How to set up for a hull loft

[Joe Huntley]

Hi guys i am new to this program and have a couple warship declassified plans I want to use to make hulls with. I have them on my website at http://www.proflooney.net/ships.zip in case anyone wants to look at them.

Anyways I been going through the program but im getting lost. I am used to working in solidworks and will be bringing the hulls in once i figure out how to draw them.

Could someone point me in the proper direction.

thanks
Joe

[otaku]

2010-11-24 my drawing advice to proflooney.txt

Hi Proflooney (Prof Looney?)

First off, welcome to DELFTship. I’m just a regular user, so I will speak only on a few things and only from my own experience.

I would imagine these steps:

1. Open and play around with COPIES of the sample drawings provided. Look in DriveLetter:ProgramsDelftshipSamples (I think it’s Samples; save the copies to your user directory so you don’t ruin the originals by mistake)

2. Turn on the mesh and other layer features and move the points/nodes around and observe what happens to the surfaces. Look at the surfaces in each view mode.

3. Practice deleting by delete key and removal by the applications’ collapse tools. Notice the effects each has when surfaces, edges, and points are removed.

4. Once comfortable with the level of detail of each model, choose one and practice scaling and transformation of them. One may be a great starting point for stretching and a good basis for your declassified drawing’s start point.

5. Carefully remove from the sample drawing the various edge/boundary lines you don’t need, noting that some of the superstructure present may be useful. If in your way or making for visual clutter, find and turn off the relevant layer. Change the layer colors if it suits your eye to do so.

IN THE MODEL YOU ARE DRAWING

1. Configure your preferences/drawing units, and other settings

2. Import the declas’d drawing to a suitably-named layer, starting out with the profile view, so you can get the hull length and sheer/camber, etc very close so you can mentally know where you are at any given time.

3. Make sure your scale and units in the model view match the paper dimensions.

4. Import the bow and stern (bodyplan) views onto each their own layer so you can declutter your view as necessary.

5. Again play around with the bodyplan view button to realize what is happening when you show only the half-breadth vs the full body plan.

6. Import your plan view (top-down) onto its own layer, too.

Adjust points as necessary, and add some as necessary. Some abide by the principle that the fewer points, the better the fairing. But, for certain cases, i definitely add more points so i can force forefoot (bow/sonar shapes at the bow), flare (outward curvature of the bow area plating), and cut-up (angle of the stern from near the propeller shaft exit from the hull out up to the rudder/transom area).

Note: Some would start out fresh rather than transform and strip a model. But, it’s a matter of preference, time constraints, patience, and more. DELFTship is most decidedly not a CAD progam in that you cannot draw a deck one by one and then expect to join them magically with the program able to deduce the curves for purposes of hydros generation.

However, there is ONE possible cheat:

Trace the ship in your favorite CAD package. Assigne decks to a suitably-named layer. Same with bulkheads. Sam with sideshell. Same with propeller shafts and silhouettes of your engine blocks or other major equipment.

Set deck thicknesses for bulkhead, casings, hatch coamings, and more and do your best to have proper intersections of lines, avoiding unnecessary overlap or excess surface/solid matter.

If your program allows, export it as IGES and import those surfaces (and resulting solids) into DELFTSHIP, if you have DS Pro.

If you have gotten this far, then inspect the Layers interface to observe the inclusion of your objects and their layer names. If you export it as an IGES file again, it may be all green. But, you should have a great basis or parent model that you can fair and run reports on, although the blueprints/lines plans you have were created by experienced designers/drafters, meaning a LOT of guesswork or research on your part will be avoided or minimized.

Others may wish to join in as the have MUCH more experience than i do.

[Joe Huntley]

thanks i was playing around last night couldnt do anything lol but i will try some of your suggestions. I dont need the superstructures or anything just the hull as I will do the rest in solidworks. I also have to figure hout how to change the XYZ drawing coordinates

[Brent nation]

Hi proflooney, I work with Delftship and Solidworks on a daily basis practily and would be glad to help you out. is there a way to contact you?

[Joe Huntley]

heya harly what version SW you using? and you can contact me direct at jahuntley@mchsi.com

joe

[Joe Huntley]

well guys I been playing around and got a couple hulls sorta started but there are areas that i just cant figure out. I have a battleship that has a weird area by the rudder I cant get shaped (it may not be weird but is just weird to me) and I am really wanting to finish this fletcher class destroyer hull so I can get started on the rest of it but again am having troubles with the back end and not sure for adjusting the rest of the hull little tweaks etc. I think i got it going right but not sure where to go next.

I attached a screenshot and if the file attach works for me attached it as a version 3.6 as for some reason that seems to work for me for swapping back and forth.

could someone look at it and tell me if I am going in the right direction and what I need to do to get the back end finished up so I can pull it into solidworks for further development.

thanks

Joe [file name=USS_Sullivans_DD_537.fbm size=1202292]http://www.delftship.net/delftship/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/USS_Sullivans_DD_537.fbm[/file]

Attachments:

• USS_Sullivans_DD_537.fbm

[Hrvoje]

harlyrat wrote:

Hi proflooney, I work with Delftship and Solidworks on a daily basis practically and would be glad to help you out. is there a way to contact you?

Hello!
Can you, please, in few words explain what are you doing with Solidworks? I never used it, and I have not idea what can it be used for. Thank you!

Kind regards, Hrvoje

[Joe Huntley]

well right now im abt to try to loft one of the hulls I am needing to do in solidworks as im just having a rough time getting it done in delftship.

that being said once you get the hull lofted up in delft ship you can export it as an iges file and bring it into solidworks. since I design Models for modellers, museums, and the r/c world all usually aircraft and just getting into ships,

but if I was using solidworks be it a real 1:1 ship or a model I would be able to goto vendors for lets say a winch motor and most of them have equipment in solidworks format i could download and install in my ship. this saves me drawing it up and also since it is the motor i plan on using I have one from the supplier so I know its drawn properly (or should be) so I can use it for clearances etc.

i can also do superstructures etc really easily with sw and many more things.

Joe

[Joe Venables]

G,day Harlyrat

I’m a ship modeller and want to use Delftship to generate plans for sailing ship frames for a plank-on-frame model. At 67 I do not wish to learn all the ins and outs of Delftship just enough for my immediate need to draft frame for schooner Bluenose from existing lines drawings. Is this possible in Delftship and can you show me the way. I would certainly appreciate a step by step procedure if this is possible. My email address is joeven@westnet.com.au

Joe
Australia

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