Archive for the ‘Auto CAD’ Category

U.S. CAD™ Chosen by David Evans and Associates as Official Autodesk® Reseller and Civil 3D Implementation Consultant

Major engineering firm taps U.S. CAD to speed transition to new civil engineering software standard.

Costa Mesa, CA (PRWEB) January 22, 2008 — U.S. CAD, Inc. (formerly L.A. CAD), the Western U.S.’s largest provider of computer-aided design (CAD) consulting, training and support services, and its largest Autodesk® solutions reseller, today announced it has been chosen by engineering firm David Evans and Associates, Inc. (DEA) as its official Autodesk reseller and Civil 3D implementation consultant. The multi-year contract puts DEA at the forefront of engineering firms transitioning to the new industry standard in civil engineering software, with U.S. CAD advancing the effort.

"We are very excited about our agreement with DEA, which enables us provide them the latest Autodesk solutions, as well as our advanced training and support services — all aimed at helping DEA and its customers be even more successful," said U.S. CAD CEO Danny Counts. "This agreement exemplifies our U.S. CAD strategy to expand our technical capabilities and reach, while maintaining our core focus on delivering superior technical solutions and customer service."

"Over the past two years, DEA has been embracing and leveraging the new Autodesk Civil 3D technology through a large scale, phased approach," said J.C. Davis, DEA corporate information systems and Civil 3D project manager. "U.S. CAD has the resources and expertise to handle the ongoing administration and management of this project, as well as the ability to meet our other ongoing Autodesk product, training and support needs. It’s a good match."

With offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New York, Oregon and Washington, DEA is ahead of most other large engineering firms in implementing the new Civil 3D standard, which for many large-scale applications is the next-generation to Autodesk’s workhorse Land Desktop software. "Civil 3D is far more than a new civil engineering software application; it’s a fundamental advance in the field — a new way of completing projects faster, more efficiently and with greater design consistency than previously possible," said Davis. He added that DEA’s time savings on production plan development thus far using Civil 3D has approached 30 percent, with greater savings anticipated with through product familiarity and U.S. CAD’s support.

"With its ability to dynamically connect design and documentation, enabling design development to occur simultaneously with data collection, Civil 3D requires an organizational commitment to workflow change that many firms aren’t yet able to approach," said Melanie Santer, U.S. CAD applications engineer, who specializes in Civil 3D training, installation, support and implementation. "This is where DEA’s forward-thinking and U.S. CAD’s Autodesk and Civil 3D expertise make the perfect pairing. The end result will be time and cost savings for DEA and its customers."

About David Evans and Associates

Since its founding in 1976 in Portland, Ore., DEA has become a recognized leader for progressive and sustainable design and management solutions for complex transportation, land development, energy, and water resources projects nationwide. DEA’s multi-disciplinary teams partner with clients to tailor solutions to meet the unique needs of each project. The firm has over 20 offices in seven states and employs more than 1,000 people firmwide. Its staff includes professional engineers, surveyors, planners, landscape architects, and natural resources scientists. DEA is an employee-owned corporation and consistently ranks among ENR’s Top 100 Pure Design firms in the U.S. DEA and its staff are committed to improving the quality of life, while demonstrating stewardship of the built and natural environments. For more information, visit www.deainc.com/default.aspx.

About U.S. CAD

Based in Costa Mesa, Calif., U.S. CAD, Inc. is a major provider of computer-aided design (CAD) consulting, training and support services, and Autodesk software solutions. Specializing in the civil, mechanical and architectural design, building-engineering and geospatial industries, the company provides technical expertise and customized training to deliver superior customer solutions. Customers value U.S. CAD’s quality instruction from Autodesk Approved Instructors, and its flexible training options, including modular mobile training labs. With Autodesk Authorized Training Centers at its Costa Mesa, Los Angeles, San Diego and Honolulu, Hawaii locations, U.S. CAD has become the Autodesk provider of choice for many of the West’s leading CAD-related companies. For more information, visit www.uscad.com.

U.S. CAD and L.A. CAD are trademarks of U.S. CAD, Inc.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008:  SYCODE, a developer of software solutions for computer aided design (CAD) industry, has launched seven CAD file import and export add-ins for Inventor. The Inventor model is a 3D digital prototype that enables users to validate design and engineering data as they work, minimise the need for physical prototypes and reduce costly engineering changes discovered after the design is sent to manufacturing.

The import add-ins are as follows: STL Import for Inventor — Stereolithography STL file import add-in; 3DS Import for Inventor — 3D Studio 3DS file import add-in; 3DM Import for Inventor – Rhinoceros/OpenNURBS 3DM file import add-in; and OBJ Import for Inventor — Wavefront OBJ file import add-in.

