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As an engineer, you’ve made many 2D drawings, because drawings are still essential to the manufacturing process. Given advances in design tool technology, you may also have wondered: “Why am I creating this drawing? Why aren’t we using CAD?”  Good questions! Computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) are amazing tools but they […]

The computer modeling world is a vast array of techniques and programs that can serve as tools in aiding professionals to create, simulate, and visualize their designs. This article will introduce some different types of 3D modeling software and then walk through a sample workflow in Solidworks to show you what you can do with […]

Tolerance Stack-Ups are a vital component of any engineer’s workflow, to ensure successful mechanical design fit. But successful engineers in demanding industries such as medical, aerospace, and automotive, need to rely on data to do more than this. They need data to improve real design outcomes beyond “guess and check” — to improve design understanding […]

Once upon a time there were cobblers, who would craft shoes to individual feet. Then came the industrial revolution, and the cobblers were replaced by dozens of factory workers, each performing a single step to build standard shoes—and feet were expected to adapt. This wasn’t all bad; the new shoes were cheaper, and more people […]

Say you’re 3D printing a robot, and you’re designing a sweet gearing system to make your robot move smoothly. What to do about the fact that most CAD programs don’t have a “create involute gears” button? Welp, you’ll have to create these geometries manually. In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through the process in SolidWorks, […]

Design guidelines for waterproof enclosure design, as well as IP68 waterproof rating design.

One of the major benefits of printing in Polyjet is the ability to print in multiple materials for a single part. This allows you to simulate overmolds, create soft touch applications, and build living hinges among many other applications. We get a lot of questions about how to prepare files for multi-material prints, so here’s […]

If you’re like most Solidworks users, you probably collaborate with other people on projects. Generally speaking, that’s a good thing. After all, two heads are better than one, right? However, not everyone uses Solidworks, so the people you collaborate with likely end up sending you files with extensions like IGES, STEP,  X_T, etc. You import […]

In Fictiv’s 2016 State of Hardware Report, a whopping 70% of participants reported using Solidworks. Solidworks might be expensive and is certainly not perfect, but it sure is popular! Considering how many people out there are using Solidworks, I thought it would be great to impart a few tips & tricks for upping your Solidworks […]

So, you’ve been designing “things” using Solidworks for a while now. Maybe you took a Solidworks class or two, maybe you didn’t. Either way, you got to the point where you want to design more complicated & organic shapes and you are struggling. After all, designing organic shapes typically requires surface modeling in Solidworks, which […]