[xJamesX]

Heres some work I did in CAD. I'm planning on making a replica of a P-90 as a paintball gun. I have always wanted a paintball gun but never had the spare money to get into it but luck would have it I am able to make this thing for my rapidprototyping/CAD/CAM classes as a project so this is what I have done so far. It is far from finished but just thought some people on here would think its cool.

I used this to get some dimensions from and get an idea of how I could make it work.

and some wire drawings and some rendering.

-James-

 

[Ragnaarok]

that's looks like a really cool project, i love working with cad/solid modeling software. I had a Pro Engineer Wildfire 2.0 class last semester. A p90 paintball gun would own, just imagine if you could make it fire as fast....heh. :twisted:

 

[rex2nr]

one of the guys in my class just had a stereolith prototype of a bike seat made up... it came out very nice.

for those of you who aren't familiar... you can take those cad files and dump them into the stereolith prototyper, and basically it acts like a hot-glue gun mounted to a 3D ink-jet printer, and drops dots of molten ABS plastic into the space, which cool and fuse together, thus creating a 3d model.

Are you planning on CNC'ing the piece? or something more like stereolithography?

looks like a fun project. I can't wait to start on CAD next quarter.

 

[xJamesX]

The actual case I'll call it will be machined on a CNC from blocks of ABS and alot of the smaller internal pieces will be made in the stereolith.

-James-

 

[crxsquared]

I'm fortunate to work as a design engineer at a company that has its own sterolith machine, a Viper 250. We use Unigraphics NX2 as our CAD system (we design medical equipment for analyzing body fluids- think drug tests!), and I have a desk full of various models I've had made out of either the clear 9120 material or the red 12120. The models are accurate and detailed enough that I can include threads as small as M3 in the model, and regularly design multi-channeled fluid manifolds, complete with 1/4-28 ports to screw in fittings. The nice thing with SLA is that you can model things that would be impossible to machine conventionally, and have them in your hands within a day or two. The latest UV-activated epoxy resins are stiff enough to emulate polypropylene (9120) or polycarbonate (12120). The only real limitation is the 254mm x 254mm vat, which means if you want a big part made, you have to assemble it from sections no longer than 10 inches.

 

[xJamesX]

"The latest UV-activated epoxy resins are stiff enough to emulate polypropylene (9120) or polycarbonate (12120)."

My professor was talking about that. Hes trying to get one for the program which would be cool. I can only make things that are probably about 7-8" long... Thats why I have to machine the shell on the CNC, It wont get started till the end of next quarter so I still have some time to play around with some idea.

-James-

 

[Pag]

I'm fortunate to work as a design engineer at a company that has its own sterolith machine, a Viper 250. We use Unigraphics NX2 as our CAD system (we design medical equipment for analyzing body fluids- think drug tests!), and I have a desk full of various models I've had made out of either the clear 9120 material or the red 12120. The models are accurate and detailed enough that I can include threads as small as M3 in the model, and regularly design multi-channeled fluid manifolds, complete with 1/4-28 ports to screw in fittings. The nice thing with SLA is that you can model things that would be impossible to machine conventionally, and have them in your hands within a day or two. The latest UV-activated epoxy resins are stiff enough to emulate polypropylene (9120) or polycarbonate (12120). The only real limitation is the 254mm x 254mm vat, which means if you want a big part made, you have to assemble it from sections no longer than 10 inches.

so...what sort of stufff have you made for your rex?

 

[Wasuri]

So is it pretty hard to make a complete design like you did?

Once you have the design done in CAD where do you go from there? Take it to a place and do they make a prototype from that CAD design?

Im very uneducated on CAD and whats involved with it. Sorry for being dense

 

[xJamesX]

There are a few options. Protoyping is the next step... I'm going to be doing it as a project for school so I get to use all the equipment we have... Once its prototyped and everything is working as it should be then you start planning for production and stuff... Finding out what kind of market is available and such. Then you have to decide what manufacturing method to use for each individual part then find a supplier or manufacturer to do the work. Depending if some of the parts are already made Ex. springs and bolts.. most everything else has to be made one off. Another option is to find investors who would be willling to invest in the product Ex. paintball gun manufacturers. hope that helps.. thats the basic idea.
To get the parts manufactured you need schematic drawing or working drawings so the manufacturer knows the specs on how to make the part... Thi scan be done with a few programs..Ex. AutoCAD, Solidedge and so on.

To prototype most of these parts is relativly easy if you have the programs and machinery to do so. As an examle the image of the outer shell can be transfered from AutoCAD to masterCAM and then use that program to program a CNC mill that would cut the main body out of a chunk of ABS plastic or whatever material necessary. It can also be used ot make an injection mold for the case which would be used for mass production.. Aslong as you can find a plastic injection machine.

It's really knowing what materials are needed and the different manufacturing techniques available. But if you have what you want made already in a CAD program it should be simple enough to get the piece made.

Worked ont he Internals a bit.

-James-

 

[Wasuri]

How hard is it to learn CAD? Im assuming you learned it in school? How long did it take to make a simple object? lol let alone a whole p90?

 

[rex2nr]

I'm taking a class starting on Tuesday... 3 hour class, meets 10 times. Then RIT is sending me out to the real world, lol.

CAD is amazing stuff. We visited a local design agency, and they were working with Ingersal-Rand on a new impact gun. Basically, one of the guys would do the hand drawings, a rough mock-up is slapped together to determine size, placement of controls, ect. They then would draw the gun in cad. The computer converted the file over and started "printing" the thing in the next room... 8 hours later they had a foam version of the gun to evaluate for ergonomics, design, and materials needed.

There are a lot of different programs which all do the same thing. Some of my friends use Alias, most Soldiworks, the interior designers use AutoCAD. All of the programs have a different advantage over the other.

 

[xJamesX]

AutoCad is prettyeasy to use.. I pretty much taught myself because the class was lets say boring and we weren't doing anythign cool so I just read ahead and learned on my own. I tested out of a few classes.. Its real easy if you can imagine things before hand and then just put them into the program.. Its just getting to know the tools with any program. Solidedge and Autodesk Inventor are good programs I start those next quarter. I already got the books and a copy of the programs so i've been messin with them a bit..

If you want to teach yourself go to the bookstore and pic up those self tutoring books on whichever program you want ot learn. See if you can find one with the free trial version. They usually come with exercises in them, those are a big help..

-James-

 

[Wasuri]

Thanks, ill be doing that soon. Any updates on the p90? Its looking great so far.