Free CAD for Vex

#1

There doesn’t seem to be any source for Vex building instructions on the web, so I went ahead and created the HobbyVex CAD project. The HobbyVex CAD project is based completely on the FREE tools from the LDRAW.org package.

The instructions to get started are now available at http://hobbyvex/CAD/index.htm. Give it a try. Publish those building instructions!! The first bundle of parts (most of the starter kit) is now available along with a preliminary version of the first robot model and instructions on [http://hobbyvex/Robots/index.htm.

Given that people are intermingling Vex and Lego, using the LDRAW tools has a singular advantage that all the Lego parts are already defined. The tools in the LDRAW.org package include a simple way to produce rough building instruction images and also a more complex way to produce professional quality building instructions.

I hope the Vex community will be interested in producing building instructions for the many robots already out there. I’m willing to help where I can; right now I’m working on getting the rest of the parts library converted over.](http://hobbyvex/Robots/index.htm.)

#2

. Give it a try. Publish those building instructions!! The first bundle of parts (most of the starter kit) is now available along with a preliminary version of the first robot model and instructions on [http://hobbyvex/Robots/index.htm.

Given that people are intermingling Vex and Lego, using the LDRAW tools has a singular advantage that all the Lego parts are already defined. The tools in the LDRAW.org package include a simple way to produce rough building instruction images and also a more complex way to produce professional quality building instructions.

I hope the Vex community will be interested in producing building instructions for the many robots already out there. I’m willing to help where I can; right now I’m working on getting the rest of the parts library converted over.](http://hobbyvex/Robots/index.htm.)

Links don’t work…I think you forgot the “.com”.

#3

I tried getting LDRAW installed on my computer (Win. XP) and it wouldn’t work…Somewhere it just wasn’t working maybe you could PM me EXACTLY where to save everything to (i think thats my problem.). Also thanks for getting this going, I hope many people will begin to publish thier work so that many others can critique and use thier ideas for thier own concepts…

#4

. Give it a try. Publish those building instructions!! The first bundle of parts (most of the starter kit) is now available along with a preliminary version of the first robot model and instructions on [http://hobbyvex/Robots/index.htm.

Given that people are intermingling Vex and Lego, using the LDRAW tools has a singular advantage that all the Lego parts are already defined. The tools in the LDRAW.org package include a simple way to produce rough building instruction images and also a more complex way to produce professional quality building instructions.

I hope the Vex community will be interested in producing building instructions for the many robots already out there. I’m willing to help where I can; right now I’m working on getting the rest of the parts library converted over.](http://hobbyvex/Robots/index.htm.)

ya could you plz fix those links id luv to have a CAD program for vex.

#5

Sorry for the bad links, here are the correct links:

http://hobbyvex.org/CAD/index.htm
http://hobbyvex.org/Robots/index.htm

#6

Wow that’s awosome :smiley: I’ll try to put my swerve-ish style tank on that and upload it there. thanks for the links.

Ok…now its not working, I cant get MLCAD to open up, I keep getting a little pop up that says "

base path:
C:\LDraw\Apps\MLCAD

Status:
Invalid path (no Parts and/or P dir found)!
and it wont let me open the thing. any idea what i should do?

#7

Looks like you did not get a complete install of the LDRAW tools. MLCAD depends on LDRAW being installed because it uses all the infrastructure. If you’ve put those directories somewhere else, you might be able to tell MLCAD that in its configuration options.

The Parts and the P directories hold all the official Lego parts and primitives respectively. It looks like MLCAD won’t open unless it can find them. LDRAW installs them directly in the LDRAW install directory by default. If you have them somewhere else you might also try moving them back there.

