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I could use some serious help..need some directions

6 REPLIES 6
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Message 1 of 7
Keeps
275 Views, 6 Replies

I could use some serious help..need some directions

I am a rather newbie to the world of CAD. Everything I have learned I have learned on the fly or second hand. I have recently been put in a design position (as I have the most Autocad experience) when we lost our designer. We are also going to be going from the CADRA enviroment to AUTOCAD. We are a toolroom that maintains progressive stamping tools. So here is my dilema (excuse my spelling). I have no idea where I can get any add on programs to for die design. Have been surfing the net and picking up stuff here and there, but drawing an entire tool the long way is just a pain in the butt. So I figure I could ask all you wondeful people here for some pointers. Any help you all could give me would be MORE than appreciated.

Thanks
6 REPLIES 6
Message 2 of 7
Anonymous
in reply to: Keeps

I am in AEC, not mechanical, but it seems to me you should be using Autodesk Inventor, not Autocad, to even BEGIN to be competitive. Solidworks is impressive,and was the leadder not long ago, but I hear Inventor's tie to Autocad is making it outsell. I looked up CADRA (had never heard of it)-- did not impress at 1st glance. I had a class in Inventor at AU2001-- the interface was admired by everyone, and is affecting new releases of other products. Have the firm check out an upgrade to the package that has Inventor and Mechanical Desktop. Look it up, download trials, show to bosses (Inventor is fun to watch). Look for the Lynn Allen demo on it. Try not to let them waste your time and their money learning to do this in Autocad -- they might end up firing you when they see they are not competitive next year. Bob PS--Classes can be well worth the money.
Message 3 of 7
Anonymous
in reply to: Keeps

I agree with Bob.

Inventor is the way to go. There are so many things
that you cannot do in plain AutoCAD and even if you can do them it will be hell
to change any design as AutoCAD is not parametric. It's very easy in Inventor to
change things. Inventor also has built in sheet metal.

Also many CNC programs are able to import/interact
with Inventor and recognize features. EdgeCAM f.ex. will set up tool paths
automatically.

Good Luck

 

Finnur P.


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
I
am in AEC, not mechanical, but it seems to me you should be using Autodesk
Inventor, not Autocad, to even BEGIN to be competitive. Solidworks is
impressive,and was the leadder not long ago, but I hear Inventor's tie to
Autocad is making it outsell. I looked up CADRA (had never heard of it)-- did
not impress at 1st glance. I had a class in Inventor at AU2001-- the interface
was admired by everyone, and is affecting new releases of other products. Have
the firm check out an upgrade to the package that has Inventor and Mechanical
Desktop. Look it up, download trials, show to bosses (Inventor is fun to
watch). Look for the Lynn Allen demo on it. Try not to let them waste your
time and their money learning to do this in Autocad -- they might end up
firing you when they see they are not competitive next year. Bob PS--Classes
can be well worth the money.
Message 4 of 7
Keeps
in reply to: Keeps

Funny you should mention that Bob. We had a little discussion today at work. I have been learning Inventor..again on the fly... and my boss has suggested that we do the next few in inventor.
Message 5 of 7
Spiral
in reply to: Keeps

Hi Keeps,
I come from a progressive die design background. There is not much out there.
Try this www.striker-systems.com. The only drawback is that this add-on is expensive. As far as Inventor goes take a look at this link:

http://discussion.autodesk.com/WebX?viewTopic@84.l0T0a1ewnB4.1@.f109c65!page=1&keywords=progressive%20die&discussionRange=current&dateRange=threeMonths&productParent=.ee93814

I would go with Inventor. Take a look at Inventors system requirements, you might need to upgrade your PC.
Hope this helps.
-Spiral
Message 6 of 7
Spiral
in reply to: Keeps

One thing I forgot to mention. The Autodesk Inventor Series comes with autoCAD 2002, autocad mechanical, mechanical desktop 6.0 and, of course, Inventor 6.0.
Enjoy. 🙂
-Spiral
Message 7 of 7
Anonymous
in reply to: Keeps

GEEZ! was it Cadence this month that carried a
photo of some CAD package for THAT purpose?

(black and green screen shot come to
mind)

Can't recommend anything, but you're not alone out
there!

 



style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">I
am a rather newbie to the world of CAD. Everything I have learned I have
learned on the fly or second hand. I have recently been put in a design
position (as I have the most Autocad experience) when we lost our designer. We
are also going to be going from the CADRA enviroment to AUTOCAD. We are a
toolroom that maintains progressive stamping tools. So here is my dilema
(excuse my spelling). I have no idea where I can get any add on programs to
for die design. Have been surfing the net and picking up stuff here and there,
but drawing an entire tool the long way is just a pain in the butt. So I
figure I could ask all you wondeful people here for some pointers. Any help
you all could give me would be MORE than appreciated.

Thanks

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