Product category:
3D CAD software
News Release from: Alibre | Subject: Alibre Design
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 23 October 2006
Parametric modelling allows flexibility
with wood
Kelsey Woodworks has successfully adopted parametric 3D solid modelling.
Kelsey Woodworks has successfully adopted parametric 3D solid modelling Kelsey saves both time and materials on projects that involve multiple change requests from clients
Long-time Alibre Design user and joint owner of the family-run Kelsey Woodworks, Kirk Kelsey started developing his ideas in the affordable Alibre Design modeller after long dissatisfaction with 2D CAD and the limited choice in 3D CAD applicable to advanced woodworking.
"In the past, we've done design work with 2D CAD, which was fine, but there are always changes along the way, especially after you present the first draft of the design".
"It usually meant a lot of redrawing", explains Kelsey.
"After going through three or four different changes in the frame widths on kitchen cabinets, I said 'there's got to be a better way than this'", recalls Kelsey.
"I had to go through every single cabinet and change every part three or four times in our old 2D CAD before the customer finally gave the OK".
Solid modelling has become the Rockaway Beach woodworker's newest fascination.
The software allows him to easily reproduce the furniture concept he has in mind, and then, when the scale and sise of item needs adjustment according to a client's wishes, he can change the entire design in a few mouse clicks.
Solid modelling, Kelsey believes, is the solution to time-consuming rework.
The full advantages of 3D CAD have been slow to come to the woodworking world, even though the technology is in practice in many other fields of design.
Brand name solid modellers in recent years had been geared for gears: they were bulky software packages meant for large mechanical engineering firms.
Their features were powerful, Kelsey says, but the multitude of commands became too complicated to remember.
These applications preferred crunch millimetres instead of thirty-seconds of an inch, and were overpriced for an individual woodworker.
Kelsey sampled several programs custom-made for wood products with 3D capabilities, but these lacked the same power.
They were good for plywood-type construction like mass-produced case goods, and not much else.
They did not offer the capabilities for the advanced curves and joinery of Kelsey's more sophisticated furniture designs.
For many years, there were no practical forms of 3D CAD for wood; the solutions either cost too much or offered too little.
"With a parametric modeller like Alibre Design, I can change dimensions rather quickly".
"I create the look of the design, then fiddle with the dimensions and scale afterward to fit the client's requirements", says Kelsey.
"The application also has all the power of the more expensive modellers, so I can easily add more complex curvatures".
"It turned out to be a very good tool for woodworking design".
Customers typically do not pay for drawings; they pay for the finished product.
All the more reason, Kelsey argues, to create design plans as efficiently as possible.
"If you're not getting paid for drawing, why waste extra hours drawing when you can avoid it?".
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