Advantages and disadvantages of solid modeling using cad?

Answer 1

It has become common for people to rely on CAD and its analysis tools too much.

Instead of knowing what they are creating they just build and analyse and without understanding the problem the answer might not be right because they dont understand it.

I call these folk CAD monkeys. They get told what to do and they do it without any real knowledge or understanding of what their designing.

CAD is a means (a tool like a hammer) not and end. If I look something common for an example, a car for instance. The car is CAD, the driver is the CAD monkey. Everything works fine until the car breaks down. We then flop around like idiots wait on the AA to fix the car.

The point im trying to make is back in the day before CAD people knew how to do things in their head. But now for the most part were becoming lazy because the knowledge is all freely available we think we dont need to work for it. But we really do.

In the case of the car. We need to be the driver but also be the AA man (or woman if your lucky)

Answer 2

1. The software can be expensive.

2. People need to be trained to use it.

3. CAD requires a PC which people may not have.

4. Things can be designed that can't be designed in real life.

Answer 3

Some advantages: -Better visualization of the design, especially for people not accostomed to 2-D engineering drawings. -Easier creation of drawings once the model is complete. With a complete model in most 3-D systems, making views is straightforward, while the dimensioning and delineation is no more difficult. -Drawings may not actually be necessary to get a part in production, in some cases, when you have a 3-D model. Or the drawings only need to specify a few critical dimensions and annotations, and not many, many dimensions as on a conventional drawing. -CAD models can be brought into sophisticated analytical programs. -Weights, CG's, and other geometric data can be had directly from the CAD system, for more accuracy in less time. -Some design changes can be quicker and easier. Some disadvantages- -It can be too slow for highly conceptual design. In the early stages, you tend to think faster than anybody can model in 3-D. Almost all of us in the field do preliminary sketches on paper or 2-D CAD before firing up the 3-D modeler. -Requires a lot of computer power. Cheaper these days, but not a neglectible expense. -Some design changes can be slower and harder. -File interchange between 3-D parametric CAD systems is even worse than among 2-D systems. PTC, Solidworks, Autodesk, and the like really need to play better with each other if any of them want to take credit for supporting collaborative work.