Sweet 16 Software Solutions with NX

Reducing a product’s Time-to-Market from design to manufactured part is critical to every company’s vitality in today’s marketplace. Today, more companies are getting parts done sooner and saving more money doing it. Does your manufacturing game plan include a CAD/CAM improvement strategy? NX8.5 offers intuitive tools and powerful design features that will help you pull ahead in the 4th quarter. So, grab a Gatorade and get ready to get your game on!

 1.     Mechanical Design

NX has design solutions capabilities including Sophisticated freeform shape modeling, surface continuity and analysis, simulation and visualization tools.  With the key in NX being the Integration with other industrial design, simulation, tooling, and machining applications

2.     Electromechanical Design

NX brings together mechanical and electrical designers with a two way exchange of data, which enables each discipline to work with its own design systems while efficiently linking their efforts together.  NX has tools that simplify the electrical design process with libraries of standard electrical connectors and components, automated bundle size calculations for space allocation and interference checking, and documentation for wire attachment manufacturing.

3.     Mechanical Simulation

Mechanical Simulation, with the built in CAE tools have the ability to integrate multi-physics solvers, use PLM integration with advanced simulation structure management, as well as calculating linear and nonlinear stress, motion, vibration, dynamic response, durability, flow and thermal analysis and optimization

 4.     Machining

NX Machining capabilities include 3 axis, 5 axis, multi-function, high speed machining as well as CAD for NC programming. With the ability to machine 5-axis milling, NX machining can select, cut, and inspect difficult geometries with precise axis control.

5.     Tooling & Fixture Design

NX Tooling & Fixture Design has the ability to Formalize and automate your tool and fixture design process, capture tooling design knowledge and re-use proven designs, and virtually prototype functional operation of tooling and fixtures.  With these capabilities as well as others, it will help reduce CNC programming time and achieve better consistency in your tooling.

 6.     Drafting

A View Creation Wizard saves time by simplifying drawing view creation and minimizes required input by only displaying options that are relevant for a given model or assembly. NX Drafting allows you to create isometric views from 2D view geometry

 7.     Ship design

NX Ship Structure enables the user to conceptualize and model the surfaces and landing curves of the hull, decks, transverse and longitudinal bulkheads. It provides the user with tools to easily create and detail the plates and profiles that make up the structure.

8.     Mold Design

NX Mold Design optimizes the mold design process, delivering levels of productivity that dramatically outperform traditional CAD software.  NX Mold Design delivers a step-by-step process that promotes the most efficient workflow, while integrating complex elements of design technology into automated sequences.

9.     Industrial Design and Styling

For faster time-to-market and reduced design costs, NX provides industrial design and styling tools united in one piece of software. NX offers a great variety of flexible shape creation, manipulation and analysis tools for industrial design and styling.

10.   Package Design

NX is a great tool to tackle the package design challenges you face in the consumer packaged goods and food and beverage industries. By using sophisticated freeform shape modeling, surface continuity and analysis, and simulation and visualization tools, you can use NX to design package concepts quickly and efficiently.

11.  Mechatronics Concept Designer

Mechatronics is the combination of Mechanical engineering, Electronic engineering, Computer engineering, Software engineering, Control engineering, and Systems Design engineering in order to design and manufacture useful products. NX Mechatronics Concept Designer is a new and improved way to design faster, more efficiently, and with higher quality while being applicable to engineers of all engineering disciplines.

12.  Electromechanical Simulation

Speed up development and reduce costs with electromechanical simulation in NX. Face the difficulties of developing electromechanical products through a fully comprehensive suite of mechanical, electrical, controls, and electronics elements integrated into the electromechanical simulation of NX.

13.  Quality Inspection

A great tool inside NX is the quality inspection programming. NX CMM inspection runs the entire inspection process while quickly generating collision-free programs.

14.  Synchronous Technology

NX Synchronous Modeling technology unites parametric and history-free modeling techniques. It can be used regardless of the origin or associativity of the model.

15.  Assembly Path Simulation

NX Assembly Path Planning software automates the definition of collision free extraction paths for components in the context of accessibility, maintainability and assembly/disassembly studies. The software also enables creation of motion envelopes for clearance purposes and definition of keep out zones.

