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    • Author: SolidCAD

    Three Pirates Build a Music Ship

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    What will you do if you take a month off work and can not travel anywhere due to Covid-19 travel restriction?

    The answer is easy: Stay home and build a musical instrument repair workshop from an old shed and learn how to build an acoustic stringed musical instrument using Autodesk Inventor.

    There are many steps in between, but two main steps of my project are:

    • Build a musical instrument repair/build workshop.
    • Use Autodesk Inventor for making an acoustic stringed musical instrument.

    1. Build a musical instrument repair/build workshop.

    How to build a musical instrument repair workshop?

    A piece of cake! You need 3 guys who are willing to turn an old dirty storage shed into a shop with just pizza and beers. I do have an old shed full of junks under my sundeck for the job. The three amigos are:

    Al – The mighty Builder who bought an old sailing boat in New Zealand, rebuilt it, and alone sailed back from New Zealand to Canada.

    Karim – The Luthier who builds amazing acoustic guitars, violins, ouds, and multiple acoustic stringed musical instruments. He is known as the musical instruments Doctor.

    Hung – The guy who has been teaching Autodesk Inventor since it was called “Rubicon”.

    Figure 1: Shop construction

    What are the plans and drawings for the workshop?

    After measuring the space, we used Autodesk Revit to quickly layout the plan, extract the material information, then calculate the budget with Revit’s schedule features.

    How long does it take to build the workshop completely?

    One week. It can be much faster if the three guys spent less time chatting over pizza and beers.

    How does it look after the workshop completed?

    Here are photos of the exterior/interior of the shop. On our opening day, we had local musicians dropped by to perform on guitars, violines, oud and cellos built by Karim the Luthier.

    Figure 2: Shop’s Interior/Exterior

     

    2. Use Autodesk Inventor for making an acoustic stringed musical instrument.

    How to use Autodesk Inventor for stringed musical instrument?

    You can use Autodesk Inventor for modeling, detailing almost anything out there. Musical instrument is just one of many examples. I love Arabian oud, Turkish and Persian barbat music. I bought an Oud a long time ago but wanting to have a new one with deeper bass voice. To deepen the bass notes, the oud needs a larger body with a full teardrop shape. Using Autodesk Inventor, I layout and detail the body shape from Karim – the Luthier’s sketch.

    Figure 3: Inventor model of Oud body with hand sketch and prints.

    After a few discussion and modification, we decided that the body of the oud should be divided into 14 sections along the curve of the body as shown on Autodesk Inventor drawing:

    Figure 4: Inventor Oud body detail drawing

    We needed the flat-out for each section of the oud. To archive this task, I used Inventor’s “Unwrap” feature that was introduced in Autodesk Inventor version 2020.

    Figure 5: Autodesk Inventor ‘Unwrap’ Feature

    The Inventor’s “Unwrap”  is an amazing feature and did a very accurate job. After printing the flat-out pattern as 1:1 scale on paper, we turned the prints into templates for cutting. The flat pieces were bent & molded to assemble the oud body precisely as the design.

    Figure 6: Oud body assembly is precisely as the design.

    After the oud body shell harden, Sound board with sound hole, fingerboard (neck), and head were made and installed.

    The oud is very similar to modern lutes, and to Western lutes. Similar instruments have been used in the Middle East, North Africa (particularly the Maghreb, Egypt, and Somalia), and Central Asia for thousands of years, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Caucasus, the Levant, and Balkanise countries like Greece, Albania, and Bulgaria; there may even be prehistoric antecedents of the lute.

    The oud, as a fundamental difference with the western lute, has no frets and a smaller neck as seen in these photos.

    Figure 7: Sound board with sound hole, fingerboard (neck), and head were made and installed.

    How does the Oud designed with Autodesk Inventor look and sound after finishing?

    It took 3 months with couple of hours here and there after work or weekend, finally the oud is completed. The oud has 11 strings grouped in 6 courses, but some models have 5 or 7 courses, with 10 or 13 strings, respectively. The pattern of tuning the strings is (low pitch to high): D2 G2 A2 D3 G3 C4 on single string courses or D2, G2 G2, A2 A2, D3 D3, G3 G3, C4 C4 for a course of two strings.

    Picture is worth a thousand words…Here goes the Autodesk Inventor Oud:

    Figure 8: Oud after finishing.

