For many decades, mold making and casting were the go-to methods to produce realistic prototypes of smaller plastic goods. Often referred to as Room Temperature Vulcanization (RTV) or silicone molding, this is the process of producing a master part and making a flexible mold off that master. Then, the mold is filled with a two-part urethane resin, which cures into the shape of the mold. This produces a part that exactly mimics the original master’s shape and surface finish. This process is extremely versatile and is in use in many industries. Still, it requires a skilled model maker to produce a master and understand the proper molding techniques to achieve the desired result. Today, 3D printing is changing the way RTV molding is approached and no 3D printing technology is better suited for the task than Stratasys’ PolyJet technology. In this article, we will illustrate the process of RTV molding and explore how PolyJet printing can augment the various steps.

Today, with the right setup, working away from the office can be very effective. In a previous article, we showed you how to set up your SOLIDWORKS license if you need to access it remotely. Now that you know how to access SOLIDWORKS, how about we give you some tips on how to manage data and file information remotely?

Having a data management system is crucial for any serious engineering or design firm that needs an organized and smart vault of their work and workflows. SOLIDWORKS PDM is a great tool for this because of how straightforward and flexible it is at maintaining the history of files, including all versions and revisions inside the vault. Depending on your workflow, your Version Control process can be fitted to your exact needs, nothing more and nothing less. In this article, I discuss my recommended top three SOLIDWORKS PDM tools that work in conjunction with version control to make managing these precious files as easy as possible.

We’ve all heard it before – prank, gag, joke, high jinx, whatever you call it, the day for them only comes once a year. You guessed it, April Fools' Day! Commonly celebrated on April 1^st in America, April Fools' Day is an annual custom consisting of silly jokes and funny pranks. Believed to have originated in the 12^th century, this holiday permeates cultures around the world in different ways and is constantly evolving as technology continues to advance. Since the Stratasys J Series of PolyJet 3D printers can produce hyper-realistic parts, we decided to put it to the test and prank a fellow co-worker.

Did you know that every license of SOLIDWORKS includes the SOLIDWORKS FloXpress application? FloXpress is a computational fluid dynamics tool that evaluates the flow of fluid in a single internal cavity within parts and assemblies. Once you run a calculation on the velocity field, problem areas in your design will pop up, and you can improve them before manufacturing any parts. Different from SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation, which is meant for complex fluid analyses, FloXpress is specifically designed to analyze fluid flow in a fully enclosed volume that includes at least one inlet and one outlet.

With every release of SOLIDWORKS, we see the addition of hundreds of new features and enhancements – both big and small. It’s not always the incredible new feature or tool that makes the most significant impact on our daily design experience; sometimes it’s the little improvements that have the biggest impact. SOLIDWORKS 2020 has enhanced the surfacing capabilities, and although it’s a small improvement – it’s one of my personal favorites.

While COVID-19 continues to be a global concern, TriMech wants to ensure you that we are 100% committed to supporting you and your business in every possible way. One of those ways is by continuing to offer, and even expanding, our learning options. In today’s article, we'll quickly review the different professional digital training and certification options TriMech offers.

“So… should I show the customer ‘MasterAssembly-new-latest-USETHIS-keep’ or ‘MasterAssembly-final-DONOTDELETE-approved-updated’?” Thanks to data management tools like SOLIDWORKS PDM, these phrases in the office are a thing of the past. With SOLIDWORKS PDM, maintaining a file’s history and accessing the latest revision is second nature. Unfortunately, you’d need to be tethered to the PDM Vault to account for the latest updates, even with remote access. You know what would be even better for universal version control, especially when needing to show the latest file version on the fly? Taking the file confidence of PDM and wrapping it into an intuitive social platform, like 3DEXPERIENCE ENOVIA accessible anywhere you’re connected to the Internet.

When creating a model in SOLIDWORKS, changes are bound to happen. A key to this is creating a robust model. You’ll know if your model is sturdy if you try to make design changes and it does not show any failures or does not break. With SOLIDWORKS 2020, there is a new feature to help your models adjust to changes so you can spend less time troubleshooting and more time modeling.

When it comes to designing a project, it is important to use revision management to track and control any changes that were done. Revision notes are important in the design process because they will specify who designed, approved and validated each revision in the project. This blog article explains how to use revision control which is beneficial for the user to track project design changes, making for a clear understanding of past, current and future designs.  

Over the past few days, we’ve been monitoring and reviewing activity surrounding COVID-19 at the local, state and government level. While COVID-19 continues to be a global concern, TriMech wants to ensure you that we are 100% committed to supporting you and your business in every possible way. Knowing we’re working in a very fluid and changing environment we want to reassure you that you will continue to receive the same level of service that you have come to expect from TriMech.