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FEM Designer Source

Lew_Merrick

Lew_Merrick

Guest
mule1000@live.com said:
Is FEMDesigner still in business? Tried to contact them middle of last week and have had no reply.
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James Gardiner (jdg@femdesigner.com) is still running things, but his "day job" eats a lot of his time. I argue that the worthless group that 3DS got in bed with needs to be "disassocviated" from Alibre and FEMDesigner returned to the fold!!! -- Lew
 
M

mule1000@live.com

New Member
Lew_Merrick said:
James Gardiner (jdg@femdesigner.com) is still running things, but his "day job" eats a lot of his time. I argue that the worthless group that 3DS got in bed with needs to be "disassocviated" from Alibre and FEMDesigner returned to the fold!!! -- Lew
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I agree 100% with you Lew. I was an early user of FEMAD way back in the day and found it to be amazing - much better and faster than most FEA software packages. Also MUCH easier to use. Early on (1990's) there were bugs that had to do with whether it would run on a model but it was always accurate when it did run. Now I'm finding that it runs on some pretty complicated models. The primary difference I think is the meshing engine which has improved since I first used it a thousand years ago. Recently modeled a part that looks like a bulldog clip and it matched behavior (load/deflection and yield point) perfectly. Awful aspect ratio but still good results (elastic).

Several years ago, the plastic solution matched several 17-4 PH stainless steel (used your material properties - thank you) parts I was testing to failure - I would model the part and the test fixtures to make sure the parts would fail first. Then I would test the part and get a load deflection curve that I could unload to find the permanent deformation at each load. Parts were on the order of 3 inches across and around 1/4 inch thick tested in bending and the results agreed within a few thousands (say 0.01 inch out of permanent deflection of 0.250 inch). Considering how the part's dimensions varied around the nominal I found this amazing.

My issue that I was complaining about above was I was moving my license to another computer after about 10 years and it flashed the "trial copy you have 29 days" window. I was too stupid to see that it was asking me to register the product. James answered my e-mail (like you said - in his spare time which to me was a week) pointing out I needed to click on the registration button. Politely of course. I was terrified that they were out of business - and I would no longer have their product.
 
Lew_Merrick

Lew_Merrick

Guest
mule1000@live.com said:
I agree 100% with you Lew

My issue that I was complaining about above was I was moving my license to another computer after about 10 years and it flashed the "trial copy you have 29 days" window. I was too stupid to see that it was asking me to register the product. James answered my e-mail (like you said - in his spare time which to me was a week) pointing out I needed to click on the registration button. Politely of course. I was terrified that they were out of business - and I would no longer have their product.
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I understand completely. Getting a reply from James takes time. I continue to argue for FEMDesigner becoming part of the Alibre team -- and all who need such tools should join in to make a chorus! -- Lew
 
Lew_Merrick

Lew_Merrick

Guest
One thing to note: It was about a year-and-half ago I had last "updated" FEMDesigner. Sometime a while ago I had to "restore to an earlier version" (Windows 7). I had to (re-)update FEMDesigner to get it running with Alibre V21. It took a bit of "coordination," but now it is working fine! -- Lew
 
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