My background in design office management in the aerospace industry gave me a
great insight into the power and flexibility of
modern 3D CAD
software.
I have been able to apply this experience to steam engine technology in a way
that would normally be prohibitively expensive.
I have a mobile workstation (a powerful laptop computer with exceptional graphics optimised for high-end engineering applications) running SolidWorks, the leading mainstream CAD package. This provides unparalleled flexibility and speed of design. Complete assemblies can be developed with confidence, as components can be 'fitted together' in the software to ensure errors identified before metal is cut! Furthermore, designs can be optimised and alternative concepts investigated in a way that would be desperately time consuming using traditional techniques.
Production of engineering drawings from the solid model is a relatively quick process.
Although manufacturing from engineering drawings is still a very powerful and widespread use of engineering data, Bickton Narrow Gauge is able to use 3D CAD data directly for CNC milling by use of CAM software.
SolidCAM is a powerful software tool that runs within SolidWorks to generate tool-path coding directly from the 3D geometry. The total integration within the CAD package proved the most persuasive factor in choosing this software. The tool-path code is then passed directly to my CNC milling machine and the component is machined.
This offers the following advantages:
 | improved accuracy - the CNC machine automatically works to .01 of a millimetre. |
| Freeing my time while the machine is working. |
| complex curves and shapes which would not be possible using manual control can be machined readily with CNC. |
