Detailed Brochure

This document contains more in-depth information about TubeCAD, its driving philosophy, features, customers, and prices.

As of August 10, 1999, we are including a free IntelliCAD 98 package with every new TubeCAD package. The prices in this section reflect the special offer.

See our TubeCAD price page for more information.

TubeCAD 5.8 Revision Qx Users: Upgrade Online Immediately For Free!

Complete Tube Layout in LESS THAN 30 Minutes!

TubeCAD 5.8 Q5 is a complete package that can build and plot your full-scale layouts to any Windows plotter - really FAST. This is how it works...

Step 1 (10 minutes): Build your layout in TubeCAD. (Click on the image above to see a large TubeCAD screen image with layout.)

Step 2 (15 seconds): After the layout is complete in TubeCAD, transfer the drawing to the bundled IntelliCAD by simply typing ICAD on the TubeCAD command line. No complicated steps are required. Click on the image at the right to see the result in IntelliCAD >>

Step 3 (5 minutes): Plot your layout at full scale for use an an setup-inspection layout.

Step 4 (30 seconds): Choose a drawing name, and save your layout to an AutoCAD DWG file (you can choose AutoCAD r14, r13, r12...) (or Further modify your layout by adding notes, borders, dimensioning).

FAST TUBE LAYOUT

How quickly can your CAD department draw a tube fabrication layout? Does a complete layout of a 15 bend tube drawn in AutoCAD or CADKEY take five or more hours to build? TubeCAD can create the same layout in 30 minutes or less without errors. That's a ten-fold speed improvement with an increase in data integrity.

In fact, we invite you to allow us to test the speed of TubeCAD with one of your tube prints. The layout we draw for you will contain at least multiple centerline views of the tube with either an OD outline or 3-D ODMESH, true bend views, rotation views, and chart.

So, how can TubeCAD draw layouts so quickly?

TUBE LAYOUT AUTOMATION

Ever since we released TubeCAD in 1985 (then through Cone & Cone), TubeCAD's driving philosophy has been automation of the layout process. General CAD packages provide basic drawing tools for all types of engineers with powerful editing and modification features. But, by their very nature, they cannot provide extreme automation for very specific processes like tube fabrication and tube layout production unless someone takes the time to write page after page of code that explains it to them.

In other words, AutoCAD, CADKEY and other general CAD packages have little intrinsic knowledge of a tube shape. This is where TubeCAD takes over. It knows only tube shapes, and it knows them very well.

CENTERLINE TUBE VIEWS

For example, how quickly can a CAD operator draw a 10 bend tube centerline as specified in your customer's print, and have a multiple view tube displayed on the screen complete with an outer diameter? If the operator is fast, it will probably take an hour in a good CAD program. TubeCAD can create 3 orthographic views with a 3D outer diameter as quickly as you can type in the coordinates (about 5 to 10 minutes). See centerline tube views.

TRUE BEND VIEWS

Another example is True Bend views. How long does it take to draw 10 of them in your CAD package? (It takes a while in AutoCAD.) After the coordinates are entered, TubeCAD draws 10 True Bend views, a total of about 350 CAD entities, in about 1 second. And these true bend views are smart. They know, for example when to flip over so that the preceding leg to the bend is moving above (and not below) the plane of the layout. See true bend views.

ROTATION CLOCK VIEWS

It takes about another second to draw either a complete rotation clock (left or right hand), or rows and columns of individual Rotation Views. See rotation clock views. See individual rotation views.

BLOCKUP LABELS

Will it take a month or two to get your regular gauge from the gauge builder? Then switch the blockup labels on in any TubeCAD view to make a full-scale layout an instant gauge. Blockup labels show the distances from the bottom of each straight down to a base plane. See the blockup labels page for details and descriptive images.

CHART VIEW

Drawing your favorite data chart on the layout is as simple as pointing with the mouse where the upper left corner of the chart should start. See a chart view.

HEADER LABEL

To finish the layout, select the location using the mouse for the large header label that shows various data about the layout in large font, like the part number, customer name, etc.

AUTOMATICALLY TRANSFER TO INTELLICAD OR AUTOCAD

Type ICAD to transfer the completed layout to the bundled IntelliCAD, or type ACAD to transfer the layout to any version of AutoCAD. Then plot the drawing.

FEATURES

Customers are constantly requesting new automation features that are then added to TubeCAD on a regular basis. Minor revisions are now available about every month to those who subscribe to the Annual Update Contract service, and major upgrades occur about every year.

