Moving from 2D to 3D CAD for Engineering Design: Challenges and Opportunities [Paperback]

Louis Gary Lamit (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1419664263 | ISBN-13: 978-1419664267 | Publication Date: April 13, 2007

Louis Gary Lamit's Moving from 2D to 3D CAD for Engineering Design: Challenges and Opportunities is a much-needed book that clearly explains the industry factors, the many advantages, and the product selection criteria for adopting 3D computer-aided design (CAD) for one's engineering design work. Written by an experienced designer and instructor, the book is essential for any individual or team who wants to make the best product choices, and maximize their productivity with whatever 3D CAD design tools they choose.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Every day, it seems there is increasing pressure on discrete manufacturers to get better products to market, faster and cheaper. Companies of all sizes are trying to squeeze every last ounce of productivity out of their people, processes, and tools. Yet the challenges designers and engineers face continue to mount. Are there untapped benefits in moving from a 2D CAD solution to 3D? If you're considering making the switch, what are some things you should keep in mind? This book by Louis Gary Lamit is meant as a guide and tutorial for those seeking information and assistance in the process. The path from design to manufacturing isn't smooth or direct: it suffers constant dead-ends and reversals. With all of the benefits, why doesn't everyone use a modern, 3D solid modeling CAD/CAM/CAE system? The reasons certainly vary, but here are some of the key questions that design and engineering management needs answered before taking the plunge, including:

How steep is the learning curve of the 3D application? How effectively can I leverage and re-use my existing 2D data? What is the total cost of ownership of the new 3D tool, including hardware, software and the associated training?  How do I know the 3D system will grow as my needs change?

By selecting wisely, product designers, engineers and managers can achieve a solution that's easy to learn, easy to leverage 2D legacy, and easy to afford. Finally, 2D users can enjoy the benefits that thousands of other 2D users are enjoying by 'going 3D'. This book will assist you in this process.

 Gearoid Smyth --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Louis Gary Lamit received a BS degree from Western Michigan University in 1970, and studied for a master's degree at Wayne State University and Michigan State University. He also did graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley, and holds an NC programming certificate from Boeing Aircraft. Mr. Lamit has worked as a drafter, designer, numerical control (NC) programmer, technical illustrator, and engineer in the automotive, aircraft, and piping industries. He started as a drafter in 1966, working in Detroit for the automobile industry, doing tooling, dies, jigs and fixture layout, and detailing at Koltanbar Engineering, Tool Engineering, Time Engineering, and Premier Engineering for Chrysler, Ford, AMC, and Fisher Body. He has also worked at Remington Arms and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft as a designer, and at Boeing Aircraft and Kollmorgan Optics as an NC programmer and aircraft engineer. He has taught at all scholastic levels from secondary school to university. He is currently a full-time instructor and department head in CAD at De Anza College, in Cupertino, California. In addition, Mr. Lamit owns and operates his own consulting firm, Lamit and Associates - CAD-Resources.com, and does trainings and industry consulting. He has authored over two dozen other published works, including several well-respected books on industrial model building, piping drafting and design, descriptive geometry, electronics drafting, technical drawing, engineering graphics and design, CAD software, and other technical topics. More information on the author, his publications, and his courses, are available at the Web site of CAD-Resources (www.cad-resources.com).

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (April 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419664263
• ISBN-13: 978-1419664267
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,231,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Presently I live and work in the San Jose, California area- see work bio at bottom.

My main activity outside of work activity is writing books (35 and counting). Not very lucrative but I have been at it since 1978 and can't seem to stop.
__________________________________
Also see:
walkingfishbooks.com
I write childrens books and journals for outdoor activities.
An educator for almost 40 years, Gary Lamit has taught second grade through university and has published over 30 books on a variety of subjects. Married with grown kids, he currently teaches at a community college. He spends considerable time reading children's books to his pre-school extended-family members, whose number seem to increase every few months!

From WalkingFish Books:

*My Fishing Journal
*Fishing Journal
*Resources for boating and fishing in Santa Clara County, Califorinia
*Wally the Walking Fish
*Wally the Walking Fish meets Madison and Cooper
__________________________________
Also see:
scholarshipforveterans.org
I founded and fund Scholarships for Veterans, a not for profit organization awarding community college scholarships to recent veterans in Santa Clara Valley.
__________________________________
Also see (from my work site):
cad-resources.com

For the last 25 years, Louis Gary Lamit has been a full time instructor and department head at De Anza College in Cupertino, California, where he teaches Pro/ENGINEER, Pro/SURFACE, Pro/SHEETMETAL, Pro/NC, and Expert Machinist, and Unigraphics NX. He does Pro/E training for local industry in Silicon Valley.

Mr. Lamit has worked as a drafter, designer, numerical control (NC) programmer, technical illustrator, and engineer in the automotive, aircraft, and piping industries. A majority of his work experience is in the area of mechanical and piping design. He started as a drafter in the Detroit area in 1966 (as a job shopper) in the automobile industry, doing tooling, dies, jigs and fixture layout, and detailing at Koltanbar Engineering, Tool Engineering, Time Engineering, and Premier Engineering for Chrysler, Ford, AMC, and Fisher Body. He has worked at Remington Arms and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft as a designer, and at Boeing Aircraft and Kollmorgan Optics as an NC programmer and aircraft engineer.

He owns and operates his own consulting firm, and has been involved with advertising, and patent illustration.

He is the author of over 30 textbooks, workbooks, tutorials, and handbooks.

