Fabrication And Assembly Design
Companies in the fabrication and assembly industries are under pressure to deliver quality products in a short time and need responsive CAD software. With the IRONCAD solution, engineers design free from the constraints other CAD packages impose, increasing productivity and reducing turn-around time.
Build models from client specifications in IRONCAD’s intuitive 3D interface. Then, communicate designs back to the client and confirm specifications match their needs. IRONCAD is the perfect solution for the fabrication environment as it’s flexibility allows you to meet each customers unique needs. In fabrication almost every job is different, either an all new design or major modifications of an existing design. With IRONCAD you know you will meet the demands of your customers and deliver a quality product on time.
Experience true freedom in design with IRONCAD, an affordable, multi-purpose solution. It will improve the design process from customer input to engineering to production.
Design
We live in a 3D world, but most 3D systems out there make you start in 2D. Mainstream 3D CAD applications make you begin with a 2D sketch which has to be constrained and is then extruded, spun, lofted etc to create your design. These features need constant management to avoid your design from breaking later on. IRONCAD is different, in IRONCAD shapes are unique and intelligent. To begin a design in IRONCAD simply start by dragging and dropping features, parts and assemblies from standard catalogs or use advanced tool wizards to create standard parts, like bolts and gears. Create your own catalogs of commonly used designs to further speed up the design process. With IRONCAD you spend your time designing and not managing data, no longer do you need to worry about rebuild errors and broken relationships.
Unlike other 3D CAD systems, you have a choice in IRONCAD to work in a more traditional approach to design by working with intelligent features such as extrudes, spins, sweeps, lofts, and surfaces, or work by direct manipulation of part and feature geometry, or even a combination of both! It’s what we call Hybrid modeling and IRONCAD has had this technology since the product launched in 1998. The power of the system means IRONCAD does not constrain you by limiting your design changes to only those that are anticipated. Hybrid modeling allows dynamic, unanticipated changes to be made easily; just open the file in IRONCAD and make the changes that are required to get your product to market. It’s that simple.
If you do work with features IRONCAD makes design easy. IRONCAD’s intelligent parts and features enable geometry to mate and align automatically, history is automatically reordered to reflect your intent, and even allows entire assemblies to be resized without changing individual shapes. If you need to move a hole or boss to another area of your design simply click and drag. It will apply itself to the new location regardless of how the part was built and without breaking other areas of the design.
Changing the size of an item is as simple as pulling on a 3D handle on the design. Need to make that hole bigger, pull on a handle, need to change the bend radius of that sheet metal part, pull a handle! IRONCAD puts the controls directly on the model so you can change your design dynamically in 3D instead of having to edit a sketch.
Engineers even control how IRONCAD organizes their data. Choose between externally linked files or IRONCAD’s single-scene design environment, which stores
projects in a single file and makes sharing designs easy. IRONCAD’s single scene design environment makes data management a thing of the past. No longer does a 4000 part assembly have to be represented by 4000-5000 files on your hard drive or server. In IRONCAD you have everything in one file, spread amongst five files, ten, it’s your choice. IRONCAD’s freedom to choose how you work changes the way engineers design for the better.
Information Exchange
IRONCAD changes the way information is shared by allowing design and production departments to work together. Read and write to multiple formats with IRONCAD’s dual ACIS and Parasolid kernels that allow precise, error-free import of common file types like Catia® V4 and V5; Pro/Engineer®; Solidworks®; Inventor®; Unigraphics®, IGES and STEP.
Use this flexibility to share work between the factory, the design office, or customers in the field regardless of what CAD program they use. IRONCAD can edit almost any file format and once the file is imported, Hybrid modeling technology lets you make changes using feature recognition, direct face modeling or IRONCAD catalogs to add new intelligent parts.
IRONCAD can even publish information online thanks to 3D PDF export and the ability to embed models in web sites using standard web based 3D formats. And with the press of a single mouse click you can package up your design in a light graphics format for distribution via email to anyone you wish and the recipient can view the model in full 3D on their computer (Internet Explorer required).
Simulation And Testing
Enhance the design revision process with IRONCAD’s real-world simulations. Use mechanical constraints during design to create mechanical simulations from project geometry in one of four solving modes to test parts in simulated working conditions. When combined with real time interference checking, mechanical constraints allow engineers to fully test all aspects of a machine’s design, ensuring no conflicts exist.
Design survivability can also be tested with FEA software. Integration with analysis tools like NEi Nastran ensure designs are ready for their environment. Plus, IRONCAD comes with a free node-limited fully functional version of NEi Nastran for IRONCAD.
Production
Communicating designs accurately to production is challenging. IRONCAD can export files into formats directly compatible with factory tooling machines or annotate 2D views of 3D models to clearly document designs. Necessary information is automatically generated from IRONCAD’s 3D scene files and includes bill of materials. This information is fully associative and updates as models change.
Exploded views and 3D animations can also be made for detailed assembly instructions. From item bubbles to hole tables, everything engineers need to communicate with production is available through the IRONCAD solution.
IRONCAD also supports your rapid prototyping needs with full support for STL import and export. This allows you to test your designs using 3D printers prior to going to production.
Efficiency
By enhancing information exchange, design, simulation and production, the IRONCAD solution for fabrication and assembly will increase productivity. Its design system is easy-to-use and can be learned in days, not months like other CAD systems.
Engineers, designers and customers will all benefit from IRONCAD’s flexibility Use IRONCAD to freely exchange ideas and eliminate misunderstandings during development and production. Engineering and factory managers can even build workflow systems around IRONCAD to encompass conceptualization, design and production.
Everything will change with IRONCAD. Engineers will design more efficiently, meet end-user needs, improve communication, shorten turn-around time, reduce revisions, and increase efficiency – making you a more profitable company.