The export add-ins are as follows: 3DS Export for Inventor — 3D Studio 3DS file export add-in; 3DM Export for Inventor — Rhinoceros/OpenNURBS 3DM file export add-in; and OBJ Export for Inventor — Wavefront file export add-in.

"Autodesk Inventor is being widely used the world over for 3D solid modelling,” stated Deelip Menezes, owner, SYCODE. “These seven CAD data exchange add-ins are our contribution towards helping Inventor fit into the 3D design workflows of Autodesk customers. With the launch of these add-ins, SYCODE now offers more than 100 products (standalone and plug-ins), 101 to be precise.”

The add-ins are priced at €195 each and are available as fully functional 10 day/run trials.

Two Days Training on Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T)
5-6 December 2007: BangaloreCII Institute of Quality (CII-IQ) is announces it’s training module on Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD T) to be held 5-6 December 2007 at Bangalore.Course Objectives: To learn the standard method of interpreting the Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing given in the drawing. To learn how inspection…

Integrate manufacturing with ecological sensitivity : Prof Prahalad
Mumbai: Breaking the price performance envelope by integrating manufacturing with ecological sensitivity and strength of IT will create huge opportunities in India, advocated Prof C K Prahalad, World’s top most Thinker and Paul Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor, The University of Michigan, at the CII 6th Manufacturing…

KOMPAS-3D V9 LT for Mechanical CAD is available online for FREE
ASCON released the Light, Demo and Viewer of the newest KOMPAS-3D V9 versionSt.Petersburg, Russia – ASCON Group, developer and vendor of CAD/CAPP/PDM Solutions, is glad to present its flagship considerably improved product for Mechanical Computer-Aided Design KOMPAS-3D V9 in Demo, Light and Viewer mode.

ARAI Forging Industry Division launched its official web site
Pune: ARAI-FID formally launched its official web site www.firiindia.com in order to widen its reach amongst the worldwide forging industry, research agencies, associates, vendors and job seekers. The web site provides the information on the infrastructure available, various kinds of testing to be undertaken, research activities and training being offered…

Continued influx of orders for German machine tools
Frankfurt am Main: The rise in demand for German machine tools continues apace. In the third quarter of 2007 orders increased by 31 per cent over against the same period last year. The major contribution towards this dynamic business trend came from domestic customers. The orders they placed rose by…

If you work in a specialized design domain, such as aluminum composite panel assembly, HVAC duct installation, log cabin architecture or turbocharger manufacture, your CAD drafting service provider will need specialized knowledge for performing your drafting.

For instance, the drawings might have to be compatible with a CNC machine tool. This would imply a definite relationship between types of objects in the drawing and the layers in the drawing. This in turn would require the CAD drafting service provider to understand which objects to put on which layer.

Understanding which objects to put on which layer frequently calls for the draftsperson to profoundly understand your manufacturing or construction process.

The trouble is, there are very few CAD drafting service providers with ready knowledge of specialized domains. This means your choice of providers will be limited, and there is a good chance you will not be enthused by any of the firms that present themselves.

So what?s a CAD outsourcer like you to do?

Grow your own! (provider, that is?)

You?re right if you think this takes a lot of time, energy and patience. You?re wrong if you feel it will not be worth it.

Look at the advantages: we are talking about subject areas where there aren?t many good CAD drafting service providers. You take the trouble to develop one. So finally you have a good one and nobody else does.

This gives you a tremendous competitive benefit in terms of cost. While others have to use in-house, specialized draftspeople costing maybe $27 per hour, you?re cruising along at $11 per hour. Is that a killer advantage or what?!

The other big plus of growing your own provider is the loyalty that develops. Service provider loyalty is like protein to an outsourcing relationship. You need it vitally, you can?t buy it out and you have to produce it within the relationship. If you have it, you can go more miles than your nearest rival.

Which CAD service provider do you start off with? Find one your friends are using, or go online and select one with due diligence (more about that in a forthcoming article).

The motto of this story is that if you cannot find a CAD drafting service provider with the skills you need, find one that has an otherwise strong skill set. Take the time to teach them the skills, knowing all along that it is you, the outsourcer, who will reap enormous benefits as a result of the process.

To your CAD outsourcing health!

CNC Stomp Pad Video 3 – Rhino 3D

In this CNC Video we take the design into Rhino 3D.  We scale it to the size we want and then convert it into a DXF File.  That prepares it for the next stage which is CAM.

