Program for Invention Engineering Constructions

Question

I need to develop a collapsible metal construction. I have a few specific prerequisites. Generally speaking, it will be something like a big construction toy, but not be a toy. It has the specific purpose - the basis of the obstacles for a cycling trial.

Many riders over the world make their own huge welded constructions. Usually they are heavy, unstable and cannot be completely disassembled.

The construction shall be based on standard square tubes and be

• fully collapsible, up to individual pipes and connection points
• based on triangles to provide rigidity, but the triangle must be able to disassemble into individual tubes
• has maximum possible rigidity assembled
• based on common tubes, bolts, connection points
• easy to assemble and disassemble
• has only a few universal types of elements
• take up as little disassembled space as possible
• has the opportunity to assemble in several ways
• has the opportunity to easy assemble several concrete obstacles variants

The list above is just to show what kind of task I'm dealing with.

The rough sketchy set of the required obstacles ideas

Of course I cannot easily resolve the issue.

I'm not a design engineer. I searched for engineering CAD systems. The problem is that I don't have completely idea of the elements in my mind, and therefore I cannot just model the components. Furthermore, I have no experience in engineering systems, only a little experience in 3ds Max. But I hope a modern engineering systems could have the functionality to help the engineer invent the construction, not just create a model.

I know that Autodesk Inventor is a software designed especially for constructions creation. But I as I can understand, development in Autodesk Inventor is based on precise parameterization of each element. In Inventor, I need to enter exact values ​​for every point, line, circle, rectangle and so on. Yes, Inventor supports some top-down design model, but anyway seems it cannot provide easy automatic suggestions.

I need a software to automate a process of constructions creation.

Answer 1

Computer aided design software is a tool to allow designers and engineers to draw parts. Asking a CAD program to invent something is akin to asking Microsoft Word to write a book or asking a hammer to build a house. It just doesn't work that way. Parametric solid modeling programs do have some cool features that allow you to tie different dimensions to parameters which allows re-scaling parts without having to completely redraw them, but that is not going to design anything "for" you.

You really have two options. Either learn the design and engineering skills yourself, or hire a qualified consultant. There is no free lunch.