Alibre News May 2008

Dance Sucka!

Anyone who has used a software application of most any type has dealt with licensing the application, and I am sure we would all agree that some vendors do it really well, putting the interests and convenience of the customer first, and others not so well, putting the interests and convenience of the customer somewhere well below their own.

Let me start by simply stating the following: I believe if you purchase a software application you should be free to install and use it on any system you own or use, and on as many computers as you own or use, such as a home computer, another computer at work at different location, and so on. Further, it should be easy to do so and the software vendor from whom you purchased the application should be willing to assist you in the process.

Read the rest of the post here.

Until Next Time,

 Greg Milliken, CEO

Alibre and RedEye RPM Announce Partnership

Alibre is pleased to announce a new partnership with RedEye RPM, a business unit of Stratasys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSYS). RedEye RPM is the world’s largest rapid prototyping and manufacturing service bureau, and will be working closely with Alibre to proliferate the use of 3D software and rapid prototyping and manufacturing technologies. Alibre’s Personal CAD/CAM^TM family of 3D parametric mechanical design and manufacturing products and RedEye RPM services are complementary offerings that enable dramatically shorter design cycles and faster innovation for companies of all sizes, even individuals.

As part of the partnership, RedEye RPM announced that they will be creating an add-on for Alibre Design, enabling designers to obtain instant quotes for the parts and assemblies that they have created directly in the Alibre Design application. This will allow Alibre users access to the different prototyping and manufacturing processes offered by RedEye.

About RedEye RPM
RedEye RPM, a business unit of Stratasys, offers expertise and production capacity using the latest in proven rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing technologies and processes. Powered and launched by Stratasys, a leader in rapid prototyping innovation, RedEye RPM is the world’s largest rapid prototyping and parts building service. You can use RedEye RPM to serve as an extension of your in-house capability or as a preferred partner for outsourced prototypes and manufactured parts. For more information, please visit www.redeyerpm.com.

Alibre is happy to announce that the best value CAM product in the industry, Alibre CAM, will be available for download within a week. We are seeing significant pent-up demand for this product, which offers unheard-of affordability in a fully-integrated production 3D parametric CAD/CAM system. Keep checking in with us at www.alibre.com for a product release announcement in the next few days.

Rebuilding a Vintage Biplane with Alibre Design Professional
German Designers Use 3D CAD To Meld Outdated Engineering With Modern Technology

It’s not unusual for enthusiasts of vintage aircraft to go down to their local hobby store and buy a 1:72 scale model fighter to glue together. But very few, like Alibre Design user Patrik Schlemmer, would go so far as to build the actual plane at 1:1 scale.

Building the Heinkel from the ground up has presented Schlemmer and his team with unique challenges. No original construction documents for the plane are known to exist, and several portions of the plane were built by substituting modern designs for their outdated equivalents. Using 3D CAD allowed the engineers to create these missing sections even though they had no dimensions to start with; recalls Schlemmer, “2D drawings do not allow us to see the interference and clearances of the parts, and how they relate to each other. By using 3D models in Alibre, we can judge the appearance from different perspectives.”

Read more about how Alibre is helping bring the Heinkel back to life here.

Join Alibre at the RAPID 2008 Conference & Exposition hosted by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, NEXT WEEK! : May 20-22 2008.

Participate in North America's largest annual rapid manufacturing conference and exposition, RAPID 2008. Held this year in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, the event brings buyers and sellers in the manufacturing and prototyping industries together to share ideas, make sales, network, and much more!



Learn more about the show here, or follow the ad banner.

In Alibre Design, you can include parametric values used to create your designs in your BOM, and consequently in a drawing. This is especially useful if you use standard parts that are cut to length, such as in the design below, but it can also be useful for a wide variety of other circumstances. You can represent almost any value in your BOM, such as length, angle, offset distance, etc.

Create Designs By Inputting BOM Values

Here's a little extra content provided courtesy of Design News. Check it out and let us know what you think.

William Grill wanted to make sure his freezer didn’t cut out and ruin his frozen food. He was concerned that when he traveled, his food could defrost and re-freeze — thus compromising his frozen steaks — without his knowledge. So, he developed a gadget that measures freezer temperatures, keeps a history of variance and sends an alarm if freezer temperatures rise above a set range.

The gadget is built around a small controller, an alarm and a temperature sensor. While temperature monitors are common, Grill’s device remembers temperature variance and displays the length of time the freezer rises above the set temp. The gadget is relatively small and costs less than a couple of steaks bought on sale and stored in the freezer.

Keep An Eye On Your Frozen Dinners