Software for designing hydraulic systems?

[JuTu]

Hi there!

Todays question is what software could be used or you would use to design hydraulic systems and diagrams?

Scope would be lubrication systems, some pneumatics and occasionally even power hydraulics.

So far I have been living in AutoCAD/Draftsight environment, but could there be some way to evolve from here? Even better would be data-transfer/communication/co-living capabilities with Solidworks.

Ready or semi-ready symbol libraries would also be a huge benefit

[MJuric]

Hi there!

Todays question is what software could be used or you would use to design hydraulic systems and diagrams?

Scope would be lubrication systems, some pneumatics and occasionally even power hydraulics.

So far I have been living in AutoCAD/Draftsight environment, but could there be some way to evolve from here? Even better would be data-transfer/communication/co-living capabilities with Solidworks.

Ready or semi-ready symbol libraries would also be a huge benefit

We still use Draftsight for schematics but there are a few companies out there that have their own software for this. Festo has Fluid Draw, SMC has an entire symbol library https://www.smc.eu/en-eu/products/stand ... ic-symbols and there own software https://www.smcworld.com/select/pcds/en-jp/index.html

I would guess that Parker has something for hydraulics....but finding anything on their sight is worse than finding one of your old posts on the SywM platform

As far as a third party company that does something like Solidworks electrical, I've not seen anything.

[mattpeneguy]

I'm not familiar with any. I'll be following up with one of the fabricator/designer companies in our industry in the not too distant future. I'll ask them what they use.
We do hydraulics for portions of our work and I, like you, manage the BOM and schematic in 2D CAD. I generate a 3D model and just convert it over and include it on the 2D CAD drawing.
I'm sure there's something out there, just like if all you ever did was structural steel you'd be using something like https://www.tekla.com/us/products/tekla-structures

[mattpeneguy]

We still use Draftsight for schematics but there are a few companies out there that have their own software for this. Festo has Fluid Draw, SMC has an entire symbol library https://www.smc.eu/en-eu/products/stand ... ic-symbols and there own software https://www.smcworld.com/select/pcds/en-jp/index.html

I would guess that Parker has something for hydraulics....but finding anything on their sight is worse than finding one of your old posts on the SywM platform

As far as a third party company that does something like Solidworks electrical, I've not seen anything.

@MJuric,
I'd guess Eaton and Bosch Rexroth also have software. I downloaded one, but learning how to use it didn't seem worth it. And since I already had blocks in CAD, I just used what I had.
And I agree it seems more difficult to find things on all 3 websites. It can be done, but it should be easier to drill down. Don't get me started on actually contacting anyone from any of these 3 companies... I was finally able to reach the pump guy I needed to, but getting through the system seems more difficult than in the past.

[mike miller]

One of our vendors has a similar application to yours. (Morrell Group: https://morrell-group.com/)

They have legacy AutoCAD schematics that they incorporate into Inventor solid models, perhaps with a bit of pixie dust..... Ironically, they are moving from Solid Edge to Inventor mostly because of the vast library of electrical components in IV Content Center and the ability to reuse AutoCAD drawings.

It must be nice to work on customer files that you only ever see once. Change software and there's zero migration. *shakes head*

[MJuric]

@MJuric,
I'd guess Eaton and Bosch Rexroth also have software. I downloaded one, but learning how to use it didn't seem worth it. And since I already had blocks in CAD, I just used what I had.
And I agree it seems more difficult to find things on all 3 websites. It can be done, but it should be easier to drill down. Don't get me started on actually contacting anyone from any of these 3 companies... I was finally able to reach the pump guy I needed to, but getting through the system seems more difficult than in the past.

I downloaded the demo of the Festo one. I've never gotten familiar with it however because I'm not doing schematics on a daily basis.

I've downloaded a bunch of the SMC block though because you can just drop those into whatever 2D package you're currently using.

Ohhh...and yeah. Parker and Allen Bradley sights are complete and utter nightmares to navigate and find anything and if you don't have a distributor you're dealing with....forget about it.

Mitsubishi is a bit better but still needs work. Mcmaster Carr is the Gold standard. Festo is probably the best one that I've used that is a particularly Industry specific.

This type of things blows my mind. Even look at three companies selling essentially the same product. NSK, THK and Hi-Win. Look at their rails. NSK and THK are not the worst but certainly no walk in the park. Hi-Win...easy peasy, not perfect, but largely intuitive and straightforward.

