Mechanical Design Tools

[drawoh]

I am curious. What are you people using to do mechanical design? Primarily, I want to know how many people are using 2D CAD. I know some architects still use drafting boards. Please confine this to mechanical design.

I may have to move this to Surveymonkey.

SolidWorks 2007.

JHG

 

[karmoh]

Started on Paper in 1978
Progressed through various Autocad versions
Started with Solid Edge 7 in 2000
still using Solid Edge today with ST2

Had a sabatical year (2006) with Solidworks and ProE

 

[GregLocock]

In 1995 the company I worked for (seismic gear for the oil industry) used AutoCad r11 and r12, mostly in 2D. During that project we switched to 3D for some jobs and also bought an Ideas seat for solid modelling and FEA.

That was pretty much the last time I saw 2D cad for mechanical design, for new projects, although in 1996 the car company I now work for was still transitioning from a home grown 2D system to Ideas.

I've just done a course in Inventor, it seems entirely usable, although the 3d sweep tool and other 3d tools seem a bit idiosyncratic.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

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[petman]

Catia here

 

[AdamDrover]

Solidworks 2010
Inventor 2011
Some other Autodesk applications, too

 

[seymours2571]

ProE WF4

Stephen Seymour, PE
Seymour Engineering & Consulting Group

http://www.seymourecg.com

 

[berkshire]

Acad 2002
Alibre
I used to run Solidworks up to 2007 then gave up because it cost too much.
B.E.

 

[geesamand]

We're using Pro/ENGINEER and a 2D program called ExpertCAD.

We have a number of parts in our lineup that are drafted as efficiently or moreso in 2D than 3D. 3D systems require more careful management of the multiple data files and more skilled/specialized users. This makes our 2D system still quite compelling.

 

[unclesyd]

As I had to work on numerous projects or better yet problems during the same time frame, two things worked quite well for me.

One is the the aforementioned 2D drafting as it is very easy to run variations on a theme. One particular project was a mechanical seal that operated on an 8" and 20" diameter shaft at 600°F at 1 rpm. I probably went through 50 iterations before the light went on.

Another very simple tool I used is the outline feature of a word processor. This can impart some order to your thoughts and you can promote and demote ideas easily. If you have to lay the project down it makes it very easy to come back an pick it up where you left off.

 

[Tunalover]

NX4 here planning on upgrading to NX6 in the next few months.


Bruce aka Tunalover

 

[grimmy65]

ProE WF4. The only time I used 2D was for a brief period of civil work but never for mechanical design.

 

[ports394]

I mainly work in Visio & Excel at the moment.. process engineering lets me do things with simple/low level tools.

 

[edleit]

Currently Pro/ENGINEER WF4.0 for 3d (it's come a long way since release 7)

Started on the board in the early 80's. Played with AutoCad briefly. Our first CAD system was Computervision Designer-M running CADDS-4, then 4X. Migrated to Pro/E from there and didn't look back.

But, although I've been using Pro/E for more years than I care to remember, a quadrille pad and #2 pencil suit the bill perfectly fine for the quick concept sketch or recording ideas.

 

[SNORGY]

I use an Etch-A-Sketch.

Photocopying is a bit of a challenge.

Regards,

SNORGY.

 

[edleit]

SNORGY,
3-cheers for the technologically impaired! Up-side is that you're not dependent on the grid!!
Ed

 

[Nella95]

SolidWorks 2009...been using SolidWorks since 2003 -

 

[kevindurette]

2D CAD is unfortunately alive and well in certain industries where rotational symmetry makes 3D merely a luxury.

 

[mfgenggear]

Drawing Board (Since 1980)
Auto Cad V10 through V12(since 1990)
Cadkey (since 1995)
AutoCad Lite & Microsoft Office(since 1997)

Process Engineering no 3D required but would be helpfull

MfgEngGear

 

[MechEng2005]

Currently on AutoCad 2006, but employer just purchased/installed SolidWorks... Unfortunately I don't think they have a good plan for the transition, so who knows when we will actually make the switch.

In my history:
A mix of hand-drafting and CadKey in both high school and first year of college (3 semesters total)
SolidWorks/Cosmos for aerodynamic class in 3rd year
ProE course fourth year
SolidWorks for internship and first 2 jobs after graduation (~2 years)
AutoCad at current employer for the last 3 years.

-- MechEng2005