FREE Download: Solid Edge Trial Version

Solid Edge Free Trial
Helping Engineers Design Better

With this free download, try award-winning Solid Edge with synchronous technology and see how you can design better. See first-hand how companies like yours can get accelerated design, faster revisions, and better reuse of imported 2D and 3D data. In this free offering you get access to the full version of Solid Edge, complete with part modeling, assembly design, drafting, simulation, and add-on applications. There are no restrictions on the number of saves, part sizes, or other factors that would limit your ability to create complete product designs.

Solid Edge, a core component of the Velocity Series™ portfolio, is the most complete hybrid 2D/3D CAD system that uses synchronous technology for accelerated design, faster change, and improved imported reuse. With superior part and assembly modeling, drafting, transparent data management, and built-in finite element analysis, Solid Edge eases the growing complexity of product design.

Solid Edge with synchronous technology delivers dramatic new ways to produce better designs faster. This latest release breaks new ground, leveraging synchronous technology to accelerate design, speed ECOs and improve imported 2D and 3D reuse. With improved simulation, collaboration, and thousands of customer-driven enhancements, Solid Edge continues to remove traditional barriers to design.

Download a Free 45-Day Trial

Free 2D
Whether you are using 2D across your company or for a specific 2D design process, Solid Edge 2D Drafting will give you an immediate advantage with production-proven capabilities including drawing layout, Goal Seeking, diagramming, and dimensioning.  It is fully compliant with ISO, ANSI, BSI, DIN, JIS and UNI, and it's absolutely FREE to download and use.

Solid Edge 2D Drafting eases the transition from 2D AutoCAD with import wizards, matched fonts and color schemes, XREF support, paper/model space support and much more. Get up to speed faster with a built-in Command Finder - never look for AutoCAD equivalent command again.

Solid Edge 2D Drafting requires Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 and now includes the Free Solid Edge Viewer. Make sure you have Internet Explorer version 6.0 or later for the download.

Current downloads are for Solid Edge ST4.

Get your FREE copy of Solid Edge Free 2D Drafting Now.

Faster modeling accelerates Powerwing redesign with Solid Edge 3D CAD Software

"Two to three times faster than traditional solid modeling, Solid Edge with synchronous technology speeds the conversion of a steel assembly to a molded plastic part."
 Razor USA LLC

 In only eight years, Razor USA LLC has grown from an upstart company with a single product to an established earner with lineup of more than 30 human and electric-powered toys. The company’s successful diversification can be seen in its revenues. Sales in 2001 were $20 million; sales in 2007 were $200 million. “The struggle for our company in the early years was to capitalize on the popularity of the original scooter while expanding the product line so there was less reliance on a single item,” explains Bob Hadley, the company’s product development manager. “We accomplished that, but our challenge now is to continually upgrade the product line with more items to maintain growth.”

Bringing a new product to market at Razor is a process of considering as many as 100 ideas each year, then narrowing that list down to 15 to 20 to develop more fully. Of those, one, two or possibly three might actually make it to market. “In our industry it’s important to be able to vet out design ideas as quickly as possible,” Hadley says. Today the company has even more advanced technology for doing that – Solid Edge software with synchronous technology.

Better for complex parts

Razor is not new to Solid Edge, having migrated from 2D AutoCAD to Solid Edge in the early 2000s. This was driven by the need for better communication with manufacturers in China. The superior visualization made possible by 3D assembly models, and the fact that the Chinese companies could work directly from Solid Edge geometry, alleviated the errors caused previously by miscommunication. The move to Solid Edge also helped Razor evolve from a one-product phenomenon to the extensive product line it has today.

“By allowing us to do upfront development about 50 percent faster compared to 2D, Solid Edge got us to where we could make faster decisions about which concepts to bring to market,” Hadley says. “With Solid Edge, we were able to introduce at least two or three times as many as new products each year as we could previously.”