I just don't understand how companies this large....you know like DSS/Solidworks, end up with such disasters for web sites. This isn't 1990 where companies are first out of the gate. We know what makes a good site and a disaster, yet....here we are.

[mattpeneguy]

I just don't understand how companies this large....you know like DSS/Solidworks, end up with such disasters for web sites. This isn't 1990 where companies are first out of the gate. We know what makes a good site and a disaster, yet....here we are.

The problem is that the larger a company gets the further they get away from the customer and more bureaucracy gets in the way. I'm always amazed when I see large corporations that actually have clean websites. The tendency is usually in the opposite direction...like entropy I guess.
It's the same for government...I should know I work for one.

[MJuric]

The problem is that the larger a company gets the further they get away from the customer and more bureaucracy gets in the way. I'm always amazed when I see large corporations that actually have clean websites. The tendency is usually in the opposite direction...like entropy I guess.
It's the same for government...I should know I work for one.

I have the tendency to believe that it's more about attitude. The large companies I see that have good service, good web sites etc tend to be the ones that are still attempting to get market share and or have an attitude of innovation, improvement etc. I think Festo is a good example of this. They're constantly coming out with truly innovative things, not "Look we changed the color of your Icons...Aren't we innovative".

Their web site is a reflection of this and they are regularly updating and improving it....at least attempting to. Sometimes the changes don't work, but then they fix it.

Companies like Parker and AB come with a mentality from the 50's and 60's similar to the "Union" mentality. "We rule here so you have to deal with us no matter how much we S@#! on you." So you end up with garbage web sites and customer service not worthy of an amoeba.

For the love of god and all that's holy Allen Bradley doesn't even give you delivery dates that are real. They toss a date on their quotes...which have nothing to do with reality. It's not until you call their distributor and say "Hey, this was supposed to be delivered today" do they laugh at you and inform you. "We don't promise those delivery dates that's just what we think it could possibly be". Getting an actual delivery date from them takes an act of congress some times.

I avoid AB any time I can but it's pretty hard not to deal with them, although that is changing as the old farts start to retire and the younger crowd goes "Wait WHAT!?"

[mattpeneguy]

Sooo...out of the ones I deal with I think Eaton is the worst:

Followed by Parker:

Bosch Rexroth is better than Parker (not too bad actually, but not great):

Now let's see how many people are employed at the gold standard, Mcmaster-Carr:

They employ 10 times fewer people than the next runner up and I'd say Mcmaster's site is 10X better...

I think Allen Bradley is in a different category. They make electrical equipment and that's just a whole other problem.

[JSculley]

Hi there!

Todays question is what software could be used or you would use to design hydraulic systems and diagrams?

Scope would be lubrication systems, some pneumatics and occasionally even power hydraulics.

So far I have been living in AutoCAD/Draftsight environment, but could there be some way to evolve from here? Even better would be data-transfer/communication/co-living capabilities with Solidworks.

Ready or semi-ready symbol libraries would also be a huge benefit

SOLIDWORKS Electrical will do hydraulic and pneumatic schematics.

The built in symbol libraries include hundreds of items. This is a small sample:

I haven't used it for pneumatic/hydraulic but they would work the same as the electrical side which has a lot of potential if you take the time to use it as intended and set up your library of manufacturers parts. You can start with just the 2D schematics package and expand to 3D with full blown cable, wire, hose routing later.

The 2D schematics package is very AutoCAD-esque in operation but has some SOLIDWORKSish bits as well.

[MJuric]

Sooo...out of the ones I deal with I think Eaton is the worst:
Followed by Parker:

Bosch Rexroth is better than Parker (not too bad actually, but not great):
image.png
Now let's see how many people are employed at the gold standard, Mcmaster-Carr:

They employ 10 times fewer people than the next runner up and I'd say Mcmaster's site is 10X better...

I think Allen Bradley is in a different category. They make electrical equipment and that's just a whole other problem.

We use a whole lot of Mitsubishi stuff...Mitsubishi electric is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi Electric has 145K employees in that division alone and their Web site is better than everyone you listed except Mcmaster carr.

