New at Piping Design Central: 01 July 2003 - CAD

CAD-Related
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Drawing on Experience
Mechanical Engineering Magazine

<<The boundary between engineering and the preparation of CAD drawings and
solid models is fenced with serious barriers to communication. The engineer is caught in the middle between a manager- who probably doesn't have detailed knowledge of the computer-aided design process but is expected to judge the product-and the CAD practitioner-whose specialty is sufficiently arcane that the engineer is pressed to leave details to that expert's judgment. The engineer as a professional and the quality of the job both suffer. This mismatch can be treated only by frequent and in-depth conversations among the three parties: the engineer, the CAD jockey, and the manager or client.>>

Catching Them Younger
Mechanical Engineering Magazine

<<If college-bound students don't have a way to learn about engineering
before getting to college, they are not likely to choose engineering as a major, and a future engineer could be lost. To rectify that, many secondary schools are finding the money to implement engineering classes, which include CAD design instruction. By learning CAD early, students are better prepared for college engineering courses, high school instructors say. But there's an additional bonus, say proponents of the programs: Learning to design on a CAD system teaches students to think creatively, to ask questions, and to find answers to their own questions. There's no room for rote memorization in a high school engineering class.>>

CAD Jockey or Engineer?
Mechanical Engineering Magazine

<<The CAD operator-versus-mechanical-engineer question is one the
engineering community has entertained only during the past few years as it becomes possible for CAD operators to do more and more design work because of advances in software technology, Weisberg said. At heart, the question addresses the quality of the engineering design. Will a CAD operator have enough understanding of the engineering principles that power CAD design to make optimal use of the software? >> Received on Tue Jul 01 21:22:00 2003