First, I should ask if you’ve heard of Mechanical Mashup. No? It’s another one of Ben Eadie’s ideas, he of SolidMentor and SolidJott fame. Mechanical Mashup is for the DIY’ers out there. From their ‘About’ page:

This site is for you if….

-If you own something that you can’t wait for it to break so you can open it up to see how it works.
-If you see something like a studio light for $500.00 and know immediately how to make it for under $50.00
-If you would rather spend 5 hours making something you can buy for $10; just for the experience.
-If every time your friends see you they ask “what crazy thing are you making now?”.
-If everyone else sees a pile of garbage and you see a motor, some scrap material and the perfect stuff for something else you just haven’t thought of yet.
-If your garage only sees a car when you are doing work on it
-If you could get away with not handing out candy at Halloween and people would still come to see your place.

You should check it out. Not only is the stuff they do pretty cool, but they’re running a contest with the winner getting a 3D Print of something they, the winner, designed. If you have an idea, but no way to design it, Ben will cough up 8 hours of his time (and with the Canadian dollar being fairly strong, that’s a good deal). Details for the contest are here. You’ll have to listen to Ben’s Canadian accent, sans subtitles, but you should be ok.

I’ve been busy lately, super busy. I figure I’m averaging almost 60 hours per week here at my new job. Why you might ask? Because of the crap I’ve been trying to polish.

I was brought in to replace a couple of engineers who just weren’t getting things done and, it turns out, what they were getting done wasn’t done right. I think the thing that bothers me most is that they were both AE’s in the past. (I shudder when I think of the damage they might have caused.) I’ve seen under-defined sketches, boss-extrudes to fill cut-extrudes, parts with features that have been suppressed for no apparent reason. This is stuff that was going to be sent out for quote or manufacture/machining. The drawings that had been created were no better. In looking at them, I seriously doubt either engineer had much experience, if any, with manufacturing or production. Don’t even get me started on the part naming and numbering convention…what a cluster that is.

Anyone who has been using SolidWorks for any length of time knows that there are half a dozen different ways to get from A to B. Often you’ll hear there’s no “wrong way” to do it. I’m here to tell you that there is, in fact, a wrong way to do it. Sorry, but it’s the truth. While it’s one thing to haphazardly model parts up during an R&D phase, you need to start thinking about machining, manufacturing, assembly, etc at some point during the design phase. If you don’t, you end up with the crap that I inherited.

• Sometimes you need to take that super cool part and recreate it so that it doesn’t contain a slew of unnecessary features.
• Sometimes you need to redo the end condition on those holes as “up to next” so that your hole callout doesn’t say a depth of 6.375″ when the part is only 2″ thick.
• Sometimes, while you’re fixing that end condition, you need to add the other half of the holes (instead of mirroring) so that your hole callout recognizes that there are actually 12 holes and not only 6.
• Sometimes you need to not remove features that have been linked externally to other parts, or at least remember to delete the damn link so that a part doesn’t open with a bunch of friggin’ x’s!
• Sometimes you need to remove your head from your a…

Listen, just because you think you’re the ultimate CAD jockey doesn’t mean that you are. Do you take the time to think about how that totally awesome part is going to be made? Have you thought about the machinist or mold-maker? If you don’t do your own drawings, have you made your design intent clear enough that your drafter is going to get it? Hell, do you get it?

I realize that what I came across here may only happen once in a while, but even that’s too much. How much forethought would it take to design parts, even in the R&D phase, that, in the end, will work for everyone downstream that needs them? Yes, I realize that parts are extremely fluid during the R&D phase but they do start to solidify.

Something else to consider: when naming parts try to not be a complete tool about it. Naming a part “Intake Bushing, Rev A – Final – Final – Final” does nothing for my confidence that the part is actually the final one. Worse yet is having said part in two different folders where the older one reports to the assembly and not the newer one (based on last saved status). It’s enough to drive a grown man to cry.

What this all boils down to is this: Put some thought into the big picture rather than focusing only on your little part of it. It’ll make for happy people all around.

If you watch College football, you’ve seen their products. If you’re a Chargers fan, you’ve seen their products. Bengals or Packers? Yup, you too. DJO, Inc. designs and produces state-of-the-art knee braces, among other things. 90% of NCAA Division I teams use them. Shawn Merriman, Mark Tauscher, Chad Clifton and Carson Palmer use them. What’s my point here you ask? DJO uses SolidWorks to design their products. Actually, they do more than just design with SolidWorks, they do all their surfacing, rendering and analysis with SolidWorks too. They create a wide array of braces, some of which I’ve used. That’s even more to the point for me. I love finding out that something I’m using, or have used, was created in SolidWorks.