    If you’d like to hear this Autodesk Inventor’s Oud, check the sound here:

    My next project will be learning how to make this 21-string harp guitar with a super-treble bank with violin fine tuner mounted in the bridge. The challenge is making a mold for this harp guitar. I’ll have to turn back to Autodesk Inventor to construct a prototype and study the strength of material using Inventor Nastran in CAD before drawing a details plan and building it.

    Figure 10: Doolin’s Harp Guitar

    It will take some money and may be another 5 months of my life, but…Well, what can you do if you take time off work but can not travel anywhere due to COVID restriction?

    Until next time…

    The Basics of Document Control: What You Need to Know

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    With today’s shifting digital landscape, if your organization is not focusing on document version control, you maybe be costing your business money and efficiency by not using modern, practical engineering tools. 

    Without effective version control, your document controllers and editors may work on out-of-date, incomplete, or duplicate information. These issues lead to lowered operating efficiency and raised labor costs. 

    Legacy Document Version Control Comes with Challenges 

     Document storage and version control have changed significantly over the last several decades. The process has moved from manual pen, paper, and filing cabinets to the initial batch of online document storage systems. These first digital systems were complex, hard to maintain, with little to no integration support for surrounding platforms. Information was tough to locate in both scenarios, and users have had to deal with incomplete data. 

     These issues lead to the following consequences: 

    • Lower employee efficiency 
    • Incorrect document revisioning across different teams 
    • Reduced understanding of as-built files and sites 
    • Trouble adhering to regulatory compliance 

    Enter the Modern Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) 

     The new generation of EDMS systems emerged from the need to meet these challenges. They improve user experience with intuitive user interfaces and provide full integration into existing surrounding platforms. 

    A modern solution like Accruent’s Meridian EDMS, will provide your business with:  

    • A single source of truth for all your mission-critical technical drawings and data 
    • Compliance with all regulatory bodies 
    • Increased team effectiveness with improved data accuracy 
    • Complete document control and change tracking 
    • Streamlined collaboration between different teams

    Full Document Version Control 

     Automated document revision control and auditing ensure all changes are tracked across different teams and devices. These powerful capabilities lead to the following benefits: 

    Full History of Documents

    Having access to previous versions of documents safeguards against data loss, server crashes, and incorrect changes. The audit log also provides insight into who made changes and when they were made. 

    Enabling Team Collaboration with Concurrent Work 

    Allowing multiple team members to work on the latest version of a document increases throughput and prevents updates to out-of-date revisions. It also provides the ability for a single member to access the exact working copy on multiple devices. 

    Maintaining Regulatory Compliance 

    An EDMS can empower multiple teams to meet the challenges of modern-day compliance requirements by providing easy access to the relevant documentation required to meet these standards. This access is shared across various departments and streamlines the process. 

    Save Time Searching for Documents 

    Searching for a document can cost a business by increasing labor costs. Not only can time be saved across the organization by utilizing powerful search tools, but it can also improve data integrity by pointing key stakeholders to the latest document in real-time. An average operations team spends approximately 2 hours a day searching for the correct versions of documents. 

     

    Tips to keep your EDMS system running smoothly 

     Assign and train an EDMS Administrator / Document Controller 

    Hiring an EDMS Administrator is a great way to ensure your day-to-day activities remain streamlined and effective. They can assist the larger team by: 

    • Keeping the EDMS updated with the latest functionality 
    • Highlighting key metrics and KPIs 
    • Providing advanced training to the user group improving efficiency 
    • Maintaining compliance on all required documents 
    • Creating and providing data-driven reports to key stakeholders 

    This user can improve user adoption of your EDMS solution and build best practices to avoid pitfalls found with legacy Document Control environments. 

    To learn more about Meridian solutions and how they can help your team, please contact the SolidCAD Meridian team. 

    How to Create an Empty/Smaller Catalog Database in AutoCAD Electrical

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    When we are working with AutoCAD Electrical, one of the keys features of the software is the ability to quickly grab information from the catalog browser so it can be later on be used in our reporting tools such as the Bill of Materials. We can also quickly add custom part number as the manufacturers keep adding new components to their catalogs.

    What is lesser known to a lot of users is the fact that this database (default_cat) has a considerable size of approx. 550Mb, as seen on Figure 1 and that file size can quickly add up if we constantly have the need to add custom part numbers to the catalog.

    Figure 1

    Depending on the speed and reliability of your internal network, having multiple users share this file can be quite taxing on the network’s resources and if you require to access the file over a VPN, you could see some serious lagging.

