Teaching young design engineers to construct robust 3D CAD models should be the foundation of any engineering design course. Students need practice files that aid them in learning the essential elements of creating CAD models that illustrate real-world engineering solutions. The design engineers of the future deserve high-quality training materials.

Practice files should teach students the fundamentals of creating CAD models and provide them with at least a basic understanding of Design For Manufacture (DFM) principles. Instructing design students with CAD with files that promote poor design habits is detrimental to the industry. It creates unrealistic expectations of a well-defined CAD model and conveys the idea that any feature added to a CAD model can be manufactured.

Incorporating a mandatory manufacturing component into every design course would significantly enhance the knowledge of young design engineers. However, not every college and university is lucky enough to have manufacturing facilities on site. We must also remember that not all design engineers attend colleges or universities. Some take online courses, and some learn independently using whatever information they find online. So, whilst the gold standard in educating design engineers should be mandatory manufacturing experience, we also need to ensure that students who learn remotely have access to high-quality training data.

Generally, the training materials students use to learn how to use CAD do not reflect real-world manufacturing practices, and even worse, they teach students bad modelling habits. We must not set the next generation of design engineers up to fail. Instead, we should provide top-quality training data that teaches students how to use CAD effectively and gives them insights into manufacturing best practices from day one.

There is no substitute for time spent in an engineering workshop to help students understand the limitations of manufacturing processes. However, giving students well-structured practice files could go a long way towards teaching basic manufacturing principles. If engineering design courses cannot offer workshop experience, they should invest in creating high-quality practice files that help close the gap in every student’s manufacturing knowledge.

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The long-awaited White Horse CAD DFM handbook has finally been launched. If you are designing products, you need a copy of this book. It covers content such as:

• Good modelling practice
• Turned parts
• Milled parts
• Sheet metal
• Process information
• Design intent
• Much much more

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WHC office

The Autumn sunshine continues here at the office, as does the workstream. Although the projects vary, cost and time effectiveness are common factors when we receive a design brief. Combine these two factors, and you can also achieve the unwritten desirable: minimal stress!

Getting to the crux of a design problem and providing a solution is what we do best, and is no different this week. It’s a busy one of visiting clients to understand their design needs and, in some cases, retrieve the parts in question. That’s why we want to share insight into a particular job.

Read on to find out more…

Working on physical parts in the office 

We’ve got a client’s flight case, there’s no existing CAD, so we’re physically measuring it to create a 3D model. Accuracy is essential, and by utilising SolidWorks, we are designing a configurable assembly (click here to see SolidWorks in action).

The beauty of this is, the model can be easily updated. Moderations can be to a defined size or adapted to fit the contents. Or it could be changing the colour of the finish on the render. Either way, the configurable assembly saves the client time and money as we don’t have to start from scratch whenever a change is needed. For these reasons, the configurable model can give an edge over competitors by responding to requests for cases more quickly.

Could your product benefit from having a configurable assembly? To learn more about our design services, please visit the White Horse CAD website or call us – at 01373 801 803.

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White Horse CAD provides expert support when you need it

Scenario #1: So much to do, so little time!

The project deadline is looming, and the bulk of the design work is complete, but you are falling behind and need some support to create detailed assemblies or assembly and manufacturing drawings.

White Horse CAD will work with you to create assemblies and drawing to your company’s standard. We guarantee compatibility with your version of SolidWorks. Although we generally work in the latest version of SolidWorks, we are more than happy to work in earlier versions.

Scenario #2: Sanity Checking.

You have a product design but would like a review of it. There are many things to think about when developing a new product:

Does everything align as intended?
Do your tolerances stack up?
Do you have clashes in your models?
Do your mechanisms work as you intended?
Can your part be assembled?
Are there any difficult-to-manufacture features?

Fear not; we will logically work through such questions and provide answers to give confidence in your design and product. As per a recent client review, sanity checking is beneficial:

“His (Tim’s) ability to understand and interrogate designs has proven to be very useful and frequently provides alternative design & manufacturing options.”

Contact us and let’s get your project completed

White Horse CAD is passionate about helping our clients create top-quality products. We draw on decades of experience. Not only will we review form, fit, and function, but we will also look at manufacturability and tolerance clashes.

So, if these scenarios are familiar or you want to avoid them, please get in touch with us. As a reminder, we support any stage of the design process, be it to develop a rough sketch for a new concept or help perfect an existing model.

Either way, a discussion is always a great starting point, so call White Horse CAD on 01373 801 803 to talk through the design support you need.

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This week we’ve been talking to new clients about their ideas and how we can help to develop these into fully functioning products. With this in mind, it feels timely to share a reminder of the White Horse CAD Design Cycle and take you through each step to get your ideas to market quicker.

Firstly, the WHC Design Cycle is flexible enough to work with projects of any size or scale. We listen to our customers and turn their requirements into designs, bringing their concepts and ideas to life using renders, 3D data, animations, and 3D printed parts.

So, just what is the White Horse CAD design Cycle?

