The SolidWorks Blog

JL Marine Drops Anchor With Help From SolidWorks

Summer is back at the office in Waltham, MA – we can finally enjoy the warm, sunny outdoors. Some of you may be busy firing up the grill or planning your next fishing adventure on the lake. Even though my fishing experience is short, I remember how hard it was to position the boat without scaring off all of the fish. Anchoring a boat can be a tiresome process – it takes away valuable time that could be used to
cast a line and make your first catch.

Luckily, John Oliviero of JL Marine Systems, a SolidWorks customer, has come up with a solution: the Power-Pole shallow water anchor, a breakthrough boat control technology. Over 90 percent of the world’s best tournament anglers use the Power-Pole because of its effectiveness in controlling the boat and approaching cover to enable fishermen to make the perfect cast. Due to the immense success of the anchoring system, JL Marine has expanded to over 1,000 distributors around the world.

To sustain the growth of the company, Oliviero was looking for a tool that would allow him to leverage 3D design, simulation, and visualization technologies that would cut costs, allow him to constantly improve his designs, and accelerate the time-to-market. When he was evaluating different 3D CAD packages, Oliviero fell in love with SolidWorks – and has incorporated SolidWorks Simulation, SolidWorks Enterprise PDM, and SolidWorks Composer into his design workflow.

By implementing the software, JL Marine shortened the design cycle by as much as 50 percent and cut prototyping costs by 60 percent. SolidWorks enabled Oliviero to simulate motion to identify stress points and recognize how the design would reach to the forces of regular usage, integrate different departments in the company into the design process, and create high-quality renderings to support marketing efforts.

For more details on JL Marine, download the complete case study to learn more about how SolidWorks is helping JL Marine design the Power-Pole.  

If you would like to learn more about the design tools in SolidWorks, you can request a free SolidWorks trial on our website.

Want to see how SolidWorks can help you win new business and get to market faster? Request an in-person SolidWorks demo today.

Artaic is revolutionizing mosaic art with help from SolidWorks

Last September I wrote about Day2Night Ladies Footwear, a SolidWorks customer I first met when we invited some 2011 Mass Challenge finalists to visit SolidWorks headquarters in Waltham, MA. If you’re not familiar with the Mass Challenge, it’s a Boston-area organization that connects early-stage startups with the people and resources they need to get started. One of those resources is a space where entrepreneurs can work until they can afford offices. The space includes a few computers with SolidWorks installed (SolidWorks is a sponsor). Startups must apply to be included in the program. In 2012, 1,237 startups applied and only 125 were accepted--that’s a lower acceptance rate than many Ivy League universities.

As I mentioned, we invited a few of the 2011 finalists to visit us last year, and Ted Acworth from a Boston company called Artaic was one of the attendees. If you’ve never heard of them, Artaic specializes in creating large-format mosaic designs and murals out of one-inch tiles—using robots designed in SolidWorks. For now, Artiac is the only company in the world doing this, and they are revolutionizing a 3000-year-old art form. Ted and the company were featured on the Wired.com design blog yesterday, and if you haven't read it yet, I encourage you to do so.

Ted told me that he is actually a mechanical engineer by training, and remembers first hearing about SolidWorks in 1994 before it had even been released. He had been using Pro/Engineer at NASA, and was at Stanford University when SolidWorks first hit the market. He said that the Stanford team began using SolidWorks almost immediately because it was so easy to use. Fast-forward to 2013, and Ted and the Artaic team are now using SolidWorks to design robots that can create a mosaic over 10X faster than a human.

The Craft of Artaic-Innovative Mosaic from Artaic on Vimeo.

When the Artaic team is planning a new mosaic, they first create an image of what the final product should look like, lay it out, and then scan it into a CAD program (which was also designed in-house). That program converts the scanned image into a pattern of one-inch colored tiles, then checks against Artaic’s on-hand inventory to see if any color substitutions may be necessary.

Once the layout process is complete, the robots can start creating the mosaic. During fabrication, the mosaic is assembled in one-square-foot sections. Each section is labeled, and when fabrication is complete, all of the sections are shipped to their destination, where they are assembled by workers into the final arrangement. Since it’s a print-to-ship operation, there is very little waste.

Ted told me that Artaic’s use of technology gives them a productivity advantage of 10x-100x over traditional hand fabrication, and as a result, the team is able to work against deadlines that would normally be impossible. For example, he told me how a restaurant in Boston contacted him with a request for a mosaic five days before opening their new flagship location. Artaic was able to start work almost immediately, and workers were installing the first sections within 24 hours of initial fabrication.

While most of Artaic’s work ends up in places like hotels and cruise ships, they have gotten some interesting projects recently. For example, the founder of iRobot commissioned a mosaic for his home’s bathroom, and Artaic also created a portrait mosaic of Segway creator Dean Kaman, which was presented to him as an award.

