CAD Admins, raise your hands!

[bnemec]

If only our workman's comp plan covered psychic damage...

I thought he was talking about injuries inflicted by the CAD Admin. Psychiatric "pressure" is the 6th learning mode for some users.

[mgibeault]

I'm a CAD admin as well!
Here's what I've been working on since 1996:
AutoCAD
Rhino
Cadkey + Rhino
Solid Edge + Rhino
SolidWorks + Rhino
SolidWorks + PDM Works + Rhino
SolidWorks
Rhino + 3DSMax + SolidWorks
Rhino
SolidWorks + Rhino
Tried Fusion
SolidWorks + 3DEXPERIENCE + Rhino
Soon OnShape + Rhino

[bnemec]

I'm a CAD admin as well!
Here's what I've been working on since 1996:
AutoCAD
Rhino
Cadkey + Rhino
Solid Edge + Rhino
SolidWorks + Rhino
SolidWorks + PDM Works + Rhino
SolidWorks
Rhino + 3DSMax + SolidWorks
Rhino
SolidWorks + Rhino
Tried Fusion
SolidWorks + 3DEXPERIENCE + Rhino
Soon OnShape + Rhino

Welcome, that's a good list of various CAD systems.

Curious, do you still use Solid Edge or what years were you active in that system?

[AlexLachance]

I'm a CAD admin as well!
Here's what I've been working on since 1996:
AutoCAD
Rhino
Cadkey + Rhino
Solid Edge + Rhino
SolidWorks + Rhino
SolidWorks + PDM Works + Rhino
SolidWorks
Rhino + 3DSMax + SolidWorks
Rhino
SolidWorks + Rhino
Tried Fusion
SolidWorks + 3DEXPERIENCE + Rhino
Soon OnShape + Rhino

Hey Mr Gibeault, what's the use of using Rhino to then move the part to another program to do more modifications..? Free forming tools?

[mgibeault]

Welcome, that's a good list of various CAD systems.

Curious, do you still use Solid Edge or what years were you active in that system?

Solid Edge was the first parametric CAD program I learned. It was around 1998 and I chose it because there was a free student edition.
Liked it very much but my next workplace was on SolidWorks.

[mgibeault]

Hey Mr Gibeault, what's the use of using Rhino to then move the part to another program to do more modifications..? Free forming tools?

There's always some place for a little bit of Rhino
But it's not used necessarily on the same projects. And I will often do some development in Rhino and start modeling in SW when the parts are somewhat defined and I can think of an assembly structure that makes sense. There's so much you can do with Rhino, even not CAD-related.

[bnemec]

There's always some place for a little bit of Rhino
But it's not used necessarily on the same projects. And I will often do some development in Rhino and start modeling in SW when the parts are somewhat defined and I can think of an assembly structure that makes sense. There's so much you can do with Rhino, even not CAD-related.

I find this interesting, we have not used Rhino, but I think we potentially use a similar workflow. We had a couple users that are fluent in NX that did a good job getting the organic shapes demanded for our molded foam parts. But as with many parts with flowing curves on the A side, they need to attach to something rather discrete on the B side. In our case the B side attaches to tube frames, pan, etc. So the A side was the focus in NX, then the dumb solid imported into Solid Edge (now we use SW) and we model up another body for the cutouts, do a Boolean subtract and done. If edits are needed there's no trouble bringing in the new dumb solid from NX and the Boolean op doesn't care its a new body. As a bonus to our surprise the relationships/mates between the foam and the frame sometimes survive, which is nice when there may be hundreds of where used of the foam. Only thing I can think of is the geometry IDs are based on the tool body and Boolean op and not dependent on the imported solid. Although we had shifted to adding a couple of surfaces in the part file for the universal mounting geometry that was sure not to fail on update. That fell apart now because we cannot hide surfaces in the upper-level assembly drawings in SW.

[AlexB]

Just had a new user change the state of an end item assembly and take 500 of its components and drawings with it... even better, his explorer crashed before it was complete making the process to find all the parts and reverse them even more fun.

3 hours later, it's fixed and my entire arm is tired of clicking my mouse. It was partially my fault for failing to un-check the check box that for some godforsaken reason is checked by default (the one to change state of child components with the parent). So I'm kicking myself but I think we're back to where we were and I've learned my lesson (again). There is now a proper user template in place that I'll use as my default going forward now.

I am a CAD Admin and it's been 0 days without incident

[bnemec]

Just had a new user change the state of an end item assembly and take 500 of its components and drawings with it... even better, his explorer crashed before it was complete making the process to find all the parts and reverse them even more fun.

3 hours later, it's fixed and my entire arm is tired of clicking my mouse. It was partially my fault for failing to un-check the check box that for some godforsaken reason is checked by default (the one to change state of child components with the parent). So I'm kicking myself but I think we're back to where we were and I've learned my lesson (again). There is now a proper user template in place that I'll use as my default going forward now.

I am a CAD Admin and it's been 0 days without incident

Yep, been there. That setting must be on the world's top ten list of bad defaults. I have a couple of AdminOnly transitions to fix these.

[RMcHugh]

Hi everybody,
I'm a cad admin for a small group of 8 engineers, a dozen contributors, and about 60 viewers.
No IT responsibilities, or permissions. That's a blessing and a curse.

We're also split between the US and our European parent company, slightly complicating our shared vault.
There are more users on their side.

I took over when our previous admin left, got training from our var, and been doing my best since.
I always had an interest in it and I'm surprised that it's harder than it seems it should be.

Thanks to Matt and the entire group here at CAD Forum.
I check in multiple times a day and mostly lurk.

I'll see you all around,

Ray

[AlexB]

Yep, been there. That setting must be on the world's top ten list of bad defaults. I have a couple of AdminOnly transitions to fix these.

Finally got around to editing our PDM Add-In to put in a check for this. I'm testing it in our test vault. I'm honestly contemplating putting in another message after yes is clicked to say "Are your really REALLY sure?!"

[ReeceB]

Introducing myself, hope to learn a bit from this forum and help out where possible. For a brief intro, I was more or less assigned as company admin for our design related systems. At the time the company did not use a PDM system and was relying on the good old fashioned manual handling within a network drive. I was tasked with first learning then setting up the PDM system along with training all staff and handling day to day admin and system improvements. We have 40 designers so a lot to manage but has been a rewarding experience.

[AlexB]

I was more or less assigned as company admin for our design related systems.

That's more or less how most admins become admins, welcome!

Setting up PDM can seem like a bit of a daunting task but laying out and planning a lot of things beforehand is key. I would advise to start simple and add complexity as needed. Good luck and don't be afraid to ask questions as you run into hurdles during implementation.

[ReeceB]

That's more or less how most admins become admins, welcome!

Setting up PDM can seem like a bit of a daunting task but laying out and planning a lot of things beforehand is key. I would advise to start simple and add complexity as needed. Good luck and don't be afraid to ask questions as you run into hurdles during implementation.

Thanks Alex. The company does have a very customised way of working so the workflows have evolved quite a lot along with the need for a lot of dispatch and VB additions, but the dust has settled and things have been working reasonably well apart from the usual challenges of seasonal software updates.