design plans

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kclark

New User
Kevin
Does anyone use a software design program to design projects to get board feet needed? I have been commissioned by the mrs. to do a new mantle w/ surround. Trying to figure out a design and board feet needed for it.
 

ehpoole

Administrator
Ethan
AutoCAD ?

AutoCAD can tell him how many board feet of wood he needs to buy?

What he is likely referring to is the Volume Calculator provided for in most full-featured CAD applications. Divide total volume in cubic inches by 144 and you have a rough calculation of board feet. Typically you would perform a 'select all' to select all the elements in the drawing (assuming all are of the same type solid wood) and then select the volume calculator to get the total volume of the project.

Unfortunately, this is just the sum of the volumes of all the various elements and it does not take into consideration waste or the optimal lengths, widths or thicknesses of the various boards, this is left to the individual to determine from his/her cutlist which would be seperately generated (either manually or automatically depending upon capabilities and/or plugins).

I typically use TurboCAD Professional (since v6) for rough layout and design of more complex projects so that I can visualize it and determine optimal dimensions and a basic cutlist. I seldom recreate the entire project in CAD but, rather, focus on constructing the major components and skeleton of the project. Only rarely will I worry about creating an accurate joint (e.g. most parts are done as simple butt joints) since recreating these can require a fair bit if time (usually adding or subtracting 3D elements) and can be accounted for in the final cutlist by simply adding the necessary added length to each element.

That said, occassionally I will go ahead and design an item 100% in CAD (joints and all), but most often I just want enough of a design to visualize it and determine the optimal dimensions and then I start building. Some people need to see every detail in full ray-traced rendered glory and perfect cutlists, etc., while others can proceed with just a basic overview. I am pretty good at recreating an item from a photo/drawing with only the most basic of measurements provided I know the height, width, and depth of the finished item -- but we all have differing gifts and needs.
 

PeteM

Pete
Corporate Member
AutoCad MSRP $3,995.00
Ref: http://usa.autodesk.com/autocad/how-to-buy/
To get board feet:
"Divide total volume in cubic inches by 144 and you have a rough calculation of board feet."
"Unfortunately, this is just the sum of the volumes of all the various elements and it does not take into consideration waste or the optimal lengths, widths or thicknesses of the various boards, this is left to the individual to determine from his/her cutlist which would be seperately generated (either manually or automatically depending upon capabilities and/or plugins)."

SketchUp - FREE
CutList Plug-In - FREE
 

jdulaney

New User
John
Except I:
a) Have a full license for AutoCAD 2012
b) Know how to use it
c) Prefer the User Interface over Sketchup's. While Sketchup has a usable UI, for a draftsman it is clumsy and slow.

Of course, since much of what I draw and make includes 3d curves, AutoCAD gives me more power to do things like that.

TurboCAD isn't bad, but I still prefer AutoCAD's UI.
 
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