Surfaceink from Concept to Production, NX Delivers
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Consumer products and retail SurfaceInk From concept to production, NX delivers Product NX From shape creation to Business challenges manufacturing geometry, Develop ergonomic grip SurfaceInk found NX to be accessory for Zodiac game “the perfect product consoles lifecycle solution” for every Have prototype ready for stage in the development trade show just two months away of a video game accessory SurfaceInk wanted to create the Keys to success first after-market accessory for Perform entire digital develop- Tapwave’s Zodiac game controller. ment process within NX The firm had to work fast to have software the device ready for a major Import game console data tradeshow. (created in Pro/E) as reference geometry Mechanical engineering for Silicon Valley Check for interferences and SurfaceInk Corp., founded analyze NX model for in 1999, is a mechanical engineer- manufacturability ing and design consulting firm. Its particularly after hours of playing Doom II Send NX files to manufacturer engineers perform high-end mechanical or Stuntcar Extreme. SurfaceInk decided to engineering for the Silicon Valley’s leading remedy that by creating an after-market Results industrial design groups, computer compa- accessory called the CommandPlay. The nies and product manufacturers. Clients Design process completed in idea behind the CommandPlay was that it include palmOne, Tapwave, AlphaSmart only two weeks – 50 percent would be something you could slip the and Sun Microsystems. SurfaceInk was faster than other digital prod- Zodiac into, creating a larger controller instrumental in the design of products uct lifecycle management with a more practical grip. The develop- such as palmOne’s i705. The firm also (PLM) tools ment of CommandPlay had to be done designs accessories for existing products, quickly because SurfaceInk wanted to Large shape changes accom- including Tapwave’s Zodiac and Zodiac 2 debut the product at an upcoming trade- modated in one day with multimedia handheld. show just two months away. pinpoint accuracy Zodiac handhelds are small enough to fit Start to finish in NX in a shirt pocket, which is great for porta- From the creation of the device’s external bility. But their small size makes them diffi- shape to the delivery of production-ready cult for some people to hold comfortably, geometry, SurfaceInk did all of the www.siemens.com/nx Results (continued) Accurate NX data created a prototype that fit the Zodiac perfectly The “must have” accessory debuted on time at E3 development work for the CommandPlay in you can choose the best way of modeling NX™. After taking some initial measure- for any given project.” ments from an actual Zodiac handheld, Jeremy Yaekel, a SurfaceInk co-founder After modeling the initial surfaces, the and principal, and his team began sculpt- team imported the geometry of the ing the CommandPlay’s external contours Zodiac, supplied by Tapwave. This geome- using NX industrial design and styling solu- try had been created in Pro/Engineer; it tions. This is SurfaceInk’s surface-creation was imported in STEP format. “NX imports tool of choice because it gives the com- geometry from other systems with com- pany the flexibility of working with param- plete accuracy,” says Yaekel. “Not all digital eterized and nonparameterized surfaces. “If product development solutions do that. Tapwave had a family of Zodiacs, we would Because NX supports both third-order and have used more parametric modeling,” fifth-order surfaces, it doesn’t have to explains Yaekel. “But for this project, we approximate surfaces as some systems do. worked mostly nonparametrically. That’s a The Pro/E data we imported was highly great feature of NX industrial design solu- accurate and we were able to use it as ref- tions. Because of NX modeling flexibility, erence geometry.” With both models “ NX is a phenomenal package for surfacing. I can’t imagine a better program that’s also integrated with the rest of the development process.” Jeremy Yaekel Principal SurfaceInk Solutions/Services visible onscreen, SurfaceInk engineers SurfaceInk had ready-to-manufacture NX were able to spot a few areas of interfer- products took just two weeks. Then the www.siemens.com/nx ence. They quickly adjusted these. “NX is a company went through two more design phenomenal package for surfacing,” says iterations when the first two prototypes Yaekel. “I can’t imagine a better program showed that the hand grip needed to be Customer’s primary business that’s also integrated with the rest of the deeper and longer. Yaekel points out, “The SurfaceInk Corporation, a prod- development process. It’s really the only flexibility of the parametric and nonpara- uct design consulting firm that program on the market that capably han- metric modeling capabilities of NX helped specializes in integrating dles each step of the process, from surface us make these significant changes rapidly.” mechanical design with emerg- creation to manufacturing data.” ing industrial design. For SurfaceInk, the beauty of using NX on www.surfaceink.com Fast turnaround after changes this project was the fact that the company Creating the external surfaces of the was able to do all its design and engineer- Customer location CommandPlay was “the easy part,” accord- ing work within a single system. “We did ing to Yaekel. Next came the challenging everything in NX, from surface creation Saratoga, California mechanical engineering tasks – through mechanical design and making it United States SurfaceInk’s specialty – such as figuring completely manufacturable,” says Yaekel. out how the rubber overmold would fit “We analyzed the geometry for manufac- “NX is the perfect digital prod- onto the plastic portion of the device. “In turability and shipped the NX data to the uct lifecycle solution. You NX you have excellent control and state- manufacturer who then used that data to can go from surface creation of-the-art analysis tools to determine if create their machine paths. NX is an awe- all the way through to manu- your surfaces are manufacturable,” Yaekel some product for complete digital product facturing geometry without notes. Getting to the point where development.” leaving NX.” Jeremy Yaekel Principal SurfaceInk “ The flexibility of he...modelingt capabilities of NX helped us make these significant changes rapidly.” Jeremy Yaekel Principal SurfaceInk 844-GEO-SUPT [email protected] geoplm.com Siemens PLM Software Americas +1 314 264 8499 © 2018 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. Siemens, the Siemens logo and SIMATIC IT are registered trademarks of Siemens AG. Camstar, D-Cubed, Femap, Fibersim, Geolus, I-deas, JT, NX, Parasolid, Solid Edge, Syncrofit, Teamcenter and Europe +44 (0) 1276 413200 Tecnomatix are trademarks or registered trademarks of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. or its subsidiaries in Asia-Pacific +852 2230 3308 the United States and in other countries. All other trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks belong to their respective holders. www.siemens.com/plm 4722-A5 6/18 B.