#8

I didn’t understand a word of that but I’ll just try to reinstall it :stuck_out_tongue:

edit: wow I re-read the installing instructions for ldraw and i knew i forgot something :smiley: my bad

#9

This is great! My FLL team has used MLCAD for years to document their robot designs. I’ve got a new laptop so I went to the LDRAW website and did the full install. I then followed your instructions and added the Vex parts to the library. Everything went well except that I didn’t realize that the VexParts folder needed to be placed at C:\LDraw\VexParts (same level as C:\LDraw\PARTS forlder). My first attempt was to place it within the PARTS folder. Everything is working great now.

This is going to be very useful to produce assembly instructions for example robots (for those of us who do not have access to AutoCAD or Inventor).

-Glenn

#10

The only thing i cant figure out is how to add parts to eachother, all I can see when i open a part from the vex parts menu is 4 views of that part. :frowning: and My vex parts dont show up in the little side box…i only see the lego ones, I says Vex as one catagory, but nothing is in it.

#11

Ok, so on HobbyVex.com/CAD it says

so i got the VexParts_1.0.zip file navigated to C:\LDraw\ abd added a folder called “VexParts” in that folder i added the VexParts_1.0.zip file and unzipped it. Then i removed the .zip file and when i cam to the #4 instruction i navigated over to C:\LDraw\Apps\MLCad and i was looking for the mlcad.ini file but i couldn’t find it… i saw MLCad(Configuration Settings), MLCAD (Mikes Lego CAD), MLCad.old (old file), MLCad (Microsoft Program Group), MLCad (text document), and mlcad.dll (0.3.0.1)

The ‘notes’ in () are what is displayed under each file (Win. XP…). I assume it is the .dll file as it is the only one in lowercase and that is how it is in the instructions, but i’m not sure…Please helP!

#12

One step that I needed to do to get the parts list refreshed was to use the File->Scan Parts menu item. This updated my list to include the Vex parts. Give it a try and see if it helps.

-Glenn

#13

Ok, i did that (file > scan parts) then i got a pop-up box, it read, “New Parts have been found! Write new parts.lst file?” then i clicked ‘Yes’ and it went away. Now, where can i find those parts?

#14

Your symptoms suggest that you completed step 5 successfully but not step 4. Can you check and make sure you have an mlcad.ini file in the right place with the right content? (See post #15)

#15

You may have to actually run MLCad at least once to get the INI file created. I don’t remember that exactly. If that’s the solution, let me know so I can update the hobbyvex instructions.

If it’s not the solution you should be able to just create a file of that name with only the contents from hobbyvex inside it. The rest of that file is Lego-specific and you don’t need to care about it right now (unless it causes MLCAD to choke without it :slight_smile: Be sure to exit MLCAD before editing the file.

#16

Did you create the search rule from step 5? If you did, there should be a “+ Vex” at the very top of your parts list with all the parts underneath it. Just click on the “+” to get to them.

#17

Cool! Now there’s proof that someone besides me has made this work :wink:

It would be great to get as many robots as possible posted back on HobbyVex. I probably won’t be able to genarate a critical mass of them all by myself…

#18

One important note:

The parts files for the tires and wheels have been “commented” out in the zip file because they are quite large and cause MLCAD to spend a lot of time thinking whenever it starts up or scans the parts list (anecdotally about 5 minutes each.) They can be reactivated by removing the “.not” extension from the filename and rescanning the parts.

As a practical matter, what I did was use similar sized gears in place of wheels until the model was essentially complete. Then, I uncommented the tire and wheel files, rescanned parts, and replaced the gears with the correct parts. That way, I don’t pay the startup cost until I really need it. (Don’t forget to reposition the wheels afterwards.)

I am pursuing a solution to this problem but I don’t have it in hand yet. It will likely involve reduced fidelity on the tires and wheels but that’s not certain yet either.

I have the other two wheel sizes available but left them out of the zip file for now. If you have a pressing need for them let me know and I’ll put them up.

#19

Nope! Opening MLCad doesn’t create an mlcad.ini file. And creating a text document called mlcad.ini with the code in it doesn’t work either…Any other ideas?

#20

I give up. I have tried and tried to get it to work.:mad: