INTRODUCTION
The final object as per the computer aided design is produced by
separate drafting of parts while assembling them on a later stage. Designer
needs to specify other parameters for design. This includes materials used,
processes that object needs to pass through, dimensions, allowances & tolerances
and more depending on software that he/she is using.
USES
OF CAD SOFTWARES
CAD software is heavily used in the
mechanical industries which play a pivotal role in manufacturing of each and
every product. Mechanical design formed
on a CAD software is used to study the object much in prior to the actual manufacturing
which can help in optimizing the manufacturing process.
Following are some of the uses of mechanical design softwares:
·
Mechanical designs can be directly uploaded to manufacturing
machines like CNC machines and the product can be manufactured using Computer
Aided Manufacturing Process.
·
Mechanical designs can
be used to analyse the product before actual manufacturing takes place and
induce changes if necessary which is not possible after the production process
starts.
·
It can be fed to the 3D
Printers for direct manufacturing after meshing it into layers of definite
thickness.
·
The software can also
be used for Documentation purposes.
·
CAD modelling can be
used to mark material wastage regions which help in minimal material wastage.
TYPES
OF MECHANICAL DESIGN SOFTWARES
There are different types of softwares
for mechanical designs which require
designer to come up with basic plan of the object differently.
Following are two type of CAD softwares
used for mechanical designs:
·
PARAMETRIC MODELLING:
This type allows the designer to induce changes into model anytime he wants. In
this type of modelling, geometric and functional relationships in the model are
preserved by software.
·
DIRECT MODELLING: This
type of modelling does not have a history tree and model is directly converted
into geometry. Designer does not need to change the original sketch to make
changes.
CAD
SOFTWARES
There are several softwares used for mechanical design but most common ones
include Dassaults Catia, Dassaults Solidworks, AutoDesk AutoCad, TurboCad,
AutoDesk Inventor etc. All these softwares have different interfaces and user
friendliness.
CONCLUSION
CAD softwares used for mechanical designs have helped the
production process to become more efficient by reducing wastage of material and
using apt quality measures depending on the analysis done on CAD model. CAD
softwares have different features integrated onto them which help in saving the
crucial production time as well intern giving higher efficiency, larger profits
and scalability.