Posts

Showing posts from October, 2008

GD & T - Power of Feature Control Frames using SolidWorks

Image
Feature Control Frame forms the heart of the Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing ( GD & T ) practice for engineers involved in creating, manufacturing and inspecting designs. In fact it is the greatest invention of engineering expressions in symbolic language that it is finding unilateral acceptance by the engineering community as a whole. For the un-initiated, let us considere a hole dimensioned as follows: Read from left to right, the Feature Control Frame states that "Position of the Axis of a pattern of 8 holes when produced within stated size limits, can be off-centre within a diametral tolerance zone of 0.50 when produced at Maximum Material Condition, when the part is located on Datum A as Primary, Datum Feature of Size B when produced at Maximum Material Condition as Secondary and Datum C as Tertiary references." Feature Control Frames have a characteristic symbol in the first cell, a tolerance value with a zone descriptor and material modifier (if any) as the...

Overcoming Market Challenges - A Design Approach

Recessionary trends in markets always force customers to re-think before spending and postpone high-value investment decisions. In these days of wild economic oscillations, every company involved in manufacturing and marketing of products is faced with the following scenarios: Reduced Orders for Products Shrinking profit margin Competitive pricing from predatory products Add to these challenges, the burdening effects of increased input raw material costs, extended product development time and costly re-work due to failures, we have a problem of monstrous proportions that affects the company bottom-line and survivability. In order to stay competitive, increase market-share and provide more value for less money, product development companies need to do three things: 1. Innovate 2. Improvise 3. Implement It is well known that 80%-85% of a product cost is driven/ decided by Design. Input raw-material, number and sequence manufacturing operations, product testing, product/ design re-wo...

Integrated Design Validation for Fit, Form and Function Using SolidWorks - Part II

Image
Part I highlighted the Fit and Form aspects of Design Validation using SolidWorks. Additional Form Validation tools are highlighted in this part. Form validation starts from the first step, namely, concept design. Form is validated all the time. Every dimension involves form validation. Shape optimization directly interacts with form and validates for optimal weight, cost or any variable that the designer uses to arrive at a design solution. Draft Analysis , inside SolidWorks, helps designer to analyze designs for form requirements that are mandatory from manufacturing considerations. DraftXpert provides a range of tools for form validation inside SolidWorks. Draft Analysis Settings and Results for Plastic Part Curvature continuity and tangency on surfaces can be checked by using Zebra Stripes Visual Display availabel inside SolidWorks. Zebra Stripes on Plastic Part Undercut Detection on parts, be they plastic or die-cast, is required tofind trapped areas in a model that cannot ...