Editor’s Pick: CAD-to-Part Inspection Solution Updated

Instead of just weight scales at its check-in counters, what Weight Watchers needs is a full-body scanner similar to the TSA’s scanners at the airport. Only instead of simply showing your lumps and recording your weight, the WW system would have real-time 3D inspection and GD&T (Girth Dimension & Torso-deviation) software to analyze your geometry, determine its suitable range of variation, and report on what the proper dimensions of your build should be.

Where you might want to start for some good ideas on how such software would function is by learning about the Build!IT CAD-to-part inspection system from BuildIT Software & Solutions. It seems to be a robust and adaptable toolset for anyone in manufacturing making measurements, doing quality control, and otherwise verifying the dimensions of manufactured parts and assemblies. It works with scanners, CMMs, and digitizers from pretty much all the major hardware outfits like Creaform and Romer, and it imports/exports common CAD formats like CATIA, Creo, Inventor, and NX. Because it lets you digitally collect, analyze, and share inspection data, Build!IT eliminates the need for spreadsheet calculations and manual gauges.

The whole idea of Build!IT seems to be to make workflows easy and efficient. That and to help you make quick, informed decisions so that out-of-tolerance components don’t move through assembly and cost you big bucks.

One way it makes workflows easy and efficient is through customization. Rather than forcing you to adapt your process to some software jock’s way of doing things, Build!IT 3.2.5 offers what appears to be a fully customizable user interface. For example, you can set keyboard shortcuts, refashion toolbars, and adapt the menu bar to reflect your workflow prerogatives. You can also set it to reproduce your repetitive processes. To help locate and correct problems early in your process, it provides real-time visual feedback, color-coded reports, and the ability to embed inspection data into your 3D models. It even has analysis tools for feature fitting to point clouds.

Version 3.2.5 has been enhanced with a hole axis inspection command, CATIA V5 FTA GD&T (geometric dimensioning & tolerancing) import capabilities, and a new Inspect Targets with Scanner feature that lets you trigger measurements by simply scanning over targets. In total, this version has more than 250 enhancements, according to the company.

You can learn more about Build!IT 3.2.5 from today’s Pick of the Week write-up. Make sure to hit the link to the video overview of what’s new. After that, your best bet is to hit the link to the video library. There’s a ton of videos to watch. Then you can take on the WW challenge.

Thanks, Pal. — Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering

Read today’s pick of the week write-up.

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