Computer Aided Engineering (CAE)

Many systems exist...

Solidworks

Inventor

Catia

ProE

To name a few.

No idea about government help in England... But I'm sure a few freelance designers/Engineers would be happy to be contracted to do this for you. I would be happy to model and analyze your components, for a fee.

Regards,

-R

What you want to do is done every day.

It costs money, and it takes time to learn the software. So, as long as you are willing to pay for it and learn how to use it, the sources that RVZ717 has provided will get you plenty of help.

It will not be free.

You may want to contract with a design engineering firm for the first go. That, too, will cost money.

CAELinux.

i have actually designed switchgear components starting from simple toggle switches to sophisticated MCCBs and ACBs. i used Solidworks 2005 for the 3D design (individual parts and assemblies) and MSC VisualNastran 4D for dynamic simulations .. yes, with actual forces, proper densities for each material, correct spring characteristics, etc. The software was provided by my clients, who aslo compensated me quite handsomely for my work.

i learnt the software fairly quickly, the tutorials are really well structured. But what made me valuable for my clients was the knowledge and experience i earned over 40 years in the switchgear industry.

Hi,

If you want to find a single software solution for modeling and analyzing even manufacturing, you should choose one of the PLM softwares which are UGS NX, CATIA or ProE. These softwares have different integrated environments and tools for CAD/CAE and CAM.

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My apologies for this I was simply offering a solution in response to the OPs question. We could support you if required

Dear All, Many thanks for your replies.

After posting this thread, I came across Solidworks and got an idea of what was possible.

I don't want to learn the software, I just my switch designed and ready to present to a manufacturer!

I know CR4 is not an employment forum (although in these times I think anywhere we can find work is doing a great public service) but what would the costs be for helping me do this? Would it be by the hour or by the job?

wide question I know but any ball park leads would be appreciated.

I am in Surrey, UK.

Try your local technical college, university or even senior school. The software mentioned here is expensive, our Inventor is £6000/licence for the basic version which won't do all you want but the full educational version is only £100. The colleges etc. love to have real life engineering examples to work with & often have schemes in place to collaborate with local industry. You will also be helping with the education of young engineers.

Yes I had thought of that too -will pursue. Many thanks.

Nigh-

Not all of the software mentioned here is expensive. CAELinux is Open Source, sophisticated, and costs on the order of $0.00 per seat...

As far as getting a ball park estimate, I would be happy to provide you with some rough figures, but am unable to unless I can see what it is that needs modeled / analyzed.

Nigh,

If you want send me your basic drawing (2D) with details and i can try to draw it in 3D by using SoildWorks for free. And send you back the drawing and you can open it by eDrawings (solidworks viewer) which can be downloaded and installed free from the net.

That does him no good on the analysis, which if I'm understanding things correctly is the real need in this situation. A proper FEA analysis under static and dynamic conditions takes a bit more work, and usually cannot be had for free. He will also need all the model information/files with proper materials in order to have the analysis accomplished.