CAD guys plz step inside.

[WolfLMM]

I am wondering which you use Solid Works or Solid Edge.

The company uses Solid works and Catia (but lets leave Catia out for now) and they love it, but I am learning solid edge in school right now and I like it a lot. However, our CAD guy says just make it through class and forget about solid edge cause SW is the way to go.

So what do you guys use and why? This is for my personal computer/ home projects etc BTW.

 

[Jared Duramax]

are you planning on using it for mechanical or archatectural?
because that really decides what program is better for you

 

[McRat]

Solid Works has the best saturation right now in the manufacturing field. 10 years ago it was ProEngineer.

My personal favorite is CADKEY (KeyCreator) because that's what I'm used to.

AutoCAD sucks donkey balls for mechanical, but it's the #1 for construction-based trades.

 

[MMLMM]

I use Architectural desktop, but thats the best for my trade.

For modeling mechanical I vote solid works.

 

[SmokeShow]

I really liked Solid Works when I was in school and still undecided on mechanical or civil. Ultimately I chose civil engr. and thus have only been exposed to AutoCAD ever since.

I wouldn't mind having a student version of Solid Works on my personal machine because it's just too cumbersome to use the 3d aspects of AutoCAD. It is better than it used to be but still too clumsy feeling IMO. Perhaps that's purely just a lack of time with it, I don't know.


C-ya

 

[Redbone]

As stated above, depends on what you want to do. But SolidWorks seems to be the de facto stndard in manufacturing right now.

 

[JOHNBOY]

Solid Works and Pro Engineer are the big ones around here.

I know enough of both to spit out out wire frames for use in MasterCam. I do almost all my own work in MasterCam including design.

 

[WolfLMM]

I am sorry for the lack of details. SW is the BIG one period. They are pretty much the industry standard right now. I just dont know much about its capablities. Like I said the engineers here are saying dont mess with SE longer than you have too, SW is the way to go. But I want some more opinions.

Our company(aerospace/defense) uses SW and catia. And we are not changing. I dont know much about SW, but know alot about SE, so I wanted a comparison on the two. Auto cad is out!. Also I hate inventor so it is out as well. I am not a great modeler (still in school) but want to know the what people who have used both SW and SE think and can give a comparison of the two.

 

[Fingers]

For design and product, part creation, especially multi part systems, Solid Works is great, but, if you are going to make simpler parts and go straight to G code, use a CAM solution such as MasterCAM, FeatureCAM or similar.

JMO

 

[JOHNBOY]

If your looking for one software to both design and machine complex parts Pro E is the way to go. By complex I mean like 3D high speed milling. Master Cam does everything else very well. 4 and 5 axis milling and 4 axis turning. What makes or breaks Cam software is the post and lmd files. No CAM comes with a spot on post files. To limit after post editing you need to be able to edit the post to fit your machines. To edit posts you need a basic understanding of C+ programing and a good editor software like Cimco.

 

[WolfLMM]

CAM is not what I need right now. The shop is set, Im looking at software for my personal use. I dont care about CAM packages , cause all I have to do is convert it to parasolid file and my cam will read it. Im guessing I should just weather this class and switch to SW as soon as possible. I thought SE pretty popular, IDK though. SE is really easy to use, but from what I understand SW fairly easy to use also. I have it at the shop, but I dont have time to fool with it, with school and all.

Thanks for the input keep it coming.

 

[duramaxn]

Love SolidEdge V20

Ive got V20 at work and really like it. That is what I have designed everything on. I do alot of presicion plunger/barrel reverse engineering for Super Stock tractors and has worked really well. This is what I play on all day and is fairly user friendly.

 

[WolfLMM]

Cool, thats what version Im using in school. Any tid bits you can offer?

 

[EDP]

Ive got V20 at work and really like it. That is what I have designed everything on. I do alot of presicion plunger/barrel reverse engineering for Super Stock tractors and has worked really well. This is what I play on all day and is fairly user friendly.

Agree!!!!

First I used was CAD and never wanted to change but once converted and took the time now love it

 

[Osubeaver]

I'm on the manufacturing side. Our customers include aerospace, high tech, etc. Solidworks is the most common among them. The aerospace stuff comes from Catia because a rather large company that starts with a B uses it.

Solidworks and Mastercam are kind of buddies now (Mastercam inside of Solidworks). That could be promising.