The PTC Creo Piping and Cabling Extension (PCX) is a fantastic tool for both designers and engineers doing piping and cabling routings. If you work with piping and cabling, you need this extension. The alternative is either attempting to physically route the piping and cabling (a grossly inefficient process for simple models and basically impossible […]

Multi-CAD Environments Suck CAD systems are a huge investment. Between licensing fees per seat, workflow management, and necessary training the costs can be hefty. However, after all that investment, partners and suppliers often find that they have chosen different CAD platforms. This results in a need to invest in a multi-CAD environment even if you’re […]

Are you still using an older version of Creo like 1.0 or 2.0? Or even older software like Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire? Maybe it’s time to upgrade. Creo 4.0 will be released late November and has a many new and improved features that help with model based enterprise, 3D print design, as well as tools to increase […]

FloEFD is a CFD (computational fluid dynamics) tool from Mentor Graphics that can be used within PTC Creo, allowing for a variety of fast and easy flow and heat transfer simulations. This is accomplished by frontloading (moving simulations earlier in the design process) CFD, allowing for increased design quality and productivity. Frontloading reduces the amount […]

One of the most time consuming elements of CFD is simplifying the geometry in preparation for the analysis stage. Prepping Your Model Step 1: Remove unnecessary features and simplify your model. You want to remove features that add to the mesh count (and slow the analysis) without actually affecting the result. To do so, just […]

In today’s competitive world of product design, frequent and accurate simulation is critical. Finite element analysis software (FEA) predicts how your design will react to real-world forces like vibration, heat, fluid flow, fatigue, and other physical effects. Finite element analysis operates by essentially taking your model and virtually breaking it down into a huge (but […]

How Thomas Built avoids expensive prototyping when using wires or pipe to custom-build its special line of service buses.