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<DIV><FONT size=2>Terry:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I've got a lead for "useful CAD software" for you but remember
you never mentioned cost.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I spent last Thanksgiving at my daughters house in Cool, CA
and one of her guests was a design engineer. He likes the artistic side of
design rather that the practical side and when I asked if he could design a
piano bridge he asked me some questions, broke out his computer and jumped at
the chance. In nothing flat, from the information I gave him, he had a bridge
layout in the computer.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I asked if he could make a basic bridge template and then plug
in the desired specs for a cutter to machine the bridge. He said yes but
it would be a "little" more complicated. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>If duplicating a bridge it could probably be scanned with a
laser and cut out with a piece of equipment designed to do the job. The big
hang-up of course is cost and that's another whole different field
of questioning and research. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> <FONT size=2>I was amazed at how fast he used the program...not easy
in the beginning for him but he's been doing it for eleven years
now.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I also have a client (who by the way has an observatory in his
back yard) who has a business building digital imaging cameras and he uses the
same program...Solidworks. Hang-up again is cost...$5000. Probably not something
you'd find in a piano shop. But then again if you have bigger ambitions about
producing more accurately, more quickly and in greater numbers it may be the
program to check out.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Wayne Lutzow</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Twelve Tone Piano Service</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Lincoln, CA</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=innuuuu@yahoo.com href="mailto:innuuuu@yahoo.com">Terence Miller</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech list</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, January 14, 2008 1:01
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> CAD software</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Hello List:<BR><BR>Does anyone have any feelings about the CAD
software they use?<BR><BR>I just attended an all-day seminar that emphasized
the value of precision in our work and reminded me that much of what we do is
really based on geometry. <BR><BR>Put those together and there seems to be a
real use for CAD software in the shop.<BR><BR><BR>I hate spending money, and I
especially hate spending money on a pig-in-a-poke**. If you haven't already
noticed, the software industry has forced the P-I-A-P market model upon us.
Not only can you not try the product to see if it fits, many 'License
Agreements' remind you that you do not own what you have just purchased. (and
NO you can not return it if you have broken the seal the envelope!) Imagine
<SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic">yourfavoriteclothingstore</SPAN> without
dressing rooms...and as soon as you touch a product you have to buy
it.<BR><BR>Even if software is availabe as 'freeware' it often takes 20 hours
or more of mucking around in the program to get a sense of whether it will be
useful to your project. And then there is the issue of actually working
efficiently inside the program...was it written by a human being who actually
has to face the problems the software is supposed to resolve, or by the
youngest programmer chained to a bench in some programming galley off the
coast of wherever? Oh, and does the original language for the programming,
menus and documentation happen to be English? (always a nice but unexpected
touch.)<BR><BR>So, any leads for useful CAD
software?<BR><BR>thanks<BR><BR>Terry<BR><BR><BR>**Wikipedia has a cute article
on 'a pig in a poke'.<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>** see Wikipedia for a cute
description<BR><BR><BR>
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