Everything You Need to Know About FRAMES: An Aluminum Extrusion Design Software
Learning a new CAD software might seem like a tedious task at first, but not with FRAMES.
FRAMES is one of the easiest aluminum extrusion design programs available on the market for designers and engineers, and best of all, it’s free. Therefore, there’s no risk in testing it out.
For first-time users, you can download it here .
Here is everything you need to know about FRAMES.
What is FRAMES?
FRAMES is a powerful tool to help reduce the design time of aluminum extrusion framing.
With a customizable interface and the ability to set design preferences, FRAMES easily integrates into your design workflow without spending hours learning a new system.
To get started, you can choose a pre-made design template or start from scratch. As you design, brackets, hardware, and other alterations are added. Once your design is complete, a BOM is instantly compiled, streamlining the ordering process.
Here's Why Mechanical Engineers Are Using FRAMES
Efficiency is the backbone of any successful project, and designing software excels in this aspect. The ability to create, edit, and manipulate your designs digitally accelerates the entire creative process.
MISUMI's Aluminum Extrusion Design software helps engineers working on design-builds go from idea to full 3D model and bill of materials (BOM) in a fraction of the time.
Here are some of the top benefits of using FRAMES .
1. Prototype Design Ideas
The FRAMES software provides many options for creating your ideas, modifying, swapping, or changing components. You are able to select all or part of your design and stretch, rotate, copy, move, swap parts, or add alterations with just a few clicks.
2. Allows for More Precision and Accuracy
Traditionally, adding brackets and fasteners was tedious, time-consuming, and costly. It also resulted in more errors that required fixing. FRAMES takes the guesswork out by automatically adding brackets, joints, and alterations to your components, which increases design accuracy.
3. Better Visualization with 3D Modeling
For engineers, 3D modeling is a transformative feature offered by advanced design software. It enables you to construct intricate three-dimensional representations of your ideas, which aids in better visualization, identifying potential flaws, and making informed decisions before the physical implementation.
4. Saves Time and Cost
Using FRAMES is a cost-effective choice in the long run. The reduction in manual labor, material wastage, and the ability to catch errors early in the process all contribute to substantial cost savings. Additionally, the diverse range of the software's features eliminates the need for purchasing multiple physical tools or resources, further optimizing your budget.
4 Tips on How to Design Faster With FRAMES
Once you get familiar with how FRAMES works, there are so many tips and tricks worth learning to take your designs to the next level. Here are a few tips on how to use FRAMES .
1. Default Part Short Cut
When using the default parts, instead of having to click on the default parts each time you want to design, you can hit “Ctrl+D” to automatically put you in default part mode and allow you to go right into designing without having to move the mouse back and forth.
2. Zoom Into Mouse
While working on a design, you will have to zoom in and out several times as you navigate the design. There are two ways to zoom that can be changed in the configuration settings. You can change the option from zooming into the middle of the display to zooming into your mouse. This will help pinpoint where you zoom instead of having to move the display.
3. Highlight Just the Brackets
As you design, you may want to make changes to different components. One of the parts that is most likely to be changed is the brackets. You can grab the brackets by highlighting everything and then removing all non-bracket components in the top left, or you can highlight everything and hit “Alt+B.” This will automatically deselect everything except for the brackets.
4. Creating New Drawings
When creating drawings, sometimes you may need to create several drawings. The issue comes up when you go back into the design window and then need to create a new drawing.
The software automatically tries to recreate the original drawing that you made, but you can create a new drawing by selecting the drawing button and hitting the check boxes of the new drawing that you would like to make.
Getting Started with FRAMES
The FRAMES software is currently available for download and can be used right away to help you plan, design, and develop your next project.
Once your design is complete, you can easily export your BOM and make an order on MISUMI. MISUMI offers a wide range of extrusion and bracket options , which you can explore directly in the software as you design.
For more information, reach out to the FRAMES team at?[email protected] .