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View Full Version : Thinking of Acad Mechanical



tdswanson
2011-11-08, 07:14 PM
So, my company is thinking of upgrading from Acad 2006. I've currently got a trial version of Mechanical 2012 installed and I'm pretty disappointed with the overall changes made between these two versions.

I have several concerns about this. Can you clarify or comment on any of these?

1. The libraries (fasteners and holes, etc) are only in 2D? There's no canned content for those of us that model in 3D?

2. It appears (please correct me if I'm wrong) that Autocad Mechanical or "Inventor Fusion" still will not unfold bent sheet metal parts. I'd like to be able to draw a bracket as a 3D solid so that it fits in an assembly, then flatten it so I can export a DXF and cut it on my waterjet, and also do fab drawings.

3. When a person draws 3D solids, then needs to produce a traditional hidden line drawing of that object, is SOLPROF still the preferred method? And it appears that SOLPROF still creates a "dead" block that needs to be re-created if any changes are made. Is this right?

4. Is there still no means of correctly representing threads in this means? With the older version of AutoCAD, if I was modeling a plate with a tapped hole in it, the hole would just be a regular cylinder. When that solid was flattened using SOLPROF, obviously, it doesn't create the traditional hidden line circle representing the minor diameter of the threads. This still hasn't been solved?

Am I looking at the wrong AutoDesk product for doing this kind of design work? I guess I'm a little dismayed at all the claims that are made in the product brochures about its capabilities and its graphics, when it would seem that it still really doesn't support true design and documentation in 3D.

Are my observations all wrong? Am I missing something big about its 3D capabilities? Thanks.......