    If you are experiencing this kind of issues, AutoCAD Electrical comes with a feature that will allow you to create an empty database so you can significantly reduce the size of your custom database. As a best practice, we can work with a primary database which contains the main part numbers that come from the installation, and work with a secondary database which will only contain your custom/new part numbers with a much smaller file size.

    For us to create an empty database we need to fist create a brand new project and the proceed to create Project Specific Catalog Database, which will contain a database with only the part numbers used in that project, and since its new, the project’s catalog database will be empty. This command can be found in the Project tab, inside the Other Tools drop-down menu as seen on Figure 2.

    Figure 2

    Once we start this command we need to keep this new database as separate, as seen on Figure 3, and we will be able to create an empty database for us to us exclusively for or custom/new parts and we can rename it to custom_cat or secondary_cat so it’s easier for other users to understand its use. As default, the new database will be saved inside the project folder of the active project.

    Figure 3

    The last step is to compress the database by using MS Access, selecting the Database Tools, and use the command Compact and Repair Database. When the command is complete you can safely close MS Access and the database will have been compressed to a much more manageable size. As you can see on Figure 4, the database file size has been considerably reduced.

    Figure 4

    With a new empty catalog database, now we are ready to set it up as a secondary database for our project and start using it exclusively for our new/custom part numbers in AutoCAD Electrical.

    How Meridian Portal Can Help You Streamline Online Reviews

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    A typical review scenario can look like the following: a technical drawing or document needs to be approved internally by a group of experts. 

    The relevant documents are gathered from various sources, printed, and mailed to the initial reviewer.  

    This review process is relatively easy to complete but can also incur delays due to the following issues: 

    • Someone is required to keep the review process moving through direct contact with the approval team 
    • Due dates can be missed without a document controller monitoring the status of a review 
    • Sequential reviews can cause delays in the later stages if feedback is required from someone who reviewed the document earlier in the process 

    Due to these typical constraints, reviews can be delayed. Still, by providing visibility to the proper stakeholders, the process can bypass any participant if their approval is not required to move forward. Approver’s roles must be communicated clearly during the initiation of a review, or else participants may fall back on previous experience. 

    These delays are exasperated by the paper chase required for review packages. If a critical approver is out of the office, it will lead to added time lost. 

    The Digital Age:  Online Reviews Can Lead to a Seamless Review Process 

     The digitization of plant assets has become the norm and will continue to be essential going forward. The Covid-19 epidemic has accelerated the need for a digital footprint due to much of the workforce working remotely. Organizations that have already embraced reality this have proven to be more nimble during these difficult times and are better equipped to handle unexpected events in the future. 

     Leveraging an on-premise or cloud-based EDMS (electronic document management system) can free up team resources by removing the paper chase required for manual reviews. EDM systems can also provide the following benefits: 

    • A cloud-based SaaS solution reduces the resources required to maintain software and eliminates the need to acquire hardware. 
    • Custom automated workflows can handle the review process for a smoother experience 
    • These systems can integrate with an existing computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) and external contractor portals such as Meridian Portal 

    Meridian EDMS and Portal will provide your team with the ability to create a review package with specific roles (Lead Reviewer, Required Reviewer, Optional Reviewer). Automated emails generated by the review workflow will notify the group of the package contents. The review can be completed anywhere a user can access the internet and provides full support for markups and comments.   

    Comments and markups are fully tracked and available to the entire team through the process. The real-time responses will help eliminate reviewer bottlenecks by raising the visibility of the sequential review status for the whole group.  

    Like Accruent’s Meridian Portal, EDM solutions help teams work together with maintenance groups by providing complete control over handovers and the document review process. Collaborative online reviews allow your business to access documents from a single source of truth without the traditional bottlenecks and paper chases associated with manual paper reviews. 

    To learn more about Meridian solutions and how they can help your team, please contact  the  SolidCAD Meridian team. 

    Autodesk Inventor: Get A Different Perspective

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    In this modern age of software, it seems that there is a specific software or tool for just about anything, but our main asset for accomplishing our CAD work is still our eyes. The way we view things has a major impact on our workflows.

    CAD work

    The common navigation tools inside Autodesk Inventor can become second nature. There are many ways to go about navigating around a model and every user has his preferences. Some use the Navigation Bar, some use the View Cube, some use the F keys or the mouse wheel just to name a few. Out of all the navigation options we have one command is more than often left out and that is Perspective View.

    Why using the Perspective View?

    Perspective View projects the model’s view to a vanishing point adding perspective and parallax in the scene. This gives a better comprehension of space, depth and volume. This helps create a more realistic and compelling view for any conception. While this effect is used widely for visualization and rendering, most users pass on its most useful asset:  navigation.