Ted considers Artaic to exist at the intersection of R&D and fine art, and is using SolidWorks to make custom artwork available to a wider array of customers than would have been possible even twenty years ago. I have included a few example of Artiac’s work in this post, but I would encourage you to visit their website to see some of the other examples. When he visited our office, Ted actually pointed out a prime location in the lobby for a custom mosaic with the Dassault Systemes logo. Who knows…we may just take him up on it one day.

Jon Santacoloma Revs Judges' Engines at the 2012 International Design Awards

Sustainable and renewable energy has become the way of the future. Before long, we may even be living in a world similar to the Jetsons (robot housemaid not included).  Many car companies, such as Honda and Toyota, are developing hybrid and electrical cars to help us move away from fossil fuels. As the need for gas decreases, electric car drivers need a new way to rev their engines – compact AC charging units.

Recently awarded third place in the 2012 International Design Awards in the Sustainable Living/Environmental Preservation-Alternative Energy Source Equipment Competition, Jon Santacoloma, a SolidWorks customer from Spain, has designed the 5PRV-H single phase AC charging unit for residential applications. The charger can power up to two electric vehicles.

The IDA jurors evaluated architects and designers from over 65 countries in every industry ranging from interiors and fashion to products and graphics. Winners, including Santacoloma, receive publication of their work in the 2012 International Design Awards Book of Designs, year-long coverage on the IDA website, and promotion to over 100,000 design professionals and clients worldwide.

We congratulate Jon on his achievement. We can’t wait to use the charger when we get our first electric cars!

Romotive turns your iPhone into a programmable robot with help from SolidWorks

(Soon to be) San Francisco-based Romotive recently announced Romo, a programmable robot that uses your iPhone or iPod Touch as its brain. Using a simple app-based interface, kids as young as eight can program Romo to perform a wide variety of tasks, as well as communicate with other people around the world. Romotive's design team used SolidWorks to create Romo, and a recent feature video on CNN.com shows the software in use during the design process. You can see it here (SolidWorks at 1:40):

Like another SolidWorks customer, Aldebaran Robotics, Romotive sees Romo as having possible theraputic applications for children with autism. In some situations, it's easier for autistic children to interact with robots than people due to their predictable range of responses, non-threatening appearance, and comfort with repetition.

We at SolidWorks are excited to see companies taking new approaches to the field of robotics, and with a price of only $149, Romo could help get a whole new generation of kids excited about a career in the field. You can learn more about Romo on the Romotive website.

 

Want to see how SolidWorks can help you win new business, speed up the innovation process and get to market faster? You can request a free trial on our website.

 

Replicating History: Teversham Engineering's Project to Rebuild the First Computer using SolidWorks

Today’s computers are lightning fast – they can enable you to do anything from communicating with your team remotely to performing complex calculations to improve your designs. Since its invention, the computer has helped scientists solve complex problems. Teversham Engineering in the United Kingdom is using SolidWorks to recreate digital technology of the past – the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, used by researchers at Cambridge University. As part of the EDSAC project, Teversham is building an authentic replica of one of the most important early British digital computers, originally designed in 1947 and built in 1949.

Using one surviving chassis, Teversham Engineering was able to record the original dimensions and remodel the computer in SolidWorks with ease.  Through the production of the replica in SolidWorks, Teversham has seen how powerful and adaptable computing has become since the 1940’s.

SolidWorks eDrawings has enabled engineers to share designs for sign-off. Through the email-enabled software, project volunteers have instant access to the dynamic 3D models, which they can rotate, zoom and annotate.

“Many volunteers are especially interested in the visual look of the replica – does it look like the original photographs? Seeing their excitement as they passed the iPad around the table was great to see”, said Alan Willis, Managing Director at Teversham Engineering.

Check out Teversham’s eDrawings designs of the EDSAC replica to see how far we’ve come in terms of digital technology.

Don't have eDrawings? You can download it from our website.

Download Teversham Engineering EDSAC eDrawings

Download Teversham Engineering EDSAC Chassis eDrawings

The Final Frontier: How Copenhagen Suborbitals Took Off with SolidWorks

It’s no mistake that a New York Times headline from last September read "Space Tourism is Here". While the human race has already reached the final frontier, the majority of people have probably never ventured into space, let alone traveled beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. With the recent upspring of private companies focused on building crafts for human space flight and new developments in technologies and composite materials, SolidWorks has been able to lend a hand towards helping companies like Copenhagen Suborbitals.

Designing an open-source manned space rocket and capsule for suborbital space flight, Copenhagen Suborbitals believes that the sky is the limit, quite literally. Eager to share his story, Kristian von Bengtson, founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals, blogs regularly for Wired magazine. Some of you SolidWorks fans may even notice that his models and simulations are pulled from our software.

Using SolidWorks Professional, SolidWorks Premium, and SolidWorks Flow Simulation, Copenhagen Suborbitals has built the capsule geometry, exported the drawings for laser cutting, and conducted FEM analysis of structures to see if they meet flight requirements. SolidWorks, combined with sketching capabilities, is one of the most important tools in the early research and development phase and the production phases of von Bengtson’s project.

