Assistance with the selection of an AutoDesk product.

[Wilbri]

Hi

 

I although I am aware that some of the content of the products to be mentioned are not specific to Vertical products, I am at a quandary as to where else I could place this topic.

Please feel free to move if considered necessary.

 

I am a semi- retired mechanical design engineer and work out of my home office.

My major client is a large corporate construction company who's primary business is related to civil and structural engineering.

They do however also operate a smaller mechanical and electrical division where I operate on a contract basis as the technical adviser in the mechanical section. Our primary work is related petrochem and oil refineries where I am responsible for producing design calcs, drawings, planning schedules and preparation of technical documents on a project by project basis.

 

Until recently I was using AutoCad 2007 to prepare my drawings which I prepared in 2D for fabrication purposes.

Unfortunately the PC crashed and needs to be replaced.

I have been assigned with the duty of specifying the technical requirements as well as the necessary software.

Now due to the limited nature of this type of business in South Africa, I have been requested to keep the costs to a minimum.

(90% of my work concerns, plant layout and the detailing of piping and equipment such as vessel and bulk storage tanks.

 

Now my dilemma, what drafting software shall I specify that would best be utilized for this type of work?

I have been having a look at AutoCad Mechanical, MEP, Plant 3D and Inventor which I am led to believe are all around the same price.

 

Look forward to receiving your reply.

[JNieman]

That sounds like what I just got out of doing. When I left that job, I was in the process of reviewing Cadworx, which was an independently developed and supported software package that adds on to plain AutoCAD. I found that combination to be just about the best possible scenario for laying out tanks, piping, platforms, stairs, misc structural elements, basic steel buildings, and all the normal industrial elements. Cadworx is pretty much geared toward exactly what you are doing (and what I did) and it seemed to be the best bet. Their support is pretty good, as well.

 

Hope that helps.

[Wilbri]

Thanks JNieman

 

Yes I am familiar with Cadworx which was demonstrated to me a few years ago. Good package but so also is the price. Quite a lot more expensive than AutoCad in this country where software is approximately 3.5 times more expensive in equivalent $US currency than it is in the USA.

The other area which I did not clarify was that I produce fabrication drawings for vessel and tank manufacture in 2D and this appears to occupied most of my time over the past few years. So AcadLT could suffice for now I suppose. But believe this to be short sighted in the long term

Edited August 11, 2011 by Wilbri
editing

[JNieman]

Thanks JNieman

 

Yes I am familiar with Cadworx which was demonstrated to me a few years ago. Good package but so also is the price. Quite a lot more expensive than AutoCad in this country where software is approximately 3.5 times more expensive in equivalent $US currency than it is in the USA.

The other area which I did not clarify was that I produce fabrication drawings for vessel and tank manufacture in 2D and this appears to occupied most of my time over the past few years. So AcadLT could suffice for now I suppose. But believe this to be short sighted in the long term

For what it's worth, Cadworx has a tank and pressure vessel design package in one of their software items. I didn't dabble with it at all because we didn't get into that.

 

Sounds like maybe plain Autocad is best. That is, if you want to do 3D. Otherwise, LT may be fine. I had some great libraries of equipment, tanks, and piping blocks set up with Autocad alone, that helped speed up the process.

[tzframpton]

AutoCAD MEP would be the one to get if you are doing mechanical designs. I'm not familiar with Plant 3D at all, but it would too be an option I would most certainly bet.

 

What types of systems do you design? Mechanical chillwater piping? Steam piping? HDPE or chemical piping? Grooved piping systems? All of the above, and then some.... ? AutoCAD MEP already has all of these piping systems plus their respective fittings catalog built in, all to ANSI standards. Once you get the hang of it, you can provide good and detailed information directly off the designs, instance sections/elevations, etc. Having said that, it does take time to get used to the learning curve and then learn how to customize things to your liking.

 

*EDIT* In fact, I can send you a PDF of some shop drawings and outputs showing off AutoCAD MEP's capabilities if you PM me your email.

[Jack_O'neill]

Wilbri, Check out Bricscad. It is an autocad clone, does 3d, lisp and vba. Looks and operates much the same as Autocad 2008. There are a few things Autocad does that it doesn't and there are a few things Bricscad does that Autocad doesn't. It can read and generate any dwg drawing you have and Autocad users will have no problems using the drawings you generate. A little of the terminology is different, for instance Autocad's Orbit is called "real time motion" in Bricscad, but there's not a lot of that. Toolbars, keyboard shortcuts and menus are easily edited in much the same way as you are accustomed to.

 

They have a 30 day trial period with the fully functional software with the exception of VBA. They have to pay a royalty on that so they don't issue it till you actually purchase the product. The Platinum version is on sale too in the $500 range.

[Wilbri]

Thanks StykFacE

 

Yes I have been having a look at a few demo's on the web, very impressive I agree, however can one use MEP to produce 2D plate component fabrication details as well for example, storage tank and vessel plate details?

Edited August 11, 2011 by Wilbri
Edited to identify the person I am replying to

[tzframpton]

Thanks

Yes I have been having a look at a few demo's on the web, very impressive I agree, however can one use MEP to produce 2D plate component fabrication details as well for example, storage tank and vessel plate details?

If you can do it in plain AutoCAD, then you can definitely do it in AutoCAD MEP. Like I said, it's not a magic program, so you'll have to learn it which isn't necessarily difficult but definitely time consuming at first to get things exactly how you want them.

[Wilbri]

Thanks JNieman

 

Yes I have used both Tank and Vessel programs whilst employed at a local oil refinary until a few years ago.

Again excellent but pricey.

[Wilbri]

Thanks for your rapid response StykFacE

 

Then that's the way I intend going.

Might spend some time learning it as I do not personally have funds necessary to attend a training course, so could be relying on this forum quite a lot once I am up and running.

[tzframpton]

No need for training, use this board, and this book!! ------> http://www.amazon.com/Aubin-Academy-Master-AutoCAD-2012/dp/1461141265/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313089905&sr=1-3

[ReMark]

Perhaps you can download the 30-day trial version or arrange to have a disk sent to you of MEP.

[Wilbri]

Thank you both.

Yes the book appears to be pretty comprehensive. (860 pages)

price in SA $84.74 Still well worth the money.

Good suggestion ReMark, I will attempt to obtain a trial copy from my local AutoDesk agent.

[BlackBox]

I will attempt to obtain a trial copy from my local AutoDesk agent.

 

Here, I'll save you the time: AutoCAD MEP Free Trial

[Wilbri]

Thanks RenderMan

 

Could you please provide me with the size of this file.

The reason being that my DSL system is restricted and downloads at approximately 46 KB/s, so I could be in for a long wait.

[BlackBox]

Thanks RenderMan

 

Could you please provide me with the size of this file.

The reason being that my DSL system is restricted and downloads at approximately 46 KB/s, so I could be in for a long wait.

 

Sorry, bud - not sure.

 

Unless you have access to a faster connection (a library, cafe with WiFi, etc) that you can save to external, I can only suggest that you start the download and let it run overnight.

 

Good luck!

[SLW210]

As far as AMEP compared to Plant 3D, will AMEP also do the buildings walkways and machinery?