Editor’s Pick: Tolerance Analyzer Integrates with NX

Dear DE Reader:

I once spent many hours handcrafting a pumpkin curry soup that became a legendary meal. It tasted like spiced sneaker insoles. I had inadvertently used a pumpkin GMO-ed for jack-o’-lantern deployment, not ingestion. In-process taste testing would not have reduced wasted time and effort significantly or eliminated scrap, but it would have minimized humiliation. Today’s Editor’s Pick of the Week is all about a solution that should help you optimize parts and processes without driving you out of your gourd.

Dimensional Control Systems (DCS) is well-regarded for its tolerance analysis and quality management software as well as its services in industries like automotive and aerospace, electronics, medical devices and industrial machinery. In particular, its 3DCS Variation Analyst tolerance analysis software is widely deployed.

Dimensional Control Systems (DCS) has announced the availability of 3DCS Variation Analyst tolerance analysis software for the NX CAD/CAM/CAE solution from Siemens. Image courtesy of Dimensional Control Systems.

The 10-cent tour is that 3DCS Variation Analyst provides a toolset for simulating and analyzing a product’s assembly process and part tolerance stack-ups. You use the data it generates to optimize products and processes, which should help reduce headaches and the costs resulting from unpleasantries like nonconformance, scrap, rework and irked warranty holders. 3DCS is available in a CAD-neutral edition, but integration with major mechanical CAD platforms like CATIA, PTC Creo and SOLIDWORKS is one of the keys to its popularity.

Recently, DCS extended its line of integrations with the full production release of its 3DCS Variation Analyst software for Siemens’ NX CAD/CAM/CAE solution. Here are just some of the goodies it provides.

This integration lets you fire up 3DCS workbenches from within NX. That means you tie into many of the perks NX has to offer like high-quality visualizations.

The integration also means you get to use NX’s functionality like GD&T (geometric dimensioning and tolerancing) and PMI (product and manufacturing information) data to support your tolerance modeling processes. You also can tap into plant and measurement data. When the NX model is revised, you can grab them, update variation models and control your revisions using Siemens’ Teamcenter digital lifecycle management system.

3DCS Variation Analyst for NX has other neat features like three simulation methods for product assembly and part tolerance stack-ups and functionality to generate management and engineering reports as well as measurement plans automatically. You’ll find these covered in today’s Editor’s Pick of the Week write-up. Hit the links and take in the quick video or the on-demand webinar to get a taste of what’s in it for you.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, DE