    While working in parallel projection (Orthographic) we can work precisely on our model without the distortion of a real-world view. This is where most work is done. But sometimes the geometry we are working on becomes our obstacle. One might have to work inside of something requiring creating hide situations on some parts to access the working area or create section views to access very small space in between geometry.

    These situations require the creation of work planes, adding extra sketches in our model, creating and managing view representations or just plainly utilizing commands such as Slice Graphics repetitively. All these manipulations are redundant and can soon become an irritant in a day-to-day routine. Here comes perspective to the rescue. Perspective view has a ghost behavior that enables the camera to go through geometry.

     

    You need to select a face inside an assembled drive shaft’s keyway? 

    Not a problem, just toggle Perspective on and navigate through the gearbox, gears and bearing to select the face you want. Simple!

    The images below show how we can go through the objects to select the inside face of a keyway without any other manipulation than a simple Zoom.

    Selecting a face with Perspective View
    Selecting a face with Perspective View
    What about working in a tight space? 

    Once again toggle Perspective on and navigate to the desired position.

    The image below shows the same viewpoint, one orthographic and the second in perspective. Obviously, the perspective view offers much more headroom with a better visual comprehension.

    orthographic view

    Perspective

     

    Here are my extra 3 tips for easier navigation of the Perspective View:

    1. While navigating in perspective view it is a good practice to select a model or a feature so that selection becomes the center of interest. This will make the navigation focused to that selection.

    2. The default zoom factor of the mouse wheel scroll is intended for broad movement. While in perspective, the dolly zoom might be a better companion. You can press F3 to activate this zoom on the fly or assign this zoom behavior to the mouse wheel in your preferences in Inventor 2021.

    3. To adjust the field of view of your perspective press Ctrl+Shift+F3 and click and drag in your viewport, you will notice that this increase or decreases your field of view. You can go from almost orthographic to a super wide-angle view with this option.

    Don’t get stuck in a sterile square world, push your horizon, widen your perspective and be more efficient!

    How a CMMS System Can Increase your Business’s ROI and Uptime

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    Have you been tasked to minimize your equipment downtime, increase asset condition visibility and spare parts?  If so, this can be a daunting task for an asset–heavy organization to move to a more proactive maintenance routine without the proper tools. 

    A Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) can accomplish this goal through the following tools: 

    • Increased team collaboration via application based commenting system 
    • Accurate reports to help you plan and optimize maintenance plans and parts availability 
    • A single source of truth will allow a business to avoid duplicate work orders 

    In the recent 2020 Benchmarks & Best Practices for Maintenance Management Report, facilities using an effective CMMS have reported seeing 88% cost savings ranging from tens of thousands to millions of dollars. 

     

    4 ways a CMMS can improve your business: 

    1. Reduce Equipment Downtime 

    Lowering equipment downtime is a common objective in any asset-heavy organization. Typically manufacturers experience an average of 800 hours of unplanned downtime annually. These incidents can take a heavy toll and result in an average cost of $17,000. In some industries, downtime can have a massive impact, costing your business $50,000 per minute, which translates to $3 million per hour. 

     Equipment failure, human error, and low visibility into asset conditions are some of the reasons for these incidents. With a CMMS solution, you can avoid these unplanned downtimes by replacing physical paperwork and application silos by introducing a single source of truth to track: 

    • Workflow and work orders 
    • Asset and physical equipment conditions 
    • Accurate supplies counts (parts, materials, etc.)
    • Service schedules and invoicing 

    Having instant access to this data can help you build more proactive maintenance plans for your assets and equipment. Enhanced reporting on these metrics will allow your team to analyze failures and, in turn, minimize future incidents. 

     

    2. Maximize Labour Force Efficiency 

    Maintenance managers need direct access to PM plans, asset documentation, and part supply info. Without this information, issues can arise, such as duplicate work orders and increased overtime costs.  These are the hallmarks of a reactive maintenance cycle vs. a proactive approach. With the proper CMMS tools, a technician will gain insight into the following: 

    • Create, evaluate, prioritize, delegate, and monitor work orders from any system by managers and operators. When a work order is done, they will also receive up-to-the-minute updates. 
    • When there is a new job order, technicians will be notified immediately, and valuable information such as repair histories, checklists, asset manuals are easily accessible. 
    • Users can plan proactive maintenance by setting up triggers for time, use, or condition-based maintenance. 
    • Technicians can add notes immediately onsite, mark a job as complete, and let others know a specific asset’s status. 

