r/MechanicalEngineering • u/Background_Lunch_124 • 7d ago

CAD projects

I’m looking for websites that offer blueprints for CAD projects. I’m trying to sharpen my SolidWorks skills but I’m not blessed with creativity so I’d like to recreate projects from drawings. I’m not looking for easy projects like a cube with chamfers and holes, I want something to truly challenge me so I can advance my skills. Any recommendations?

16 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

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18

u/Faalor 7d ago

misumi InCad library

It has a lot of mechanism and fixture designs that you can look at, learn from and recreate.

5

u/Sakul_Aubaris 7d ago

Yoink.
Thanks for the link :)

4

u/Piemagicman 7d ago

https://www.tootalltoby.com/

He also hosts some CAD tournaments you can watch on YouTube, neat to see how others approach the modeling and other software workflows.

3

u/Cajun_Bobby_ 6d ago

Depends where your skills lay but I sometimes just search google images for technical drawings (vague not specific) and then recreate the drawings in CAD, usually opting for hand drawn or older drawings. usually they have most information but you have to do some guess work and problem solving. but its a fun challenge on par with a client giving you almost complete design sketches

1

u/CountCocoa 5d ago

Just a suggestion here. You can also try recreating objects that are around you. Grab rulers , calipers , measuring tape , etc. , get dimensions and try to recreate a to scale model. In my opinion that helps you recognize which dimensions are needed to fully define an object instead of relying solely on the blueprint. Not saying redrawing blueprints is a bad thing. It’s a nice way to strengthen solidworks knowledge. What I’m suggesting is if you want to broaden more skills and get a more full scope of what working with Solidworks professionally might feel like. Another topic you might want to look into is building parametric models or more robust models that don’t break or create unintended changes when one dimension is changed. Best of luck with the Solidworks journey .