Requirements

The system requirements for using IronCAD Mechanical are the same as for IronCAD.

Due to the simplicity of IronCAD Mechanical, this page is empty because it does not need any other requirements.

Just download the latest version of IronCAD Mechanical and install it, that’s all and it’s that simple.

Installation

The following steps will help you initialize IC Mechanical for IronCAD. If you are not familiar with IronCAD at all, we suggest that you learn more by following this excellent beginner’s documentation.

1. First of all, your copy of IronCAD must be correctly installed on your system.
2. Run the IronCAD Mechanical Program Setup
3. Follow the instructions on the screen
4. All files, Catalogs and Templates will be decompressed and copied to your system.
5. Once the installation process is complete, you will be able to use IC Mechanical within IronCAD immediately.

Configuration

Global Settings

In this dialog you can set the directory for Data and User files.

Note that some of these parameters are explained in details in other sections of this documentation.

In order to avoid this behavior you can do one of these operations:

• Disable the behavior in the IPROSettings: This is a general setting, and the hole will not be elaborated when you will move a screw; see Create Hole Locked to Fastener
• Keep pressed the Shift key during the TriBall translation.
• Create a configuration. In a configuration the holes created by IPROFasteners are not moved. (If you want to have a configuration where the the automatic update of the holes is active start the name of the configuration with + or _ chars).

IronCAD Setting Managements

In this tab you can manager the IronCAD settings.

Migrate IronCAD Setting

In this tab you can migrate the IronCAD settings.

IronCAD Catalogs

Here you can organize the loading of catalogs.

Utils

Here you set file saving, DXF export and file association.

Parametric Parts

The Parametric Parts of IronCAD Mechanical have been developed taking into consideration the needs of mechanical engineers. In other words, all the settings, and commands have been studied with care, and all of the components have an internal intelligence that allows the user to become faster and more productive.

For example, if a nut were to be placed on a screw, it will automatically inherit the dimension value; you can resize the screw without user interference.

For a detailed explanation see Fasteners and Fasteners Assembly

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Also, if you place an Oring or Seeger on a shaft, the component can automatically create the shaft groove using the correct built-in parameters.

Typical Dialog

When the user drags and drops an icon related to parametric part of ICMechanical, a dialog box will be showed. All the dialogs are organized in the same way. Starting from the top of the dialog, it’s possible to find a tab useful to select the name. Below these tabs, there are several icons that could be used to select the kind of component. All the controls under these icons are used to select the correct normative and the dimensions of the components.

These are the descriptions of all the controls.

Top of the dialog

There are the buttons useful to control the placement of the component and a combo box used to select the Standard Rule.

1. Clicking this combo box the user can select the active standard rule.
2. This button is used to switch the state of TriBall. Usually, when a fastener is placed on the scene, the TriBall is switched on. In this way the user can immediately move the component in the right place. Clicking the button, the state of TriBall is toggled between on and off. The check button at the top on the right of the button controls the state of TriBall after the confirm of placement. If the button is checked and TriBall is active, TriBall will stay active, otherwise TriBall is disabled.
3. This button updates the component and it confirms the placement inside the scene.
4. This button updates the component and it closes the dialog box. When the dialog is closed, the state of TriBall is controlled by the buttons described before.
5. This button closes the dialog box and it terminates the command. If you haven’t confirmed the placement before, the current component will be deleted.
6. This button displays a dialog box containing information about the current tool.

Settings

The items included in this box enable you to save the current setting of the component. This enables you to recall them quickly in future sessions. The buttons included in this section enable you to save, remove or apply any saved setting.

Components

This section is composed by several tabs. These tabs enable you to select the type of component. Every tab contains a family of components. On the left side of this section there is a drop down button that is used to select the type of the component. Moving the cursor over the icons of the components, it’s displayed a tooltip which describes the component. As soon as a new component is selected, all the items in the dialog box will be updated in order to display the available standards and dimensions.

