Admittedly this post is rather pointless, That being said, I thought some people might be interested in having a look at the keyshot render i made from my solid works models! (Also i know there are some mistakes) 
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This is beautiful. What all parts did you make and what did you get online. Could you put links to the parts that you got online. I am asking particularly of the pulleys. Are they of true HTD5 specification?
dammit i need a copy of solid works. This just looks… amazing. I miss my 3DSMax days.
Solidworks is the best. Get it using your son, student edition is like $100
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yup. That’s what’s about to happen here real soon. I think he’s going to “need” it for his “engineering class.”
I would personally go for Fusion 360 moving forward. The integrated CAM is getting so much r&d its impressive.
BTW: free, cad/cam, rendering, etc. all in one single package.
I like fusion 360, but the thing that sets solidworks apart is access to models and the assembly features. The assembly is hands down the best CAD feature I’ve used.
Fusion 360 is also supported in Easel, the app that runs the XCarve. One of these days i’m going to start carving my own mounts and i’m going to need something more precise than easel. Fusion 360 may be the ticket actually.
Fusion 360 has the same feature.
You don’t need to run it through Easel, i tried it during the beta of the gcode parser and prefer other options. I use Chilipeppr for simple tasks and PicSender for very complex adaptative paths, where chilipeppr just cant handle the number of gcode lines.
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yep, that’s what I have. Simple stuff like mounts can be designed in easel, but as soon as you start getting “V” bits and making fun angles, you need fusion 360.
edit: and the student version is free for a year so I’d definitely use your son and just on that
Everything you see in the image was modelled from scratch. I would offer to post my CAD Files online, the only problem is that they are for my Year 12 systems engineering folio/ Project for school and i need to be careful with what i post online. The last thing I need is to have to prove to the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority that the models are mine haha. And yes they are, I used the Gates design manual to make sure they are correct.
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Solid works and Keyshot is the ultimate combination. I’m very privileged to have a dad who owns a manufacturing business, otherwise i would never have had access to these expensive programs.
Fusion 360 is free for life, as long as you don’t make more than 100.000$ a year using it.
Free for students AND startups. I’m probably going to start using it. I would prefer something more precise than easel when doing my mounts eventually.
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I did my first mount with fusion, pretty simple to do cad -> model for 2D milling
just realized the reason it wasn’t letting me in was because I had the wrong password 
definitely worth it for all of zero dollars, lol.
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i’ve been tossing around the idea of moving to Ronins from Calibers for my builds, but i’d need a way to try some things out. This will definitely help.
You can try and get your hands on a 3d scanner, i use one and it helps when making new parts for an existing thing. They’re also pretty easy to build with an arduino and a stepper motor
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I am making a parametric pulley in solidworks and I was wondering if you could send me a link to the page that describes the tooth profile. I already have the specification for the PD, OD etc as per this page http://www.pfeiferindustries.com/timing-belt-pulley-pitch-diameter-outside-diameter-charts-i-12-l-en.html. Many thanks.