A year or two ago I got an email invitation to attend a meeting of mechanical engineers sponsored by Machine Design Magazine. I guess their idea was to bring together a group of engineers to discuss the relevancy of their magazine and see where they could be more effective in reaching engineers. During the discussion, one of the engineers mentioned that his company was still working in a 2d CAD environment and they were hesitant to move to a 3d CAD package. I was more than a bit shocked. Cleveland Vibrator Company started evaluating and using 3d CAD packages back in 1998 or there about. I can’t imagine working with a 2d package after working with 3d solid models.

Our first step into the world of 3d solid modeling was with Autodesk’s Mechanical Desktop. After a couple of years of working with Mechanical Desktop we looked at changing over to Inventor, Solidworks or Solid Edge. At the time, our engineering team felt that Solid Edge had a better sheet metal package, which better supported our Fabricated Equipment product line, so we decided to go with them for our 3d solid modeling software. Since that decision, we’ve continued with the Solid Edge product and have also added one seat of their Finite Element Analysis – Simulation which enables us to do stress analysis on our designs. Given that Cleveland Vibrator has been in business since 1923, there’s quite a lot of legacy data, some of which is old 2d cad drawings, others in the form of hard copy paper drawings.

Given limited manpower and a large and diverse product line, it’s taken some time to get most of our products regenerated as a 3d solid model. There are still the occasional items that come up that are not regularly manufactured but are still supported, where we find that the only drawing we have on file was hand done back in 1965. Those get upgraded to a solid model, from which we generate the 2d drawing required for manufacturing.

If we look at our line of pneumatic vibrators which includes piston vibrators, ball or turbine vibrators, probably 99% of these products now have 3d solid models. Piston vibrators such as the 1200 VMS or the air cushioned version, the 1200 VMSAC, have been modeled. We use the solid model to generate the 2d drawings necessary to document and manufacture these units. Additionally, on the Fabricated Equipment side of the house, we import these solid models into the assembly model for each piece of equipment that uses the vibrator. This is very helpful when designing our air powered vibratory screeners (SF-A) or feeders (CF-A) line. The 3d model allows us to see the center of gravity of the unit as well as possible interferences between components. Stuff you just can’t do with a 2d old school Cad drawing.

With our line of turbine vibrators, these units were designed from the start in the 3d solid model environment. So no need to re-create paper drawings, they were created as a 3d assembly. Our first turbines, CVT-30 – CVT-80, utilize the body castings of our line of ball vibrators, at that time we didn’t have models of the body castings for the VBB-30 or the VBB-50, or any of that family. So we had to generate those body models and then build the interior components around the castings. The solid models allowed us to accurately determine the weight of the individual components and the fit between those parts. Using information from the model we were able to calculate the eccentricity of the impeller, critical in accurately determining the force output of the unit at a given operational speed.

As we move ahead into 2015 we are increasingly dependent on our 3d models to document our core “standard” products and generate the 3d model for larger one of a kind pieces of vibratory equipment. We recently shipped a vibratory flat deck table (FA) which incorporated a pneumatically powered hold down system (see it in action here!). For this unit I imported 3d models of our rotary electric vibrators, pneumatic cylinders and linear slides supplied by their respective manufacturers as well as models for components that we’ve generated in-house and use on a regular basis. The ability to model the unit’s structural components and then add in accurate models of the rotary electric vibrators and other sub-assemblies allows us to determine total vibrating weight of the unit plus check for interference between the many components. The ability to rotate a model and zoom into the underside of the unit and make sure the RE 10-2 doesn’t hit the linear slide over its range of motion is critical to a successful design and you just can’t do that with a 2d drawing or pencil sketch.

So I get it and really appreciate it when our vendors are able to supply us with 3d models of their components. For some time now, I’ve been advocating that Cleveland Vibrator needs to make available to our customers our 3d models. Personally I tend to gravitate to a vendor that is easy to work with and gives me the models I need for my designs with the least amount of hassle. Good customer support, good business in today’s 3d engineering environment. I think we’re working towards that end. Down the road, I’d envision customers registering on the website and then being able to access a range of 3d models supporting our product lines. But we not there yet, right now if someone needs the model of a 1350 VMS, RE 45-6 or maybe a CVT-P-1, they have to work the request through our sales team. Not perfect, but certainly a workable solution.

If you’re working on a project and it would be helpful to have a solid model of one Cleveland Vibrators many products, please request this through our sales team. We’re ready to supply that .iges or .stp file of our 1” SA-EP, RE 18-6 or maybe it’s the 3” PMA that is required, let us know, we can make it happen. If we don’t currently have a model for a standard product, we’ll make it a priority to generate one. However, if you’re thinking about requesting a quote for a vibratory hopper feeder, RFM-E, or maybe a vibratory grid table (GT), built to your particular specifications and you want a 3d solid model so you can see what it would look like before placing an order, sorry that’s not going to happen. Work the sales process, place an order and we will generate the 3d model required to manufacture that product. Once that’s done and the confidentiality agreement has been signed, we’ll share the model with you. Equipment is too unique, customer specific and labor intensive to have every possible configuration available as a 3d model.

If you’re working in the 3d world and need a vibrator to shake things up, let us know, we can help with the 3d solid model and the real world product.