Basic design

Hello all,

I am a 23 year old mechanical engineer with 5 years experience in industrial design, working alongside my father (also an engineer) in his business building all-hydraulic landscaping equipment. He now wants to expand his business into the market of small aluminum boats (if the venture doesn't work out, at least we have several prototype boats to play with).

My question is- i have no experience working with the more organic shapes of a boat hull. We use primarily SolidWorks for our equipment design, and although it works great for mechanics, its a bit more difficult to shape boat hulls from flat (laser cut) aluminum stock within the program. I would still like to use the program if possible to help with BOM's and the layers we use for our laser table. I am finding it difficult to shape hulls and drift boats parts in solidworks.

I am looking for books, websites, articles on more or less the basics of how to design boat hulls from an orthographic perspective, or any help from other solidworks users would be appreciated. This website is very useful. I've spent about a month just browsing threads and reading on people's projects. Thanks in advance to the people who reply!

 

It might be that you would be more likely to get replies if this were posted in the software section. I have never used solidworks; I am curious as to what BOM stands for.

 

Bill Of Materials Gilbert.

 

thanks Gilbert, I'll re-post it in the software section.

(thread moved)

 

I haven't used SW for a few years but a drift boat should be simple. It' only 6 lines for a half model, the shear, chine, stem, stern, and top and bottom of the transom. Draw the shear and chine with a line thru 3 points each. Move the points until you get the shape you want. SW can do this.
Gary

 

SolidWorks is EXCELLENT for a very specific type of hull - one with panels/chines/whatever that curve in one direction only. In other words, where sheet metal is developable. Forget trying to design fair hulls with SolidWorks. Start with something like Rhino or Maxsurf and import that model into SolidWorks. That's how I do all of my sailboat hulls (see my gallery - all models created using 95% SolidWorks).

Here's a perfect example:

http://sail2live.com/images/test.htm

The topsides and bottom are formed from a single piece which was created using SolidWorks sheetmetal and flattened to 2D. Literally, I'd be surprised if it took me more than 1/2 hour to do the work.

 

dreamer, that is exactly what I am looking for. I need to be able to turn it into a 2D drawing for the pieces to be cut. I'm not looking for any composite or wood hulls, just simple aluminum drift boats and jet boats. any possibility of sending me one of your SW files to pick apart myself? I really would appreciate it. I use SW 06.

 

Unfortunately, the models are newer than 06. I am currently using SW 10. However, The steps to do this are very simple. In the boat in the example, the topside and half of the bottom are modeled as separate pieces. Each is created using the sheet metal loft.

For the topside, the loft is created using two 2D sketches - sheer and chine. Each sketch consists of lines and arcs - no splines. There are a number of ways to make the planes for these sketches (look for a thread on planar sheers). Even if your final sheer is not planar, you can still use this method.

Use the sheet metal loft command to loft between the two curves. Then, simply use Flatten to get the 2D flat of that shape. Do the same for the bottom section. Then, use SolidWorks DWGEditor to put the two shapes together. Send the 2D to your cutter and you're done.

The most difficult part is creating the planes. However, even this is not difficult for the savvy SolidWorks user.

If you'd like some real help, I do freelance. Send me a PM.

 

No, setting up planes is basic stuff.

I think part of the problem is that the version of solidworks i use only goes 2D to 3D back to 2D. by that i mean I have to start with flat sketches and create the curves with the sheet metal tools. I don't believe SW 06 allows me to build a 3D loft and then flatten it as you can do in '10. I'll do my research on it, I could be wrong.

 

I'm pretty sure you could do that in '06. I was an Applications Engineer with SolidWorks starting in '05, but it's all a bit fuzzy now

 

Dreamer is correct in saying that if you want a hull shape that's a bit more complex you need to create the hull first in Maxsurf or Rhino.

I use the 3 surface limited version of Maxsurf for hulls and then do everything else in Inventor, mostly in sheet metal mode. There are some sample drawings on our website that will give you an idea of what can be done with 3D cad & Maxsurf combination.

http://www.cncmarine.com.au/FreeBoatPlans.htm

 

not sure what is meant by 'really bad for small boats'. The only real limitation with designing boats in SolidWorks is the poor interface for creating fair hulls. That is mainly because the surfaces are rigidly parametric. This is not a limitation for decks or superstructures and in fact is a major benefit. In every other area, SolidWorks excels as a design tool for small boats whether sheet metal or FRP.

Not knocking Inventor as it sounds like you use the same process I do with SolidWorks. But I would be careful saying SWorks is 'really bad for small boats'.

 

Ah yes I forgot that we live in a world of free speach so long as you only say good things so I have edited the post.

I wonder if the same would apply in reverse.

Hypothetically say a business was to buy some software based on someone elses recommenedation that it excels as a design tool, and then found that it didnt excel after all, what would be their options to recover their investment?

Would the person giving the glowing recommendation have to be carefull too?

Are we all at risk for giving opinions, sharing our experiences and trying to help each other out? Most likely we are.

 

ummm...no

but your statement is overly general. "really bad for small boats". Can you give some very detailed reasoning as to why? Can you compare functionality directly?

My guess is you won't be able to. So yes, be careful when you say something general that is absolutely incorrect or not backed up with hard facts.

I will not say that 'Inventor is really bad for small boats' because I haven't used it. However, I'm sure if I tried using Inventor without the depth of experience I have with SolidWorks, I'd probably come to that conclusion.

If you don't have the balls to back up your statements, keep them to yourself.

 

Is this what you mean by detailed reasoning :?: