Import blocks from AutoCAD

[Anonymous]

Hello

This program was recommended to us to use for nesting purposes. We manufacture exterior building panels and use a CNC to cut them out of the material. Currently, we draw the fabrication drawings in AutoCAD for each panel manually and produce the table layout drawings (showing the panels on the sheets) manually as well, using blocks. We would like to try to use this program to optimize our sheet layout and produce the table layout drawings for us. Is there a way to import blocks from AutoCAD 2012 into Camduct?

Thanks for your help!

[Anonymous]

I'm sure you could get it to work for those purposes however I'd recommend either firing the reseller who sold this to you or make them show you an effiecent workflow. If you're selling hammers,m everything is a nail.

This is a highly specialized program for fabrication of ductwork components. It can and is used for other, non-ductwork purposes but there's really better products and workflows for what you're wanting it for in my opinion.  With some auromation and scripting work, you might be able to make it more efficient.

I've worked in several industries where we had a lot of flat panel work.....dimension stone work, commercial casework, etc. as well as well as steel fabricators. There's solutions and work flows better suited for what you're looking for. This isn't what I'd use for those purposes.

Without knowing more about the specifics of your business, it would be hard to recommend anything.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your reply.  That was very helpful to know and we would love a recommendation for a program that would work better. There are several out there and we just don't know which one would be best and don't want to spend money experimenting with each one. We fabricate and manufacture Trespa panels and aluminum composite panels. Let me know if you need more information to give us a recommendation.

Thanks again!

Jessica

[Anonymous]

It will depend on what you are doing now.

Are these lines/arcs in AutoCAD? Polylines? Blocks? Dynamic Blocks? Any drawings in Revit?

Do you have a CAM solution in place?

How are you getting them to manufacturing now?  Copy/Paste? Re-entry? How are you nesting now?

These guys specialize in Nesting @ integration solutions...

http://www.sigmanest.com

These guys are fairly popular in a lot of metal fab shops (sheet metal and heavy steel plate)....

http://striker-systems.com

The woodworking industry has a myriad of solutions as well.

Also depends on your budget. If you want scrap/remanant tracking, if you just need it nested (and use existing CAM) or replacing your existing CAM then it'll depend on the machines you have.

Put the burden on the vendors. Give them some of your typical drawings and have them show you the workflow to get the parts where you need them (CNC written or just nested for import into your CAM solution).

Just about any solution will be only as good as the consultant. If they're worth a hoot, they'll offer suggestions for other process/drawing improvements that might make the entire workflow smoother.

Feel free to Email me if you have any specific followup questions as they likely aren't relivant here and I'll reply when I get a chance.. dyoung@southlandind.com