    With all this data readily available, maintenance managers can make more informed choices regarding labor costs and efficiency. Creating a comprehensive preventive maintenance plan becomes a reality with a CMMS system, which saves your organization downtime and lowers costs. 

     

    3. Extend the Life of your Assets and Raise Their Reliability 

    To improve the efficiency and reliability of maintenance operations, creating a preventive maintenance plan is necessary. Predictive analytics yield a tenfold return on investment, according to one study, and results in savings of 30 percent to 40 percent. Organizations that configure the bulk of their Assets in a CMMS report significant improvements in equipment reliability. 

    A CMMS system places all of your PM dashboards and data in one place. Because of this, maintenance planners see the big picture and improve their KPIs via the following tools: 

    • Generation of custom reports on asset downtime and costs to improve maintenance plan 
    • Quick access to all related Asset documentation such as work order history, required safety equipment, and failure codes 
    • Real–time tracking of metrics (e.g., mileage, gauge readings, and operational hours) 
    • Integration with other systems for business-wide collaboration 

    All this functionality in your hands will lead to the automation of maintenance plans and insight into improvement areas. 

     

     4. Upgrade your Inventory Management Tools 

    Maintaining your MRO stock (maintenance, repair, and operating supply) is essential for reducing downtime. Your technicians need to be able to order parts easily to complete repairs on time. MRO supply can be costly. In many cases, MRO accounts can make up as much as 40% of a business‘s annual procurement budget. 

    A modern CMMS tool can assist with inventory management, save time on repairs and reduce duplicate orders by: 

    • Providing real–time tracking of spare parts and all relevant data (i.e., purchase date, availability, and locations where the part is stored) 
    • Automating purchases of parts to avoid extending downtime on repairs 
    • Reporting on inventory costs, order history, and usage metrics 
    • Notifications sent to Technicians of which parts are required  

    Implementing a CMMS solution can have an immediate positive impact on your equipment uptime and increase your ROI. Moving away from reactive maintenance will result in fewer equipment malfunctions and raise efficiency across the organization. 

    To learn more about the Meridian CMMS solution and how they can help your team, please contact the SolidCAD Meridian team.  

    How a Localized, Multi-Language CMMS Can Streamline Global Operations

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    Any sizeable global corporation that maintains sites worldwide knows how language barriers can negatively impact communication and team productivity. 

    Let’s break this down: If person-to-person communication is difficult, adding a complex tool such as a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) will only exasperate the situation. Many modern CMMS tools are English only, which further hinders an international business’s efficiency. 

    Today’s Covid-19 reality adds another layer to this, with most of the workforce working remotely. Due to these challenges, many global corporations have begun rolling out localized or multi-language tools, including CMMS. 

    Key Asset Management Issues Businesses That Lower Efficiency 
    • Not focusing on high-priority maintenance jobs 
    • A lack of proactive maintenance leads to safety issues and unplanned downtime 
    • Communication breakdown between teams that causes delays 
    • Spare parts inventory shortage due to incomplete stock tracking tools 

    If you add language barriers to the mix for multi-site CMMS users, this adds increased challenges: 

    • Incomplete international data due to English only tools 
    • Training issues lead to a lowered understanding of the CMMS capabilities 
    • On–site technicians having issues completing work because they can’t easily access critical information 
    • Smaller tool user base due to language barriers 

    All these issues can have a substantial negative impact on efficiency and team communication. The accuracy of mission–critical asset data can drop, which leads to increased unplanned downtime. 

    How A Localized CMMS Application Can Help Your Global Business 

    A CMMS tool with the ability to localize to your region will provide the ability to translate specific language, cultural and numerical requirements to a more familiar format. These can affect the following: 

    • Language 
    • Dialect (i.e., Quebec vs. France) 
    • Legal requirements 
    • Numeric, date, and time formats 
    • Currency 

    A Localized CMMS will remove layer of communication issues that will increase data completeness and clarity and ease access. 

    4 Benefits of a Localized, Multi-site CMMS Tool 
    1. Modern User Interface 

    A complicated legacy CMMS interface can be tough to navigate and cause frustration due to: 

    • Unclear levels of user rights and privileges 
    • Unintuitive navigation of workflows 
    • Ineffective user training sessions 

    These factors can lead to lower user adoption of the tool and will negatively impact the business. 

    An easy-to-use modern CMMS will alleviate these issues as training sessions become more effective and increase user adoption. 

