Best Cad Software? Multi angle/ Bumper Design

[Dsilverarc33]

I’m looking for an easier to us software for things like custom bumpers. If anyone has any experience with it, I would love some feedback!
Ive used inventer and fusion360. Now mostly using Shapr3D for most 2d drawings. Inventor is okay I’ve got about 3 years experience with it. But for 3 dimensional bumper drawings I get absolutely stumped on how to draw it out with multiple angles.

[weldguy]

I would use Fusion 360 for that. Once you learn about placing components in relation to others its pretty slick.

[Dsilverarc33]

Any Advice on Where to start? Ive even tried just building separete models to place together but that just seems like the wrong way to do it!

[weldguy]

How I would go about this is to start by creating all the multi angle panels in cardboard on the truck to get the look you want then draw those pieces in Fusion and Extrude them to the thickness of the plate you plan to use for the bumper. Once your pieces are drawn you can move them around in fusion to connect them all together at the appropriate points and angles. I am no bumper builder, have never done one but that is how I would tackle it. Are you able to draw shapes and extrude in Fusion yet?

[SegoMan DeSigns]

Here's a link to a 16 part tutorial on Fusion 360. My recommendations are to set in front of 2 screens. have the video on one screen and your 360 in another screen pause and practice. CAD (Cardboard Aid Design) and wood mock ups are a cheaper alternative than wasting expensive metal in the R&D stages. When designing bumpers keep in mind the vehicles dimensions are not all the same, so have slotted mounting tabs for fine tuning and leave 1/2" or so of spacing between the bumper and body panels for flex. Bumpers are a tough one to make a living on as you have so much design / jigging time in building them only to have it change with next years model.

[weldguy]

Cardboard Aided Design

[adbuch]

I agree - for Fusion 360 tutorials Arnold is the man! I went thru his 16 part tutorials several years ago and they are great. He provides drawings you can print out to follow along with each tutorial. Great stuff! But for building bumpers, assuming they are to be constructed from flat plasma cut panels, I think there are several better techniques - which both include the use of cardboard templates.
David

[adbuch]

I’m looking for an easier to us software for things like custom bumpers. If anyone has any experience with it, I would love some feedback!
Ive used inventer and fusion360. Now mostly using Shapr3D for most 2d drawings. Inventor is okay I’ve got about 3 years experience with it. But for 3 dimensional bumper drawings I get absolutely stumped on how to draw it out with multiple angles.

My question is: Are you modeling this up in 3D after you have mocked up your prototype and taken measurements, or are you attempting to do the entire design in cad? What is your intention with your 3D model? Is this just to show the potential customer, or are you planning to shell your solid model and use the Fusion 360 Sheet Metal module to convert to flat sheet metal format for cnc cutting?

If you are starting with a mock-up (cardboard or otherwise) how are you digitizing your individual flat surfaces? Measuring my hand, or ??

In the past when I have developed these sorts of complex shapes, I have first started with a cardboard mock-up - basically cutting out the individual pieces and taping together to develop the final shape. Then - back before I had a cnc plasma table, I would trace the individual flat parts onto the sheet metal and plasma cut by hand. Then weld together for final assembly.

My suggestion would be to start with the cardboard mock-up with the individual cardboard pieces taped together. You can trim and modify as needed to achieve your final preferred overall shape. The next step would be to digitize each individual flat cardboard piece so you can get them into dxf format for editing and joining with fold lines as required.

I have 2 different methods I like to use for the digitizing. Which I choose to use depends on the particular project.

My first method is to use my GTCO Calcomp digitizing board in conjunction with the LogicTrace software. The cardboard or paper pattern is placed onto the board, then manually digitized and saved in dxf format.

More information here:
https://www.logicgroup.com/index.html#cnc_section

There has also been some discussion on this forum here:

viewtopic.php?f=129&p=202062#p202062

Another method I like is to do an auto trace of the pattern using a digital camera in conjunction with the Sheetcam Scanything software. This method requires the use of a cnc table running Mach3 (in my case) or Linux. Since one of my cnc router tables runs from Mach3, the cost to add the auto tracing feature was under $200 (camera, lamp, software, and cables). One of the benefits of this approach is the the template/pattern is automatically traced and digitized under computer control, so no hand digitizing required.

More information and discussion here:
https://forum.sheetcam.com/viewtopic.php?t=8205


Scanything software information here:
https://www.sheetcam.com/Scanything/index

Once you have successfully digitized your patterns and have dxf files, then you can proceed to combine the files and edit to create fold lines, etc. After this the entire part could be cut from a single sheet as a single piece and then folded and/or welded as required.

Additionally, you could now import the dxf files into Fusion 360 to help facilitate creation of your 3D model.

David