OT Solid Edge

[Lloyd]

Good evening all,

 

We are considering Solid Edge from UGS as a compliment to Mastercam and I was wondering if any of you are users...of Solid Edge? How do you like it? What do you hate? How is their support. I realize not as good as this forum, but all things considered how do they rate?

 

We will be getting a demo version to try it out, but I'm kind of busy and don't need to waste my time on junk.

 

Thanks for you input.

[jimspac]

I tried a demo version a few years ago while working on my degree. It was V7 and I was taking a course in ProE at the time. It is parametric which is powerful for revisions and significantly less intimidating than Unigraphics itself.It should still have UG import capabilty. I had worked through a couple of tutorials and thought it to be a strong tool. You do need to spend some time with it to give it a fair chance. Bear in mind it is in the same midrange class as Solidworks and Inventor.

[Lloyd]

Apparently its up to V18 now. And from the guys at the demo seminar today who were Inventor users Solid Edge seems to be quite a bit ahead. Haven't personally worked in either one yet so just have to take their word for it.

[Hardmill]

Check here

 

Bestguest uses solidedge perhaps he can help you out.

 

 

PEACE

[T_MALENA]

Lloyd, Solid Edge is very similar to Solid Works. I've been using Solid Edge since V7 Its a very good package. Support after the purchase is what you need to look at. Does your reseller offer it? Do you need to be on maint? I think they are 15-20% of the purchase price per year. Our Solid Edge reseller wont support us much without the maint. so keep that in mind! I wish they were more like our Mastercam reseller - Fastech. They support us if were on maint or not!!!

But to sum this all up I am very pleased with Solid Edge. If you're using Mcam X you should catch on quickly to Solid Edge.

 

HTH

 

Tim

[toolall1]

the designe guys use it here and seem to like it.

from what i can see it looks like a powerful tool.

[T_MALENA]

You may want to spend a day or so at the resellers office or yours & put them through your daily duties, like modeling & importing to macm, 2d drawings, importing your existing drawings etc.

[bestguest]

Lloyd,

I have used Solid Edge on and off since ver 4.0 when Intergraph spun it off to UG.That being said I am also proficent in SolidWorks and Pro E so I think that I can provide some insight.Where I work currently we design and build complex stamping dies.Solid Edge has been just great for this.Everything we do here is machined directly off of solids in Mastercam.If I had to list pros and cons they would be as follows.

 

Pro:

1.Ease of use and learning curve

2.Draft enviroment smokes SolidWorks

3.Data management and large assembly performance is good.

4.Parametric Surfacing including "Blue Surf".This just rocks.I can not tell you how awesome this technology is once you come to understand it.

 

Con:

1.No marketshare.SolidEdge does a terrible job of marketing.It will be tough to find designers that have used SolidEdge.Most people walking thru the door will have used SolidWorks.

2.Assembly enviroment is still somewhat cumbersome to use but getting better.

 

Whatever you do make sure that you see your parts modeled in a demo.

 

If you want call me at the office and I could tell you a bunch more.My # is 262-334-4626.

 

Later

[Joel Walker]

I've used them all, Inventor, Solidedge, And Solidworks, they are all capable programs, but I liked using Solidworks the best. The gui is the nicest, and I hardley got any crashes. plus their is lots of good online training for it.

[Lloyd]

Thanks all for your input. This forum is a terrific resource.

 

We will be trying out the demo here in our shop so I should be able to get a good feel for it with "real world" projects.

 

Our Mcam reseller will be our SE reseller as well and the support they have been to us in Mcam has been great (Karl Oram, Caledonian CADCAM) so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

SE also says they have a toll free number to call for tech support. Only during office hours though, I work afternoons so that might be a problem at midnight.

 

I'm looking forward to kicking the tires. Should be fun. Thanks again to all of you who have contributed to this decision process. Hope you all have a great weekend.

[Guest]

Lloyd, if you have any sway in the decision to look at different packages, you should really have a look at Solidworks.

 

Cost and ability and ease of use are big feathers in their caps.

 

Good Luck

[Lloyd]

John, what specifically did you have in mind? What are some of the things SE would be more cumbersome at doing compared to SW?

 

Costs as quoted so far seem about equal or slightly cheaper for SE, of course we haven't seen anything very specific in writing so that could all change.

[Guest]

I don't want to turn this into a SE bashing thread, I have dealt with UGS, I will not again ever.

 

As you have seen with the release of X, software is only part of the package, support is very, very imporatant.

 

quote:

---

of course we haven't seen anything very specific in writing so that could all change.

---

It likely will. Business practices you know.

 

UGS sells SE because thay have to not because they want to, NX does not fit the small market because of cost. THAT is the only reason they even sell it, mention NX and watch how fast the sales pitch changes.

 

They sold us 8 seats seats of NX, at a cost, you don't want to know. After it was decided that we needed to really look at something else, then came the SE pitch. Too late, their practices had already doomed their footprint in our company.

 

Good Luck in your companies decision.

[Lloyd]

Thanks for the warning. I'm wondering how much of that has to do with the local reseller?

 

I'll try and make sure to call their tech support line and test that out along with the program.