| Price & Myers 3D Engineering specialises in designing ready to build, complex structures. In order to ensure that there is no room for error, the team increasingly integrates SolidWorks with CNC and SLA machines. “These days, once we’ve created accurate geometries in SolidWorks, there is less and less need for any human interpretation of that data, which significantly reduces the potential for error,” explains Tim Lucas, founding partner.
Lucas and his team successfully used this method during the design and build of a new arts café in the Birmingham Bullring. “We had designed eight pairs of supporting ribs for the café, and modelled each of these as a true elevation in SolidWorks,” says Lucas. “This information was passed to the fabricators, for them to add the bolts and splice details, and from there to the CNC machine to be made. When it came to the day of installation each rib was a perfect fit.”
The ability to pass accurate data directly to CNC or rapid prototyping machines is a real bonus when creating complex structures. “It’s often like building a giant 3D jigsaw puzzle,” says Lucas. “But if we can retain the integrity of the data we create in SolidWorks throughout the design and manufacturing process, we can be confident it will fit together.” |
