How to Create Embossing and Engraving in CATIA V5 and CATIA 3DEXPERIENCE

Posted on January 18, 2021September 13, 2024 by Rajyalakshmi S

Embossing is a metal forming process for producing raised or sunken designs or relief in sheet metal by means of matched male and female roller dies, theoretically with no change in metal thickness, or by-passing sheet or a strip of metal between rolls of the desired pattern.

Steps to create embossing/engraving in CATIA V5:

In the first step, open a blank drawing file from CATIA drafting workbench. In this drafting file, one has to insert the text that needs to be engraved or embossed. Any font size can be chosen and the text is entered which needs to be created on 3D model as shown below.

In the second step, this drawing file should be saved as a .dwg/dxf file type as shown below.

In the third step, the part model to be embossed or engraved can be opened as shown below.

In the fourth step, the text should be pasted into a geometrical set in the part. This can be done by selecting Fit-in-All command in the View tab.

Now the text can be seen in the part specification tree. If the position of the text is not correct, the Translate function or Rotate command can be used.

The Translate and Rotate command can be used as shown below.

In the final step, Pad or Pocket command is chosen to obtain either the embossed or the engraved part.

Part with Embossing:

Part with Engravings:

Steps to create embossing/engraving in CATIA 3DEXPERIENCE:

In the first step, blank drawing file is opened from CATIA native drafting app.

In this drafting file, the text that needs to be engraved or embossed has to be entered. Any front size can be chosen and then the text which you need to create on the 3D model is entered as shown below.

This drafting file is exported as a .dwg/dxf file type shown below.

The part model that needs to be embossed or engraved has to be opened.

Next, Text command is used and is oriented along the curve.

In the final step, Pad or Pocket command is chosen to obtain either embossed or engraved part.

Part with Embossing:

Part with Engravings:

Parametric Modelling in CATIA V5

Posted on January 7, 2021September 13, 2024 by Mohit Aggarwal

The dimensions in a 3D Model have some relationships or interconnections with each other in Parametric Modelling in CATIA V5. If any one of the dimensions is changed in 3D Model, then all other dimensions will also change in the specified ratio.

Key tools used in Parametric Modelling are:

Parameters
Formulas
Design Table

Parameters

Parameters are the characteristics that control different aspects of geometry and features. Parameters could be of different types such as Length, Area, Mass, Boolean and many more.

Parameters are of two categories:

Intrinsic Parameters:

Intrinsic Parameters are created automatically as we create the geometries and features in CATIA V5.

User Parameters:

In Parametric Modelling, the Parameters which user creates for controlling the dimensions and features are called User Parameters.

Formulas

Formulas are the relations between different geometrical entities and parameters. For example, to have Inner Diameter as half of Outer Diameter, a formula can be created as:

Inner Diameter = 0.5 * Outer Diameter.

Design Table

Design Table is a text or .csv (Excel) file which contains different set of input values for parameters called configurations. For example, a company has five variants of a product. A design table can be created in which five configurations of input values of parameters can be entered. Selecting each configuration from design table will result in a different variant of the product.

Steps in Parametric Modelling:

Create 3D Model:

Create the 3D Model as per the drawing provided using different workbenches like Sketcher, Part Design etc. In the below image, a tumbler is modelled. The features used in this tumbler are Pad, Pocket and Edge Fillet.

Now, design intent is to design a tumbler in which the same ratio is maintained for all the other geometrical features for any value of outer diameter of tumbler.

Create Parameters:

Create Parameters for input dimensions. For example, in this tumbler there is only one input parameter i.e., Outer Diameter and rest of the dimensions will automatically get adjusted as per the Outer Diameter. Hence, a Parameter of “length” type named Outer Diameter is created.

Create Formulas:

Now, Formulas need to be created to interlink various dimensions from the Driving Parameters. In this case, the inner diameter, length & edge fillet of tumbler must change as per the outer diameter of the tumbler. Hence, the following formulas are created:

Outer Radius of tumbler is linked with the created parameter Outside Diameter as Outer Radius = Outer Diameter/2.

Similarly, a formula is created to control Inner Diameter of tumbler as: Inner Radius = 0.45*Outer Diameter.

