Rebuilding a cast triple clamp from a 3D scan
An Artec 3D scan of a motorcycle triple clamp, rebuilt as a parametric model in 37 sketches. Change a bore, the spacing, or the web, and the casting rebuilds around it.
Read the case studyLoading page…
Part families
Turn one part into a family of sizes with a design table
Vector drives the changing dimensions from equations, builds each size as a configuration, places them in an assembly, and exports a file for each size.
Drawer insert 6x4
Vector
Examples
Mate an assembly and check its motion
Vector mates each joint to the part that drives it, sweeps the mechanism through its range, and adds limits where parts would collide.
See the exampleBiped 6-DOF
Mate both legs to the body: hip abduction, hip flexion, and knee concentric with their output pulleys, feet fixed to the lower legs. Then sweep the hips and knees and add limit mates so nothing collides. Don’t move the body.
Both legs are mated to the body, and the body didn’t move. Each hip abduction, hip flexion, and knee joint is concentric with its output pulley and free to rotate, and the feet are locked to the lower legs. Sweeping the joints, only the hips ran into anything: the knee motor reaches the front of the body at −144° of flexion and the hip abduction housing at 94°. I added limit angle mates of −140° to 90° on both hips, which leaves 4° at each end. The knees clear everything from −60° to 180°, so they don’t need a limit. Interference Detection at both limits finds nothing across the 345 components.
now
Vector
Check the design with real calculations
Vector reads dimensions and materials from the model, runs gear, shaft, and bearing checks in Python, and tells you which parts won’t hold.
See the exampleGR-70 Reducer
We’re swapping the NEMA 23 for a 400 W servo: 1.27 N·m rated, 3.8 N·m peak, 3,000 rpm. Check the gears, shafts, keys, and bearings in the reducer and tell me what has to change.
Two parts don’t survive the servo’s 3.8 N·m peak. The brass 42-tooth gear reaches 292 MPa of contact stress against a 300 MPa allowable, a safety factor of 1.03, so I changed it to C45. Contact stress is now 363 MPa with a safety factor of 1.71, and bending is at 4.98. The bigger problem is the output shaft: its Ø10 end sees 130 MPa in torsion at peak, and with the keyway the fatigue safety factor is 0.58, so it would fail in service. Growing that end to Ø16 with a 5 × 5 key brings it to 2.4, but it changes the coupling bore, so I’ve left it for you to approve. Everything else has margin. The intermediate shaft’s fatigue safety factor is 3.9, and the bearings’ L10 life at rated torque is over a million hours.
now
Vector
A bill of materials you can order from
Purchased parts with their part numbers, made parts listed separately, fasteners grouped by size, and quantities for the build you’re planning.
See the exampleBiped 6-DOF
Make a bill of materials for the biped. Separate purchased parts from what we print or machine, group the fasteners by size, use real part numbers where the model has them, and export a spreadsheet for two robots.
The BOM has 56 rows for the 345 components. Fifteen are purchased parts with the part numbers from the model, including six T-Motor Antigravity 4004 motors, six AEDT-9810 encoders, four bearing sizes, two AT3 belt lengths, and a MicroStrain 3DM-CX5-25 IMU. Twenty-three are printed or machined: the leg structures, pulleys, body plates, and electronics boards. The fasteners are grouped into 18 sizes, 169 pieces per robot. The spreadsheet doubles every quantity for two robots, which comes to 12 motors, 24 belts, and 338 fasteners.
now
Vector
Case studies
All case studies
Designing a four-speed dog-clutch gearbox from a brief
A four-speed gearbox designed from a written brief: 93 solids, with all four ratios measured from the assembly in motion.
Read the case study
Modeling NASA HUNCH’s heat-stake press from its drawing set
NASA HUNCH’s heat-stake press, modeled from its published drawing set: eleven custom parts, catalog hardware, and a working mechanism, checked against the sheets.
Read the case studyFor engineering teams
Native, editable models
Vector builds with sketches, features, mates, and parameters, so anyone on your team can open the model and keep working on it by hand.
Uses the CAD you already have
It connects to the installation on your workstation. There’s nothing to migrate, and your files stay in the formats you use today.
Every change is listed
Each step shows up in the conversation with what it changed, so you can follow the work and check it afterward.
Checks its own work
Ask for a check and Vector measures the model: clearances, gear ratios, drawing callouts, and exported files.
Run a pilot on your own parts
We agree on the acceptance checks with your team before any work starts.
Download Vector
Vector runs on Windows and works with Autodesk Fusion, SOLIDWORKS, and Bambu Studio.
Vector for Fusion, SOLIDWORKS, and Bambu StudioDownload for Windows