Advice and opinions Needed by all! SBaugh?

[Rugby10]

Hi all,

To understand my quandary, I'll give you a little background information.

I'm a recently separated USAF Meteorologist, and currently pursuing an apprenticeship to become a CNC machinist. I REALLY enjoy machining and fabrication. Concurrently, I'm taking machining courses along with the required CAD classes. (Read = 70+ hour weeks) The CAD classes are taught in AutoCAD 2004. To be honest, I don't particularly care for ATC 2004’s 2d environment, thus the question in the SW forum. (Sorry about the length, the military and now the apprenticeship have pushed me over the diligence threshold, so to speak. )

At the shop I’m currently employed with, the owner has decided to move away from 2d and into the wonderful world of 3D design. Recently, I've been using Solidworks 2003 to design some parts and redraw the parts we manufacture into 3D, but I have run into some (time costly) speed bumps along the way. My near term goal is to become a CSWP, for a couple of reasons;

1) There are currently three people in my shop, including me, that can even draw in Soildworks. None of us are 'experts" though. And with my schedule and the shops schedule there is little time to "play".

2) I would be in a good position to negotiate a raise, or a better position with another shop at a later time.

3) I would like to start my own shop in the near to mid future, as I can already see deficiencies in my current shop. And I have ideas and inventions that I would like to pursue on my own.

4) I enjoy designing in the SW environment compared to ATC 2004 in the little free time I have dedicated to learn CAD and CAM. You can see the very first models I have designed here:

http://www.nonoriginal.com/index.php?option=com_akogallery&Itemid=26&func=viewcategory&catid=10

The semester is coming to an end and I need to make some decisions. Here are the issues;

1) I have to be enrolled into school or on a certification plan to receive my Montgomery GI Bill benefits. I need those benefits to continue to pay for my 'other' hobby:

http://www.nonoriginal.com/index.php?option=com_akogallery&Itemid=26&func=viewcategory&catid=9

This hobby is critical to my sanity and business plan of the future.

2) I would rather not waste time learning programs that I never plan on using by enrolling for another semester of CAD classes at my current school. Furthermore, the design software industry standard, at least where I'm located in regards to machining, seems to be Solidworks.

3) I have been cleared for another semester of time away from work. I feel this time would be better served learning Soilidworks, not ATC 2004 or Pro/E. So…

The questions;

I have found a place locally that seems to specialize in Solidworks training to become a CWSP:

http://www.ddicad.com/training/SolidWorks/swtraining.htm

1) Have any of you heard of this particular company and the training provided?

2) If yes, Could you elaborate to the extent of your knowledge with said company?

3) Does it look like a decent program worth pursuing?

4) If yes, why?

5) If not, could you offer another practical solution to earning my CSWP?

I'd appreciate any advice, and thanks for reading my (boring) diatribe!

 

[TheTick]

If you become adept at SW, a lot of the skills will transfer readily to other 3D CAD programs. Time dedicated toward SW master will teach you more than the button pushes of a single CAD package. Such is the nature of mastery.

"Customer satisfaction, while theoretically possible, is neither guaranteed nor statistically likely.--E.L. Kersten

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

 

[SBaugh]

1) No I have not heard of them. But Taking direct SW courses will get you closer to understanding how to use SW, but whether it will teach you enough to get your CSWP is another question. Because you have to understand a lot about SW to pass the test. Not just one thing, Like Part modeling. You have to know part, assembly and drawing. And it gets taken even further in depth in each aspect of SW. You also have to answer multiple choice question, which some are very tricky.

2) See above

3) Any company that you buy SW from or VAR. Has to have a training room and they would offer the exact same courses. So your not getting anything different then what my company offers in training. Because it lists it Certified doesn't mean that it relates directly to CSWP license.

4)See Above.

5) Take the courses, but be aware that you may not pass the first time, since SW is not something you have used for a long length of time. You only what you do, so if you don't do everything in SW, then you are somewhat limited to knowing some questions and how to's... on the test.

See our website on Training -

http://www.3dvision.com/Training/

- There isn't much difference.

See SW Website on CSWP and take the 10 question sample test -

http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/Training/CSWP.html

- Remember though some of these questions are easy.

CSWP has been discussed more then once, but this was the only one I found - thread559-98916

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
faq559-716 - SW Fora Users

 

[TheTick]

I visited your site. I'm not much of a PC'er, but your site could use just a little political correction (referring to the volleyball game). I say this because you seem to have plans for business with this site. I would view that as a red flag.

 

[Theophilus]

Hello,

My VAR is DDi in Phoenix. I took the advanced training back in 1998 and picked up a couple of very useful things from it. I'd recommend going through the tutorials and then picking more difficult things to model on your own--which it looks like you're already doing. After doing so, the basic training probably isn't necessary, but the advanced stuff might be usefuel--especially since the software has grown so much since 1998.

