Suppose you are laying in bed and an image of a metal sculpture pops into your mind.  Or maybe you are looking at a piece of angle iron and you suddenly have a vision of how it could be joined to another form, perhaps a U channel.  Maybe you see a spider web and marvel at how filaments come together in a structure, and you flash to the image of a rosette window frame with intricate metal ribs.

Your imagination delights in these images.  Now imagine that you cut the metal stock and clamp it together, and then light an arc to bond those pieces together permanently.  When it cools and you clean up the piece, you marvel at how you were able to transform your idea into reality.  A thrill runs through your body.  This is a new dimension to your experience.

Drafting the design in a CAD program is the next step in making your idea take physical form.  You might start with a hand drawn sketch, but that will only get you so far.  You will need to specify thicknesses, angles, and lengths before you can cut the metal and fit it together.  Dimensions are critical, and CAD software excels at producing precise dimensional drawings.

Last modified: Saturday, 3 August 2024, 8:31 AM