Drawing up a few planes, is this possible?

Daniel S

I want to draw up a few Boeing and Airbus planes, is it possible for SolidWorks to take current drawings of these planes and create a 3D part of it using the 2D to 3D feature? It seems like that would be a much quicker method than using contour lines and the surfaces feature. I doubt SolidWorks can do this but I'm asking just in case it can.

I have DWG's of the planes I want to create in SolidWorks.

CatFromHue

I didn't know it was possible for Soldiworks to convert from 2d to 3d but after reading your post and looked at the video below on youtube. That's a handy feature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB3vOYRjwkQ

The part in the video is far far simpler than a plane though but I'd be interested to see how you get on.

I've never heard of the feature below so I'm just thinking out loud and guessing from what I've seen in the clip to what would be in the .dwg files you have. It might be an idea to create smaller parts than trying to do it all in one go. For example use create a vertical stabilizer part by itself and then create an assembly of body, wing, vertical stabilzer etc.

Daniel S

CatFromHue wrote: »

I didn't know it was possible for Soldiworks to convert from 2d to 3d but after reading your post and looked at the video below on youtube. That's a handy feature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB3vOYRjwkQ

The part in the video is far far simpler than a plane though but I'd be interested to see how you get on.

I've never heard of the feature below so I'm just thinking out loud and guessing from what I've seen in the clip to what would be in the .dwg files you have. It might be an idea to create smaller parts than trying to do it all in one go. For example use create a vertical stabilizer part by itself and then create an assembly of body, wing, vertical stabilzer etc.

I have the maintenance manuals for the planes but there's so many missing dimensions that are needed to draw the plane correctly. There's contour lines for the front and rear of the fuselage, but that's about it, nothing for the wings etc.

CatFromHue

Are there any scaled drawings which you could use to guesstimate the missing dimensions?

It does depend on how exact you want your model to be of course but if there were any scaled drawings you could make a relatively accurate model.

Daniel S

CatFromHue wrote: »

Are there any scaled drawings which you could use to guesstimate the missing dimensions?

It does depend on how exact you want your model to be of course but if there were any scaled drawings you could make a relatively accurate model.

I have loads of drawings, but they need to be really accurate... guesstimating seems to be out of the question. I've already tried scanning in pages, sticking them on planes and scaling them correctly but to no avail.

CatFromHue

What are you doing it for?

Honestly without knowing what you have to work with and more about the 2D to 3D function I can't be of much help.

You could try something similar to what the guy in the video is doing below. It's more accurate than guesstimating anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNMueeN-glw

Daniel S

CatFromHue wrote: »

What are you doing it for?

Honestly without knowing what you have to work with and more about the 2D to 3D function I can't be of much help.

You could try something similar to what the guy in the video is doing below. It's more accurate than guesstimating anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNMueeN-glw

I used that method to make the fuselage, but it's not going to work for the wings. I think I'll just leave it for now, it's wrecking my head. I'm doing an entire model of a hanger with planes.

Daniel S

I drew up a full plane there from scratch by scanning in and scaling up contour lines. Takes too long.

I have a few 3d dwgs, is it possible to convert these to SW sketches? Or import the whole thing as a 3d Sketch?