Parameters

The central section of the dialog box contains the options useful to select the standard and the dimensions of the component. These parameters are: Standard Name, Component Type, Length and Material.

Standard Name Using this dialog box, the user can select the correct rule. When the user changes the rule, a label shows a full description about the component. Usually this description is placed at the bottom of the dialog box.

Type This combo box contains all the values related to the selected rule. When the user drags a component over another one (for example, if the user drags a nut over a screw), a check control named Auto will be shown. Using this toggle control, it’s possible that the nut inherits the screw dimensions.

Length This field is used to set the length for the components that use this field. This combo box contains the available lengths defined for this rule. When the length is free, (as in the Steel case) a text box will be showed instead of the combo box.

Thickness This field is used to set the thickness for the components that use this field. This combo box contains the available thickness defined for this rule.

Material Using this combo box, the user could select the code of the material related to the component.

BOM Information

The bottom section of the dialog contains the items useful to set the information related to the component. The section is divided in two parts: BOM Information and Custom Information.

Customizing the IPRO_BOM.ini it’s possible to create custom information automatically.

Status bar

The status bar reports the description of the selected standard rule. If you click on description Library Data Manager starts to modify the description and the rules to create the bill of materials. Close to it, on the right, there is a button that enable you to edit the data file, launching the Library Data Manager…

Library Data Manager

Is an application to control the values of the ICMech standard components (Fasteners, Steels, etc…) within a easy tool window. The dialog is launch from Windows menu or by clicking on the StatusBar of the standard component.

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The main window is made up of two sections:

Show Normative Data

In the Show Normative Data, you can edit the data file related to the selected component, (editing an existing one, or insert a new, or delete it).

In the same window, there is also the string dedicated to the configuration of the Bill of Materials (BOM Settings), where it is possible to modify the construction rule of the PartNumber, PartName, Description and CustomDataFile of the component. For a detailed explanation on how to configure the BOM, you can look here Configure BOM

Show Geometry Data

In the Show Geometry Data section, it is possible to modify the geometric data file relating to the single selected component (modifying an existing one or inserting a new one or deleting it).

Configure IPRO_BOM.ini

Inside any Standard rule folder, there is an ASCII file named IPRO_BOM.ini

This file is used to manage the «automatic» generation of PartNumber, Description and Custom data.

The structure of the IPRO_BOM.ini file is very simple:

## ====================================================================================
## * IronPROLibrary Data Manager - *** Fronema Srl *** - www.ironcad.it
## ====================================================================================
#
# These TAGS will be replaced by the corresponding parameter:
#  <C>	Code of the component ex: M10
#  <L>	Length of the component
#  <N>	Rule of the component
#  <S>	Thickness (when defined in the component parameters)
#  <M>	Material
#  <Mc>	Material Code
#  <Md>	Material Description
#  <X>	Latest field of DataFile
#
#                      (optional)                                      (optional)
# File INI; PartNumber @ PartName; Description;  Item in the INI File  OtherCustomData_File
#
Bolt.ini;   BE<C>x<L><Mc> @ Bolt;  Bolt <C>x<L>;   1;                   CD_Bolt.dat
Bolt.ini;   BE<C>x<L><Mc>;         Bolt <C>x<L>;   2;                   CD_Bolt.dat
....
Bolt.ini;   TS<C>x<L><Mc>;         Countersunk head screw <C>x<L>;  10; CD_BoltCHS.dat

#
Screw.ini;  VT1<C>x<L><Mc>;        Cylindrical head screw <C>x<L>;     1
Screw.ini;  VT2<C>x<L><Mc>;        Cylindrical Allen screw <C>x<L>;    2
....
Screw.ini;  VTT<C>x<L><Mc>;        Hex head screw with flange <C>x<L>; 17

#
ScrewNoHead.ini;  ST1<C>x<L><Mc>;   Headless flat Allen key <C>x<L>;         1
ScrewNoHead.ini;  ST2<C>x<L><Mc>;   Headless cylindrical Allen key <C>x<L>;  2
....
ScrewNoHead.ini;  ST9<C>x<L><Mc>;   Prisoner <C>x<L>;                        9