In my experience, DDi is a good VAR. I'd estimate you're looking into the San Diego branch.

If you're building dune buggies, you'll find a keen interest in the weldment feature for assemblies--especially in SW 2005. Great feature for such a project.

Jeff Mowry
Industrial Designhaus, LLC

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

 

[Rugby10]

Scott,

Thanks. I didn't do so well on the "easy" test questions. I scored 3 out of 10, and the matching questions at the bottom. Most of my drawings have been done with a bit of luck using the common sense approach that I think the developers designed into the software. The problem, as I alluded to previously, is that I don't have the time to play around with it at work. I have a ton of other responsibilities that keep my away from the computer. If I was more proficient using SW, I think it would be easier for my boss to let me model more. Because of the time it takes to draw, I feel that he is impatient or would rather me do things that he's not losing money on.

I'm taking CAD classes right now, and I have learned a lot in them. As I said before, I would rather not have to learn a CAD software that I never plan on using outside of the class room. I understand that I may not become a CSWP right off the bat with these courses, I'll deal with that later. What I'm asking, essentially, is; Say I took almost all of the courses your company had to offer, would I not have a very good understanding of Solidworks? Or are they a joke?

Tick,

Thanks for the advice. My site is pretty much a shell right now. The majority of the content is to test certain aspects and functionality. I'm still quite away from making the site into something viable in business terms. I put those games up so a few of my buddies in Quatar (Near Iraq) could play some online games in their down time and not get into trouble. I plan on removing them ASAP. Thanks for the reminder.

Hi Jeff,

I'm south of you in Tucson. I'm not sure if its new, but we have a DDi office on the NW-side of town. I still need to talk with them to figure out the best solution for my situation. Hopefully, they have something to offer or its off to learn AutoCAD 2004 for another semester...Uhhhh! The models on my site are the first I ever designed. I learned how to define a sketch and a few simple features and that’s about it during one weekend. I have lots of different ideas for widgets I'd like to fabricate. Most of them are Off road Racing, Rock Crawling, Furniture, Watches, Flashlight, Firefighting, and energy related.

I would like to design models that are more complex, but I have no time to play. I figure if I could take the DDi classes instead of the AutoCAD class at Pima Community College. I would learn and play with Solidworks, while keeping the same 20-30hrs of free time I have during the week now? What do you think?

 

[Theophilus]

You'll certainly pick up skills to a more worth-while program and be able to model more complex forms with less hassle per the same investment of time and money in ACAD 2004. Do you have the option of switching for training in SW 2005 instead of the ACAD classes? If so, definitely take it. It's not a whole semester or anything since the training would be provided by the VAR. I've heard of Gateway Community College in Phoenix providing a SolidWorks class--so check out the availability in Tucson and see what else you might be able to find.

I taught myself SolidWorks after the pain of performing industrial design and engineering with ACAD. What a huge difference--and that was the 1997 version. Comparatively, the AutoDesk hasn't changed much, but I've seen a great variety of improvements to SolidWorks capacity.

If you'd like to teach yourself, commit to at least an hour a day to keep all the features and how they operate fresh in your head. If you can do that for at least two weeks, you'll find you're retaining the info and don't have to refer to the Help files every time for the same features--you'll remember them. After that, it's gradual learning to model anything you like.

Jeff Mowry
Industrial Designhaus, LLC

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

 

[Rugby10]

Jeff, The school I'm presently attending doesn't teach Solidworks at all. In my opinion they are woefully behind the times. The same can be said of Tucson as a whole, but that is another topic all together.

My only option for Solidworks training is DDi in my search thus far. I don't want to buy a seat of SW just for training at this point, coupled with the fact that I can't afford it. That said, I haven't turned over every possible stone and I'm an eternal optimist.

I will look into Gateway CC, perhaps they offer an online SW course?

Switching gears and a little off topic...

I've also been throwing around the idea of moving to Tempe. I'd go to ASU's S.O.D. with a concentration on industrial design, while working on my machining apprenticeship as well.

Would you be willing to answer a few of my questions offline, by email?

 

[Theophilus]

Certainly--might be a good choice. I'm an ID guy with a BSD from ASU. They aren't exactly up to speed with the times either, but there is currently a joint course withing the ID department on both Rhino and SolidWorks--so you'd have access to the program while you were there once you get into upper division (highly competitive). I work with ID students from ASU in a mentorship program they offer, so am still involved there--albeit quite out of touch with the professors.

You can get my email from the contact page of my website below. I'd be happy to answer any questions you've got, including what the program will demand of you and any cautions to keep in mind before making such a commitment.

Jeff Mowry
Industrial Designhaus, LLC

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com