Kansas City SolidWorks User Group
On June 27th, I attended and presented at the
KCSWUG meeting hosted by MRI Global. My
topic was presenting some of our findings with regards to making SolidWorks
perform with hardware sized for your SolidWorks models. Also at this meeting we saw a presentation
from SolidWorks employee, Richard Allen.
Richard is a Product Portfolio Manager for SolidWorks Corporation. His role consists of “acting as the voice for
the customer” which means he tries to do the following:
- Work with product enhancements
- Increase performance and quality
- Innovate new products
Richard also spoke of a new 3D Dimensioning standard on part
models to reduce printed or 2D drawings. The US government is already using
this for Military contract suppliers.
This new methodology is estimated to save 28% of scrap due to better
understanding of dimensions on the 3D Model.
Did you know that SolidWorks has had 3D Model Dimensions since
SolidWorks 2008 in the form of DimXpert?
DimXpert for Parts is a set of tools you use to apply dimensions and
tolerances to parts according to the requirements of ASME Y14.41-2003 and ISO
16792:2006.
We also talked about obstacles that the group would face
trying to “do away” with 2D printed drawings.
Several members agree that this would be strange in that most like to
write on drawings and this would not be possible on a screen image. How would shops afford monitors, tablets and
other viewing devices for the production floor staff to view your models
on? Just getting around the fact that we
like to hold and touch a drawing and use pencils or pens to write on them will
be strange.
Richard also mentioned that SolidWorks 2014 will ship
sometime in the October 2013 time frame.
Beta 2014 is now open for registration.
We urge all users to sign up for this, and try 2014 BETA on a separate
machine for testing and playing around.
SolidWorks has reached another huge milestone. Over 2,000,000 users of the product now
worldwide! Some schools across the globe
are placing SolidWorks educational software on student’s machines as young as 7
or 8 years old! Can you believe that? Customer satisfaction for SolidWorks products
has increased 5% since 2007, and is now close to 94% approval based on mailed
out surveys.
Richard also demonstrated the new eDrawings Pro application
on his iPad. This has the new Augmented
Reality feature which allows you to display your SolidWorks models using
eDrawings, and the camera function from your tablet to place virtually your
models in the room or environment seen by your camera! Very cool technology. These App’s run $2 or $10 from the Apple Store.
Check out this video for more information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVcIaBAQSE4
For a stormy Thursday night we had a pretty good turnout and
the food is always great. If you get a
chance to come next time, the meeting will be sometime in September and the
user group web site is http://www.kcswug.com/main/
Hope to see you there!
Thanks,
Brian Reel
CATI
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