Engineering Reference Library
The Engineering Reference library is a nice design/modeling assistant for standard engineered components like shafts, cams, spur gears, bevel gears, worm gears, rack and pinion sets, sprockets, springs, pulleys, and structural shapes. Each type of component has the standard design options, plus engineering data such as bending diagram for shafts, velocity and force info for gears, and so on. When you are done with the design options, Solid Edge prompts you to save the new component with a name of your choosing, and places the part into an assembly.
One thing that strikes me right off the bat with this is the ISO standard popping up by default. Solid Edge should be able to figure out that this copy of their software was installed in the US, and we all know that the US doesn’t typically use the ISO drafting standard. This kind of (eurocentric) thing happens with other Made In The USA software as well, so it’s not an isolated problem.
I’m not a machine design sort, but this looks like a good start on a library of parts that aren’t trivial to draw. The parts that are in here include some that are typically difficult to make geometrically.
It has been several versions since I looked at the Engineering toolset in Edge. I stopped going forward for one main reason – no easy way to verify the standards being followed in creation of the geometry.
For example, bending diagrams for shaft design, does it include stress concentrations for fillets? Another example, use the Toolbox to create a spur gear, and then look at the profile of the gear. Does it match the AGMA standard exactly? Can I use it to program a CNC and guarantee the life of the tooth, with minimal backlash, equivalent to the standard?
The Engineering toolbox can quickly generate geometry that looks right, but by engineering standards is not entirely accurate. Improvements may have been made since I last looked at it, but I still recommend proceeding with caution any time a user looks to automated geometry creation tools in critical applications.