CAD CAM / Australia

philhuynh

As demand for more complex sheetmetal designs increase, the need to have the correct CAD system with the required features becomes ever more critical. Alibre Design Version 12 was released at the same time as Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0. Both of these platforms have the capability to create sheetmetal designs, but which one stacks better in the long term? Which one is easier to use?

Well let us view some critical points in both of these CAD systems and see how they compare:

Feature Design:

Alibre Design Version 12 has  few new features such as Contour and lofted flange support.  sheet metal designs can include tapered corners or profile flange with variable radius along its length. These "lofted flanges" are nicely flattened in Alibre (along with the rest of the part) for the initial pattern stamp or cut-out. Also Alibre has a refined and enhanced interface compared to its previous version , however the design process still remains the same with a simple dialogue box with preset options and a limited amount of features which could be added. Any custom features will require importing into the catalog feature and then defined in the design. A bit of a long way about of adding custom designs for companies who require to add new features on the fly.

However, where Alibre Design falls short, PTC Pro/ENGINEER NC Sheetmetal design picks up the pieces. Pro/E NC Sheetmetal provides a rich amount of sheetmetal features such as punching and die casting, creating various "notch/stress" reliefs on the design as well as creating sheetmetal designs for 3D solids. Require to import a custom design or edit the flange walls? No worries PTC allows for quick and efficient design change and importing from various CAD software to the Design process.

Ease of use/Workflow:

Alibre Design is still using a tweaked interface of their previous sheetmetal design CAD System, so the ease of use is still quite simple and easy to use,however the work flow of the Alibre Design is still somewhat staggered still, in the sense that the need to select multiple features and options to do the same task as Pro/E NC sheetmetal will do in one feature, providing all the necessary options to customize the feature to suit the needs of the design. Hence saving time and allowing the user to become more proficient in design more complex sheetmetal designs.

Nesting/Toolpath:

For Alibre Design, nesting function does not exist in their Sheetmetal CAD system, a serious flaw in making sure that the design data doesn't get lost in migrating over to other platforms to do the nesting and tool-path. This also adds in the necessary requirement to get another CAD system to do the nesting as well as the tool-path required for the manufacturing of the design. Pro/E NC Sheetmetal however looks after the nesting process as well as the tool-path creating a seamless integration from designing to manufacturing of the sheetmetal design. Also with a NC sheetmetal comes with a NC player which is design to show a preview of the path in which the tool will cut and the amount of time require for design to be cut from the stock material. A definite advantage in providing ways in saving money as well as time for PTC Pro/ENGINEER NC Sheetmetal.

Summary:

With everything weighed up, PTC Pro/E NC Sheetmetal is a clear winner by far in providing a seamless,feature rich CADCAM software for Sheetmetal design. However it doesn't meant that Alibre Design isn't worth buying. Alibre Design provides the  solution for sheetmetal CAD design system for Users wants an cost effective Sheetmetal CAD system without the bells and whistles attached. But for those who want to be serious about their sheetmetal design, PTC provides a clear- no compromise solution of NC Sheetmetal Addon.

Tags: speed | Tool paths | improvement | simulation | scrap | manufacturing | Metal | Sheet | NC | 5.0 | Wildfire | ease of use | wildfire 5.0 | Pro/Engineer | PTC | use | ease | Pro/E | hardware | design | machine | software | 3D | Features CAD | Toolpath | Nesting

philhuynh

Yeah it is true everyone wants to become faster and faster at any CAD platform that they wanna use. Only problem is, that many people are not to sure how to. One way in which you can gear up the designing and drafting process is using the shortcut keys which are available. In this case we will be looking at some of the key shortcuts that are commonly used in Pro/E Wildfire 5.0:

Regenerate = Crtl+ G

New Files = Crtl+ N

Open File = Crtl + O

Save File = Crtl + S

Find = Crtl + F

Undo= Crtl + Z

Redo= Crtl + Y

Repaint = Crtl + R

Standard View = Crtl + D

For those of you who have known these, may think that is pretty basic knowledge. Another tip to increase your design/drafting speed in Pro/E using the ribbon tabs. Now that is all pretty basic, but you will be amazed on how much time is saved by arranging and customizing the ribbon tabs during the design process. Another tip is the using the Key Tips within the Ribbon tabs. This allow for quick and easy access to the functions and modes of ribbon toolbars.To activate this function simply press the Alt tab button and you will notice your tabs will lettered with appropriate keystrokes for each of the toolbar various functions

It will take time to remember all the functions of Pro/Engineer Wildfire 5.0 but remembering the shortcuts as well as utilizing the Ribbon toolbars to your advantage will cut the learning curve as well as give you that speed edge in the drafting and design side of Pro/E.

Tags: CAD | 3D | software | machine | design | Pro/E | ease | use | PTC | Pro/Engineer | wildfire 5.0 | ease of use | proengineer | speed | shortcuts | keyboard | ribbon | key tips