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Real World Applications?

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lrpierce

Member
Real World Applications?

All of my work experience has been in the operations/maintenance fields of the natural gas or wood industry. My exposure to CAD has been through P&ID sheets, construction or equipment drawings, (all 2D, with the occasional isometric view). My question to you is, what is the real world application of a program such as Alibre?

I would like to know from the point of view of the designers themselves. I have read the case studies, and that is more of the way the application is being used as a part of the total picture. I ask because, although I see many places where a program such as Alibre could be used, I don't know the "why".

It is just ingnorance on my part, of course, but I would really appreciate the information. Let me know how you or your company uses software of this type, and more importantly, why 3D modeling software exclusively, and not a tradtitional CAD package.

Thank you in advance,

Les
 
C

cclark440

Alibre Super User


There are many many reasons for design in 3D.
Here are just a few of the reasons.

1) You can build assemblies and check for interference in mating parts.
2) You can calculate physical properties of the part with the click of a button.
3) You can do stress analysis on the parts/assembly to find week points of the design.
4) Many people can more easily understand new designs if they can see a “picture” of what it really is and supposed to do.
5) You can create parts that are directly related to mating parts in an assembly. So if you change one part the other will automatically change to match.
6) You can have different configurations of a part in the same file, and switch between the two with a click of the button.

I am sure that others will chime in here, other benefits to using solid modeling for design work.
 
swertel

swertel

Alibre Super User


And don't forget that Alibre is an MCAD package, or Mechanical CAD. It doesn't work well for building/structure design, shop floor layouts, or GIS. It does really well in defining prismatic machined parts and putting them together by welds or fasteners.

Besides design, a 3D model can be used in other areas:
FEA and strength analysis,
Weight and balance,
Photorealistic renderings for marketing sheets,
CAM programming,
and the items already mentioned.
 
M

MilesH

Alibre Super User


Kinematics and Dynamics.

Internal representation has evolved for a 3 dimensional world.

Apart from schematics, I loathe working in 2D... The first thing I customised, when I started using Alibre, was the "snap to working plane" thingy...
 
L

lrpierce

Member


Thank you for your responses. I can see where this type of software could be an invaluable tool to the Professional Engineer.

What benefit could it be to the non professional user? It is somewhat expensive to use for entertainment alone. Is there any possibility in using it in contract type of arrangement, as a third party, perhaps? (Does such a thing exist in the design world for the non-engineer?)

Thank you, again, for your input,

Les
 
swertel

swertel

Alibre Super User


Les,

You will find that many members of this board are moonlighters. We work full time and use Alibre Design for our side business where we are sole users doing consulting work. How many are actually "legal" with respect to being Professional Engineers (in the U.S.) and those just offering design services is another topic all together - because they better not be offering engineering services if they are not licensed and registered.
 
S

scarr

Senior Member


And don't forget the automated (to a large extent) generation of 2D drawings from your 3D model, complete with your standard orthographic view + isometric views + section, detail, and aux views. A real time saver in the world of design documentation.
 
M

moyesboy

Alibre Super User


For most at the moment the output is in the form of 2D drawings.
As previously said the views in the 2D drawings are automatic from the 3D model and are always correct and never conflict. Isometric can easily be produced, as well as a view in any direction onto the part, as well as sections etc.
The assembly drawing is also automatically produced together with the bom and balloon numbers, exploded view etc. All these things take forever to produce in a 2D package, and must be manually serviced whereas with a complete assembly in 3d the bom numbers will always be correct compared to the balloons, the number of fasteners and parts count is automatically right etc.
Edit one part in the assembly and you can automatically spit out corrected detail drawings and assembly drawings with a few mouse clicks.
With configurations the assembly can descripe several build versions of your product.

This sort of software works great where every part needs to fully described on a drawing. Where it is not so good is where the detail is left to be decided on site or is determined by tradition like it is in the building industry - or where many parts have to be made up to fit on site because there is no definition of what is already existing.
 
voxelman

voxelman

Member


Though touched on in the first reply the value of a 3D presentation is based in the fact that the largest mass of human brain matter is dedicated to visualization of the real world. Technical as well as non-technical users benifit from seeing a more life-like presentation of an object. I gain insights into my design and catch errors that otherwise would go unnoticed until the design is reviewed by others prior to manufacturing.
 
A

archimedes

Member


Greetings Les,

Many good points proffered and I would like to give you
a very real world use of a parametric solid modeler:

http://dpcars.aprsworld.com/ and click on the dp1 icon after "Recent Updates:"

In this feature the designer applies his parametric package
to every step of his engineering/design/prototyping development
of his race car.