Create

For White Horse CAD, the start of the design process is the most critical part of the cycle. In the ‘Create’ stage, listen to our client’s requirements and find out the main design inputs, the design requirements, and the required deliverables. During this stage, our clients share what they would like to achieve, when they would like to achieve it, and any other information that may be important to the project.

The next part of the process depends on the type of project;

Product Design

We create a concept design for product design projects that outlines our interpretation of the design brief. If required, we will develop several design concepts to give the client a selection of options to choose from. At this point, we will highlight any technical or manufacturing challenges we anticipate. We often supply 3D prints to aid decision-making during the early design phase.

Equipment / Tool Design

The process for specialist equipment or tooling is similar to a new product. But as well as presenting early concepts and outline designs, we will investigate off-the-shelf solutions that could potentially be modified or integrated into the concepts.

Paper to CAD

We will scrutinise the supplied paper drawings and highlight any geometry that may be difficult to re-create using the provided data.

Reverse Engineering

If you already have a product but no data, we can Reserve Engineer it. In essence, we will 3D scan your product to create the data to see how something works or to recreate the product.

Adapt

Design is a very iterative process. Once we have presented the first few ideas to our clients, we will refine the ideas to include any new requirements or design changes. At this project stage, we are getting to know the clients’ needs and learning their likes and dislikes. The information helps us to refine the early concepts into prototypes. We are also considering manufacturing options and creating CAD data that reflects the clients’ requirements and how the items will be made. Early consideration for manufacturing allows us to create designs for cost-effective manufacturing.

At this stage, we may also suggest a manufactured prototype and will create the first set of fully defined engineering drawings. We are also happy to suggest a local manufacturing partner if required.

Deliver

White Horse CAD delivers a complete set of CAD data and drawings as follows…

• Native CAD data
  • Models
  • Assemblies
  • Drawings
• Other Data
  • PDF versions of all the drawings
  • STEP or Parasolid Files
  • Any reports generated during the design process

We think it’s important that our clients have access to their data so it’s available should they want to make changes in the future. That is why we always make the native CAD data available to them. We understand that some competitors do not share native data with clients unless asked; some even charge a premium fee for this service!

So there you have it – the White Horse CAD Cycle! Please get in touch about your next project and let us guide you through the cycle to get your product to market.

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“It is no exaggeration to say that without Tims’ input the final manufactured product would have been seriously inferior to the one he has delivered. When it comes to future product designs Tim will be our man!”
Planet Lighting Limited

It’s a busy one here with numerous projects on the go – just how we like it!

Our client base includes the full spectrum of industries, including medical, healthcare, agriculture, electrical, and energy sectors.

Some are happy clients returning with new work and you can read why on our website. Whereas others are new to White Horse Computer Aided Design (CAD), either by recommendation or like what they see via our info packs, website, or social media. If you know anyone looking for contract CAD expertise please share these links with them.

Tim’s enjoying getting out to see our clients and discuss their requirements. Some are manufacturers and these visits are helpful to see how they operate. It helps to build on our extensive knowledge of the whole product development cycle and how we can create cost-effective solutions for them. Here are some examples of our current work:

• Producing a replacement machine part using our 3D printer
• Designing a protective electronics enclosure
• Developing mobility equipment

Due to confidentially, we can’t reveal too much! However, with over thirty-five years experience in mechanical engineering and product design, we have plenty we can discuss with you! As a reminder, we can work solely on a project or we can be an extension of your team. We can provide extra capacity during busy times and pressing deadlines, with competitive hourly rates.

Please get in touch to find out how White Horse CAD can achieve your design goals – 01373 801 803

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Creating a CAD model using SolidWorks

Friday greetings to you all.

Keeping up to date with software and hardware is important to us here at White Horse CAD.

Firstly, we do love a bit of tech! We’re big fans of gadgets and innovation, we’re always on the lookout for ways to improve our services for ourselves and our clients.

So, we want technology to give us the best platform for our product design process from the concept stage through to manufactured products.

We want technology to be time-efficient and help us to get more done in less time. This means you benefit from a quicker turnaround for your projects.

Our client base stretches across most industries so we need technology that clearly explains complex assemblies and features.

And, this is why we’ve recently upgraded to the latest 2022 version of SolidWorks. SolidWorks is our primary design tool and has been for many years. As well as the high-quality design capabilities, importantly it provides secure storage and sharing of data. And if you don’t have this latest version, fear not!  Our software license gives us access to past versions back to 2014, meaning we can keep our clients’ legacy data intact.

WHC’s Tim Bird provides expert mechanical engineering and design advice to many industries.

It’s now over to Tim, WHC Managing Director and SolidWorks guru to share some insight into a feature of the latest version… Geometric Tolerancing.
What do you think?

Keep an eye out for hints and tips to come. In the meantime, if you’d like to find out more about White Horse CAD, please head to our website. Equally, we always welcome a call to discuss

ideas and requirements, so please get in touch 01373 801 803. 

