CAD

Every year, our team divides our efforts in CAD among separate subassembly groups. These groups focus on different subassemblies that come together at the end to work as one system. Throughout BTR’s time designing and prototyping, these groups check in with each other regularly to discuss the flow of the mechanisms and to inform one another of any major changes.

The team faced difficulties with our CAD files after the retirement of GrabCAD Workbench. We decided to switch to the 3DExperience Platform and its 3DDrive application for file synchronization across various systems. However, as we are all new to the platform, we are still learning to use it effectively for consistent synchronization among team members.

We focused a lot on CAD this year, and combining that with learning how to use a collaborative space simultaneously proved to be challenging. The consistency in synchronizing files felt unreliable at times. We got around this issue by keeping the same number of contributing designers to our models, yet only a few systems could have any part or assembly open at a time. Oftentimes, designers would sit together working on their models periodically checking in with others to see who had certain assemblies open to prevent overwriting another designer’s work. While this does make the parts in the 3DDrive look as if one person had done them all, it still allows multiple designers to contribute to one design.

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