Here is a snippet of one of his many informative build descriptions:

"I also installed wheel bearings in uprights by heating the latter in a toaster oven to 350F - the bearings slipped right in. Gotta love CAD and CNC machining :) Speaking of which, I test-fit one of the shocks, the one that could potentially have a clearance problem to the rear rollbar. Lo and behold, it has 0.2" clearance, just like SolidWorks says. Neat. Steering rack goes right in too."

While this particular package is not Alibre, I believe
that Alibre could perform very similiar results.

I hope this can provide you more evidence of the value and
benefit a parametric modeler adds to any design/development
process in our real world. For myself, I must say this particular
person's tenacity to match his solid modeling skills to his mind's
intent was a tremendous incentive for me to intensify my own
Alibre learning curve.

scott
 
L

linuxguy

Senior Member
Re:

lrpierce said:
What benefit could it be to the non professional user? It is somewhat expensive to use for entertainment alone. Is there any possibility in using it in contract type of arrangement, as a third party, perhaps? (Does such a thing exist in the design world for the non-engineer?)
Click to expand...

Well, I am definitely a non-engineer and non-professional type. I am using Alibre Design Expert to design robots - some of which I will build and some I will just dream of building. Even purchasing Alibre Design is a major committmit for me, but at least being able to see what nmy designs look like, being able to fiddle with them (flexible joints, servos or ball bearing hubs in my case), etc is very worthwhile.

Who knows.. I may actually be able to build the hybrid eight legged walking robot that also has four independently steerable wheels someday. it does other tricks also. :)

I use Alibre Design for dreaming and wondering "What if?" It is also a great learning experience for me since I do not get along well in the standard learning environments. I teach myself, so am learning 3D CAD and Robotis as I go. For me, it's an adventure I hope never ends.
 
L

lrpierce

Member


Thanks to everybody for your responces, very much appreciated.

I see that there are many current uses, and possibly many more undiscovered uses for this software. In these modern times, software such as this is in the hands of users that would have never been exposed to it, in the past. There could be many interesting applications for it, yet to come.

One thing I would like to see, as a companion to the usual tutorials, is examples of actual projects that one might encounter in the field. (Like the old lab books that you may have had in High School, or Junior College). Anybody know of such a text book for Alibre, yet?

Perhaps some of the professionals on this forum might issue some practice "assignments" from time to time? That would be very helpful in determining areas of the program in which one's skills need strengthening.

Thanks again, everyone,

Les
 
I

indesign

Alibre Super User


Our uses for Alibre are not only for the actual design but for sales and manufacturing.

We design a part or assembly. Export the file to something the customer can see and manipulate for making the sale. Then we export the file to a CAM software when needed for 3D machining. Sometimes a 2D cad just does not do the part justice. For both the customer and the shop manufacturing.

We are getting close to incorporating the designed cad model to our inspection process. (this is our next goal). The solid can be read into PCDMIS CMM software for inspection of the manufactured part.

For us, Alibre has opened a market where we can make a sale by showing the customer something the other guy can not. A full functioning model with moving parts and test the fatigue areas as well as interferences. These areas of design are what is making the difference between getting a customer and going out of business.
 
K

kburger

Member


Hi,

We use Alibre for PCB design.

While 2D gives a feel for the probable interferences between components etc with 3D it shows much more.
I can add fixing screws, insert it into the box specified and see the design as the customer would see it.

As Les states this gives marketing a new tool for very low cost.

BTW the videos are very much worth it if you can afford them (bit long in the tooth so takes more to get me up and running).

We in this industry really need to be able to color part surfaces different to other surfaces. Have to use assembly to acheive this and that is a lot of work. :cry:

Regards,
Ken
 
C

cnc

Senior Member


Hi Ken
With regard to your last comment, did you see Scott E's post in Using Alibre Design

Do you feel adding feature-based color support in parts would be a valuable enhancement to Alibre Design? If yes, please provide a brief explanation as to how it would benefit your design or manufacturing process.

You should reply and put your case forward

Regards
Colin
 
K

kburger

Member


Hi Colin,

I did see this post but it is in the wrong place IMO.
It suld be highlighted in the enhancement section so that something could be done.
Maybe there is a way to export this thred to the enhancement group?

Regards,
Ken
 
M

MilesH

Alibre Super User
Re:

kburger said:
I did see this post but it is in the wrong place IMO.
It suld be highlighted in the enhancement section so that something could be done
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about that, Ken...... the Enhancements section doesn't have any magic power :wink:
 
K

kburger

Member


Hi Miles,

I sort of hoped that the user groups had functionality based on their descriptive.
So I’ll do just that and when I have time, I’ll post on the different groups to see if that gets reaction.
Would be nice though to know if this is already on their hit list for say, release 10?
You have been a long time on this forum so hope you can add weight.
Also, your idea of adding a paint surface seems interesting. Could you explain how to do this to a sweep boss?

Regards,
Ken
 
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