Copenhagen Suborbitals has used eDrawings to share new designs and get ideas from others. To see the latest capsule design, you can download it here: Download Copenhagen Suborbitals capsule in eDrawings. Feel free to offer your own suggestions, if you would like via the eDrawings file.

Learn how USSC Group developed a breakthrough product in just four months after switching to SolidWorks

USSC Group is a leading manufacturer of world-class seating for many types of specialty vehicles, such as buses, locomotives, and fire trucks. To maintain its industry-leading engineering capabilities, USSC periodically assesses the effectiveness of its design and engineering tools. In 2009, the company evaluated the Siemens Solid Edge® software it was using against SolidWorks software, using a range of evaluation criteria.

Following that evaluation, USSC chose SolidWorks solutions because they gave the company more freedom to work with partners and customers and other integrated technologies. The seating manufacturer acquired 14 licenses of SolidWorks Professional and SolidWorks Premium design software, SolidWorks Simulation Premium analysis software, the SolidWorks Enterprise PDM product data management system, and SolidWorks Composer technical communications software.

By selecting SolidWorks solutions, USSC was able to introduce its patent-pending single-point release firefighting seat, develop a breakthrough product in just four months, improve its ability to work with partner and customer data, and realize better design communication and demonstration capabilities.

Download the complete case study to see how SolidWorks is helping USSC revolutionize firefighter safety.

Want to try out SolidWorks? You can request a free SolidWorks trial on our website.

Want to see how SolidWorks can help you win new business and get to market faster? Request a SolidWorks demo today.

JL Audio is creating assembly instructions that go BOOM! with SolidWorks Composer

Like most SolidWorks users, I love technology.  I love to see what’s next, and get excited when I see our customers create something truly original.  For example, at SolidWorks World 2013, Dr. Vijay Kumar's presentation on micro-robots was my favorite presentation, as there were so many useful possibilities for these robots in our world.

Some great technology stories are never seen on the main-stage since they are advancements in production, and not as sexy as flying robots.  However, these advancements are incredibly important, very innovative, and will save companies money and many headaches.  I want to tell you about one of these stories.

I was looking forward to presenting with one of our customers this year: JL Audio.  Yes, JL is the company that makes high-end speakers and other audio devices for everything from cars, to boats, to motorcycles, anything you can imagine.  And yes, the speakers are cool and they sound incredible, but designing top of the line speakers was not the problem JL faced.  The issue was on the assembly end. Basically, how do you deliver quality, intuitive instructions that have many applications (how do you install one speaker model in several different cars or boats) and still meet the customers’ high standards?

To tackle this issue, JL Audio uses SolidWorks Composer to convert their 3D CAD speaker models into images and animations for assembly instructions and product manuals. It takes less time than taking photos and  the Composer images look a lot better than the digital photos JL Audio had used previously.  Check out these before/after pictures to get a better idea:

Before:

After:

Instead of using a block of wood to resemble a $100,000 boat that you are attaching the speakers to, JL was able to represent the overhead bar of the boat with an actual cylinder with the help of Composer.  The images are much more professional, but the best part of using the software is that the “after” instructions took less time to create.

JL Audio uses SolidWorks Composer to create their 3D communication. As a result, it has cut down cost, production time, and many errors. 

I realize reducing costs and errors on an assembly line is not as interesting as flying robots or high speed motorcycles, but what about all the time and money you save could kick-start time working on new robot ideas?

For more information on SolidWorks Composer, check out our User Manual video series (you will need to register first)

 

Donn McKinney’s U.S.S. Missouri Propelling Forward with eDrawings

Since 2011, when we first featured Donn McKinney’s U.S.S Missouri project, our friend Donn has further progressed in his work. To give some background to those of you who are unfamiliar with Donn’s project, Donn, a fan of World War II-era US battleships, is currently building a fully operational virtual replica of the U.S.S. Missouri in collaboration with the U.S. Navy. Using the replica, he plans to examine the boat’s functionality.

To show us some of his work, Donn converted his models into eDrawings files. And here’s the best part: you can view them too! Click here for a full download: Download Donn McKinneys Models in eDrawings. If you don’t have eDrawings already, you will need to download it to view his spectacular model from all 360 degrees.

Donn was very eager to convert his models into eDrawings files because they’re much easier to share and are generally smaller than SolidWorks files. In fact, using eDrawings for iOS, you can share models with customers, friends, or family using your iPhone or iPad. With eDrawings' new augmented reality feature, Donn can even see how the replica would look in his house!

Donn has realized numerous possibilities with the eDrawings software propelling his efforts forward. Do you have any stories about how you have used eDrawings?

New on Born to Design: BPGWerks uses SolidWorks to design the future of personal transportation

Even before his BPG Uno was named one of Popular Science's Inventions of the Year in 2008, 23-year-old Ben Gulak constantly pushed the limits of mechanical design and engineering. Now he and his team have created the incomparable DTV Shredder - an all-terrain skateboard that goes through sand, mud, and snow. Visit our Born to Design website to see how SolidWorks is helping Ben and the team take an idea to reality.