16.  Mechanical / Electrical Routing

NX digital product development solutions include an integrated suite of tools that facilitate the entire design process for routed systems, including wire harnesses, cables, piping, tubing, conduit and raceways. These process-specific tools reduce detailed design time, improve product quality and transfer product information seamlessly between the logical design, physical design, analysis, manufacturing and service sectors.

Click here to find out more about a Siemens PLM Software solution for your company!

Get your team in shape!! VMH offers a wide variety of NX Training Courses!

1. Fast Break-
   • Use the Shortcut Toolbar – Don’t waste valuable seconds searching and clicking through menus! Select an object when no dialog box is open, a toolbar at the cursor location displays commands that are appropriate for the selected object.
2. Give and Go-
   • With the ‘NX Reuse Library’ there’s no need to recreate standard geometry for each new design.  Store reusable shapes for later use.
3. Use Your Center-
   • Use the Middle-Click mouse button to quickly click through menus. When a button on a menu is highlighted in green, a middle mouse button click will act as a shortcut to that button, which will help you maneuver through menus faster.
4. Get the Assist-
   • ‘Roles’ tailor the UI by hiding tools you are unlikely to use to carry out your specific day to day tasks. You can use the customization tools to organize menus and toolbars to suit your needs, and then save your settings as your personal role. This is especially efficient when more than one person is using the same NX application since each person can have their own unique roles.
5. Capitalize with a 3-Point Play-
   • 3DConnexion-3D Mouse increases your productivity by an average of 21%*, and reduces the amount of mouse movement and clicks by 50%*! You’re running out the shot clock if you’re not using this slam-dunk accessory (unnecessary puns). The 3D mouse allows you to orbit, pan, and zoom smoothly through models in ways that are unmatched by a standard keyboard and mouse.
6. Use the Playbook-
   • NX’s intuitive Command Finder helps you locate a command or tool without searching through all the icons and menus to find it. Click Help- Command Finder or click F4, then type in the command you want to use.  In Command Finder you can click on the command that pops up in its search to go directly to it, or hover over the command and NX will show you where it is located in your tool bars and menus.
7. Pass to the Hot Hand-
   • Right Click Wheel is your go to shooter.  If you hold down mouse button 3, 8 different tools hover around your mouse. You can specify which tools you want in preferences. Hold down your right click and have your command at your fingertips or simply hold down mouse button 3 and flick your mouse in the direction of that command.
8. The Buzzer Beater-
   • Templates allow you to save a sketch or a part as a model template instead of starting with a blank template when beginning a new model.  You will save time by not recreating the same part, or importing the part multiple times.

    

Click here to find out more about a Siemens PLM Software solution for your company!

Get your team in shape!! VMH offers a wide variety of NX Training Courses!

The JT viewer XpresReview from Siemens for FREE for the ability to open and view 2D drawings and 3D models including .dwg and .jt file formats. Along with being a free software, here is a list of more great features:

• Navigate 2D drawings and 3D models
• Ability to check dimensions
• Imports any Product & Manufacturing Information (PMI) that was made on the drawing
• Create sections to view the interior of the 3D model

For more information, and to download visit the Siemens product page.

The new 3DxWare 10 driver also allows you to edit what 3D mouse movements and keys do on different programs to best fit your needs.  Not only does your 3D mouse increase your productivity in your 3D modeling software, but now it is able to let you scroll through email, word and excel documents, as well as other programs with ease and less mouse clicks and no need for the scroll wheel.

For more information and download of the new 3DxWare 10 driver, (Keep in mind the software is not officially supported as it is still in beta testing) Click Here.

For more information on purchasing a 3D mouse, check out our page here.