Lattice Technology Releases XVL Plug-in for Adobe Acrobat 3D
3D Data Collaboration Workflows Greatly Enhanced San Francisco – LATTICE TECHNOLOGY, Inc., developers of the XVL ultra-compressed 3D data format, today announced the release of a groundbreaking new product, XVL Plug-In for Adobe® Acrobat® 3D. The software operates with Acrobat 3D Version 8 to enable easy bi-directional conversion between Adobe…

IIT-M to set up Rs 100 crore advanced manufacturing centre
Chennai: The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M), is planning to set up a centre for advanced manufacturing and has been endowed with a grant of Rs.100 crore from the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) for the purpose. IIT-M director, M.S.Ananth said that the centre…

SpaceClaim Professional 2007+ Extends CAD Interoperability
CONCORD, Mass: SpaceClaim Corp., the leading provider of CAD-neutral modification solutions for the extended product development team, today announced the newest release of its flagship product, SpaceClaim Professional 2007+. The software delivers advanced file open and modification capabilities for concept design, engineering analysis and manufacturing to directly contribute their expertise…

Cimatron Brings Mold Making Solutions to Euromold
Integrated CAD/CAM Solutions are Proven to Shorten Delivery TimesGIVAT SHMUEL, Israel, : Visitors to the upcoming Euromold trade fair will be able to see Cimatron’s (NASDAQ: CIMT) suite of integrated CAD/CAM solutions that are proven to help mold makers deliver higher quality tools at lower costs and shorter cycle times….

Design
First we are going to talk about the initial element of CNC.  That element is design.  Before you begin a CNC project, you need to have a plan of action.  The design is like a blueprint, you know what you are going to build before you ever build it.

Here are some important elements of design that need to be answered:
What size will it be?
What material will it be made of?
Who is the customer?
What will it be used for?

Your design can be anything.  It could be an industrial part or a work of art.  This is only really limited by your imagination.  Many people use CNC every day to manufacture parts.  Many hobbyists use CNC every day to create art and various home projects.
Before I design I like to sketch a few ideas out on paper.  I like to toy with different ideas to spark my creativity.   This is the equivalent of brainstorming.  When I really get my juices flowing, that is when my best designs rise to the top.  I generally carry around a notebook with me to note designs that I think of during the day.

After I have a few likely suspects, I try to look through each of the ideas to see if I can merge them somehow.  Some designs have different parts or components to them.  Some of these components are better than others.  Can I take some of these parts and add them to another design to make it better?  Just like writing, editing your designs is a critical step in the process.
When you are designing, you are really trying to describe what you are going to build.  The more accurately you can do that, the better the whole process will go.  Just like a house, if you have a strong foundation, you will have a good house.  If you have a solid design, the rest of the process is easy.

CAD
CAD stands for Computer Aided Design or Drafting.  CAD was developed in the early 60s.  Today it is the premier way to design, develop and optimized products.  People use CAD every day to design virtually every product you see.  Generally, designers use CAD to design a product, and then produce prints to manufacture that product.  A print is a picture of a part or assembly that is very exact.  It includes the dimensions and a parts list used to manufacture a product.

Computer Aided Drafting software packages can generally be broken into two groups.  The groups are 2-D drafting packages or 3-D drafting packages.  Most all software packages are moving to 3-D design.  3-D design is really the next generation of CAD.  Utilizing 3-D design, engineers can make a model of their product.  They can then look over this model for any apparent defects before it is ever made.

3-D Design
Utilizing 3-D design, engineers can cut down on the number of manufacturing mistakes that occur due to fit up and tolerance issues.  This translates into a more efficient operation with less waste for the manufacturer.

Here are some examples of 3-D drafting/design software:
Inventor
TopSolid
SolidWorks
Alibre Design
Rhino3D

2-D Design
2-D design can be very efficient if you need to make a quick part that is not very complex.  You could quickly sketch out a silhouette of an object and convert it into a CAM tool path.  This is an operation where 2-D will really shine.

Here are some examples of 2-D drafting/design software:
AutoCAD
MicroStation

At some point you will need to use CAD.  You will need to take your design and translated it into a print.  The best way to do that is to use CAD.  You will need to purchase a CAD program of some sort if you are serious about CNC.  Many CAD programs have a free or trial period that you can use to evaluate the program.  My suggestion is to try a few and then select one that fits the way you design.

CAD (Computer-aided design)
Geometry authoring tool that involves software and sometimes special-purpose hardware. Current packages range from 2D vector based drafting systems to 3D solid and surface modellers.

CAM (Computer-aided manufacturing)
Considered as an NC programming tool wherein 3D models of components generated in CAD software are used to generate CNC code to drive numerical controlled machine tools

CNC (computer numerical control)
Refers specifically to a computer "controller" that reads G-code instructions and drives the machine tool.

CAD/CAM part programming
The computer calculation and creation of a toolpath based on part geometry information created in CAD.

Canned cycle
A predetermined machining sequence used to simplify programming.

Data
Information processed as the basis for calculations.

Database
Computer storage that holds data and is searchable

Detail Drawing
A drawing of a part giving a complete and exact description of its form, dimensions, and construction

Dimension
The desired measurement of a part

Documentation
A CAD process in which a part design is converted to a computer file or hard copy for reference and storage purposes.

