Best way to draw odd shapes

[Red6rubicon]

I'm looking for tips to draw these panels. I tried making rectangles and chipping away but quickly lost track. I tried bit map trace of jpeg. Looking for ideas on this

20191003_150400.jpg

20191003_150501.jpg

Thanks for the help

[beefy]

Not sure what you mean when you call those "odd parts". They are primarily mechanical parts (not freeform arty stuff) and once measured, can be drawn in mechanical cad software.

Google for free 2D cad software, check out some Youtube videos on whatever software you choose, and learn to use it.

You could lay them on some paper with a grid pattern on it and that could give you a reasonable idea of where the XY location every corner, etc is. That may be easier than measuring, provided you don't need perfect accuracy.

[acourtjester]

I looked this over and here are a few things, you could use either the paint program or Inkscape to do traces but the image has reflections that cause a problem. Another problem when using images trace it you are not straight on you will distort the size. Using a CAD program is the best for true dimensions of the item. That being said you still will need to combine shapes or cut shapes apart to assemble a finished drawing. This means you will still need to learn how to use whichever program you choose, there is no simple way. There are free ones pick one and learn how to use it.

[acourtjester]

just so you see what I am talking about with the paint program, this is using the magic wand function to trace.

pannel 2.JPG

[ben de lappe]

Here's the way I'd do it. Measure panel and sketch out on paper. Take pics as absolute dead level center as you possibly can to alleviate as much distortion as possible. If these submitted are it then I'd pull one into cad and plot nodes from one point to the next until I made it back to the start point. Images come into cad a lot smaller than actual size so now's the time to scale to dimension and referring to your sketch ensure every dimension, corner, angle and radii is as exact as can be. Not guaranteed to be perfect, certainly step in the right direction.

[weldguy]

For mechanical parts like that i'm with Beefy and would go with actual measurment's.

Depending on what software your using would determine the best approach.

What design software are you using?

[tinspark]

I have a free program called "DesignSpark Mechanical.
You can "Save as" dxf.
I was used to Sketchup, but for mainly hobby purposes and they wanted me to fork out $500 which isn't really bad, but I use it for mainly around the house stuff. Design Spark works fine for my CAD needs. For me it is a little like sketchup and there was little learning curve. A little wonky, but for 2d models it does fine for me. It also does 3D, but that is above my pay grade presently..
Regards,

[Red6rubicon]

I just have the software that came on/with the star labs table (inkscape,qcad and sheetcam)
I started out drawing in qcad but I kinda got lost.. I think maybe if I was more familiar with qcad it might help. I appreciate all the replies I wasnt sure if I should keep on with qcad or look for another program

[Ironken]

I just have the software that came on/with the star labs table (inkscape,qcad and sheetcam)
I started out drawing in qcad but I kinda got lost.. I think maybe if I was more familiar with qcad it might help. I appreciate all the replies I wasnt sure if I should keep on with qcad or look for another program

Youtube and the Googler are your friends. How I personally do it (guaranteed to be the goober way) is by using offsets. A line offset allows you to duplicate an existing line at a specified distance from the original. I use line offsets for layout purposes such as holes and chamfers then delete the offset line. Soooo....I would begin with the basic rectangle and whittle my way down to the chamfers and minor dimensions. I would use offsets from the outside lines to place holes and the little vent squares. Clear as mud.....right?

https://qcad.org/doc/qcad/latest/refere ... et_en.html

[bhamer62]

Lots of good advice above.... But I do a lot of reverse engineering on stuff, and like Beefy indicated, the best way is a tape and a square and the ability to read em properly. If you were to make sure your pics were shot straight on and throw a few ACCURATE dimensions on a sketch, there are a lot of guys on here that would be more than willing to make you a pretty darn good DXF for a test cut until you get more acclimated to your software. There are a lot of softwares you can do this with, it's just a matter of personal preference and practice. Fortunately this is a good forum to get good help and tips on learning about any software you can imagine....

[Joe Jones]

have you found the solution to drawing these panels?

The post is a couple of months old, but these should be very simple to draw with some basic measurements to work from.

Joe