TriMech Blog

Electrical and mechanical engineers can collaborate to design printed circuit boards (PCBs) that fit and function in SOLIDWORKS assemblies, bridging the collaboration gap between Electrical Computer Aided Design (ECAD) and Mechanical Computer Aided Design (MCAD). Using add-on tools, such as CircuitWorks, designers and engineers have the ability to read ECAD files in SOLIDWORKS. In this blog, we'll go over what CircuitWorks is and the benefits of using this add-on.

This week's Product Story showcases Ford Motor Company's use of Metal 3D Printing to Produce New Components Rapidly.

Ever since Ford opened in 1903, they’ve been innovation leaders in the auto manufacturing industry. Fast-forward to modern-day, they’re constantly brainstorming new ideas and ways to continue being the leader. Ford’s Research and Advanced Engineering Organization is responsible for developing new technologies and working with partners to bring those technologies to Ford Motor Company. Thanks to the Desktop Metal Studio+, their innovation has greatly improved.  

Desktop Metal has announced an all-new 3D printer and platform, the Fiber series. This series is the first desktop printer to miniaturize automated fiber placement (AFP) technology, found in high-end carbon fiber production processes, and combine it with fused filament 3D printing. The resulting parts created using the patent pending technology are up to 60 times stiffer and 75 times stronger than standard ABS plastic parts.

Past SOLIDWORKS updates are the building blocks for all future improvements and feature additions. However, with all of the changes that are applied every year it can be hard to remember and keep track of everything that has happened. What if there was a new feature you could be using right now, but it flew under your radar? To help with this, during our TriMech 20 for 20 event we provided a little refresher with four on-demand webinars focused on the progress and upgrades of previous SOLIDWORKS enhancements. 

MakerBot Method 3D printers use production-grade thermoplastics to create functional prototypes, manufacturing tools and end-use parts that are durable, detailed and dimensionally accurate, all from a desktop sized printer. Getting industrial-grade jobs from a smaller footprint makes 3D printing real ABS much more convenient. Let's take a look at these new materials and what they mean for desktop 3D printing.

This week's Product Story showcases Eviation Aircraft and their use of 3DEXPERIENCE for faster collaboration in the Cloud. 

Eviation Aircraft uses 3DEXPERIENCE through the Cloud to create the world's first all-electric regional commuter aircraft Aviation Alice. Aviation Alice is a plane that holds nine passengers and crew, can travel up to 1000 kilometers per charge, has an all-electric battery and is capable of speeds around 450 kilometers an hour and 40 knots at 10,000 feet. Since they are new to the aviation industry, they wanted to differentiate themselves by by using a holistic approach to development. This was built from the ground up to the electric aircraft. 

The Tucker Carioca 1955 car was an idea that Preston Tucker dreamed of, but never built. Unfortunately, he died before he had the chance to do any engineering and bring his dream to reality. At Rob Ida’s shop, Ida Automotive, Rob and his team are working to pick up where Preston left off to build the very first Tucker Carioca.

Michael Souders from TriMech and Mike Sabocheck from SOLIDWORKS traveled to Rob Ida Concepts to help work on this project. Michael brought a couple of tools to scan items with him: the Artec Eva and Artec Space Spider.

So many improvements in SOLIDWORKS 2020, so little time! With the vast amount of upgrades and additions they make each year, it can be overwhelming trying to sift through them all, and often, useful tools and changes are missed. To ensure you are getting the most of your software, we are providing twelve on-demand webinars full of demonstrations, updates, explanations and explorations of SOLIDWORKS. 

It’s STEM Day! In case you are new to this concept, STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The purpose of STEM is to provide young students become familiar with new technologies available and the challenges they pose for the future. Students in STEM classrooms take time to cover significant topics and fun activities in these fields, present ongoing projects or just discuss the importance of these areas in today’s world. In honor of National STEM Day, I want to share a topic that has always been interesting to me, flying. In this blog, I will cover some of the physics and mechanics involved in making things fly and how they can be tested using SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD.

Stratasys GrabCAD Print is a sophisticated 3D printing app that allows designers and engineers to prepare, schedule and monitor 3D printing jobs. Since its release, GrabCAD has continued to make exciting updates to this software; and we will be updating you every other month on its new features – in this set of release notes we will be looking at versions 1.32, 1.33, and the just-released 1.34.

In April of 2019, Stratasys announced that their J735 and J750 PolyJet machines successfully passed the rigorous requirements needed to make it the world’s first and only PANTONE-validated 3D printers. This was a huge hit and manufacturers around the world were rejoicing. In October of the same year Stratasys added two other members to its J-series of printers, the J835 and J850, which are also PANTONE-validated and include even more material options. This changes the game for 3D printing as design and prototype colors can now be matched with 100% specificity, making the process from concept to final product even more accurate. 

3D printing has become increasingly popular in the Medical industry over the last few years and this is evident in the fields of teaching, planning and practicing medicine. In this blog article, we uncover the possibilities in each one of these fields to utilize Stratasys 3D printers, such as the new J750 Digital Anatomy Printer (DAP) that is capable of replicating the look, feel and responsiveness of human tissue.