Now, a formula is created to control the length of the tumbler by using Pad length as: Pad Length = 2* Outside Diameter.

Finally, a formula is created to control the edge fillet of the Tumbler as: Edge Fillet Radius = 0.05*Outside Diameter.

Create Design Table:

Now, it is decided that only four variants of tumblers will be produced of Outer Diameters 35mm, 40mm, 45mm & 50mm. Now, a design table is created that will have four configurations for making four variants of tumblers. In this case, a Design Table can have input values for a greater number of parameters with only one driving parameter.

Design Table can be created either using any pre-existing design file or with current parameter values.

Design table is saved. Now, open the design table and add all the input values of parameters and save it.

Design Table is added under Relations node design in the specification tree. Double click on Design Table:

Now, any configuration can be selected and a new variant of tumbler can be obtained.

Connecting 3DEXPERIENCE with Microsoft Office 365

Posted on January 7, 2021September 13, 2024 by Mohit Aggarwal

Why should 3DEXPERIENCE be connected with Microsoft Office 365:

To enable the user to get email notifications for password reset and for all the tasks for which the user must be notified, 3DEXPERIENCE needs to be connected with Microsoft Office 365.

The challenge in connecting 3DEXPERIENCE with MS Office 365 is that MS Office 365 only authenticates TLS enabled applications and 3DEXPERIENCE is not TLS enabled.

Hence, to connect 3DEXPERIENCE with MS Office 365 a SMTP Relay is required. For SMTP Relay, either some third-party SMTP Relay software can be used or IIS SMTP Relay can be used which comes pre-installed along with Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Operating System.

Steps to Connect 3DEXPERIENCE with Microsoft Office 365:

Configure IIS SMTP Relay for 3DEXPERIENCE & Microsoft Office 365:

Click on Windows icon ➜ Windows Administrative Tools ➜ Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Manager

Create a new Virtual SMTP Server with a fully qualified domain as smtp.office365.com

Right click on created SMTP Virtual Server ➜ Properties ➜ Access ➜ Add the local IP of the 3DEXPERIENCE Server.

Right click on created SMTP Virtual Server ➜ Properties ➜ Delivery ➜ Outbound Security. Select Basic Authentication and give credentials of Outlook master user (IT Head or master user). Also check TLS encryption.

Configure 3DEXPERIENCE Configuration files for IIS SMTP Relay:

Open 3DPassport\win_b64\code\bin\enovia.ini file and update below lines:

MX_SMTP_HOST= Local IP of 3DEXPERIENCE Server (Ex. 10.116.0.152)

MX_SMTP_SENDER= Email ID authenticating the Relay (Ex abc@domain.com)

MX_SMTP_TRACE=mxtrace.log

Open 3DSpace\win_b64\code\bin\enovia.ini file and update below lines:

MX_SMTP_HOST= Local IP of 3DEXPERIENCE Server (Ex. 10.116.0.152)

MX_SMTP_SENDER= Email ID authenticating the Relay (Ex abc@domain.com)

Open 3DPassport\win_b64\code\tomee\webapps\3dpassport\WEB-INF\classes\dspassport_general.properties file and update below lines:

mail.smtphost= Local IP of 3DExperience Server (Ex. 10.116.0.152)

mail.sender.email= Email Id authenticating the Relay (Ex abc@domain.com)

mail.sender.name= 3DPassport

Open 3DDashboard\win_b64\uwp-config.properties file and update below lines:

uwp.mail.smtp.host= Local IP of 3DExperience Server (Ex. 10.116.0.152)

uwp.mail.sender.address= Email Id authenticating the Relay (Ex abc@domain.com)

Configure Microsoft Office 365 for 3DEXPERIENCE through Admin Center using Admin Account:

Open MS Office 365 Admin Centre. Click Exchange ➜ Mailboxes ➜ Select the 3DEXPERIENCE user account.

Select Mailbox Delegation ➜ Click plus sign on Send As ➜ Add the Master User or IT Head Account whose credentials are used to authenticate the SMTP Relay.

Perform steps a & b for all the users of 3DEXPERIENCE

Start the Virtual SMTP Server from Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Manager.