MAJOR FEATURES

• Multiple tubes in one layout with simultaneous projection
• Rotate the tube views to any orientation in space, find true views within the main views quickly, position the tube for better inspection and/or bending machine construction.
• Three primary orthographic views that drag into position with a mouse
• Project auxiliary views at any angle by dragging with the mouse
• Show tangent points on the centerline
• Calculate bender data From XYZ data
• Calculate XYZ data from bender data
• Search user-entered lists with thousands of entries for fitting and form length adjustments to the first and last straight
• Automatic positioning of layout entities
• Enter fabrication sequence codes
• Enter customer name, part date, part name, tube notes, print reference notes, and other notes.
• Unbend bends in any order
• Reports -- XYZ, tangent point, bender (compression or draw bending), others
• Data Charts on the layout -- Eaton Leonard LaserVision, Pines, Conrac, others
• Large header label for easy identification of layout
• ODMESH -- using 3-D surface entities
• OD Outline -- Outline simulation of the OD
• Build ODmesh Forms (Flares, Beads)
• Cylindrical or Non-cylindrical ODMESH
• Left and Right Rotation Clocks
• Separate Rotation Views
• Convert all values to the opposite unit (Millimeter or Inch)
• Arc Length Calcultor - Calculate the arc length by entering a bend angle and radius.
• Tangent Distance Calculator - Calculate the distance from a bend's tangent point to the bend's intersection point using the bend angle and radius.
• Read/Write SupraGauge files (to the disk or to a measuring center on the network)
• Read/Write Eaton Leonard FIF files (for communicating with EL masuring centers and benders)
• Extract centerline data from DXF files using the DXF Centerline Extractor
• Dimensioning, borders, notes, layout plotting to printer or plotter using DraftChoice Plus
• Render a 3-D tube image from any orientation using the bundled IntelliCAD 98
• Plot full scale layouts using the bundled IntelliCAD 98
• Build 2-D or 3-D DXF files of the layout
  (For more information, see the TubeCAD Compatibility page, or download sample DXF files for testing with your CAD program.)
• Build CADL files of the layout (for CADKEY)
• Build EXF files of the layout (for EasyCAD and FastCAD)
• Quickly build Blockup Labels that have nominal blockup distances to a base plane.

HOW DO CUSTOMERS USE TUBECAD?

Here are examples:

• to create tube layouts for setup and inspection during fabrication
• to create the base data for drawing tube gauges
• to create the base data for drawing dedicated tube benders and fixtures
• to create 3-D ODMESH surface data for hidden line removal and rendering for publications
• to create 3-D ODMESH data for use in drawing compound bend dies
• to create 3-D ODMESH surface data for use in gas-flow analysis
• to re-orient the tube shape in space for better inspection on measuring centers and better construction of tube gauges
• to reverse-engineer tube shapes from bender data to XYZ data
• to unbend tubes when pre-bending is necessary
• to project auxiliary views to show the relationship between multiple tubes around a master tube
• to project auxiliary views to match an orientation in a customer's print
• to create bender data reports for CNC benders
  

TUBECAD USERS

(This is a partial list of TubeCAD users. )

• ADDISON PRODUCTS CO. (boats)
• Addison Tool Co. (benders/tooling)
• Akron Polymer Products (plastic tubing)
• ARMADA TUBE GROUP (small diameter)
• BABCOCK & WILCOX
• Bundy (small diameter)
• Eaton Leonard (benders/tooling)
• Fabex (small diameter)
• Fayette Tube (small diameter)
• FormRite (Wisconsin, hydraulic)
• FORM RITE (Michigan, small diameter)
• Handy & Harman (small diameter)
• H & H Tooling (tooling)
• ITT AUTOMOTIVE (small diameter)
• Jack Heckman Tube Co. (super-heaters)
• Krueger International (furniture)
• Lomar (dedicated power benders)
• Mariners-Astubco (nuclear super-heaters)
• National Tube Form (3/16" to 6" OD tube fabrications)
• Paftac Tube Services (layout service)
• Stark Manufacturing (benders/small diameter)
• Tools For Bending (tooling)
• Tube Forming & Machine (hand benders)
• TELEDYNE RODNEY METALS
• U.S Navy (ship building)
• Wauseon Machine (dedicated power benders)
  

HARDWARE/SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

• Windows 95, 98, NT Computer
  (32-bit Windows is necessary for automatic transfer between TubeCAD and IntelliCAD and AutoCAD. automatic transfer is not available in 16-bit Windows or DOS-only environment.)

• Minimum 550K free RAM minium for TubeCAD
  (This is memory required below 640K in lower memory. TubeCAD runs in a DOS box under Windows 95, 98, NT).

• Minimum 16 Megabytes free RAM minium for IntelliCAD 98
  (IntelliCAD runs better with more Windows memory: 32 Megabytes or more).

• Minimum of 20 megabytes of free disk for TubeCAD

• Minimum of 20 megabytes of free disk for IntelliCAD 98

Click here to see a tube layout that was exported to AutoCAD.

For prices, see the TubeCAD Prices page.

Click here to download the TubeCAD slide show.

View the TubeCAD brochure in Acrobat format. (109 KB / 3 pages)
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Please contact Advanced Tubular Technologies if you have questions about TubeCAD.

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