    2. Native Multi-Language Support 

    Current CMMS platforms are typically only available in English or provide a reduced set of localization capabilities. 

    A powerful multi-site CMMS like Accruent’s Maintenance Connection provides multi-language and does it with a single database.  Users can enter data efficiently using their local language into a single source of truth.  Everyone using the platform is accessing the same data, leading to increased accuracy of data with no need to sync to different environments.  

    3. Mobile and Remote Access for Today’s Reality 

    This year will highlight the need for all of your tools to offer Remote and Mobile access. This is further confirmed by a 2017 ARC Advisory Group global report indicated that 50% of technicians use a mobile device for work orders, and this number is only growing. 

    On–site Technicians that have to rely on wi-fi and laptops will lead to delays in communication and reduced quality of data. 

    This is why an international business needs a CMMS tool with full mobile access. 

    A fully localized mobile application will allow on-site technicians to improve their efficiency and quality of work by helping them: 

    • Find mission–critical asset documentation quickly 
    • Process work orders remotely and in real-time 
    • Order parts in the field to reduce delays and confirm parts availability 
    • See the entire Asset maintenance history 
    • Provide immediate changes to work order status 

    They can accomplish all this in their local language, enabling a smoother maintenance experience with increased effectiveness. In a recent US-based survey conducted by Maintenance Connection, one customer estimated they had saved $1 million due to this kind of mobile CMMS implementation. 

    4. A CMMS Tool That Spans Multiple Sites and Regions 

    CMMS suites that only allow for a single site with limited integrations lead to unstandardized data silos that can cause discrepancies and slow down team interactions. 

    If your CMMS tool can handle multiple sites, the user base pulls data from a single source of truth quickly and accurately. Access to these documents can be controlled effortlessly via centralized permissions for improved security. 

    A modern multi-site and multi-national CMMS will provide these benefits: 

    • Centralized data  
    • Global reporting tools 
    • Standardization of data by removing the need for information silos 
    • Increased data security and safety 
    • Real–time status of work orders across the globe 
    • Full integration for engineering document management tools such as Accruent’s Meridian 

    Features like this can reduce data input errors, standardize workflows, and make for easy user privilege administration in a centralized environment. 

    To learn more about Meridian solutions and how they can help your team, please contact the SolidCAD Meridian team.  

    Autodesk Fusion 360 & Metallic Strip Animal Sculptures – Part 2

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    As promised in my last blog, here are some tips and tricks that I often use to convert mesh body to a b-rep or t-spline body in Fusion 360.

    Tip #1:

    Converting a mesh body to a b-rep or t-spline body in Fusion 360 requires some knowledge on mesh elements. At the moment, the current limit for number of mesh elements for Fusion 360 is roughly 10,000. Meshes with greater than 10,000 elements will cause the performance of Fusion 360 to suffer and Fusion 360 may not be able to convert them to solid bodies.

    Tip #2:

    When using the “Convert” command to convert a mesh into a T-Spline body an error might occur such as detailed in the picture below.

    This is because Fusion is better equipped to handle Quads as opposed to Triangles or Polygons. Quad meshes cannot be created in Fusion. To create a quad mesh, Use 3DS MAX or Autodesk Recap Photo. To convert triangulated mesh to Editable Poly with 3DS Max before inserting into Fusion 360, use these steps:

    Import triangulated mesh into 3DS Max

    • Apply Subdivide (WSM) with “Display Subdivision” turned OFF
    • Use “Collapse To” to Collapse the mesh
    • Convert the Collapse mesh to Poly mesh
    • Apply “Quadrify All”
    • Export and Insert the Quad Mesh into Fusion 360

    Tip #3:

    You can create or convert quad mesh using ReCap Photo. ReCap Photo can create mesh from a series of photographs. Photogrammetry is not an exact process. The mesh generated from the pictures will seldom, if ever, be perfect. Typically, some cleanup is required. Use ReCap Photo to simply highlight and delete unnecessary surfaces. You can also use the Slice and Fill command makes it easy to preserve the desired portion of the mesh while ensuring a watertight result. The final step in ReCap Photo is to export the mesh as OBJ(Quads). Traditional meshes are made up of triangles. The Quad mesh is made up of four-sided patches. The image shows how to export mesh to OBJ(Quads).

    create or convert quad mesh using ReCap Photo

    Tip #4:

    In your Fusion 360 preferences, you will need to ensure that the “Triangulate mesh polygons” flag is not enabled. Only quad meshes can be converted to t-spline bodies and enabling this flag will convert imported quad meshes to triangular meshes.