The post An insight into SolidWorks 2022 and Geometric Tolerancing appeared first on White Horse CAD Limited.

This week is a mixed bag of working with clients at different stages of the design process. We love the variation this brings.

Detailed Engineering Drawing

So, for our established clients, we are working on a series of technical drawings for products in the energy sector and concept designs for medical devices. They already have the data files and we are optimising our primary design tool, Solidworks to create new solutions for them. All in all, we like to think these are straightforward pieces of work with clear guidelines.

However, this isn’t always the case. With over thirty years of hands-on manufacturing and design experience, we come across all kinds of design briefs. From the meticulous and time-critical projects to those seemingly plucked from mid-air!

Either way, we appreciate every idea has to start somewhere and we can help to take them forward. Sometimes a rough sketch, model, or chat is the starting point for a new idea. Whichever form it takes, a conversation about what the client wants to achieve is critical.

Let’s Talk About Ideas

From this we can manage expectations through the design journey, especially if they are new to design.

Here’s an insight from a call earlier this week; a potential client called us about their new idea. They have no design background and came to us for expert advice and we’re confident that’s what we gave. Some of the things we discussed include:

Purpose
How will the product be used?
What does the client want to achieve from it?
How does it compare to rival products or is a completely new concept?

Form
The client was keen to have a 3D print of the model. This can be a great option for prototypes and models to explain ideas. However, drawing on the vast experience we could also advise on alternatives such as injection moulding which is more appropriate for this design brief.

Materials
We have working knowledge of materials and manufacturing processes. We could talk through the options and give assurance about what would be the best option for the product.

Costs
We have our own 3D and 2d printers in-house, so we’re well placed to give accurate costings. It’s mainly the time taken for the prints that influence the costs. Giving the client some ballpark figures for alternatives was also of help.

This potential client was happy to receive our thoughts on their brief. It’s given them more to think about but that’s all part of the design process. They’re coming to see us at our Heywood House office so we’re looking forward to seeing how we can help to progress this idea.

So if this all sounds familiar to you, please get in touch and make us your first port of call for any fledging ideas. We all have to start somewhere! Please head to our testimonials page if you’d like to hear from others about our expertise.

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We’re confident we can tick the boxes for your project

We’re happy to report another busy week of design work. We’re doing one of the things we do best; giving expert advice to create effective design solutions.

And what makes us so sure that we’ve got this right?

Well, it’s because we utilise our thirty plus years of hands-on engineering experience with cutting edge technology. It’s a winning combination that means we understand what clients need and the most cost-effective way to achieve this.

As a brief example…. One of our clients has an exciting brand-new idea for a consumer product. They are at the stage of needing the injection mould tool to start production. However, the cost they’ve been quoted is just too high to make this a profitable venture. If they can overcome this, the cost of production is low and straightforward.

So, we are accompanying the client at their request to visit the injection mould tooling company. They are keen for our input to help overcome this barrier. The injection moulding tool is a crucial and often the most expensive part of the manufacturing process. Even the smallest of changes to the mould can be very costly as well as a drain on time. Both of which you obviously want to avoid when you’re heading towards getting ready to market your product.

Start a conversation with us

So it’s essential to get the design right, the first time. Our task is to review and modify the design that can be optimised for injection moulding as well as being fit for purpose. If you’d like to find out more about us, please visit the White Horse CAD website. Or we always welcome a call if you’d prefer on 01373 801 803.

For the time being, we can’t reveal anymore due to our confidential agreements but hope this product will be one for our portfolio of case studies in the future. Please keep an eye out for these and if you’re in need of an effective solution to a design problem, do get in touch. We’re confident we can help.

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Utilising SolidWorks for design

This week is all about drawings. These are for a new part measuring 1m in length to form a larger assembly. So far, we’ve created 90 drawing views. This amount of drawings means we can ensure every feature is defined effectively.

The drawings are created using SolidWorks and are accessible for the client to read. As a reminder, we can work with any version from 2014 onwards. You can see how this works in a sped-up drawings video on the White Horse CAD website.

The client knows exactly what they require for this product, and we’ve discussed a clear brief. On completion of the drawings, the client will take these straight to the manufacturer to make and assemble the part.

Our clients come to us with an initial concept or problems to solve in other cases. Then we can use our design expertise to create a viable product. As an example, we’re also working on a fractured bone model.

Alongside the detailed drawings, our 3D printer has been in action to create a replica of the model. We’ve even spray-painted parts to give it a realistic finish. So now the client will have the technical drawings and the replica, to-scale model to explain the concept to their peers. Seeing and touching a model is a great selling tool and brings the idea to life.

3D printer

Our 3D printer is in-house and print using High Definition Stereo Lithography (SLA) and Medium Definition Fused Definition Modelling (FDM). These give us a range of options for printing, from intricate, complex parts to less detailed models. Various colours & finishes are also available. To find out more, please visit our website.

Or please get in touch on 01373 801 803 to discuss your ideas. Whether you know exactly what you require or have an idea you want to explore further, we are your first-choice design partner.

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