There are numerous resources for FRC teams published all the time. So much so it’s hard to keep track of them all. We keep a nice collection of them on our website resources.spectrum3847.org and maintain it as much as possible, but it’s still a lot to process, and it’s not easy to see when new items get added or old items removed.
We wanted to start a new series to highlight resources that we find useful. For the next few months, we will highlight a few broad categories of resources, and then hopefully, we can use this platform to highlight new resources as they come out in the future.
Our Resources of the Month for January 2021 will be those created to help the FRC community better use the OnShape CAD software.
We need to thank PTC and the developers of OnShape for sponsoring FIRST and allowing every FRC student and mentor access to OnShape for free. OnShape is a 3D modeling CAD (Computer-Aided Design) program that runs entirely in the browser. It’s been perfect for many teams who are meeting remotely as it can run on nearly any computer or tablet.
Our FRC community has created a host of resources that allow teams to quickly and easily get started using OnShape to help their team.
OnShape4FRC
www.OnShape4FRC.com was created by Max Westwater, Dave Powers, Jack Tervay, and FRC#6328.
This website makes getting started with OnShape super simple for teams and is one of the sites we link to our beginning students. With an excellent getting started page and links and how to post about many of the resources we will highlight below, this page is a one-stop-shop for anyone looking to get started using OnShape on their FRC team.
MKCad
Julia’s Featurescripts
You can find her scripts here and add them to your OnShape toolbar. Besides being amazing at programming these tools, her blazingly fast response time to feature requests is even more unbelievable. This nearly 200 post CD thread catalogs the scripts’ evolution over the past year and a half.
Spectrum has started using OnShape this season, and we have been documenting what we learn as well. Our resources aren’t nearly as useful as those above, but you are still looking for more, check out our in-progress OnShape Resources document and look at our YouTube channel for tutorials.
“If you can’t draw as well as someone, or use the software as well, or if you do not have as much money to buy supplies, or if you do not have access to the tools they have, beat them by being more thoughtful. Thoughtfulness is free and burns on time and empathy.” – Frank Chimero
Source: Spectrum