Yet another new guy

[Stillyriver]

  Hi guys, I'm Jeff. Been pilfering ideas from model engine forums for years. Thought I join so I could contribute for a change. My background is mainly in the drafting end. Starting with wood pencils & vellum, on thru Acad & then SW. Retired now so enough with the resume.
  A few years back I mentioned to a friend that I had seen some pictures of steam locomotive blueprints that reminded me of why I got interested in drafting long ago. Shortly after he gtave me a book he found in his father's estate, "LBSC's famous 4-4-0 Virginia". Not exactly what I meant but oh my gosh, I'm in his debt. Who wouldn't want to build this? Alas I have no machines & worse the eyes don't work good enough anymore to work with small parts. Took a couple of weeks for the dim bulb to get brighter & I realized I did have Solidworks & could maybe salvage some fun out of the deal. So off I went for the next year & a half. Leading to several other small steam & IC engines & a full scale Clerget rotary engine. Then I tried something totally new to me, a wooden boat.
Got keel, ribs & transom in but was defeated by the planking which twists, curves & changes shape all at the same time. At this point I don't think it can't be done with SW. Be warned: if you think it can be, I'm going to send you my files & make you prove it . So now I'm looking for something new. Only thing I've seen that interests me so far is a Napier Deltic if I could find enough info to accurately reverse engineer it at full scale.
 The Clerget forced me to make gear models, spur & helical, module & DP, also a worm &worm gear set. Equation driven & accurate with involute teeth. More than willing to share with others using SW.

[PatJ]

Welcome to the forum.
I have been using SW for model engines since 2011.
I can show you some models I have made if you are interested.

I was considering drawing a model steam boat in SW, but have not attempted it yet.

SW can get a little particular with compound curves, but never say never.

The Napier Deltic is an interesting engine and a good application for SW.

Good luck.

Pat J

[Maryak]

Then I tried something totally new to me, a wooden boat.
Got keel, ribs & transom in but was defeated by the planking which twists, curves & changes shape all at the same time. At this point I don't think it can't be done with SW. Be warned: if you think it can be, I'm going to send you my files & make you prove it.

Hi Jeff,

Attached are a couple of PDF which may help with the planks.

I don't use SW.............I use Delftship and TurboCAD.

Best Regards
Bob

[Don1966]

Welcome Jeff!

Don

[b.lindsey]

Welcome to MEM Jeff. Glad you found us and decided to join.

Bill

[Kim]

Welcome to the forum Jeff!
Kim

[vcutajar]

Hi Jeff and welcome

Vince

[fumopuc]

Hi Jeff, welcome to MEM.

[Stillyriver]

Hey, thanks for the warm welcomes.
  Pat J, wouldn't mind seeing your models. I haven't upgraded since SW2010 & you know what that means. Have a viewer but it's not the same. Someone's steamboat model was what made me think about trying a boat.
  Bob, I took a look at the pdf's. They ended up making a shell like a fiberglass hull. That's too easy. I was trying to model each plank as worked it's way down the ribs & formed the hull shape. This is one of those things that are probably easier to do with a real board on a real boat than in a computer.
  Thought I gave up on this last year, feeling like Peyton Manning last Sunday. Now I'm tempted to try again. Think I have an idea but it's likely something I already tried,failed & I've just forgotten.
  Don, did a double take on your address. But it was Fort Morgan I was at a few months back, also on the gulf coast. Picked up a souviner brass cannon that got me stopped at airport security in Mobile for having a gun in my bag. Then everyone started laughing & I got to keep it.
   Jeff   




 

[Dave Otto]

Welcome aboard Jeff.

Dave

[Maryak]

  Bob, I took a look at the pdf's. They ended up making a shell like a fiberglass hull. That's too easy. I was trying to model each plank as worked it's way down the ribs & formed the hull shape. This is one of those things that are probably easier to do with a real board on a real boat than in a computer.

Oh my, one way I could think of doing it is by using a 3D polyline/spline/bezier and sweeping a rectangle of the plank along the said line. This combined with x number of material definitions for the different plank widths/lengths would seem to mean a file of humongous proportions.

GOOD LUCK!

Best Regards
Bob

[Stillyriver]

Yeah, what you said! Picked a small boat to start with, not too many planks. Plank rectangles at stations, connect corners with splines & sweep "rectangle" down them. Should work but was always missing some of the defining points. Something wrong with concept of using splines to define the (wood) spline that defines the points that are used to create the splines that create it. Kept hitting the "you can't get there from here" syndrome.
  Jeff