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Digital Viewer/Router on the floor?

make_machine

Plastic
Joined
Jun 17, 2019
Has anyone here tried putting a 3D viewer on the shop floor? I'm imagining a tablet with some sort of 3D viewer can be helpful, especially if we also have the drawings there and other notes that we need in our router. We were talking about it as something that might be able to help. I'd love to know if anyone has looked at something like that for their shop. Good idea? Bad?
 
Here's a couple links to some of the better 3D viewers I've come across. Depending on what you're making, they can be helpful. The real question to ask yourself is how much time is wasted not having something like this currently. Are your operators having a difficult time visualizing what they're trying to produce, and it's resulting in scrap or rework? If that's the case I think it's a great idea. If it's just a luxury item, that's a personal call.

Autodesk Viewer | Free Online File Viewer

Download eDrawings a free viewing and publishing application
 
Thanks for sharing. Are you using any of these? My thought too is that if I hire more people to help with quoting, they at least can use the 3D viewers to enter things like dimensions into our spreadsheets.

The other thing that sometimes we talk about in the shop is we catch details upfront when quoting (like key tolerances), then that gets missed down the line. We will sometimes jot it down in the drawing we are using, but it's easy to miss or ignore the "scratches" on the drawing :)
 
Thanks for sharing. Are you using any of these? My thought too is that if I hire more people to help with quoting, they at least can use the 3D viewers to enter things like dimensions into our spreadsheets.

The other thing that sometimes we talk about in the shop is we catch details upfront when quoting (like key tolerances), then that gets missed down the line. We will sometimes jot it down in the drawing we are using, but it's easy to miss or ignore the "scratches" on the drawing :)

I know we're crossing threads here since I noticed you're talking about quoting in another one, but I wouldn't recommend hiring more people for quoting if they're primarily needed to enter dimensions/data into spreadsheets. There's good software out there that can integrate with the 3D viewers and extract all of the dimensions. I think you'd find that the hourly rates you're paying each data entry person on a yearly basis would be greater than the cost of software. I'm a firm believer that if I can free my people up from doing mindless data entry, I'm going to have a happier, more productive shop, with almost zero clerical errors.

In regards to the 3D viewers, we aren't currently using any of these. I was helping a friend who runs a custom exhibit manufacturer find something that would work for them and we settled on AutoDesk Viewer. They love it and it's working out well, but that's not to say that Javelin wouldn't have worked all the same
 
many if not most shops have a computer near EACH cnc for doing many things not the least is opening up work instructions and looking at drawings
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and usually its at least a 20" screen although trend is 27" or bigger screens. obviously the bigger the screen the more easy it is to view a full size drawing. 3D cad model obviously it difficult to explain gd&t tolerances. cad model might be 10.0000" but gd&t says tolerance size and distance location from datums
 
I'm confused as to what the op is looking for.
He says a tablet so just a solid model you can rotate or spin and look at?
That seems rather basic.
What is the need and why?
Guessing the op is not talking 3D immersion fancy headsets but unknown
Bob
 
say drawing missing a dimension at certain spot. it nice to pick edges and pull out a dimension but that wont say what tolerance is. and what feature is located where from. basically need gd&t tolerances
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and i have seen cad model with .010" edge radius or fillets and if not careful its easy to pick wrong edge and be .010" off. and using CAD metadata is even worse at times cause many dont completely fill out the metadata. obviously the smaller the viewing screen the more easy it is to pick the wrong edges that are too small to easily see
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wouldnt surprise me if 40" high def 4K computer screens are common soon in shops to replace paper drawings printed out
 








 
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