    Disable "Triangulate mesh polygons" in Fusion 360

    Tip #5:

    To convert a quad mesh to t-splines, you must be working in the Direct Modeling environment. After ensure the preferences above are set up correctly, right click the mesh body you would like to convert to t-splines in the browser and select “Convert”.

     

    convert a quad mesh to t-splines in Fusion 360

    The “Convert” dialogue will then allow you to convert a quad mesh to t-spline body.

    Tip #6:

    Some conversion may produce error due to surface self-intersects. These errors are often highlighted very well in Fusion 360. The self-intersected T-spline will not be able to become solid body if not treated. You can use Edit Form to move vertices, edges or faces of the T-Spline to clear out self-intersected area.

    fix conversion error in fusion 360

    Tip #7:

    To fix surface self-intersects quickly, you can double click the edge ring and use UnWeld Edges to separate the T-Spline to remove self-intersected T-spline.

    fix surface self-intersects quickly with UnWeld Edges in Fusion 360

    Tip #8:

    Finally, learn some tricks from Autodesk Fusion 360 site will speed up your mesh to Solid conversion process. Here is my top 7 tricks which may be useful for you

    • Learn some fusion shortcut – there are many Fusion shortcut image which you can download.
    • I love the “S” key where you can search and add your favorite command to your shortcut.
    • Hold down the “Alt” key while moving, rotate or scale will add extra edges to the model
    • When add new edges; Fusion, by default will add uncreased faces to the model. By holding down Alt + Ctrl, you can force Fusion to add creased Faces.
    • To select a ring of faces, select a face then hold down the Shift key and Double Click a next face.
    • Alt+1, 2 or 3 will display form in different mode.
    • Finally, learn to identify between components and bodies if you want to turn a multi bodies part to an assembly.

     

    Fusion 360 shortcutsUntil next time…

    SolidCAD continues to grow exponentially with another acquisition of Autodesk Reseller, AMS 360 Inc.

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    Toronto, ON, November 5, 2020 – Today, Canada’s largest Autodesk Platinum Partner and professional services company, SolidCAD, announces another thrilling acquisition of Autodesk Reseller, AMS 360 Inc. located in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. AMS 360 operates as a full-service CNC and CAD/CAM training provider for the manufacturing sector. Outside of their training expertise, AMS 360 also provides their customers additional services including: optimization of the programming process, machine tool data creation and post processor builds.

    SolidCAD has been in the reseller channel for over 25 years and employs one of the largest team of technology experts. This acquisition marks an exciting milestone that will expand their application specialist team, knowledge and services for Autodesk’s advanced manufacturing solutions including FeatureCAM, PowerMill, PowerShape and PowerInspect.

    “AMS360 has excelled at providing Autodesk CAM products to it’s customers in Canada,” stated Marcus Tateishi, President of SolidCAD.  “We’re excited to have their whole team joining us and welcome their customers to the SolidCAD family.  By combining our capabilities, AMS360 and SolidCAD can provide our manufacturing customers with immediate benefits helping them prepare for new and innovate ways they can adopt technology that improve business operations and manufacturing processes.”

    “We are excited to join the Advanced Manufacturing Team at SolidCAD. The decision to merge with Canada’s largest Autodesk Platinum Reseller will solidify our position as the premier leader in Digital Manufacturing Solutions for the Canadian industry”, says Robert Kobielski, founder of AMS 360. “With SolidCAD, we can now expand our offerings to include the full, unified portfolio of Autodesk solutions, along with new products developed specifically for our customer’s needs. We intend to leverage the best technology with a dedicated development team to standardize our customer’s daily work and increase their programming capacity and flexibility”.

    SolidCAD and AMS 360’s combined team of experts are ready to support and service manufacturers across Canada with leading-edge CAM training, custom programming solutions and consulting services. With a new and improved team, SolidCAD is dedicated to helping firms streamline their entire digital manufacturing process from start to finish. This new merge is marked as SolidCAD’s third acquisition since last year.

    To learn more about SolidCAD’s Advanced Manufacturing services, visit us here:   https://www.solidcad.ca/partner-products/autodesk-cam/

    For more information, contact SolidCAD’s Managing Director for the Advanced Manufacturing Division, Marty Cornacchi at marty.cornacchi@solidcad.ca.

