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Tool design said:
Which 3D software is most suitable for press tool design?
# 10 July 2009 at 1:52 am

Brian (author) said:
While I do not do any tool design, I would think that SolidWorks would be more than capable of doing the job.
# 10 July 2009 at 10:32 am

Tool die design said:
Hi Brian, Thanks for the reply.
I did some designs using Inventor, but the file size was very huge, editing and modification is not easy ( I must say I am completly new in any 3D software ). I can't send any seperate file or detail drawing to customer instead I need to send the whole complete file. I am not sure SW has the similar problem.
I am currently using 2D software, I felt it is time to change to 3D, but feel very time comsuming compare to a 2D.
# 12 July 2009 at 9:25 pm

Brian (author) said:
The workflow between 2D & 3D is definitely different. It takes some time to retrain your brain, but I think that you will find that designing in 3D will become easier and faster. I liken it to working in the real world – you design and build each part just as you would in real life. I definitely recommend taking some training, such as the SolidWorks Essentials courses to help.
The online tutorials are very good, but when trying to make the jump from 2D to 3D, it helps to have someone there to ask questions of (of course, there are really good online sources too, like blogs such as this one and the SolidWorks forums).
With SolidWorks you will also end up with multiple files; I think that is something you will have to deal with with almost any 3D modeler. SolidWorks added Virtual Parts (in 2008 I believe) that will allow you to create part files that exist only in the assembly environment (i.e., there are no actual part files), but I have noticed that there are a few issues with PDM and virtual components. You would still have a separate drawing file.
If you only need to provide the actual drawing file, you can save a SolidWorks drawing as “detached” which will allow you to send only that file and everything still be viewable. There is also the ubiquitous PDF…
# 13 July 2009 at 11:12 am

Brian (author) said:
The workflow between 2D & 3D is definitely different. It takes some time to retrain your brain, but I think that you will find that designing in 3D will become easier and faster. I liken it to working in the real world – you design and build each part just as you would in real life. I definitely recommend taking some training, such as the SolidWorks Essentials courses to help.
The online tutorials are very good, but when trying to make the jump from 2D to 3D, it helps to have someone there to ask questions of (of course, there are really good online sources too, like blogs such as this one and the SolidWorks forums).
With SolidWorks you will also end up with multiple files; I think that is something you will have to deal with with almost any 3D modeler. SolidWorks added Virtual Parts (in 2008 I believe) that will allow you to create part files that exist only in the assembly environment (i.e., there are no actual part files), but I have noticed that there are a few issues with PDM and virtual components. You would still have a separate drawing file.
If you only need to provide the actual drawing file, you can save a SolidWorks drawing as “detached” which will allow you to send only that file and everything still be viewable. There is also the ubiquitous PDF…
# 13 July 2009 at 11:12 am

Tool die design said:
Hi Brian
Thanks for the information and advise.
# 13 July 2009 at 8:21 pm

Tool die design said:
Hi Brian
Thanks for the information and advise.
# 14 July 2009 at 1:21 am

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