Buggy Project: CAD Assembly V1

So, here is the first version of the CAD assembly for my buggy project. Wanna know how I did all this? Keep reading to find out!

First version of the buggy CAD (it can only get better...right?)

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Since I don't actually have the buggy yet, I had to go off estimations for the dimensions. Luckily, I own an ultrasonic sensor which is what the buggy uses for navigating. Measuring the sensor, it ended up being 45mm high, and 20mm wide (I estimated it to be 3mm thick since it didn't really matter THAT much).

Front view of the buggy (note the ultrasonic sensor)

But why bother measuring the sensor in the first place? Well, if you didn't know, Solidworks has this neat "Sketch Picture" option. What it allows you to do is import a picture, scale it to a reference measurement, and draw on it! Using this option, I was able to get some accurate measurements for the sensor, wheels and DC motors.

Here, I imported the picture and alligned the scale line with the sensor

After putting the sensor dimensions, the picture scales accordingly

While this method may not have worked for all the components (the base was done completely by eye), it provided a good foundation to work from. However, after solving that problem, there isn't much else to say. I used basic shapes to create each component. Patterns and mirroring were especially useful for the wheels, and any repeating parts. Below are some of the components rendered on their own.

I would like to give some advice to anyone who is rendering anything with Solidworks. USE. VISUALISE. Visualise is 1000 times better than PhotoView360 for rendering. It allows you to use HDR environments, texture mapping, has better lightning engines, utilises your GPU better... I could go on and on. Now, maybe it's because I find PhotoView a pain to use. But, look at the difference between these photos.

Rose rendered with PhotoView

Rose rendered with Visualise

See? Visualise looks so much better! If you disagree, then your opinion is wrong. My point is, if you have Visualise installed (it should come with Solidworks anyway) and you have the time, please give it a try. You just might like it!

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Anyways! After three days of CAD, here is the final result:

Personally, I think it is pretty good for a first version. While I will definitely be updating this once I get the buggy, it should do for the time being. Maybe my measurements will actually be pretty accurate and I don't have to change anything (unlikely).

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I hope you enjoyed reading this. If you want to see more behind the scenes, check out the corresponding IGTV on my Instagram, @joeceengineering! That video has a cool looking timelapse, so I highly suggest to give it a watch! Give it a follow too if you want updates on all my engineering antics and new IGTVs/blogs. Until next time, stay safe and healthy, and I look forward to seeing you again soon!

#engineering #trinitycollegedublin #robotics #buggyproject #buggyrobot