    About AMS 360

    AMS 360 is a full-service CNC and CAD/CAM training provider in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. We have combined a team of experts from various manufacturing sectors to form a complete and flexible customer training experience. Our services include product training, optimization of the programming process, machine tool data creation, and post processor builds. AMS 360 was incorporated by Robert Kobielski. www.ams360inc.com

    The Digital Transformation Train is Leaving the Station, and We Should All Be on Board

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    2020 has taught me a number of things, including presumably how indoor cats feel, that March and June are the same thing if you don’t go outside, and that if Godzilla were to stumble onto the shores of Tokyo tomorrow,  everyone would probably collectively shrug and go back to getting their coffee. While you’re probably thinking that none of these are very important lessons, I’d point out that a few of them are very strong evidence that today more than ever, is essential for businesses to better use available tools to automate processes, get employees connected, and develop strong digital connections with their customers. I’m not going to tell you which ones. Instead, we’ll jump to the point: the train probably left the station in March, but it’s not too late to get a ticket.

    If you’re not already on board, you’re missing out. Notably, this year has shown a prevalent increase in the “work from anywhere” culture. Covid and WFH are now BFFs, meaning this is a necessity for multiple reasons:  ensuring the safety of your employees, the risk of an outbreak impacting productivity in the workplace, and the added caveat that with the increase in WFH at many businesses means that your employees may see greener pastures elsewhere if you aren’t offering it.

    This doesn’t mean that all digital transformation is created equal. Adopting Microsoft Teams and crossing your fingers is not an effective strategy for adapting to our new reality. Many workplaces have highly involved processes that require generous attention to detail and incredibly effective lines of communication.  So, for a manufacturing business, how do you ensure that this forced digital revolution doesn’t impact your team’s ability to be productive?

    Luckily, the revolution is no longer in its infancy, Covid has only helped it along. Many solutions already exist and for a manufacturer you can easily improve communication and visibility among your teams, automate workflows, and interface with your customer base. Autodesk Vault and Fusion Lifecycle are two such tools that, if not already in your workflow, should be up for consideration immediately.

    What is Vault and Fusion Lifecycle (FLC)? These two products are the rails that the digital transformation train rides on. Fusion Lifecycle is a product lifecycle management tool, and Vault is data management tool. Together, these products rule over your manufacturing data like Facebook does over the data of…well, everyone. With a single source of information, you can control and automate state change and change management tools, ensure a smooth process from project inception to engineering and manufacture easily than ever before.

    The next tool you are most likely missing out on, is a sales tool to bring your CAD data to the fingertips of your sales reps and customers. Let your customers buy their tickets to ride. While some businesses may have leveraged Autodesk Configurator 360 in the past, moving forward, this tool will no longer be supported. This is why, we at SolidCAD, have developed Variant.  Variant is a web based iLogic configurator tool that can be used to easily convert Inventor iLogic assemblies into a powerful sales tool. Suddenly, that model that only engineering teams have seen becomes an interface that your customers can use to make selections, verify their choices, instantly obtain professional quotes, and order your products. If you still have massive catalogues with complex part numbers and PDF order sheets that often result in their own special type of chaos and deficiencies in your sales to manufacturing workflows, your children are probably already making fun of you on TikTok.

    Now, the buck doesn’t just stop here. Its no longer worth it to simply deploy these tools, pat yourself on the back for a job well done, and head home to binge a whole season of the Kardashians on your streaming platform of choice. A train that isn’t well designed likely won’t stay on the tracks for long. Variant, FLC and Vault are all highly customizable and can be fully integrated. A comprehensive digital transformation strategy includes ensuring that these products work perfectly in sync with the bespoke workflows and processes that your business wishes it could achieve, and in a way reduces manual data transfer and intervention wherever possible. Imagine freeing up the bandwidth your sales reps, engineers and production managers expend moving around all this data? Communicating these changes, reducing the possibility for human error and not to mention the likelihood of winning more bids as a direct result of the reduced sales cycle times are just a fraction of the possibilities.

    Not convinced? If your business isn’t already a passenger or ready to buy a ticket, take a moment to consider this: it’s highly improbable that you personally haven’t already benefitted from another business transforming a product, service, or industry. Whether you’ve been streaming Netflix to pass the time, connecting with family over Zoom, or watching your children use the internet to go to school, our lives have never been more touched by digital transformation.  If you have, then there is absolutely no doubt that the same applies to those who work for you or buy from you. In a time where leaving our homes can suddenly have a massive impact on our lives and those of our loved ones, every business needs to consider how they can embrace this era and bring customers and employees closer together while letting them remain well apart.

    All aboard!