Drawing Exchange Format
DXF. A standard storage format for personal computer-based CAD/CAM platforms

Driver
That portion of the electronic package that receives the stepping sequence from the translator and provides the switching of the windings in the stepper motor.

G-Code
Common name for the programming language that controls NC and CNC machine tools

Geometric Modeling
A modeling process in which a designer creates lines and text that represents the shape of a desired part. Geometric modeling is the first step in CAD.

Geometry
The measurement, properties, and relationships of the lines and points of an object that make up its shape

M Code
A code used to signal an action from a miscellaneous group of commands. M codes change cutting tools, turn on or turn off the coolant, spindle, or work piece clamps, etc.

Machine Control Data
Manufacturing instructions defined in CAM and enacted on a CNC machine.

Machine Control Unit
A small, powerful computer that controls and operates a CNC machine

Machine Tool
Powered mechanical device, typically used to fabricate metal components of machines by machining

Machining
The selective removal of metal or material

Numerical Control
The use of computers and special program instructions to execute the sequence of machining operations to make a part.

Part Program
A series of numerical instructions used by a CNC machine to perform the necessary sequence of operations to machine a specific work piece.

Personal Computer
PC. A computer designed for an individual user and commercial software. Desktops, laptops, and notebook computers are PCs.

Plotter
A large printer used to print blueprints. These output devices support vector graphics, unlike dot matrix and laser printers.

Post Processor
A software link in the CAD/CAM chain that communicates instructions from CAM to a CNC machine

Preliminary Blueprint
A design representing the rough dimensions of a specific part

Primitives or Primitive
Basic shapes such as cubes, spheres, cylinders, blocks, and cones that are combined in solid modeling to create a model of a part.

Prototype
The original test model of a part

Raster Image
A form of graphics in which closely spaced rows of dots form an image on a computer screen. Also known as bit-mapped graphics.

Ramping
The process of controlling the pulse frequency to accelerate or decelerate a stepper motor. Ramping increases the ability to drive larger loads at greater speeds by slowing the first series of pulses allowing the motor to overcome inertial loads and reduces overshooting by slowing the motor down more gradually than an unramped motor.

Scanner
A computer device that converts hard copy drawings into digital form

Software
The coded instructions, formulas, and operations that structure the actions of a computer

Solid Modeling
A type of geometric modeling based on solids in which all visible surfaces of a part are shown. In addition, solid modeling describes interior volume, mass, and weight.

Sub-Program
Acting as a part programming shortcut, a part program sequence that is called on as needed. Also called a subroutine.

Surface Modeling
A type of geometric modeling based on geometry only, in which all visible surfaces of a part are shown regardless of volume definition.

Step Angle
The angular increment the motor shaft will turn each time the windings (coils) are energized. The angle is specified in degrees. For a 200 step per revolution motor the step angle will be 1.8 degrees.

Step per revolution
The total number of steps to rotate the motor shaft 360 degrees. For CNC, 200 or 400 steps per revolution are usually used.

Stepper motor
A device that translates electrical pulses into precise mechanical movement. The output shaft may deliver rotary or linear motion.

Title Block
A portion of a blueprint that contains information such as the company name, part name, part number, designer, scale, and material.

Tolerance
A blueprint specification indicating an unwanted but acceptable deviation from a given dimension

Toolpath
The series of coordinate positions that determine the movement of a tool during a machining operation.

Translator
An electronic device that converts pulses into the correct switching sequence, which will operate the motor one step for each pulse received.

Unipolar
A bifilar wound motor. The current flows only in one direction through each winding. Normally there are two winding per bobbin and eight bobbins per motor. Usually is a 5, 6 or eight wire motor. One or more common leads are used per winding. Has less torque than a bipolar stepper motor but is simpler to drive. Bipolar stepper motor- just two windings. The electronic controls reverse the current alternately between the coils. This motor has more torque but requires more electronic controls.

Vector Graphics
A form of graphics that uses geometric formulas to represent images. Vector graphic images are more easily manipulated than raster graphics when dealing with CNC.

Wire Frame Modeling
A type of geometric modeling in which the edges of a part are represented by solid lines

Working Drawing
A drawing of a part providing data for manufacturing

X-Axis
An axis that is left or right. All movement left of a zero point is minus (-X), all movement right of the zero point is plus (+X).

Y-axis
An axis that is at right angles to the X-axis and intersect the zero point of the X-axis. All movement further away from the zero point is plus (+Y). All movement closer than the zero point is minus (-Y).

Z-axis
An axis that is vertically perpendicular to the X-Y zero point. All movement above the zero point is positive (+Z) while all movement below the zero point is (-Z).