grain Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 I'm researching into what's available to support a Steel Fabrication company in terms of CAD software. A small engineering company (12 employees) outsources for engineering design calculations but does need to produce drawings. Typical products include: Frame structures using I sections members for outbuildings, Bespoke Staircases, Balconies. So far I am looking into: StruCAD, Tekla, and Solidworks possibly with an Add-on, or Autodesk Inventor with Advanced Steel Add-on. Orthographic working drawings, cutting lists, fancy renders for the website gallery, Building up a component library are some of the envisaged appications of the software. Please help if you have any experience in this field. Ive heard that StuCAD are earliest to the marked and that Tekla are technologically more advanced and fool proof. Any comments will be gratefully received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 Some of the programs you mentioned are really more geared towards large design firms. Do you think, that after looking at the features that each package offers, that your company would make use of enough of those features to justify the cost. Bear in mind that some software packages carry an annual "maintenance" fee above and beyond the cost of the software itself. Can your company afford to pay this fee ad infinitum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdbdesign Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 http://www.nyacad.com/ Check SolidStructural Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grain Posted September 16, 2010 Author Share Posted September 16, 2010 Are you saying that Solidworks for example without any automated frame structure building add-ons is sufficient and that the time saving element that they bring can only be justified by much larger companies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grain Posted September 16, 2010 Author Share Posted September 16, 2010 Hi MDBdesign It looked very interesting but this is what they president said about their product this afternnon (Good for Strucad): Our software SolidStructural (http://www.nyacad.com/SolidStructural09.htm)is using American standard steel shapes only. In UK I believe the best solution for you is StruCAD, because it was designed in UK. Regards, Alex Borodulin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdbdesign Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 Sorry, I did not paying attention where you posting from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grain Posted September 16, 2010 Author Share Posted September 16, 2010 Thanks anyway. It was unusual to get the president of a software company to recommend a specific competitor. Thats why I posted his reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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