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Owned by Nate
Your go-to community for mastering SolidWorks by designing custom off-road vehicles. Learn CAD, suspension, and chassis principles.
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190.2k members • Free
24 contributions to Offroad Design Crew SOLIDWORKS
Dec '25 •
Ask Section
This is where you ask design and SolidWorks related questions. Be sure to include as much info as possible about the project you are working on, and include screenshots if possible.
0 likes • 10d
@Ben Brakesman right on, I think if you're trying to rebuild those brackets from scratch I would start with those photos as a reference and see if you can approximate the dimensions of the holes and the bend based on your vehicle
0 likes • 9d
@Ben Brakesman yeah totally, I think that's a great place to start, then once you have the model you could 3D print it to fit check it, or just fabricate it out of thin sheet metal before making the final version
11d •
NEW VIDEO LIVE
I've got annother video posted on the latest Halftrack design. The longform video is in the free section of the Classroom, and you can see it on YT here:
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Feb 8 •
File Organization
Hey all! I'm curious how does everyone organize their projects or jobs? I feel like organizations of our files is just as important as designing the parts. Especially when it comes time for revisions and manufacturing. In my line of work I design parts for my business and the other half I do job shop work for customers (3d scanning, 3d CAD and help customers find manufactures to produce their parts) For my job shop work, the folder tree starts with the Customer Name. Within their name I have their invoice or quote number of their job. Once inside the invoice or quote number I'll have a folder for engineering and manufacturing. I like to keep the original engineered part separate from the manufactured part so that I always have the original part. (saved as copy) Engineering folder will have everything related to designing that part. Ill have a folder for Hardware, References, Prints and 3mf for 3d printing prototypes. Manufacturing folder stays pretty clear with just the CAD file, STEP file and drawing. For my business, its very similar. I start with the vehicle manufacture first but it gets very much cluttered as there are lots of, vehicle models, type of part (armor, brackets, electrical), revisions, references and months to years of developing parts. I'd like to clean up my business folder so I'm curious to what everyone is doing.
1 like • 26d
Hey sorry I missed this. In the past, at large organizations with multiple people working on the same parts, we used SolidWorks PDM. It allows you to "check-in" and "check-out" files, so only one person owns the edits at a time. Plus it saves revision history. We also used a smart part number system that we internally decided on. We would request new part numbers from the drafters, and they would manage the file types and part types.
27d •
HELP NEEDED - Halftrack Drive Mechanism
Do you guys think I should have the drive mechanism in the back, like a tank? Or in the front like a Motorcycle chain? VIDEO ATTACHED
0 likes • 27d
@Jason Skaggs I tend to agree, thats how they do it on the Ripsaw
0 likes • 27d
@Jason Skaggs this is great! gonna feed that to NotebookLM
Feb 6 •
What have you gotten done in 2026?
January is over and the year is in full swing. Let us know in the comments of this post what you have been working on this year so far. Pics & screenshots highly appreciated. Also, check out a sneak preview of my latest design. Video coming soon-ish, still more work do do!
0 likes • Feb 9
@Emmanuel Paul I will DM you
0 likes • Feb 12
@Xander Steyn absolutely! Keeping up with university work is a huge accomplishment
1-10 of 24
@nate-wilkerson-7098
I'm Nate, I'm and engineer, and I love designing offroad vehicles in SolidWorks. Join me if you want to learn about suspension design and 3D CAD.
Active 20h ago
Joined Aug 19, 2025