After performing Step 1 through Step 4, 3DEXPERIENCE will be connected to Microsoft Office 365. Now, if user opens 3DPassport in browser and click “Forgot My Password” and submit his email ID and captcha code, then the user will receive a mail to reset the password. Also, user will start getting email notifications for all the tasks such as Project Tasks, Collaborative Tasks, Change Action, Issue, Route etc.

What will happen if 3DEXPERIENCE is not connected to MS Office 365:

If a user forgets his 3DEXPERIENCE password, then it would become a very tedious job to reset the password from server side. This would cause downtime for the user as he wouldn’t be able to access 3DEXPERIENCE and do any work which will cause project delay.

The user will not receive email notifications regarding tasks notifications, deadlines, notifications etc. due to which the user might forget to complete tasks and miss deadlines which may cause delay in projects.

Links Management in CATIA V5

Posted on December 21, 2020September 13, 2024 by Mohit Aggarwal

CATIA link is a dependency relation used to share geometric, parametric or positioning information between components in CATIA V5. Links in CATIA are unidirectional and always point from the child to the parent.

Types of Links

There are five types of links each of which are explained below with a common example.

The CCP link The first CAT Part contains the geometrical definition of the raw material used to create the table leg. The second CAT Part contains the geometrical definition of the finished table leg. Consistency must be ensured between the models: a modification of the raw material must be reflected in the finished leg. For that purpose, the raw material part geometry is copied and pasted in the finished part (with the link maintained), where the machining operations are performed.Since the raw material and the finished leg will never be assembled together, this operation is performed outside the context of an assembly.

The CCP link is created in a part when the geometry is pasted using the ‘Paste special as result with link’ functionality provided the copy/paste operation is performed from part to part and outside the context of a product.

The KWE link

The leg socket is the common interface between the table leg and the tabletop. The dimensions of the socket are stored in parameters in the tabletop part. For the table leg to match the tabletop, those dimensions must match. For that purpose, the dimension can be copied (with the link maintained) from the tabletop to the table leg.

This link is in all points identical to the CCP link, except that parameters are copied instead of geometry.

The KWE link is created in a part where parameters are pasted using the ‘Paste special as result with link’ functionality.

The Instance link

To create a table assembly, the tabletop and table leg components must be inserted in the table assembly CAT Product.

In this process, the table assembly is the parent and the tabletop and table legs are the children. In the table assembly, an Instance link is created for each component. This link carries the name and path of the files.

The Instance link is created in a CAT Product where CAT Parts or CAT Products are inserted.

The Constraints

Assembly constraints are used to position the parts of the assembly. Each leg will require an axis-to-axis coincidence and surface-to-surface contact constraints to position it.

The assembly constraints allow to position parts and products in the context of an assembly. This type of link cannot be visualized in the Edit/ Links menu. The links are stored in the CATProduct and apply to the instance of the components. In other words, an assembly constraint applies to a specific representation of a part in a specific assembly. For example, if the Leg 1 instance is constrained, all the other table leg instances are still free.

If the table leg style A was replaced by a table leg style B in the table assembly, all the constraints would be broken. The use of publications prevents this behavior. If the same publication name (Leg Axis) is applied to both table legs’ axis, the assembly constraint will be reconnected automatically when the table leg is replaced with the second one.

The constraint is created between two part/ product instances. The use of publications will allow reconnecting the constraints automatically when parts are replaced.

The View Link

The table leg CAT Part contains the 3D geometrical definition and a CAT Drawing contains the associated 2D representation. The views are generated from the CAT Part using Generative Drafting functionalities. Whenever the part is modified, the drawing views indicate an update is required to reflect the changes.

This process does not create any external link in the CAT Part (the parent). In the CAT Drawing (the child), a View Link points to the CAT Part (the parent). The View Link is created for each generative view of a drawing. The information carried by the link is the name and path of the source model used for the projection.

The View Link is created between the CAT Drawing for each generated view. The link points to the object used to create the view (CAT Part or CAT Product)

To access Links in CATIA V5, Select Edit ➜ Links.

Here, the pointed documents of Assembly, Part and Drawings can be seen.

