On May 19, 11:25*am, "Tim" wrote:
"Stuart Fields" wrote in message

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"bildan" wrote in message
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On May 18, 7:44 am, routund wrote:
wrote:
conclusions are similar to the ones you pointed to.

BTW, I don't think casting has any place in prototyping. *Design the
parts with SolidWorks, email the file to a CNC shop who will mill them
from billet and ship the parts in a week. *Machined billet parts are
FAR better than castings - and cheaper.

I like your idea. *I'm looking at a new transmission, possibly planetary,
for my helicopter. *The SolidWorks software is a bit expensive for just
prototyping a single item. *Do you have any idea how to get this done
without having to layout a bunch of $ for SolidWorks? *Your idea is good
because the cast aluminum transmission I would be replacing was done in
some guy's mother's garage and checking for flaws was not done. *I've
already found serious flaws in other castings provided with the helicopter
kit.

Stu,

Draw it with anything, even pencil, and pay to have someone draw it in 3D..
Software and the skill to use it is like tooling itself. Unless you intend
to do more than one project, you can have it done for much less than you
will invest doing it yourself.

But I do agree about machining from billet. Unless you plan to produce in
quantity, castings of this complexity are a waste.

Tim, Stu,

I just mentioned SolidWorks because it's popular. Any 3D CAD software
will work fine and the files will be accepted be almost any CNC shop.

That said, it's a good idea to learn something like Autosketch or
Autocad lite if you're going to build ANYTHING. There's a little bit
of a learning curve but you'll never stop using it. Doing your own
drawings is a great opportunity to catch errors in the design before
they get expensive.

By making your own 2D CAD drawings, you can email them to 3D CAD shops
for the finish work.