#
Washer.ini;   RD1<C><Mc>;    Washer  <C>;                1
Washer.ini;   RD2<C><Mc>;    Elastic Washer <C>;         2
....
Washer.ini;   RD8<C><Mc>;    High resistance Washer <C>; 8

#
Nut.ini;   DD1<C><Mc>;   Hex nut <C>;                1
Nut.ini;   DD2<C><Mc>;   Slotted Hex nut <C>;        2
....
Nut.ini;   DD10<C><Mc>;  Hex nut with ring nut <C>;  10

#
Profil.ini;  P1S<C>x<L><Mc>;   Beam <C>x<L>;       1
Profil.ini;  P2S<C>x<L><Mc>;   Beam <C>x<L>;       2
....
Profil.ini;  PIS<C>x<L><Mc>;   Profiles <C>x<L>;   19

#
SteelEndCap;  CP<C>x<Mc>;   SteelCap <C>;       1
SteelEndCap;  CP<C>x<Mc>;   SteelCap <C>;       2
....
SteelEndCap;  CP<C>x<Mc>;   SteelCap <C>;       19

#
ORing.ini;   R1S<C><Mc>;   Oring Shafts <C>;            1
ORing.ini;   R2S<C><Mc>;   Oring Shafts <C>;            2
....
ORing.ini;   R6S<C><Mc>;   Oring external pressure <C>; 6

#
ANtenuta.ini;  AT1 <C><Mc>; Shafts Holder ring <C>;     1
ANtenuta.ini;  AT2 <C><Mc>; Holder ring dust cover <C>; 2
ANtenuta.ini;  AT3 <C><Mc>; Holder ring <C>;            3

#
Seeger.ini;   SG1 <C><Mc>;  Shafts Seeger;   1
Seeger.ini;   SG2 <C><Mc>;  Holes Seeger;    2
....
Seeger.ini;   SG6 <C><Mc>;  Holes Seeger K;  6

#
Cuscinetti.ini;  Ba1 <C>;   Ball Bearing;    0 1
Cuscinetti.ini;  Ba2 <C>;   Ball Bearing;    0 2
....
Cuscinetti.ini;  AB8 <C>;   Axial Bearing;   2 4

How you can see, the file contains several records. Every record has several fields separated by a ; char.

Every record is related to a component.

In the file there are some tags that will be replaced by a particular parameter during the creation of the component. As example, the tag <L> is replaced by the length of the component, and the tag <M> is replaced by the Material name. Inserting these tags in a string, you can set the schema useful to generate the PartNumber, the Description and every other CustomData.

For example:

# These TAGS will be replaced by the corresponding parameter:
#  <C>	Code of the component ex: M10
#  <L>	Length of the component
#  <N>	Rule of the component
#  <M>	Material
#PartNumber  @ PartName;   Description;      Item..  OtherCustomData_File

BE<C>x<L> <M> @ Bolt<C>;  Bolt <C>x<L> <N>;  1;      CD_Bolt.dat 

return to:

• Name: @ Bolt<C> -> BoltM16
• PartNumer: BE<C>x<L> <M> -> BEM16x30 OBEH
• Description: Bolt <C>x<L> <N> -> Bolt M16x30 UNI5725-65

CustomDataFile

For the generation of the customized CustomData, it’s used the 5^th field of the record. In the previous example, it contains the file name: CD_Bolt.dat

This means that in the folder, there is an Txt ASCII file named CD_Bolt.dat which contains some record that will be used to automatically create some Customdata.

This is the structure of the file:

Comp Code = <N> <C>x<L>-<M>
Rule Code = PN-85/M-82101

How you can see, the structure is very simple. The record is composed by two fields separated by a = char.

• first - field is the Title of the CustomData
• second - field is the value of the CustomData

Inside the value it’s possible to use all the tags available in the IPRO_BOM.ini