Sometimes when an assembly is opened, an error pops up displaying “File could not be found”. This error occurs when the Part or Drawing File is missing from the location it was kept earlier. This error can be resolved by selecting Desk from error message or Select File ➜ Desk.

For example, Crankshaft is the missing part in the below error message.

The part file which is highlighted in red color is missing. Right click on the missing part and select Find. Now browse to the path where that file is kept and select the file. The red highlighted part will turn into white color which means that the part is found and loaded in the assembly.

5 Reasons to Adopt Digital Transformation in Farm Equipment Manufacturing Industry

Posted on November 29, 2020September 13, 2024 by Ritesh Narula

An important success factor for farm equipment manufacturing companies is their ability to define and manufacture quality products tailored to customer preferences and deliver them anywhere in the world at record speed.

A farm equipment assembly can be very complex because it includes mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic parts, sheet metal, cabling and automation mechanisms. Some 3D models can have more than 5,000 parts. It also consists of load-bearing frames that require structural analysis.

Need of the hour is to adopt the technology that uses single data driven approach, model-based product backbone that offers digital continuity and governance capabilities – from product engineering to manufacturing to service and maintenance – in one single repository to capitalize knowledge, intensify collaboration, improve productivity and stimulate innovation.

For some companies, digital transformation is a way to get closer to consumers, for others it means accelerating innovation or speeding time to market in order to stay closer to market trends. In any case, organizational process changes paired with modern technologies like PLM, Mobility, Cloud & SaaS can facilitate different ways of working.

The 5 main compelling reasons to adopt digital transformation are:

Quick Decision-Making and Risk Reduction

Today, organizations need to make quicker decisions and reduce risk at all times. It is important to implement a global, seamless governance also known as invisible governance to make sure all the administrative tasks are automated and transparent as much as possible. This will ensure faster, easier and safer decisions throughout the development cycle.

Organizations are able to plan ahead more easily and also departments can collaborate effectively with the R&D department thereby reducing errors significantly. This reinforces the importance of combining processes and technology to manage development scope, resources, and schedule. When a project is being planned, resources, schedule, and scope are often managed to ensure the current state is not in flux.

However, as the project proceeds, new information is gathered that causes adjustments to be made. Suddenly, having disconnected systems for scope, schedule or resources introduces uncertainty.

If a single technology is used to manage a project’s scope, schedule, and resources, then the risks associated with uncertainty are diminished or avoided entirely.

Improve Engineering Productivity

To stay ahead of the latest innovations and market trends, companies must transition from traditional disconnected, discipline specific design and engineering bill of material processes to an approach that supports a single, fully consolidated approach. This helps in fully connected, global view of the combined product design structure and engineering bill of material with consistent global product development business processes.

It is important to manage the engineering definition of products from early definition to final validation in collaboration across disciplines and the value network.

For this, all the engineering departments are required to be connected to the entire organization, sales, production, R&D, etc. Also, it is needed to integrate all the engineering disciplines in the design process seamlessly.

Adopting the digital continuity platforms allows process engineers to co-design the product with product engineers, check consistency of assemblies and improve the process and product quality.

Improve Collaboration among Cross-Functional Teams – Bringing Teams Together

Working in silos between disciplines is a thing of the past. Digital team collaboration is a stimulus for innovation. Engineering teams need an essential set of tools for real-time, secure and structured collaboration on product content. Farm industry needs a scalable, online environment for managing product design, multi-physics simulation and manufacturing process planning with maximum traceability and flexibility.

If the information is centrally managed and available to all stakeholders, it improves the competitiveness and resourcefulness to develop innovative products that rapidly respond to farmers’ evolving needs. Establishing a continuous digital thread across the entire product lifecycle empowers everyone to carry out their role to the best of their ability and build each machine first-time right.

Enabling Validation through Virtual Twin

By modelling all the parts in 3D and then sharing this 3D model with the factory ensures accurate assembly of parts. In product architecture, it is possible to represent the kinematics assemblies. It enables to create mobile parts in 3D and make sure they do not interfere with other parts when the assembly is in action. This approach also helps the design team handle changes effectively and rectify errors quickly.