When Solid Edge with synchronous technology became available, Razor was one of the first companies to adopt it. “I loaded Solid Edge with synchronous technology and after a few hours of training I was modeling parts,” says Hadley. “If you’re used to 3D, synchronous technology is a different way of thinking at first but once you get used to it, you’re off and running.”

One of the first things Hadley modeled was a complicated structural plastic part for the Razor Powerwing™, a caster-driven scooter that people propel by shifting their weight from side to side. The original part was a welded steel assembly; Hadley was converting it to an injection molded plastic part to lower the cost and improve manufacturability. “A part like this with deep rib sections and multiple drafted faces typically takes at least a week using conventional solid modeling methods. With a traditional 2D CAD package, it would take a month if you could even do it. But I was able to model it in just two days using Solid Edge with synchronous technology.”

Faster design changes

Another advantage of Solid Edge with synchronous technology came later, when Hadley was working with a mold maker to fine-tune the part’s rib structure. He estimates that they went back and forth at least 10 times. Because he had originally modeled the part using synchronous technology, what previously would have been very time-consuming changes were done almost effortlessly. “With structural molded designs, you frequently need to reposition and reestablish your web intersections,” he explains. “With traditional solid modeling, you erase everything and start over, and it can take two to three hours to reposition a rib structure. With synchronous technology you just grab the faces you want and drag them into position and they go there. You can reposition any number of faces or features in about five seconds.

“With synchronous technology, each feature is not dependent on when it was created or where in the model it was created,” Hadley continues. “This will come into play for us on just about every model since changes are the natural order of things.” Overall, Hadley estimates that synchronous technology speeds the design process by a factor of two or three compared to traditional solid modeling.

In addition, he has noticed another, unanticipated benefit of Solid Edge with synchronous technology. It has converted the remaining 2D AutoCAD user at Razor to 3D. “Since there are no complex history rules or modeling strategies to learn, he picked it up very easily,” Hadley notes. “In just a few weeks he’s already cranking out designs left and right. He’s just incredibly excited about finally joining the 3D club!


Source: http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/about_us/success/case_study.cfm?Component=30503&ComponentTemplate=1481

Simple, Easy CAD Software Home Design - A Look at Some of the Best in the Biz

There is definitely a lot of CAD software in the market today that can be very effective in home design. What remains to be the industry leader today is AutoCAD and the latest release, AutoCAD 2009, is truly one of the best in the business. It has hundreds of different features on board that all aim to increase productivity, as well as make the entire drafting process a breeze. It also happens to be compatible with Windows Vista as it takes advantage of some of the capabilities of this latest Microsoft operating system.

However, there are more CAD software available out there. In fact, some of them might even provide better functions than AutoCAD. It all depends on a user's needs, as well as his specific situation. Nevertheless, here are three of the more popular CAD software home design programs that are both simple and easy to use.

SolidWorks 3D CAD

SolidWorkds 3d CAD is a program that is part of the SolidWorks Office Professional software. It offers a full range of CAD production tools, as well as full 3D MCAD support. Also included in the kit is a handy product data management feature called PDMWorks which is a unique solution for all product data tasks, may it be for an individual or the workgroup. Two other main features of this particular CAD program are MotionManager (timeline that controls springs, gravity, and motors based on time) and CommandManager (an embedded layout menu that facilitates advanced customization).

TurboCAD Pro 14 Platinum Edition

Another handy CAD software is TurboCAD Pro 14 Platinum Edition. This is probably one of the best applications in the market in terms of design productivity and power. It also makes use of the most advanced tools for both architectural and mechanical designs. Aside from 2D drafting, ACIS solid modeling and 3D surface support is also on board this program. The photorealistic rendering provided by LightWorks is a great addition as it provides visual results that are like no other. TurboCAD Pro 14's expansive library of architectural object types are almost limitless as it includes hundreds of different types of railings, stairs, windows, and doors.

