Radio & Electronics Line Drawing Software, URL's, Libraries...

[Andy Cunningham-2]

Hello Good People (on the various lists included)

Just wanted to ask & "try" to explain what I am looking for

Does anyone have any idea where to find, I guess the "Artwork" (as I would
call it - perhaps this is the wrong words to use on my account of ignorance
!) for when a person wants to "design" radio cabinets, panels, switches,
knobs etc etc.

We all have the various manufacturers manuals that come with our equipment
where we see the "black & white line drawings" throughout the pages there,
outlining the various functions & controls etc.

What I am tryin' to ascertain is - "How Is This Done\Designed" within the
various manufacturers BEFORE we actually go and buy a given piece of
equipment that comes with it's said manual ?

What\How do the various designers in a given company use on their respective
computers to put these "pictures of equipment" in "line drawing" form for us
to see ?

Is it done with some sort of C.A.D. software ?  or maybe something else ?  

Is\Will There Be a steep learning curve for this sort of thing for a general
ham op to play around with ?

Is there some kind of readily available software that someone on the list
already uses, that perhaps comes with its own "Libraries" for the designers
to use to put together the final "Black & White Line Drawings" that we all
see in these given manuals etc etc ?

Or perhaps a URL that someone knows with software & libraries included ?

I would like to try and build up here on my shack PC a "Library" of
different pictures if you like of various designs done in this way to
hopefully use in the future where I put an idea together - To help I guess
with the "final look" of something that comes to mind.

I've tried on many occasions (to many to remember !) to turn a internet
"Photo" - into - a "line drawing" with Adobe Photoshop to see if that would
be an easy answer, alas the results were disappointing to say the least.

Although I am NOT by any means an electronics wizard\guru, I DO however get
immense enjoyment out of trying to design the various parts\elements to the
ideas that sometimes come into my mind regarding this sort of thing.

With all the brilliant & beautiful minds that fill the various lists here, I
am hoping that someone can give some good insight thoughts to what "some" of
the answers to this may be, NOT just for "me" but for future folks out there
that have perhaps as yet asked the same question - But have always wondered.

Thanks Goes Out To Each & Everyone Of You Out There Across the Globes
Continents, the 4 Corners Of The Globe for at least taking the time to
possibly read this..

Much Obliged,

73's
Andy
GM0NWI
[hidden email]
 

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[Fred Townsend]

Andy, I'm not sure what you are asking. In years gone by line art and
picture renderings were sometimes generated in manufacturing engineering.
For others pictures were generated in publications with the manuals. Such
drawings were often marked "Do Not Scale" because they were not accurate.
They were artists renderings.
Today, CAD programs like ACAD or SolidWorks, use scaled databases. They can
be used to generate line art or pictures, or more often NC tapes for
production. More often .DWG (extent) files are used for transferring scaled
data.  There are free DWG viewers available on the internet.
Does this help?
de Fred, AE6QL  

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Andy - GM0NWI
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 12:26 PM
To: [hidden email]; [hidden email]; [hidden email];
[hidden email]; [hidden email];
[hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] Radio & Electronics Line Drawing Software, URL's,
Libraries...

Hello Good People (on the various lists included)

Just wanted to ask & "try" to explain what I am looking for

Does anyone have any idea where to find, I guess the "Artwork" (as I would
call it - perhaps this is the wrong words to use on my account of ignorance
!) for when a person wants to "design" radio cabinets, panels, switches,
knobs etc etc.

We all have the various manufacturers manuals that come with our equipment
where we see the "black & white line drawings" throughout the pages there,
outlining the various functions & controls etc.

What I am tryin' to ascertain is - "How Is This Done\Designed" within the
various manufacturers BEFORE we actually go and buy a given piece of
equipment that comes with it's said manual ?

What\How do the various designers in a given company use on their respective
computers to put these "pictures of equipment" in "line drawing" form for us
to see ?

Is it done with some sort of C.A.D. software ?  or maybe something else ?  

Is\Will There Be a steep learning curve for this sort of thing for a general
ham op to play around with ?

Is there some kind of readily available software that someone on the list
already uses, that perhaps comes with its own "Libraries" for the designers
to use to put together the final "Black & White Line Drawings" that we all
see in these given manuals etc etc ?

Or perhaps a URL that someone knows with software & libraries included ?

I would like to try and build up here on my shack PC a "Library" of
different pictures if you like of various designs done in this way to
hopefully use in the future where I put an idea together - To help I guess
with the "final look" of something that comes to mind.

I've tried on many occasions (to many to remember !) to turn a internet
"Photo" - into - a "line drawing" with Adobe Photoshop to see if that would
be an easy answer, alas the results were disappointing to say the least.

Although I am NOT by any means an electronics wizard\guru, I DO however get
immense enjoyment out of trying to design the various parts\elements to the
ideas that sometimes come into my mind regarding this sort of thing.

With all the brilliant & beautiful minds that fill the various lists here, I
am hoping that someone can give some good insight thoughts to what "some" of
the answers to this may be, NOT just for "me" but for future folks out there
that have perhaps as yet asked the same question - But have always wondered.

Thanks Goes Out To Each & Everyone Of You Out There Across the Globes
Continents, the 4 Corners Of The Globe for at least taking the time to
possibly read this..

Much Obliged,

73's
Andy
GM0NWI
[hidden email]
 

______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

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Post: mailto:[hidden email]

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[AC7AC]

CONTENTS DELETED

The author has deleted this message.

[Leigh L. Klotz Jr WA5ZNU]

You might try http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/ which is a commercial service, but they do have design software that is free.

Leigh/WA5ZNU

[Terry Schieler]

Hi Andy,

Back in the mid-60's I drew components for the Apache helicopter machine gun
turrets for Emerson Electric here in St. Louis... and we did them by hand.
No software.  You could not pay me enough money to do that today.

Now we typically use a program called "Visio" in our RF equipment/system
design business.  It is very versatile, but very expensive.

There are several others out there but the names escape me.  Good luck with
your search.

73,

Terry, W0FM


-----Original Message-----
From: Andy - GM0NWI [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 2:26 PM
To: [hidden email]; [hidden email]; [hidden email];
[hidden email]; [hidden email];
[hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] Radio & Electronics Line Drawing Software, URL's,
Libraries...

Hello Good People (on the various lists included)

Just wanted to ask & "try" to explain what I am looking for

Does anyone have any idea where to find, I guess the "Artwork" (as I would
call it - perhaps this is the wrong words to use on my account of ignorance
!) for when a person wants to "design" radio cabinets, panels, switches,
knobs etc etc.


______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

[NAQCC]

Hi Andy,

Take a look at http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/ for a program called "Front
Panel Designer".  It is freeware and works on all versions of Windows and also
Mac / Linux.  It might be what you are looking for with regards to designing
panels, cabinets, etc.

73 from Dave, VA3RJ

______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html