Thanks to virtual twin, the operators can easily understand assembly of new product variants and also get trained on new processes. It also enables plant managers to take right decisions regarding process schedule, material requirement and also plant maintenance. The customers can also view the products they ordered including all the various options even before it is produced.

Improving Understanding and Training of Workforce

Switching from 2D paper-based processes to 3D digital modelling has completely revolutionized the way today’s factory operators work. Previously, companies used to build a prototype assembly in a testing area to describe in 2D its assembly process, and sort this documentation in folders by product bill of materials. This 2D documentation was used for operator training and to update other operational documentation. Process updates were very complicated.

With digital tools adoption, it is easy to simulate assembly operations with overviews, and carry out assembly tests even before the receipt of parts and without any physical prototype. It has become far easier for companies to train their operators and prepare them to work on new models.

Today, with digital tools, we can run through the entire manufacturing process in detail, operators can be trained on the assembly processes before the product physically exists. When the operators visualize the product and factory model in 3D, they tend to quickly realize the new approach more clearly.

Adoption of digital transformation is a lot about a strong passion to innovate and excel in your area of work, leveraging exciting new tools to increase collaboration and above all delivering on the objective to serve the customer with the best products.

Understanding Boolean Operations in CATIA V5

Posted on November 28, 2020September 13, 2024 by Satya Ranjan Dolai

Boolean operation is an important feature in CATIA V5. Types of Boolean operations include Assemble, Add, Remove, Intersect, Union Trim, and Remove Lump.

Assemble

The Assemble command basically works considering the polarity of the solid bodies. One may be interested to know what actually is the polarity of a body. In simple words, it can be said that whenever a new body is created using material formation like pad, shaft and rib or multi-section solid, then that body can be considered as positive polar body. Pocket, groove, slot and remove multi-section solid is considered as negative polar body.

A part body is created as a rectangular block and Body-1 as a solid cylinder as shown below. Consider this Body-1 as positive polar body as it is created using pad command and intersects with part body. Now if we use Assemble Boolean operation, then this cylinder will join the rectangular part body and will act as a single body.

Now again Body-2 is being created as a rectangular block and is considered as negative polar body because pocket command is used. Whenever Body-2 is assembled with rectangular part body, it will go for material removal in intersected area due to the selection of negative polar body.

Add

Add operation removes only the intersected portion between two bodies so that both parts act as a single body irrespective of the polarity of the bodies. Here, the bodies may be with positive polarity or negative polarity or a combination of both.

Remove

Remove operation removes the selected body first and then is merged with the second body irrespective of the polarity of the bodies. Below is an example on how to create Housing using Add and Remove Boolean operation.

Intersect

To derive a single body from two different bodies, Intersect Boolean operation is used. Basically, the intersected portion is the output which is displayed as a single body. There is no effect of polar bodies here.

In the above example, there are two sketches intersecting each other in the first picture. In the second picture, pad is created on both sides with a certain limit. After using Intersect Boolean operation, the result shows only the common portion which can be seen in third picture.

Union Trim

Unwanted material can be removed from any two bodies by using Union Trim operation which results in a single desired body.

Consider the example below:

In Model Tree, it can be seen that one rectangular body is intersecting with another circular body and the unwanted intersected area needs to be trimmed. After clicking on Union Trim, it gives an option to the user to keep/remove any face. After selecting the shape to be removed, the result can be seen as below:

Remove Lump

Remove Lump Boolean operation removes the lump inside the body.

During the operation, a tab will give the option to the user to keep/remove any face as required. Using this Boolean operation, a user can remove N number of lump face areas.

Below is an example of creating a lump first by using Remove Boolean operation and then using Remove Lump Boolean operation, it is shown how a lump can be removed.

The image below shows Remove Lump definition tab which allows to choose the particular faces. After selecting the face, result is generated.

For a stable design where design features are interlinked, Boolean operation may be a good operation to go with. After all, design aspect is important as it shows how a designer wants to edit a design in later stages through Boolean operations and allow to modify the particular part where designer wants to modify the part and not the complete body. For product benchmarking where few parameters are changing, changing the particular body can be a timesaver.

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