TriMech Blog

In May 2016, Stratasys released GrabCad Print, 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 I will be updating you every month on its new features - October 2017 launches GrabCAD Print 1.11.

Additive technologies are revolutionizing the way the automotive industry is designing and developing vehicles. In this blog, we explore how BMW is using 3D scanning and 3D printing to get ahead of their competition.

Painting and finishing can transform your 3D printed parts to be more aesthetically pleasing, giving them appearance of production parts. Prototypes, concept models and end-use parts can all be finished to presentation-quality in a matter of hours. Our blog outlines how to finish a 3D printed part to look like a production part in four main steps: 1) Preparation, 2) Sanding, 3) Priming and 4) Painting.

Are you looking for instructions on how to install the Workgroup PDM Admin Tool? This blog will give you the tools to install the updated 2016 WPDM Admin Tool regardless if it is a client SOLIDWORKS machine or a Server machine. The installation process and instructions given below are the same in both scenarios.  

If you own a Standalone SOLIDWORKS license and use it on multiple computers, you may have noticed a change in how you are able to manage that license. Many users are happy using the license transfer method available under the “Help” menu but if you’re looking for a more flexible way to transfer your license SOLIDWORKS has announced a new method for 2018 that allows the license to be assigned to YOU rather than a single machine. In this blog post we’ll discuss this new method as well as others that you can use while your company gets ready to upgrade to SOLIDWORKS 2018.

Using a scaled version of a knuckle design, SOLIDWORKS Technical Manager Mike Sande demonstrates how to get the most out of your design to cut materials, reduce mass, increase confidence in the durability of your design and better understand the life cycle your product will endure. In just 15 minutes, he uses three iterations through Simulation to create a good design, a better design and the best design for this product. 

Think of an object or scenario that you want to capture and render into a CAD software. Imagine the color, transparency, surface finish and size. Is it compatible to 3D scan? If so, what 3D scanning technology (or technologies) make the most sense to use?

In this blog, we explore how to choose and use multiple scanners in the same scanned file. Here's how:

After installation, SOLIDWORKS prompts users to specify their drafting standard and unit systems. This is to create the three default template files for parts, assemblies and drawings to ensure consistency.

Anyone who prints parts with multiple holes knows the headache that can come from designing and post-processing round shapes. In this blog, we are saying goodbye to traditional round shaped holes and exploring the benefits of 3D printing diamond shaped holes instead. 

We all want one thing from SOLIDWORKS Simulation — the truth! But sometimes the results can be misleading in areas of high stress. We often wonder is this high stress real? Or is it artificial or fake? There are ways to get to the bottom of this, but most approaches are tedious and require many subsequent runs of the simulation. Thanks to the new SOLIDWORKS 2017 Hot Spot Diagnostics tool, you can uncover the truth in your simulations and more easily identify stress singularities versus stress concentrations.

In May 2016, Stratasys released GrabCad Print, 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 I will be updating you every month on its new features - September 2017 launches GrabCAD Print 1.10.

SOLIDWORKS includes a library of standard structural members, such as tubes, pipes, c-channels, beams, angles and unistrut. By creating a sketch that represents the skeleton of a frame, these structural members can then be inserted onto the sketched lines. From there, various end treatments can be applied to determine how the lines join together.