Thread: 2004 Honda Civic Si Install

Originally Posted by turbocad6

what would you recommend as a good beginner cad program to start with?

I second the recommendation for SolidWorks, it has a shorter learning curve than most CAD software and can be purchased or otherwise acquired for a reasonable price. But that's solid modeling, not to be confused with Surfacing software. For good surfaces you need a surfacing program. I think 3D Studio Max and Rhino are good to start with, though I've not used either. I use Alias exclusively, but it's expensive ($10k+ for a single seat), takes a long time to learn, and you need a good graphics card to keep it happy.

Keep in mind that the most difficult step in making 3D data is finding a place to start. In the case of a screen bezel you really need the data for surrounding parts, and this is quite impossible to get.

As far as data aquisition goes, SolidWorks 2007 actually has a plugin for the NextEngine 3D camera. I've seen it demonstrated in person and it's actually quite shocking the speed at which you can get a very close surface approximation. As far as creating surfaces go, you have to be FAR more clever to get it done right in solidworks than with Alias or 3DSMax, but it is entirely possible to create the surfaces and curves you want.

Right now, our seat of Solidworks Office is something like $3500 and we pay the service subscription of about $1800/yr which entitles us to all major updates and new versions, which seems to be something unique among CAD programs. The NextEngine camera was about $2500 when i saw it at the show. https://www.nextengine.com/indexSecure.htm

I've been looking a bit into solidworks, & I either see academic versions for a 2 year licence for real cheap, or like stuff in the thousands....

any clue as to what or where I should buy or get solidworks?, also I see older versions & I see that 2007 is supposed to be an amazing version, any ideas or thoughts there?

also, to make small parts like knobs, buttons & trim pieces, is cad all that's needed or is there also surfacing involved? I think I'm not too clear on the difference, I'd like to be able to design stuff that I could then have made by a place like xpress 3d... I'm guessing the same thing can be found for cnc'ing once I'm able to render something, so this is an area that I'd really like to start to play with learning a bit.

a great many things can be made using solids modeling techniques. If you have a sketch or something, like a 3-view of a knob or button you want to make, just pm me with it and i'll model it in solidworks for you and screenshot the steps so you can see how it goes together. You can download a free tool called eDrawings from solidworks that will let you view the model in 3D.

i've been using solidworks since SolidWorks 98. It's gone through some incredible changes over the years that have made it extremely competetive as a design/engineering package.

All you need is the basic SolidWorks package as far as just creating 3D models. If you use the NextEngine, that will give you a photo-quality 3D model with data points from existing bezels upon which to model your new part.

The difference between surface models and solids models is that surface models can be non-manifold geometry. that means that it can be zero thickness, and disjoint in ways that solids can't. The upshot of solids modeling is you have a running guarantee that you have complete, physically reproduceable (that means SLA/CNC-able etc...) parts. With surfaces, you need to perform a number of steps before creating the real part to transform it into a functional solid.

I can assure you that for the type of work you're looking to do, solids modeling is where you'll spend 98% of your time. I think we spent $4k for our SWx package, so yours may be slightly less... but i think you can order it directly from them.

Wow man, excellent cutting edge work. How did you model the original dash part?? or did you, ehem "aquire" this from somewhere. I was a proud owner of a civic Si when I started here (hence my name) My Si never got to see the PC before I got my mustang but I loved the Si. Fast enough, great on gas, rare. I hit 140 mph in that car which is pretty impressive for its tag of $19k. I had a lot of other mods on the car, I/H/E ECU. Alos had a one off LED gauge cluster that I made. I used to post over at www.ephatch.com Its a forum dedicated to the EP3 civic.

BTW that is the US spec dash, although OEM it comes silver. It looks like your bezel and the OEM center piece were painted in the flat black which IMO looks better than sliver anyway.

Well, I'm going to sell this car after many happy years. If anyone wants to inherit these parts I made, I would love to see them go to a good home. Thanks for everyone's help -

Jamie