Enhancements to CAD

• New commands to create springs and threads that give fully parametric helical shapes.
• Create unions between solid bodies and choose which region you want to remove or keep, by using 30% fewer commands and 25% fewer features.
• Mirror PMI as well as the new “Center Mark” feature, letting you create center lines in 3D annotation.
• In sheet metal design create dimples before or after bends, or put bends across existing features.
• Pattern feature is now included in sheet metal.
• New, more realistic visualization tools

Enhancements to CAM

• New turbomachinery milling improves machining efficiency for multibladed parts such as turbines.
• Contact point control in flank milling produces a better surface finish.
• New Manufacturing Resource Library manages preferred tool assemblies and custom libraries.
• PMI enhancements used downstream in CAM will also reduce manufacturing time

Enhancements to CAE

• Faster finite element model updates
• NX Shape Optimization helps engineers suggest detailed improvements to minimize stress on parts of a body or maximize natural frequencies without changing the design constraints.
• Geometry optimization in NX Thermal and NX Flow gives you an optimal solution by changing certain parameters of the object, for example NX will change the flow rate to reduce the temperature of a heat sink, update the model and make the new results.

With the release of Solid Edge ST5 last year, Siemens also released the new, FREE Solid Edge Mobile Viewer. The Mobile Viewer gives you the ability to view 3D Solid Edge parts and assemblies on your iPad. From the Apple Store website, features of the Solid Edge Mobile Viewer are as followed:

- Free app to view 3D parts and assemblies created in Solid Edge ST5 (or later)
- Show / Hide model bodies, assembly components, dimensions, and annotations
- Rotate, Pan, and Zoom using single or multi-touch interaction
- Hide single or multiple assembly components
- Save images of the current view for e-mail
- Filename information displayed optionally

This application gives individuals outside the engineering department, without Solid Edge on their computers to view the parts and data, which leads to faster design reviews. The app is also great to bring on a customer’s site if you are unable to bring your computer to show your detailed design to them.
For download and more information visit https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/solid-edge-mobile-viewer/id527999141?mt=8

This new capability allows users to perform operations on a finite element component model, while continuing to simultaneously view and reference the overall finite element assembly.

This feature stemmed from the need of engineers to create their systems with the end-user in mind.  For example, if you are creating an audio receiver then it would be best to know what speaker the receiver will be paired with.  Likewise, if you a creating an engine and transmission, the need to be designed in conjunction to create the maximum amount of performance and synergy.

NX CAE 8.5 – FE Model in-Context

VMH International will be partnering with Mazak Corp. to showcase our products and to provide advice and help for any of the attendees having questions.

VMH International is an PLM software re-seller that specializes in CAD/CAM and other engineering and visualization software, including products from Siemens, Cortona, Volumill, Luxion, and several others. We also provide consulting for companies as well as training in a top-of-the-line training room that can even be made mobile to bring on site.

For more information on IMTS 2012 and to register, follow this link: http://www.imts.com/show/reg.html

If you’ll be at the IMTS show and would like to schedule an appointment with us, you can do so here: www.vmhinternational.com/imts2012.html

Look for us in the Mazak booth: http://www.mapyourshow.com/shows/index.cfm?exhid=00000021&booth=8300&show_id=IMTS12&userid=

We hope to see you there!

Focuses of the event included authoring NX PMI for downstream reuse, including creating PMI, viewing PMI in JT viewers, and how PMI can be reused throughout the entire manufacturing process. The other main focus of the event was NX CMM Inspection Programming including the ease of use, accuracy, variation analysis, and Dimensional Product Validation.

Click here for more information on training from VMH International, either in VMH International’s training center or on your company’s site.

This training will focus on:

Dimensional Management Process

• Variation Analysis
• NX CMM Inspection Programming
• DPV – Dimensional Product Validation

Authoring NX PMI for Downstream Reuse

• NX Checkmate
• Drawing or No Drawing with NX PMI?

Date: July 24, 2012
Time: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Lunch is included with this free event

Location: VMH Training Facility
635 Trade Center Blvd.
Chesterfield, MO 63005

To sign up and register for this training, please contact Jenny Wren at 636-534.8466 or via email at jenny.wren@vmhinternational.com

The newly designed VMH Training Facility features a classroom style setup with top of the line Lenovo ThinkPad computers; along with stand-alone screens for easy viewing and project understanding. Each students seat also features a 3DConnexions SpaceMouse Pro for the easy manipulation of the models.