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MBMike Barber30/04/2007
My company owns a license of electrical routing. I have
beentrying to go through the process of creating an electrical
drawing,and I am extremely disappointed so far. Granted, I
amprobably approaching this a bit differently than most. I
wantall the wires in the connector modeled. Here are
myobservations so far:
-I spent WAY too much time troubleshooting my route trying to getthe route to not violate any minimum bend radius rules. Whycan't I shut this off?
-The "fix route" button only works for segments, notsegments that join up in a non-tangential way, thus violatingmin-bend radii rules. I have to go through and select all thelittle splines that go into the junction point and make themtangent to the main harness segment.
-The harness drawing creating tool has tremendous capability. The wire cut-list has the potential to save huge amounts ofengineering time once the drawing goes to the vendor.
-The connector end face block view is like taking a step back to2D. Why not allow a 3d view of the drawing, instead of lines,arcs, and notes?
-A more automated approach to terminal selection could save lots ofengineering time also. The biggest terminal selection pitfallis usually selecting a terminal whose insulation crimp is too smallfor the wire selected. Since the model has this information,there could be a terminal library and a selection wizard for eachwire involved. It could allow you to select between bag orreel packaging part number, plating options, etc. It couldoffer you a drop down box which is populated only with theterminals that would fit on the wire you're selecting it for.
-The harness drawing could be enhanced to allow you to flatten thecable, much like sheet metal. It could be interactive,allowing you to drag the connector endpoints around, but instead ofusing blocks, use the actual model. This would allow thecreation of a much more professional looking drawing.
-The component library tool should provide a link to the drawingview of the connector for use with the harness drawing instead ofrelying on file names in a certain folder. It should have abrowse button, and allow you to use windows explorer to point toit.
-Part library management is crucial to the success of this package. If it is done well and intuitive, it makes all the differencein the world. Lots of good improvements in 2007. Arethere more to come?
I am an electrical engineer, and have picked up solidworks alongthe way to model my printed circuit board models and chassis. I have used some major ECAD packages, and the librarymanagement feature is so important. Some more attention inthis area would really help things.
-I spent WAY too much time troubleshooting my route trying to getthe route to not violate any minimum bend radius rules. Whycan't I shut this off?
-The "fix route" button only works for segments, notsegments that join up in a non-tangential way, thus violatingmin-bend radii rules. I have to go through and select all thelittle splines that go into the junction point and make themtangent to the main harness segment.
-The harness drawing creating tool has tremendous capability. The wire cut-list has the potential to save huge amounts ofengineering time once the drawing goes to the vendor.
-The connector end face block view is like taking a step back to2D. Why not allow a 3d view of the drawing, instead of lines,arcs, and notes?
-A more automated approach to terminal selection could save lots ofengineering time also. The biggest terminal selection pitfallis usually selecting a terminal whose insulation crimp is too smallfor the wire selected. Since the model has this information,there could be a terminal library and a selection wizard for eachwire involved. It could allow you to select between bag orreel packaging part number, plating options, etc. It couldoffer you a drop down box which is populated only with theterminals that would fit on the wire you're selecting it for.
-The harness drawing could be enhanced to allow you to flatten thecable, much like sheet metal. It could be interactive,allowing you to drag the connector endpoints around, but instead ofusing blocks, use the actual model. This would allow thecreation of a much more professional looking drawing.
-The component library tool should provide a link to the drawingview of the connector for use with the harness drawing instead ofrelying on file names in a certain folder. It should have abrowse button, and allow you to use windows explorer to point toit.
-Part library management is crucial to the success of this package. If it is done well and intuitive, it makes all the differencein the world. Lots of good improvements in 2007. Arethere more to come?
I am an electrical engineer, and have picked up solidworks alongthe way to model my printed circuit board models and chassis. I have used some major ECAD packages, and the librarymanagement feature is so important. Some more attention inthis area would really help things.