No, that’s not a misprint. The incredibly intelligent, although slightly whacked, team over at DriveWorks are making a movie. Glen Smith, CEO and co-founder, admitted that the idea came to be whilst indulging in a drink or five one night after work. Once they’d made the commitment, there was no turning back.

For those of us lucky enough to be invited to the event Thursday morning (meaning the Thursday after SWW), it was more than a just pre-screening. We were going to not only be able to see what they’d done thus far, we were going to be involved in more of the filming. That’s right, yours truly is an extra in what is sure to be a blockbuster. I foresee Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, SAGs, the whole gambit. Ok, fine, they won’t even qualify for a Razzie but that’s not the point.

With Glen setting up the scenes, we were walked through a fictitious company’s introduction to DriveWorks from DriveWorksXpress to the complete DriveWorks package. While the movie spanned the whole product line, the main focus seemed to be DriveWorks Solo, their newest product. A step below the complete package, DriveWorks Solo provides plenty of features to make it attractive to a wide swath of SolidWorks users. The interface is as simple as DriveWorksXpress that all SolidWorks users already have (2008 and up). Couple that with a powerful form designer and you end up with a simple way to automate your designs. They’re so confident in this new product that they’re offering up a free 30-day trial. Just go to www.driveworkssolo.com and sign up.

What makes DriveWorks Solo so powerful is that this incredibly intelligent team undertook the monumental effort of creating their own rules engine. One can’t help but wonder if there wasn’t a bit more drink involved in that particular decision as well, especially where it ended up taking 3 years to complete it. The results are obvious though. This new engine is capable of doing 20,000 calculations simultaneously in seconds. It’s a pretty damn incredible feat, and quite apparent when running DriveWorks Solo.

While the rules engine is pretty compelling unto itself, there’s more! How about multiple language forms? Pick your needed language and all forms will be created in said choice. The needed currency will also be included. Still not enough? How about pervasive search? Mini-wizard for every function? Accept/reject capabilities so some lame-brain idea by sales doesn’t get crammed down engineering’s throat. As soon as I get my system cleaned up, I’ll be trying out DriveWorks Solo.

DriveWorks didn’t stop there, though. They cleaned up DriveWorks Pro, too, making it more user friendly. The form mapping UI is much easier to navigate and provides a clearer picture as well. They even include ePDM integration. It would appear that the team at DriveWorks spent a lot of time thinking about the end user and how they interface with the products available. Quite honestly, I think they did an exceptional job.

The other thing that got me was the presentation itself. I enjoyed Glen’s humor during it all. While it was a sales presentation, it didn’t have that sort of vibe. What I took away from it, aside from insight into all of their offerings, was a company that was comfortable in its skin. They have a great product, know it’s a great product, but aren’t going to sit on it. They don’t put on a false face, willingly act human and make you feel like you’re more than just a customer. It wouldn’t have surprised me if Glen had pulled out a few bottles of whiskey and asked us all to join him in a nip. I can’t wait to see the complete movie once it’s done.

My apologies for the delay of this post. Things have been rather hectic lately.

I’m a few days behind on this, but 3DConnexion has improved the driver for their 3D mice (mouses?) by automatically determining the optical center of rotation. I was part of the beta testing of this driver and I really like what they’ve done. Rather than defaulting to the origin, or having to select a particular point manually, this new driver figures out what the “new” center of rotation is. Personally, I think it’s pretty damn sweet. While I’d figured out how to rotate a model around the origin while zoomed in, it was still a pain in the you-know-what. This new driver takes care of that annoyance. Color me happy!

For your enjoyment, I’ve ctrl+c, ctrl+v’d the press release:

3Dconnexion Announces the Next Step in Intelligent 3D Navigation for SolidWorks Users
Newest Update Allows 3D Mice to Automatically Follow Point of Interest for Smarter Model Design Work
ANAHEIM, Calif. (SolidWorks World, Booth 201) – Feb. 1, 2010 – 3Dconnexion today announced new 3D mouse capabilities for SolidWorks, bringing increased navigation intelligence to the design process. With this new feature, 3Dconnexion 3D mice can now automatically follow a designer’s point of interest and continuously determine the optimal center of rotation, enabling an easier and more intuitive exploration of the largest models and the smallest details. In addition, the center of rotation can now be seen at all times via an icon, further enhancing the navigation experience.
3Dconnexion will be demonstrating the new intelligent navigation feature in Booth 201 at SolidWorks World in Anaheim, Calif., Jan. 31 – Feb. 3, 2010.
“Previously, SolidWorks users had to zoom in fairly close and manually select a new center of rotation. We have listened to the feedback of our customers to provide designers with total control over the point of interest,” said Dieter Neujahr, president of 3Dconnexion. “By automatically establishing and displaying the optimal center of rotation, designers are now free to focus on design creativity and flexibility when using 3D mice in SolidWorks.”
When using the new update, two modes of setting the center of rotation are available. The new Auto Rotation Center sets the center of rotation to a point on the model that is nearest to the display screen center, particularly useful for use at higher zoom levels. For additional control, users can easily pick a new center of rotation point on the 3D model to suit the design task.
Availability
The new feature will be available in late February via a free 3DxWare software update, and will support SolidWorks 2005 – 2010 on Windows® XP, Windows Vista®, and Windows 7 across the entire product line. The 3Dconnexion product line includes the Professional Series with the new SpacePilot PRO (MSRP $399), SpacePilot™ (MSRP $299 with promotion) and SpaceExplorer™ (MSRP $299), and the Standard Series with the SpaceNavigator (MSRP $99) and SpaceNavigator for Notebooks (MSRP $129). For additional information, visit www.3Dconnexion.com.
About 3D Mice 3Dconnexion 3D mice deliver a level of comfort and control that is not possible with a traditional mouse and keyboard. Users engage both hands in a balanced and cooperative work style with one hand using the 3D mouse to position the model, while the other hand simultaneously uses the traditional mouse to select, create or edit. By spreading the workload across both hands, users experience productivity increases of more than 20
percent as well as a more comfortable working experience by reducing traditional mouse clicks by up to 50 percent.
About 3Dconnexion, a Logitech Company 3Dconnexion, a wholly owned subsidiary of Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (Nasdaq: LOGI), is the leading provider of 3D mice for 3D design and visualization. 3Dconnexion devices support today’s most popular and powerful 3D applications by offering users a more intuitive and natural way to interact with computer-generated 3D content. 3Dconnexion’s award-winning 3D mice serve a wide variety of industries and are used by 3D designers, animators and artists worldwide. 3Dconnexion is headquartered in Fremont, Calif. with European headquarters in Seefeld, Germany and offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.3Dconnexion.com.
# # #
© 2010 3Dconnexion. All rights reserved. 3Dconnexion, the 3Dconnexion logo, and other 3Dconnexion marks are owned by 3Dconnexion and may be registered. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

The SolidWorks task pane. We’ve all seen it, right? Probably used it a time or two for drawing view insertion or to dig something up out of a design library. When was the last time you clicked on the ‘home’ tab and looked at what it has to offer? Granted, starting a new document, or opening a previous document, would be accomplished quicker via other means, but what about tutorials? What’s new?

How about moving down a little? Quick links to the customer portal, user group information and the discussion forums. Strangely enough, there are plenty of people out there who don’t even know if there’s a user group in there area or that there are discussion forums! How alone would you feel if that were you?

Tech news? There they are, right there with a link to more news and descriptions. Did you know PhotoWorks was being retired? That juicy piece of info is within that ‘view all’ link.

Partner solutions. Cool software add-ins to make your life better. If you haven’t checked out the software packages out there that make SolidWorks even better, and your job easier, you really should take a look.

You’ve all been to the SolidWorks Labs site, so the fact that there’s a quick link there is unimp…what, you haven’t been? So then you don’t know about Treehouse 2? What about Tagger? SustainabilityXpress? You need to go there now!

Don’t forget about the ‘Tip of the Day’. You never know what gem you may find.

First, I owe an apology to Gabriele Meluzzi from Steelworks. Gabriele, mi dispiace. I took way too long to complete this review, especially after all of your patience.

In a nutshell, this program rocks. While it took me a bit to muddle my way through, I really ended up liking it. The tutorials are pretty damn clear, especially where they’re translated from Italian. All too often, translated instructions aren’t much easier to understand than the language they were originally written in.

I was very happy with the interface, especially how it so closely resembled SolidWorks. This makes complete sense as they are a SolidWorks Certified Solution Partner. SteelWorks has built in libraries for both domestic and foreign steel standards, complete with fastening systems. It also includes a SQL engine for order management.

I don’t work in the steel industry but, from what I can tell, this is a complete program. After creating your 3D assembly, you can get all of your 2D drawings including view, sections, general arrangements and fab drawings. All of it associated with the 3D models as you’d expect.

It’s too bad I didn’t have this when I was working on that processing facility last year. I can only imagine how much easier my job might have been. If you’re working in steel construction, you’ll want to give SteelWorks a look. I think you’ll like it.

