3D Modeling for Coops (& appliances)

[WesleyBeal]

Before I got just a bit better at SketchUp, I daydreamed a fair bit about setting myself up a small drafting table and gathering the tools together. Been a long time since the 9 weeks spent on Mechanical Drawing in 7th grade shop class.

Now, a carpenter's pencil and a piece of scrap wood gets me by until I get back to the computer.

 

[aart]

Before I got just a bit better at SketchUp, I daydreamed a fair bit about setting myself up a small drafting table and gathering the tools together. Been a long time since the 9 weeks spent on Mechanical Drawing in 7th grade shop class.

Now, a carpenter's pencil and a piece of scrap wood gets me by until I get back to the computer.

I learned to draft on the table....but never could have made a living at it.
One cadd class, I could barley use a computer at that point, and I had an internship doing cadd on a vax based system....was couple years yet before we went to standalone desktops.

I still use the pencil and paper when effective, often scribble sketch and dimensions on paper from the cadd to build off of.

 

[Gridguru]

I love SketchUp and have been using it for a while now. My undergrad degree is in architecture, so prior to this i did all my plans by hand. This is so much easier, and fairly intuitive to use/learn.

I did my entire coop and run (plus next year's addition) on it.

 

[WesleyBeal]

Now that's what I'm talking about.

Would you be interested in producing models of coops and sharing them? We could prefix our "BYC Approved" coops with BYC-, with links to them here, and encourage people to use these designs when building their coops.

Not you by yourself - I at least would contribute too.

 

[WesleyBeal]

Also, don't suppose you're aware of any way of modeling wind & ventilation? Sunlight is easy. If there were a way of modeling ventilation, it would be so informative...

 

[Gridguru]

I wish i could, as i do enjoy the design process even more than the building part. Unfortunately, the one thing i am lacking recently is "time". Between work, a patio rebuild, coop addition, a side business building poker tables, and kids in "club" sports, I haven't had time to do the things i NEED to get done, must less the things i WANT to get done. Things slow down in the summer, so maybe i'll have time then.

As far as modeling ventilation, are you referring to actual air flow paths? If so, no, i don't know how you could do that. I would think there would be too many variables to model something like that accurately, but i could be wrong.

 

[aart]

Also, don't suppose you're aware of any way of modeling wind & ventilation? Sunlight is easy. If there were a way of modeling ventilation, it would be so informative...

There are engineering softwares out there that can do that (seriously doubt Sketchup can do it) but probably not attainable to the backyard chickeneer or a home based cadd operator.

 

[cekendri]

I have been lurking for a while and have used AutoCAD to design parts of my coop. Currently have 6 pullets and a roo surviving there first winter in the UP MI. Planning on a complete redesign this spring.

If you want to look at heat and flow simulations you can do it in COMSOL or Solidworks. Working at a university most of these very expensive tools are free to use and can import most CAD models if made in other software. Not that I have the time to do the simulation, those would be the options that might help.

http://solidworksreselleregsindia.blogspot.com/2015/05/hvac-using-solidworks-flow-simulation.html

 

[WesleyBeal]

If you want to look at heat and flow simulations you can do it in COMSOL or Solidworks. Working at a university most of these very expensive tools are free to use and can import most CAD models if made in other software. Not that I have the time to do the simulation, those would be the options that might help.

http://solidworksreselleregsindia.blogspot.com/2015/05/hvac-using-solidworks-flow-simulation.html

Yeah, that sort of thing would answer a lot of questions on this site. Just need to find a university employee with extra time on their hands.

 

[cekendri]

When a coop is broken down into its simplest form out it is a room with small openings for ventilation and access. That would be easy to model and look at air flow. Might do it for my coop and see what can be determined, I have done flow analysis before, not sure on how hard the humidity is to stimulate. Chickens can be put in the model as a point heat source.