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DS Mechanical - 3D CAD with DesignSpark Mechanical

3D CAD DESIGNSPARK MECHANICAL: INTRODUCTION & PREVIEW TO 3D DESIGN

Introduction
RS Components’ DesignSpark Mechanical design package is easy to learn, intuitive and easy to use and best of all – it’s free, which makes it ideal for teaching Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Engineering Drawing. The course material has many examples and exercises in creating mechanical designs, which could, amongst others, also be saved in 3D Printer file format.

DesignSpark Mechanical additional functionality includes applications in electronics. The specific PCB design files which were created in the DSPCB University Material (an Arduino derivative – “Edu-Ino-Tharo”) are provided to the student, who is then guided into how to import and use these in DesignSpark Mechanical. Subsequently, individual component models are created, imported and moved onto these PCBs to ultimately design a 3D printable enclosure.

There are two main sections covered in the material; in the first section, CAD is introduced and exercises comprise the drawing of modular “mechanical” parts which is then ultimately combined to create an assembly drawing of a tractor model. In the second part of the material, we create models for electronic parts which are placed into two imported PCBs (Arduino derivative and an Arduino shield). These PCBs are integrated (plugged in) and an enclosure is designed as a final assembly drawing exercise. It is shown how to create the required output files, as well as a description to convert these to ultimately create the 3D printed models.

About the Authors
Christine van Zyl (Edu Prep Centre) previously worked as an Integration Engineer on unmanned air vehicles (UAV) and related sub-systems. She has also produced/authored and co-authored a variety of technical & training documents for various companies and she has well-grounded experience in developing engineering 3D CAD animations.

Llewellyn van Zyl (Edu Prep Centre) has vast experience ranging from a full-time development engineer to part-time lecturing at the two biggest engineering universities in South Africa; University of Pretoria and Tshwane University of Technology where he has presented more than 18 different subjects. He has not only presented courses to university students, but also courses and workshops to engineering professionals in industry.

Overview
Lecturers who register with the RS University Programme will get access to the solutions manuals, working example file as well as PowerPoint slides. Lecturers can then either use the lab manuals as is, or can extract and combine different exercises to produce their own lab manuals to maybe suit their unique course requirements.

Lecturers are also welcome to suggest additional exercises which can be included in the subsequent laboratory manuals’ revision updates.

 

To access the teaching material you must be an RS University member

REQUEST TO DOWNLOAD THE TEACHING MATERIAL

RS DesignSpark is the go-to platform for students, makers, hobbyists and professional design engineers, providing design resources such as the award winning DesignSpark PCB and DesignSpark Mechanical CAD software. Join the community today at https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/register
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