I’m going to end up having to do a couple of posts on AMV SteelWorks. There’s just a lot to cover on this particular SolidWorks Solution Partner’s software. Frankly, I’m quite excited to be trying out this particular product. After having gone through trying to create a steel-based structure last summer, I’m already wishing we’d had something like SteelWorks.

First, SteelWorks is a direct add-in for SolidWorks. No secondary programs, no import/export, nada. It gets its own tab on the the CommandManager and everything.

Thankfully, it does come with an awesome tutorial. It may be that I’m not well-versed in steel construction, but knowing where to start didn’t come naturally for me. However, by following the detailed instructions, I’ve been able to keep my assembly looking like the one in the tutorial.

I’m still only on the first chapter, but I’m hoping that someone who deals with steel construction reads this and gets in touch. I have some questions I’d like to ask. In the mean time, I’ll be continuing on through the rest of the tutorial. Stay tuned!

First, I’m back to work. It was a long two months, but I survived. I’m thankful that I didn’t have to go without employment for as long as so many others. Believe me, I didn’t take my job for granted before and I certainly don’t now.

Just like the previews you see, here are some teasers of upcoming reviews that I’m working on:

• SimpoeWorks – Easy to use injection molding software from Simpoe, a SolidWorks Gold Partner. It’s actually installing while I write.
• ElecWorks – Software to help ease the pains of routing. From your friends at TraceParts
• SteelWorks – This hasn’t even been released yet, and they’re gonna let me get my filthy hands on it!
• TactonWorks – I’ve been talking, peripherally, about TactonWorks for a long time. You’re familiar with knowledge-based engineering, right? Well, so are they and they claim to really know what they’re doing. Time will tell.
• Adobe – Acrobat 9 Pro Extended. The full-meal deal. There’s a ton of stuff to mess around with here, so it’ll be a bit on this one.
• There’s also a couple of things brewing from my (solo) trip to SolidWorks. Unless I was lied to, even my fellow bloggers didn’t see/hear some of this <evil laugh>.

I’ve asked this before, but if there’s some companion software that you’re curious about let me know. I’ll see what I can do about trying it out for you.

That’s right, you heard me, gimme my prototyped part in steel. Now, Shapeways can give you just that. They just announced the first stainless steel printing technology. How cool is that? Why get that bracket in some cheap plastic when you can get it in cool stainless steel?

As with other 3D prints, these parts are built up layer by layer, but with powdered steel instead of plastic. They are then infused with bronze and baked in an oven. After the parts have cooled, you can leave them be or have them tumbled for a polished look. It’s up to you.

I’ve included their “official” press release below. I’m working with them on some sort of a giveaway, so keep an eye out for more freebies!

SIGGRAPH (August 4, 2009) — Many 3D modelers have found their way to Shapeways to bring their personal designs to life by using 3D printing. Until now the materials were limited to different kind of polymers. Today Shapeways becomes the world’s first company offering 3D printing in stainless steel for everyone.

Technique

This is a completely new technique which deposits stainless steel powder in a very thin layer, combining it with a binding material. Printed objects are built up like this, layer by layer, gradually creating the form just as you designed it on the computer screen. When complete, they are infused with bronze and cured in an oven. After cooling, the models can be left in the original steel finish or tumbled to get a great polished look.

Quest

“After our offer for pre-designed stainless steel Ringpoems and cufflinks, we are now making 3D printing in metal available to everyone and for all products. This is a truly unique service that we are proud to announce. It is yet another step in Shapeways’ continued commitment to deliver personalized production capabilities to everyone in the widest range of materials” says Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO of Shapeways.

New possibilities

Shapeways’ users can now also choose to have their designs 3D printed in metal, allowing for a new look and feel to these unique items. New possibilities come into reach both functional and from a design perspective, because the material specifications of metal differ greatly from polymers. Pricing is reasonable with $10.00 per cm^3. At this price level unique rings can be made for $ 4.70 only. Combining the creative power of Shapeways users with this new feature, there will be no limit to the creative and functional applications of 3D printing in metal. Visit www.shapeways.com to get started.

About Shapeways:

Shapeways, the world’s first 3D co-creation community, brings design to life with cost effective, high quality 3D printing. Shapeways is redefining Do-It-Yourself by connecting consumers to the latest in micro production with easy to use click-and-drag product customization and advanced upload-to-print tools for seasoned 3D designers. Shapeways encompasses a diverse community of artists and enthusiasts engaging in everything from collaborative creation to selling their 3D designs as products through the unique Shapeways Shops, an international marketplace for consumer created 3D printed products. Shapeways is spinning out from the Lifestyle Incubator of Royal Philips Electronics, located in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.