SKF has 40K employees and also better than everyone except Mcmaster

[MJuric]

SOLIDWORKS Electrical will do hydraulic and pneumatic schematics.
image.png

The built in symbol libraries include hundreds of items. This is a small sample:

image.pngimage.png

I haven't used it for pneumatic/hydraulic but they would work the same as the electrical side which has a lot of potential if you take the time to use it as intended and set up your library of manufacturers parts. You can start with just the 2D schematics package and expand to 3D with full blown cable, wire, hose routing later.

The 2D schematics package is very AutoCAD-esque in operation but has some SOLIDWORKSish bits as well.

I had heard that Electrical was not the best and that the Pneumatic/Hydraulic portion of it was pretty bad. Has that improved?

[JuTu]

We have a team for automation and electrical design and they use CADS or EPlan. So that's that.

I feel that manufacturers' proprietary software are ... kinda... locked. WITHOUT PROPER KNOWLEDGE - I fear that the component libraries are not modifiable. And then when the software is not an independent design tool so how's PDM going to be integrated. Will these software increase or decrease the manual workload?

Some thoughts.

And my sincere thanks for all your thoughts aswell.
For 3D-models of hydraulic fittings I have been exploiting Parkers' part community database

[mattpeneguy]

We use a whole lot of Mitsubishi stuff...Mitsubishi electric is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi Electric has 145K employees in that division alone and their Web site is better than everyone you listed except Mcmaster carr.

SKF has 40K employees and also better than everyone except Mcmaster

This SKF who has 2 separate sites for these seals?
https://www.skfextranet.com/crsealsfind ... ?s=2800250

Where you can't get to that site from their US website that they direct you to, if you go to the SKF website:
https://www.skf.com/us/search-results?q ... m=imperial

I was literally really confused because as I posted above, if you are on the US site it is impossible to get there. And we've used these seals. So, they are available here in the states.

[MJuric]

This SKF who has 2 separate sites for these seals?
https://www.skfextranet.com/crsealsfind ... ?s=2800250

Where you can't get to that site from their US website that they direct you to, if you go to the SKF website:
https://www.skf.com/us/search-results?q ... m=imperial

I was literally really confused because as I posted above, if you are on the US site it is impossible to get there. And we've used these seals. So, they are available here in the states.

Yes, because that's not really an SKF seal it's a Chicago Rawhide seal....and SKF bought Chicago Rawhide. That's not unusual especially in the seal and bearing sector.

Edit to add: This is partially why Parker is so awful. They have a bragillion different parts and pieces on the same web site many of which are "Almost like the other one" but different enough to not be interchangeable. My guess would be that many, maybe most, of these were acquisitions and instead of keeping them separate and or phasing them out over time they ended up in one big unnavigable bucket.

[Imics13]

Hi Guys,

Solid Edge (it means 2D free too) has own block library and users are able to build 2d hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical 2d plan.

Here is a video (sorry for HUN UI and language):


BR,

[JuTu]

Solid Edge (it means 2D free too) has own block library and users are able to build 2d hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical 2d plan.

I have Solid Edge on my bucket list "to get to know each other"

[Daniel Uebele]

Sorry to necro-post, but I was combing the internet with this same question and landed here. For any other engineers out there in my shoes, here's the state of play in 2024 as far as I can tell, with votes totaled from eng-tips.com and from this thread:

Software Name-------# Engineers Endorse---Where to Get----------------------------------------------------------------------Cost
Draw.io (diagrams.net)---1-------------------------github.com/jgraph/drawio-desktop/releases/tag/v24.7.5----------------Free
Solidworks Electrical------1-------------------------solidworks.com/product/solidworks-electrical-professional--------------$$$
Hopsan----------------------1-------------------------liu.se/en/research/hopsan------------------------------------------------------Free
Eplan------------------------0 -------------------------eplanusa.com/--------------------------------------------------------------------$$
SMC PneuDraw-------------0--------------------------tools.smc.at/pneu---------------------------------------------------------------Free
Festo FluidDraw -----------1-------------------------festo.com/us/en/app/fluiddraw.html----------------------------------------$
Solid Edge-------------------1-------------------------esources.sw.siemens.com/en-US/download-free-2d-cad-software------Free

[doobes]

Do you want a symbolic layout system, or a true physics based hydraulic design system (more like an FEA than a CAD system)

If you are looking for the latter, then have a look at https://www.hypneu.com. I've used it in the past and it was very good.

Good luck