NX AM Fixed-Plane

NX AM Fixed-Plane solutions allow you to easily populate your build tray by adding parts through a seamless drag-and-drop interface. You can quickly pattern parts in the build tray to create duplicates for printing. You can also define the orientation manually or according to the AM Build Coordinate System, which is created at design time or by simulation.

Advanced licenses include the ability to 2D and 3D nest parts in the build tray. Options for nesting include settings for the allowable distance between parts and the chosen optimization method. This allows you to quickly optimize the space within the build tray for the most efficient prints possible.

Many manufacturing processes, regardless of industry, require the ability to apply serial numbers to parts for tracking purposes. Since additive manufacturing produces unique parts, it is well suited to do this. However, the software driving manufacturing processes often needs to include a robust system for assigning and creating print marks at the time of manufacture. This leaves the operator on the shop floor to model those print marks.

You can make processes more efficient if your build setup tool is integrated tightly with CAD. This makes print marks easier to create. During design in NX, you can assign the print mark location to a specific area of the part. Then it will easily flow into manufacturing where the appropriate print marks are placed in the specified position. Print marks in NX can be generated manually, with a spreadsheet or text file, or via a program. This gives you maximum flexibility for assigning print marks and tracking their production.

Generate supports from a built-in library after selecting your desired printer. Different printers are associated with different support types in the library. You can also generate custom support types to be included in the library and associated with different printers.

Additive manufacturing power users can use NX to create custom support structures using the robust design functions in NX for design.

The basic NX AM Fixed-Plane solutions include basic support structure types such as block, wall and point, with more complex support types available to add.

Get the ability to import and export both STL and 3MF files. These common file formats are used for movement and storage of additive manufacturing part data.

Import and export STL and 3MF files to get the best of both worlds. You can use the integrated design-to-print solutions that Siemens provides, but you are also free to use discrete point solutions from other software vendors in the additive manufacturing space.

With NX AM Fixed-Plane software, you can access all the major design, drafting and assemblies functions in our NX CAD system. You can use these tools to create amazing 3D-printed parts. Furthermore, with these functions integrated with the build setup functions for additive manufacturing in NX, any design changes will seamlessly flow to the build tray.

However, designing parts for additive manufacturing (DfAM) is more than just creating the part geometry. A robust DfAM process includes validation to ensure that the designed part will be printable. The NX AM Fixed-Plane solution options include validation routines for overhang, porosity, wall thickness, minimum radii, print volume, enclosed volumes, internal channels, trapped supports, print time and others. Use these tools to create the geometry you need and to assure the geometry you've created will print properly.

Generate parts with both facet or mesh bodies existing alongside and interacting with nurbs areas using Convergent Modeling, a Siemens’ patented technology. This reduces the messy work of editing facet bodies. While direct facet editing tools are present in NX, most interaction with facet bodies can be accomplished with normal CAD tools like extrudes, Boolean operations and blends. Those CAD tools work on mesh bodies just like they do on nurbs bodies in NX. In fact, nurbs bodies and mesh bodies can even be united or subtracted from one another, just as you would expect if working with purely nurbs bodies. This results in massive time savings when designing and preparing parts for 3D printing.

Advanced DfAM capabilities, like lattice structure generation or topology optimization, are also integrated into NX and can be added to the NX AM Fixed-Plane bundles.