Tube Bending Software Options

[fjcruiser]

I know alot of the guys on here like Bend Tech but I'm curious what other software titles people are using to design their stuff. Has anyone used (with good results) the JD2 software? I tried it last night but it has limitations on the number of bends you can do in its "Edit" function where you can type in the coordinates. It also kept crashing on me. What is the "k" value regarding the material? They have a value of 1 on their templates. I assume this has to do with the material used?

Has anyone modeled up and calculated the stretch of the tubing and capacity of bends in SolidWorks?

[fabcam]

I know alot of the guys on here like Bend Tech but I'm curious what other software titles people are using to design their stuff. Has anyone used (with good results) the JD2 software? I tried it last night but it has limitations on the number of bends you can do in its "Edit" function where you can type in the coordinates. It also kept crashing on me. What is the "k" value regarding the material? They have a value of 1 on their templates. I assume this has to do with the material used?

Has anyone modeled up and calculated the stretch of the tubing and capacity of bends in SolidWorks?

You ran into the same problems with the JD2 software as others I have talked to or seen posted on forums. I also have seen/heard there is no documentation to speak of and placing parts into an assembly is almost impossible. We don't even have to talk about customer service for their software product. It says right at the download that there will be none provided.

The "K" value is a term used from the sheet metal industry referring to the percentage through the material to a neutral bending axis. In the case of tube bending, the material stretches more than shrinks so that your "K" value is less than 1/2 way from the inner radius into the material. How JD2 interpreted this is not correct. They assumed that the physical radius also changes in size. This is not correct and the bend location start points are altered and shouldn't be. The try to use an offset to make this up, however, the affects on 90 degrees vs. 45 or other degree bends are affected differently and giving you incorrect results. In other words, their MATH IS INCORRECT!!!!

SolidWorks and other major CAD systems have some tubing design, however, are very week on the manufacturing calculations. They have a hard time giving you rotations (can be done, but can take several minutes per bend) and they have nothing for the material stretch or the line up of where your bend starts vs. your mark location (most customers like to line the mark up on their tube to the end of the die or the strap. This needs to be compensated in the manufacturing detail).


I think the one thing that we (bend-tech) bring to the table is that we care about our industry and our customers. You will find that we are always there for you (like we are right now). This shows in our product functionality, ease-of-use, pricing and in our pre/post customer services.

[braxton357]

Have modeled tube parts in SW, own bt ez, have tried the jdsquared program, and now also own bt pro. I have to say that I am very impressed, they did their homework for sure and after using the program I've realized why it costs so (relatively) much. Though, compared to the price of SW...it's nothing.

[Arya Ebrahimi]

fabcam, do you guys offer student pricing on bendtech? Just wondering, 'cause I'd like to buy it, but I'm a poor student...

[fabcam]

fabcam, do you guys offer student pricing on bendtech? Just wondering, 'cause I'd like to buy it, but I'm a poor student...


Usually we don't, however, I think we can find a way to get you set up. Give me a call and lets see what we can do. Keep in mind we are not talking thousands of dollars so it should be pretty easy to get into anyone's budget.

Cris 1.651.257.8715

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[CJHeap]

I just bought the 3d and am very impressed. I come from a Microstation background in Civil engineering and BT handles tube better.

[traxman25]

We use Bend Tech and Solidworks here in the shop. Solidworks will do nothing for you like Bend Tech will. Besides the fact that Solidworks will not give you the bend start locations or rotation easily, it is also harder to draw in than BT. Don't get me wrong here.

One of the teams I sponsor is dead set on using SW to draw their parts, I still don't know why. But they also can't figure out how to get bending data out, so they end up having to import every part into BT to figure out how to make what they just drew. In the end if they would just use BT to design the chassis they could then export the chassis into SW with no trouble at all and then be able to design their tabs and suspension and get a final 3D model.