Background news
With all Brexit uncertainty life must go on. In CADCAM world there is also much uncertainty, many vendors have price pressure from increased costs as sterling loses value and at the same time changes to restrictive subscription sales practices while others adopt new punitive maintenance contracts which in effect negates the customer’s choice on continuing with that vendor
This year we have kept to our principals and continue to offer low cost flexible perpetual CADCAM licences. As a result, we are pleased to report that business continues to improve for Mintronics with all our divisions, CAD, CAM and Reverse engineering from 3D scans, both software and services.
3D Scan to CAD
The new website www.3DscantoCAD.co.uk for reverse engineering is now live, its focus is 3D scan and reverse engineering services mainly for those who only have an occasional requirement for scanning and also for prospective customers who need a full evaluation.
We were successful with Geomagic Design X with new business in the offshore energy sector and this included underwater 3Dscan data.
The HP desk top scanner is again available from Mintronics at a price that allows many more to be self sufficient with a scanner and 3D reverse engineering tools.
Alibre 2019
Alibre 2019 was released July 2019 and the biggest in Alibre history, with new graphics, real time sections views, new import export functionality and many other enhancements.
Alibre 2019 is a very positive development which has resulted in many long-time customers returning and upgrading to 2019. Alibre tell us that 2019 release is the start of many more developments which is now possible because of the new graphics in Alibre 2019.
Alibre Atom3D
Alibre Atom3D released summer 2018 is a version of Alibre Design Professional with less functionality and aimed at hobbyists, model makers, apprentices and businesses requiring CAD for 3D printing. so far Alibre Atom3D is very successful especially with the hobbyist community. Together with the Model Engineers Workshop magazine Alibre Atom3D was offered free for six months free to their subscribers along with a tutorial printed in the magazine.
The tutorial is available for all as a pdf from Mintronics webshop. Many customers have found it useful for in house training and apprentices
Alibre Atom3D is a perpetual licence and priced at just £199 plus VAT or £279 plus VAT with a support contract, this includes software upgrades and technical support.
CAM for Alibre
Our preferred choice for Alibre CAM partner is EZCAM
Versions are available for different two, three and four axis machining difficulty starting with an Express version for hobbyists to full 4 axis milling for machine shops, to find the correct version please refer to the EZCAM comparison chart. (scroll down this page)
To improve our expertise with CAM we are undertaking more training throughout the month of August ready for a September promotion. As part of the education process we are preparing an instruction sheet for our customers who are new to CAM and require a helping hand to adopt.
For more advanced requirements then our preferred choice for none Alibre users is ZW3D. Examples are mould tool design and manufacture and work that frequently require four and five axis milling in addition to class A surface modelling.
Referral and reference sites
This autumn we have two new initiatives, updates to our reference sites on the Mintronics website, and the launch of a new referral scheme
if you are interested in more publicity for your business and believe you have a positive story to tell about Mintronics or partners then please make contact.
Both referral scheme and updated reference site participation will result in better terms for maintenance.