Solid Edge

One powerful CAD program that works well for all types of manufacturing companies is Solid Edge. What makes this particular product stand out is its ability to convert the complexity of design into a very manageable and fully integrated discipline. In fact, Solid Edge is the only modern home design software that integrates various design management functions to the everyday CAD tools used in the industry. This is truly an excellent choice for designers of all skill levels.

Find out more info at Home Design Software Guide to buy software visit Home Design Software.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Diarioti

CAD for Beginners

In the 21st century technology has expanded its wings in almost every sphere of knowledge and life style. Hence with the enhancement of technology has empowered Engineers and Designers to get the power to excel with CAD.

Due to the advancement of CAD (computer aided design) there is no painstaking workout of the engineers and draughts-men standing near the drawing board with a huge drafter and trying to draw their concepts.

Recreation of designs & drawings has become so easy today that it takes only an unimaginable fraction of a second. Sharing of a single platform helps the draughts man to divide the time consumption and hence increases the productivity.

A completely new drawing can be created with a base drawing and slight modification of some part of it and unlike in paper drawings where a draughts man has to redraw again the whole drawing which, consumes not only his time but also reduces productivity and interest in work.

Once converted to CAD format, the drawings can be copied any number of times, any part can be added/removed to a drawing without disturbing the original one. Various engineering data can be retrieved as well from the drawings without doing any further calculations manually.

What is CAD?

CAD is the short term for "Computer Aided Designing" or sometimes spelled as "CADD" which refers to "Computer Aided Designing and Draughting". It’s the process of conversion of design data into digital format that enable the data handling easier, quicker and safer. Through CAD technology, almost any type of designs and drawings can be done. Designers from various fields such as Engineering, Architecture, Fashion, Textile, and Graphics are now days highly dependent on CAD technologies.

CAD is a computer-assisted technology, used for making various types of graphics designs. It has inherited its base technology from Co-ordinate Geometry and Mathematics. Further developments have been made to suit different domains and their related design requirements. The basic entities used in any CAD environment are point, line, polygon and text. These entities have been further modified to create circle, ellipse, parabola, hyperbola, mesh and 3D objects like Sphere, rhombus, cube, cylinder and so on.

Software in Use

Based on the concept of CAD technology, many CAD software have been developed by software giants like Auto-desk Inc, Bentley, Dassult Systemes, Some of the leading software in the industry are Auto-CAD, Micro-station, CATIA, Pro-Engineer, Uni-graphics, Solid-Edge, STAAD Pro, Auto-Civil, Auto-desk Inventor and the list goes on and on.

It is frequently seen in use for engineering fields, although it is also applied for other vector graphics designs in no fewer manners. Due to CAD facilities, the repetition of work are minimized, exact accuracy can be achieved; reproduction is not a problem now days. After conversion into digital format it can also be sent through electronic mail to any part of the world as an editable file. Due to availability of a lot of file formats, the same file can be opened and used in a variety of CAD software.

Computer aided design (CAD) Process:

In CAD, generally the drawings are done according to the dimensions given either in a hard copy like paper or it may have been mentioned in a raster or image file, which is a scanned copy of the paper drawing. If the source drawing is a hard copy, then putting the hard copy by the side and referring to the same does the drawings. But this is a cumbersome process. So another process has been developed in which, the hard copy is scanned and the same is attached into the drawing platform say, Auto CAD. Then it becomes easier to draw the elements. This type of draughting is called as on-line draughting.

Area of Use:

As it is easy to work with cad software the authorities, engineers, draughts-men in many part of the world have already begun to work with the most advanced facilities and technologies like CAD (Computer Aided Designing) for creation, modification, reproduction, safely store and enhancement of dynamism in their drawings, such as: Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Engineering, Architectural Engineering, Aerospace, Automobile, Manufacturing, Production, Plumbing, Piping, HVAC and Fashion Design etc...

Prospects:

From this inception, it has been human nature to innovate, discover, invent new things and so has been his creation. Design may be pronounced as the synonym for creation. So there is no end to man’s creation, design and hence CAD. By passage of time it’ll be even smarter, quicker and sophisticated.

