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Mechanical Design Tools

Mechanical Design Tools

Mechanical Design Tools

(OP)
   I am curious.  What are you people using to do mechanical design?  Primarily, I want to know how many people are using 2D CAD.  I know some architects still use drafting boards.  Please confine this to mechanical design.  

   I may have to move this to Surveymonkey.

   SolidWorks 2007.   

               JHG

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

It's been more than ten years since I stopped using 2D CAD unless forced to do so.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Inventor Pro 2010

Engineering is the art of modelling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyse so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess, in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance.
-A R Dykes
 

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

We use Visi Vero, would love to move over to Catia when finances allow.

I do not know of anyone still using 2D in the automotive world.
 

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Alibre

Ted

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

SolidWorks 2010, stopped using 2D as primary about 13yrs ago.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Yep, SW 2010, although I do have a plethora of other programs on my machine just in case some crotchety old engineer insists on using 2D.

Dan

www.eltronresearch.com
Dan's Blog

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Pro Engineer WF2,3,4 and 5.

2D cad is still useful for hydraulic schematics.

Makes me go cold thinking about 2D mechanical design.

Adrian  

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

SolidWorks here

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Autodesk Inventor 2011

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Solidworks,
bare AutoCAD,
Rhinoceros,
... whatever's available.
 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Inventor Pro 2010, although I still whip out sketches on AutoCad from time to time (it can be faster than Inventor for some things).  SW would be my first choice, but legacy keeps us where we are.  Son at home (doing CG work for school projects) uses Rhino and Google sketchup, but his last project was done on an Autocad 3D suite, which includes inventor and some newer stuff they have that did some pretty neat surfacing/rendering.

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

NX4 (UG) and Pro/E Wildfire 3 at work, Alibre at home.

Peter Stockhausen
Senior Design Analyst (Checker)
Infotech Aerospace Services
www.infotechpr.net

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Solidworks.

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Been using Pro/Engineer for 20+ years.  I'll redraw something rather than use 2D CAD.

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Haven't used 2D cad, well, ever (except for flowcharts).  Went directly from the board to Applicon (around '86), followed by ComputerVision, CadKey, UG/NX, and a little SolidWorks thrown in for good measure.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - Robert Hunter
 

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Well, if we're going into history not just what we currently use...

I've never done a full hand drawing, just a few amendments including on silk media.

At uni I used 'Auto-sketch' for our limited drawing labs, they moved to AutodCad the following year (which sucked for anyone in my year needing drawings for their final year design projects etc.).  

As soon as I started working it was straight onto 3D with Solid Edge and Pro E.  What limited 2D stuff I've done has been in the 2D environment of Solid Edge.

Posting guidelines FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm? (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Currently it's SolidWorks 2009, haven't convinced enough people to go to 2010 yet.  I have used table for university work.  In industry I have used AutoCAD, ProE, Microstation and SolidWorks (and DWGEditor if you count that)

RE: Mechanical Design Tools


Started on Paper in 1978
Progressed through various Autocad versions
Started with Solid Edge 7 in 2000
still using Solid Edge today with ST2

Had a sabatical year (2006) with Solidworks and ProE

 

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

In 1995 the company I worked for (seismic gear for the oil industry) used AutoCad  r11 and r12, mostly in 2D. During that project we switched to 3D for some jobs and also bought an Ideas seat for solid modelling and FEA.

That was pretty much the last time I saw 2D cad for mechanical design, for new projects, although in 1996 the car company I now work for was still transitioning from a home grown 2D system to Ideas.

I've just done a course in Inventor, it seems entirely usable, although the 3d sweep tool and other 3d tools seem a bit idiosyncratic.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies  http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Catia here

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Solidworks 2010
Inventor 2011
Some other Autodesk applications, too

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

ProE WF4

Stephen Seymour, PE
Seymour Engineering & Consulting Group
www.seymourecg.com  

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Acad 2002  
Alibre
I used to run Solidworks up to 2007 then gave up because it cost too much.
B.E.

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

We're using Pro/ENGINEER and a 2D program called ExpertCAD.

We have a number of parts in our lineup that are drafted as efficiently or moreso in 2D than 3D.  3D systems require more careful management of the multiple data files and more skilled/specialized users.  This makes our 2D system still quite compelling.

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

As I had to work on numerous projects or better yet problems during the same time frame, two things worked quite well for me.

One is the the  aforementioned 2D drafting as it is very easy to run variations on a theme. One particular project was a mechanical seal that operated on an 8" and 20" diameter shaft at 600°F at 1 rpm. I probably went through 50 iterations before the light went on.

Another very simple tool I used is the outline feature of a word processor.  This can impart some order to your thoughts and you can promote and demote ideas easily. If you have to lay the project down it makes it very easy to come back an pick it up where you left off.   

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

NX4 here planning on upgrading to NX6 in the next few months.
 

Bruce aka Tunalover

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

ProE WF4. The only time I used 2D was for a brief period of civil work but never for mechanical design.  

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

I mainly work in Visio & Excel at the moment.. process engineering lets me do things with simple/low level tools.

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Currently Pro/ENGINEER WF4.0 for 3d (it's come a long way since release 7)

Started on the board in the early 80's. Played with AutoCad briefly. Our first CAD system was Computervision Designer-M running CADDS-4, then 4X. Migrated to Pro/E from there and didn't look back.

But, although I've been using Pro/E for more years than I care to remember, a quadrille pad and #2 pencil suit the bill perfectly fine for the quick concept sketch or recording ideas.

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

I use an Etch-A-Sketch.

Photocopying is a bit of a challenge.

Regards,

SNORGY.

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

SNORGY,
3-cheers for the technologically impaired! Up-side is that you're not dependent on the grid!!
Ed

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

SolidWorks 2009...been using SolidWorks since 2003 -

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

2D CAD is unfortunately alive and well in certain industries where rotational symmetry makes 3D merely a luxury.

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Drawing Board (Since 1980)
Auto Cad V10 through V12(since 1990)
Cadkey (since 1995)
AutoCad Lite & Microsoft Office(since 1997)

Process Engineering no 3D required but would be helpfull

MfgEngGear

 

RE: Mechanical Design Tools

Currently on AutoCad 2006, but employer just purchased/installed SolidWorks... Unfortunately I don't think they have a good plan for the transition, so who knows when we will actually make the switch.

In my history:
A mix of hand-drafting and CadKey in both high school and first year of college (3 semesters total)
SolidWorks/Cosmos for aerodynamic class in 3rd year
ProE course fourth year
SolidWorks for internship and first 2 jobs after graduation (~2 years)
AutoCad at current employer for the last 3 years.

-- MechEng2005

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