Vintage Karting Forum

To the engineers and draftsmen in the ranks:

I’ve been thinking a lot about having some of the early McCulloch square head gaskets made in several thicknesses.  For some time, I have been aware of a particular online firm that makes items to order, though I haven't yet ordered from them.  They provide a free, proprietary CAD software which I downloaded and used to draft the gasket, of which I’m pretty proud, hahaha, but I honestly have no idea if their price quote for a small batch of gaskets is reasonable or not, and their software is, understandably, not enabled to output files that are useable by other machine shops. 

So, my question is this...  Is there a CAD software out there that meets the following requirements:

A) Available for purchase at a reasonable price for my occasional, personal use, mainly for waterjet, but possibly for simple lathe and mill projects as well.

B) Able to export standard file formats that can be to be presented to any competent machinist or firm for the purpose of quotation or to place an order.

I know its a weird question...  But I expect that there's a non-zero chance that one or more of you knows of a solution.

Thanks for listening!

Kurt
[attachment=4605][attachment=4606]

You might want to consider checking out Fusion 360 from Autodesk. The CAD program is easy to use and I don’t think it costs very much. They offer a free trial so it may be worth a go? 

Hope this helps,

Vico

Join the EAA. For $39 a year or $99 for three you get SolidWorks Student Edition for free.

(04-17-2020, 09:34 PM)Kurt Bogerman Wrote: [ -> ]To the engineers and draftsmen in the ranks:

Go out to homeshopmachinist.net -  there is a six month trial download of Alibre Atom3D there.  There is also an introduction and several training videos on youtube for it.  It sells for $119 retail, I think.

Kurt I just may have one what thickness Richie Engel

Kurt for what you showed you don't need a 3-D software. I used to use 2-D DraftSight when it was free. It would also export and import any file format you could possible need.

(04-19-2020, 08:03 AM)Paul F Wrote: [ -> ]Kurt for what you showed you don't need a 3-D software.  I used to use 2-D DraftSight when it was free.  It would also export and import any file format you could possible need.

I believe DraftSight has gone to a subscription pricing model now.
I think you 'rent' it on a yearly basis?

(04-19-2020, 10:01 AM)Terry Sullivan Wrote: [ -> ]

(04-19-2020, 08:03 AM)Paul F Wrote: [ -> ]Kurt for what you showed you don't need a 3-D software.  I used to use 2-D DraftSight when it was free.  It would also export and import any file format you could possible need.

I believe DraftSight has gone to a subscription pricing model now.
I think you 'rent' it on a yearly basis?

Correct, that is why I said "when it was free"  I switched from autocad to SW 20 years ago so getting SW for $33 a year is an OK deal.  I'm old school and can't stand this subscription stuff.  You should be able to buy it once and use it for as long as you want to.  I could easily get away with 2-D stuff as my mill and gear head lathe are 100% manual.  I do have glass scales and DROs though...

Thanks, guys.  That's quite a menu of options.  I'll take some time and check them out!

I did a Mc10 stroker head gasket some time ago for Pruit Ginsberg. It's a Pro/Engineer Wildfire 4 file, but the drawing has been translated to a DXF for laser or water jet cutting. It doesn't have the nifty notches, rectangular protrusion and corner notch and hole, because all we want is for it to perform as well as factory. If you want a simple DXF or PDF file, I can give you one. If you really need the edge embellishments, I can easily add them if you send either an old gasket or a sketch. If you let me know what you want for the center hole diameter including some annular clearance around the piston, I can change this for you in minutes. I pretty much use only DXF translations here, as we have a connection with a very solid water jet shop in Albuquerque. They take the DXF, cut the part, you pay them over the phone and they send you the finished part. Very reliable shop. They're a major supplier to Albuquerque businesses, and to Sandia National Labs. I can also add the manufacturing dimensions to the Pro/E drawing and make you a PDF. Waterjet Cutting Inc. uses the DXF without dimensions, as they clutter the image, and their programmer, Alex, doesn't want them on the file.
P.S., Every flat part on my Swoopster, n1ke, and both Photons were done by Waterjet. They've made countless gaskets and reed petals for us as well. Ted