Mr. Lamit received a BS degree from Western Michigan University in 1970 and did Masters work at Wayne State University and Michigan State University. He has also done graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley and holds an NC programming certificate from Boeing Aircraft.

Since leaving industry, he has taught at all levels (Melby Junior High School, Warren, Michigan; Carroll County Vocational Technical School, Carrollton, Georgia; Heald Engineering College, San Francisco, California; Cogswell Polytechnical College, San Francisco and Cupertino, California; Mission College, Santa Clara, California; Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, California; Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Kentucky; and De Anza College, Cupertino, California).

His books include:

*Industrial Model Building, with Engineering Model Associates, Inc. (1981),
*Piping Drafting and Design (1981),
*Piping Drafting and Design Workbook (1981),
*Descriptive Geometry (1983),
*Descriptive Geometry Workbook (1983), and
*Pipe Fitting and Piping Handbook (1984), published by Prentice-Hall.
*Drafting for Electronics, (3rd edition, 1998),
*Drafting for Electronics Workbook (2nd edition 1992) and
*CADD (1987), published by *Charles Merrill (Macmillan-Prentice-Hall Publishing).
*Technical Drawing and Design (1994),
*Technical Drawing and Design Worksheets and Problem Sheets (1994),
*Principles of Engineering Drawing (1994),
*Fundamentals of Engineering Graphics and Design (1997),
*Engineering Graphics and Design with Graphical Analysis (1997), and
*Engineering Graphics and Design Worksheets and Problem Sheets (1997),published by West Publishing (ITP/Delmar).
*Basic Pro/ENGINEER in 20 Lessons (1998) (Revision 18) and
*Basic Pro/ENGINEER (with references to PT/Modeler) (1999) (Revision 19 and PT/Modeler), published by PWS Publishing (ITP).
*Pro/ENGINEER 2000i (1999) (Revision 2000i), and
*Pro/E 2000i2 (includes Pro/NC and Pro/SHEETMETAL) (2000) (Revision 2000i2),
published by Brooks/Cole Publishing (ITP).
*IX Design, CD book (2001) ImpactXoft
*Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire (2003) (Revision Wildfire) published by Brooks/Cole Publishing (ITP).
*Introduction to Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2.0 (2004) (Revision Wildfire 2.0) published by SDC.
*Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0 (2006) (Revision Wildfire 3.0). Thomson Engineering (ITP)
*Moving from 2D to 3D CAD for Engineering Design (2007)BookSurge
*Moving from 2D to 3D CAD for Engineering Design (2007) MobiPocket eBook
*Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0 Tutorial (2007) BookSurge
*Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0 Tutorial (2007) MobiPocket eBook
*Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 Tutorial (2008) BookSurge
*Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 Tutorial (2008) MobiPocket eBook
*Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 (2008) Cengage Learning

From WalkingFish Books:

*My Fishing Journal
*Fishing Journal
*Resources for boating and fishing in Santa Clara County, Califorinia
*Wally the WalkingFish
*Wally the Walking Fish meets Madison and Cooper

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointingly light on real content, February 11, 2008

By 

R. D Johnson (Cedar Ridge, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Moving from 2D to 3D CAD for Engineering Design: Challenges and Opportunities (Paperback)

I've been doing engineering design for a long time, mostly electrical, but some mechanical stuff here and there. I've done plenty of 2D mechanical drawings. What I was looking for was a book that explained the core differences between AutoCAD-like 2D drafting and the new wave of 3D parametric modeling tools. I wanted an overview of when to use 3D, and when 2D would be quicker. I was hoping for some guidance as to how to approach the modeling of a large assembly in 3D. Some tips for real-world designs, like the thought process to be used when modeling sheet metal assemblies. Do you leave every screw, nut and bolt used to cut holes in the drawing for use on the BOM, or leave them out because they clutter 2D views? Stuff like that. Instead, what this book delivers is breathless prose extolling the superiority of 3D CAD over 2D CAD over and over again. To be fair, the first 5 chapters do a decent job of covering some of the advantages of 3D CAD and the associated workflow, using the usual cylinders and rectangular solids. However, the text is constantly proclaiming "See how easy this is compared to 2D CAD?" Well, no, not really. How do I add 2 degrees of mold relief on that cylinder parametrically? And this leads into what I really hate about this book: the author's answer to that question is: "take college courses, get workplace training, etc. etc" and he spends the last 80 pages explaining the advantages of doing that. Well, sir, I was hoping this BOOK I purchased might contain a little more depth. No such luck.

If you're an IT person or management type who wants to know why your engineers are requesting or need a 3D CAD system, this book is great for bringing a non-technical type up to speed. If you're an engineer trying to figure out how to be productive on a 3D CAD system, well, I guess you'd better take one of the author's college courses, or wait until someone publishes a truly useful book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the better books on the market for this subject, January 3, 2009

By 

Dennis D. Wahler (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moving from 2D to 3D CAD for Engineering Design: Challenges and Opportunities (Paperback)

Our company almost did not get this book because of the review posted here. Seems the review was for something completely different than what the book states as its intent.
The twenty dollars we did spend on it has come back in a considerable savings in our transition from ACAD to a 3D CAD system. Almost every situation and pitfall described in the book(we also invested some new problems) played itself out during out transition(which is not yet complete). From legacy designs to legacy employees we went through every problem and situation.
Not to say that using the book as a guide will remove or eliminate all road blocks, but we at least new what was coming and had a variety of ways to confront the problems with workable solutions before and during the transition.