This article was provided courtesy of orisysinfotech.co.uk Specializing in CAD services SEO, E-commerce website design and development

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rudradatta_Rath

Motion Simulation in Solid Edge using sketches together with Microsoft Excel VBA Programming Part III

In previous example, I showed how to control variables in Solid Edge sketch using direct link to excel spreadsheet. In this example, I am going to show how to use VBA (Visual Basic for Application) in excel to control the variables in Solid Edge sketch.

1) Create new file in Microsoft Excel

2) Press Alt+F11 to enter Microsoft Visual Basic windows as shown below



3) Right click in Project Explorer at new file name (in this example, new excel file name = Book2) > Insert > Module



4) To make Solid Edge type libraries available to the Visual Basic Object Browser, click References on the Project menu. On the References dialog box, select the Solid Edge libraries you want to access.



All variable automation is accessed through the Variables collection and Variable objects. The Variables collection serves two purposes: it allows you to create and access variable objects, and it allows you to work with dimensions as variables.

Note: When debugging programs that interact with the Variable Table, it helps to have the Variable Table displayed while stepping through the program. The Variable Table shows the results as they are executed.

5) Write the following code into VBA code area as shown below,


You can copy & paste the following code to your excel VBA.

' =================================================================
' Example of using VBA code to control variables in Solid Edge document
' By AkeBlogger
' http://mechanical-design-handbook.blogspot.com/
' =================================================================

Sub Simulate()
On Error Resume Next

'Declare the program variables.
Dim iAngle As Single
Dim objApp As Object
Dim objVariables As Object
Dim objVariable As Object

'------------------------------------------------------------------
' Checking for the active document
Set objApp = GetObject(, "SolidEdge.Application")
If Err Then
MsgBox "You must open Solid Edge before executing this module!!", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "Error"
Exit Sub
Else
'Connect to a running instance of Solid Edge.
Set objApp = GetObject(, "SolidEdge.Application")
'Access the Variables collection.
Set objVariables = objApp.ActiveDocument.Variables
End If

'SIMULATION STARTS!
For iAngle = 0 To 360 Step 2
' Changing Cam_angle from 0, 2, 4, ..., 360 deg.
Call objVariables.Edit("Cam_angle", iAngle)

Next iAngle

End Sub

6) Open Solid Edge file from previous example and delete formula in Variables Table as shown below, because in this example we will control the variable (dimension) using VBA code directly.



7) We are now ready for simulation. Resize VBA Windows as shown below then click run to see the result.



Watch the following video for the actual result!




Read more info about Mechanical Engineering Design Handbook

Motion Simulation in Solid Edge using sketches together with Microsoft Excel VBA Programming Part II

To link solid edge variables to Microsoft excel, we can do by enter formula in the variables table or use VBA code.

In this post, I would like to show how easy to make it using variables table.You can use the Variable Table to define and edit functional relationships between the dimensions of a design in a familiar spreadsheet format. The Variable Table is accessed with the Variables command on the Tools menu. There are two types of variables: dimensions displayed in the design and variables you create directly in the Variable Table. Dimension variables directly control elements of a design. Variables that you create cannot directly control the design. A user variable must be set equal to a value or mathematical expression; for example, PI = 3.14159. Variables can control dimensional relationships by setting the dimensional relationship equal to the variable.Let's begin...

1) Open Solid Edge and make a sketch as shown below.

Mechanism in this example consists of cam, lever, pull rod and four bar linkage. What we have to do is to make sure that when the dimension of cam angle is changed, the entire mechanism is changed accordingly. You can simply check this by clicking at the dimension of cam angle and rotate your mouse wheel to see if entire mechanism is moving or not.

