Re: Mechanical design software


"Robin S." <lasernerd@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:e366ffa6-0912-463b-baea-61e0e28b5cdd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I had a demo of SolidWorks yesterday. Looks deluxe. Too much money ($4-
$8k). Inventor looks sweet too but again, too much $$$. I'll likely
get my mill and lathe for less than that - and I'm allowed to sell
them if I need to!

I'd like to go up to $3k, although less is always better.

Stooopid question: is there software with similar capability, but for
less cash?

I will be designing mechanical assemblies. Prototypes and then
hopefully for final product design.

I'd like to have animation capability (crash/interference/range of
motion) analysis would be a real bonus.

COSMOS-type analysis is not necessary but would be sweet if the price
was right.

3d surfacing would be good too. I'll be doing some light *** metal
stamping design (3d surfaces - not flat parts).

Importing point clouds from a laser or whitelight scanner would be
cool too, but I think that's a pretty expensive capability. I think
most scanners include such software anyhow.

I will need to make manufacturing drawings using the models and I'd
like them to change when the models change (parametric or associative,
or whatever you wanna call it).

Will be doing some cell/shop layout too. Not really necessary, but
certainly a useful gimmick if the price is right.

Not too worried about CAM right now. Will likely need CAM software
from another vendor anyway, so it's not currently important.
(RobotMaster for instance - I know... Gak).

I've looked around on Rhino's website, as well as IronCAD. Hard to
tell what I'm not getting by going with these lower-priced
alternatives. I'll download the demos when I have a better sense of
what I'm looking for. Kind of aw-struck right now - lots of choices.

Any thoughts? I certainly appreciate every one's input and time.

Regards,

Robin

I use Alibre Expert which includes 3D parameteric CAD, 2D drawing, photorendering, PDF generation, motion simulation, a feature- or time-limited version of Algor Design Check (FEA), basic *** metal features, and a limited CAM program based on Visual Mill Basic 5. Assemblies and drawings update with part feature changes. It's easy to create detail and cross section views on drawings and there is a BOM feature for assemblies. Drawing templates can be customised and re-used. It's native file format is STEP but it will import and export DWG, IGES, and SAT files.

It's the wrong tool for complex projects like the Shuttle but works well for me on moderately-sized projects. My largest assembly was around 400 parts, I think, though maybe 1/3 of that was fasteners:

http://memweb.newsguy.com/~mphenry/V-Twin-ExplodedView1.jpg

It took me less than 40 hours to get moderately proficient, but that's probably a user-dependent thing and I might feel differently if I'd used something else. Prices range from free (Alibre Express) to $2k for the Expert version described above. Maintenance is $300 per year or so. Intermediate version have reduced feature sets:

http://www.alibre.com/products/mechanical/cad_for_me.asp

A set of basic tutorials is included with the program and a more detailed set on CD for $200. There's a 30-day trial version through the above link and the free version is available here:

http://www.alibre.com/xpress/software/alibre-design-xpress.asp

It's not as full featured as Inventor or Solidworks, but for the money seems to be a very good tool

Mike





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