre Standard, except the license is now only for 1 PC instead of the previous 3 PCs. That hurt.

Double check this yourself though rather than relying on what I've said.

[plasma_burn]

I don't have time to read through this entire thread right now, but there may be a way to convert the .STL to .DXF

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/benchtop_ ... eeded.html

[james.davis]

nice design Beefy!I like the way the software makes it look 3-D ,you would be able to spot and problem areas before the build.
Thanks for sharing.Jim

[beefy]

Thanks Plasma_burn, I'll check that post. Even though I don't need it, it would be good to suggest a cheap 3D solution to others. The closest thing I've found is a forum that has a built in online converter called STL2DWG but I think it converts to 3D dxf so you need software that can open 3d dxf. Not 100% sure. Also wondering if the free software FREECAD can import STL and then make 2d dxf files from that.

Hi James, the program doesn't just make the assembly look 3D, it is 3D. You sketch each part in a 2d environment, then use extrudes of that sketch and subsequent extrude cuts to create a solid part (that is solid modelling). Once all the parts are made you then "assemble" them to create a 3D assembly. That assembly can be fully rotated on the screen in any direction. Now this is where it get really good, I can "attach" that assembly to the arm of my excavator (which I also drew in the program to make another part) and manually rotate the assembly to make sure it doesn't touch anywhere it's not supposed to. That is called interference and the software even has a way of checking for that.

I'm telling you I still get a warm fuzzy feeling when I create something in 3D cad. I know it will look like what's on the screen and all the deminsions will be right and it will just drop straight in (so long as I did an accurate representation of the item I'm fixing it too LOL. If I get that wrong I'm screwed).

[jadams92002]

Did you ever finish this project? I'm interested in building one myself. Would love the DXF if you have one.

Not a finished project but the design work finished, which I often consider the hard part, working out the fits, dimensions, etc.

Tired of "raking" with the excavator bucket teeth. Might build this one when I get my welding table knocked up.

[Sefer]

Just insert my "two cents" ..) In the autocad, I will draw it in 1 hour... I put a bottle of beer on the line)) I don't want to offend anyone, I've been learning new skills all my life, but it seems to me that cutting and complex design are a little bit different.... it's impossible to sit with one ass on all the chairs... someone draws, someone cuts... everyone has their own bread)

[ox mclaren]

Any chance of getting the file for this?