2) To set the name of variables
When you place the dimensions for a design, variables for these dimensions are placed into the variable table automatically. If the Variable Table is open, any dimension that is placed by you or the software will display in the Variable Table after the dimension is placed. Working with the variable table open allows you to change the dimension's name that is generated by the software to a more logical name as you work. When you rename variables, the variable names should contain only letters, numbers, and the underscore character. You should not use punctuation characters.In Solid Edge: select Tools > Variables > Variables
and click at the dimension you want to change the name, for this case select the dimension of cam angle and change "Name" to cam_angle and select "Expose" to show this variable name to other application as shown below.



3) To Link variable in Solid Edge to Microsoft Excel
You can use Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet software to link Solid Edge variables to a spreadsheet. Before you can link variables to a spreadsheet, you must first create the variables you want in the Solid Edge document. When you link Solid Edge variables to a spreadsheet, the document names and folder path for the spreadsheet and the Solid Edge document should contain only letters, numbers, and the underscore character. You should not use punctuation characters. To successfully edit the linked Solid Edge variables from the spreadsheet later, you must open the Solid Edge and spreadsheet documents in a specific order:

• You can open the spreadsheet document first, then open the linked Solid Edge document.

• You can open the Solid Edge document first, then click the Edit Links command on the shortcut menu when a linked formula is selected within the variable table. You can then use the Open Source option on the Links dialog box to open the spreadsheet document.

Create new Microsoft Excel workbook and save it.
In this example, the excel file is saved at E:\Online Biz\Web\Blog\Mechanical-Design-Handbook\

File name: ex-solid-edge1.xls
and this is the content of the excel file...


In Solid edge: select Tools > Variables > Variables and select the variable named "cam_angle" as you created in previous step. And enter the following formula into "Formula" column,

@'E:\Online Biz\Web\Blog\Mechanical-Design-Handbook\ex-solid-edge1.xls'!'Sheet1!R2C2'

You can see that to link to another excel workbook, just put "@" at the first position then follows by the path and file name of excel file, sheet name and cell.

R2C2 means row 2 and column 2 which is cell B2

Now solid edge variable is linked and control by cell value in excel.
If you change value in cell B2, you will see the movement of cam mechanism.

Watch the result in the following video clip.



Read more info about Mechanical Engineering Design Handbook

Motion Simulation in Solid Edge using sketches together with Microsoft Excel VBA Programming Part I

Solid Edge has a very useful application called "Motion" which allows a user to simulate the movement of mechanical parts. This enables the machine designers to test and make sure that the movement of their mechanism is the same as they expect before manufacturing parts. This helps save a lot of money.

However, instead of using "Motion" application, I would like to show you how to simulate the motion of mechanical parts using a sketch in Solid Edge together with Microsoft Excel.

Why?

Most of the time, I started my mechanical design with the concept and layout using sketches. If we could simulate the motion of mechanical parts in a sketch, it would help me a lot.

I got this idea when I was playing with sketches and constraints in Solid Edge. Solid Edge allows us to change the dimensions easily by just rotating the mouse wheel.

Watch the following video to see how easy to make the motion in sketch.



So what I have to do is just to have Microsoft Excel VBA changes the dimensional values in Solid Edge sketch.

Here is the results of this idea ...



Let's see how to do this in the next post...


Read more info about Mechanical Engineering Design Handbook

Solid Edge - Overview

Solid Edge is powerful 3D CAD software that allows manufacturing companies to transform their process of innovation and achieve competitive advantage. A fundamental component of the UGS Velocity™ Series portfolio, Solid Edge delivers an exceptional return on investment for a low total cost of ownership. With a unique 4-step process for evolving to the productive world of 3D, superior core modeling, embedded design management, built in finite element analysis, and process workflows, Solid Edge delivers the benefits of a fully integrated and managed design discipline that eases the growing complexity of product design.

Comments from Ake Blogger:
If you like Auto CAD, Pro/Engineer, Catia, Unigraphics, Solid Works, you'll like Solid Edge as well because it's more easier for you to create and/or modify your design without disturbance to your drafting file

source: http://www.solidedge.com