🧚🏾 🤔 🐼 KOMPAS developers - designers or programmers? 🧜🏿 🐘 👵🏾

There is a little provocation in the title of the article, because it is clear that without programmers the software cannot write itself. Another question: who determines the logic and convenience of the system, its development. Recently, at the ASCON Software Users Forum, there was once again talk that KOMPAS developers are not designers: “They make the product as they want to make it. But they are not a constructor, and excuse me, they understand little in design work. Like programmers. As a result, the product seems to be there, and how it works, but it’s as if done not under the design work, but on its own, this is the vision of non-engineers completely and completely ... ” And let's really see who KOMPAS does, and who its developers were in the “past life”.

Vitaly Bulgakov, Head of Analytics Department, KOMPAS-3D

By education I am a mechanical engineer for the operation of aircraft and engines. But it so happened that he did not deal with airplanes at all. I have been working at ASCON since 2005, before that I was a design engineer at the Ural automobile plant. He worked at the plant in two phases: from 1995 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2005 as a design engineer in the suspension group of the design bureau of load-bearing systems. In the area of our responsibility was the development of the car suspension and its components: springs, buffers, brackets. These were the constituent parts of Ural vehicles of various models and modifications - both serial and made in one copy (Ural 43206, various modifications of the Urals 4320, 5557, 55571, 5323 and many others). Of course, for almost 15 years, the plant has taken a big step forward and now produces cars that are noticeably different from thosethat went off the assembly line during my work.

Ural 4320-80 / 82E5 6x6.
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I developed suspension parts and components for experimental and production cars, design documentation (CD) for them, coordinated the issued CD, accompanied production, issued notice of change. He also wrote technical specifications for tests, production tasks for manufacturing facilities for these tests.

It was also possible to do calculations. The most common - the calculation of the parameters of the elastic elements of the suspension, especially leaf springs. Often I had to put on a dressing gown and go to the experimental research workshop to solve problems on the spot. I mean, at the place of manufacture and assembly or completion of the car. With the approval of the design documentation for serial production, I had to go to the technologists of various industries along the rather large territory of the plant. And sometimes right to the workplace. I remember the case when I explained to the designer “on my fingers” the geometry of a rather complicated bracket, which was difficult to understand from the drawing. Three-dimensional models then were not yet the main way of expressing design ideas :) But it was at that time that three-dimensional modeling cautiously began its acceleration, today such situations in modern production are rare.

If you recall the difficult tasks ... It was definitely hard in the beginning. The abalone finger of the rear spring for the then new Ural 43206 car is, in fact, a simple part, but for me it was the first! He did it with a pencil on a kulman. I tried for a long time over it, corrected the comments of the leading designer.

Further on the rise there were many interesting tasks for a wide variety of experimental and production cars. It is always difficult to work in conditions of uncertainty. Once I had to make rear suspension parts that are attached to the bridge of the car, without complete information on this same bridge. There was only a picture from the catalog with several basic sizes. When this bridge was brought alive to the experimental workshop, I immediately ran there with measuring instruments. In fact, all the details were already made, one could only hope that he had not missed much. Then everything gathered, and the car drove to the exhibition.

Pavel Golitsyn, Leading Analyst Engineer KOMPAS-3D

Prior to joining ASCON in 2007, he worked as a chief designer at the Murom Mechanical Repair Plant. This diversified engineering company specializes in the production of spare parts, components and tools for railway transport, road construction equipment, as well as welded metal structures.

I designed new products, controlled the production of serial production, non-standard equipment and equipment. I also had administrative duties: managing the design department (five people), the workshop of non-standard equipment and experimental development.

One of the areas of the enterprise is aggregates and spare parts for road equipment. Once it was necessary to come up with automated equipment for the manufacture of parts such as a rim. There was nowhere to peep - I had to invent it myself. A lot of metal was then transferred to pilot plants, but in the end it turned out pretty well. The equipment is used to this day.

Pavel Golitsyn (far left) with colleagues on the background of his own development - an easily removable sand distributor based on KamAZ, 2006.

Products on which it was most interesting to work on:

Automatic machine that allows you to receive parts such as a rim for brushes of road equipment. I was the author of the idea, developed a complete set of design documentation, was engaged in the selection and order of components, field supervision, performed commissioning.
Developed attachments for utility vehicles: high-speed dumps, buckets, brushes, sand spreaders.
He took part in the design of a diesel oil filtration system using a self-cleaning automatic filter - together with the All-Russian Research Institute of Railway Transport.

Ekaterina Rodina, Analyst Engineer KOMPAS-3D

Prior to joining ASCON, she worked as a design engineer at the Kolomensky Zavod, in the department of motion units. The department is responsible for the development of the crank mechanism. I and two other colleagues designed crankshaft assemblies.

Parts and assemblies were designed, calculations were performed (mainly on the wear resistance of bearings during rotation of the crankshaft), the connecting elements were coordinated with other departments, they were checked for touches / collisions with fixed engine elements during rotation, conclusions were drawn about mounting and repair suitability, with technologists the possibility of manufacturing parts. After that, a complete set of design documents was prepared: drawings, specifications, parts, assemblies, documentation for catalogs and repair instructions. If a defect was detected during manufacture, we evaluated the possibility of correcting it and the risks of operating such a part. About the same thing was done in the case of complaints.

D500 engine
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For me, the most interesting project was the D500 Engine. The designs of other engines were fairly well-established: minor changes were made to them from time to time. Of course, the leading designers were engaged in the larger development of the D500, specifically I got a more detailed study of the shaft itself and its counterweights. What is the complexity of the D500? Other V-engines with which I worked had a hook-on connecting rod, due to this the shaft design was compact and strong, one connecting rod head was attached to one shaft neck. For D500, it was impossible to use trailed connecting rods for a number of reasons: different kinematics of the pistons, heavy load on the trailed joint, etc. We decided to make connecting rods next to each other, that is, two simple connecting rods were attached to one shaft neck (the design is not innovative) - as a result, the load on the neck increased.In this case, it was also necessary to increase the length of the shaft neck almost twice, so that both rods fit on it, the entire shaft increased in length by about one and a half times.

The shaft should be reliable, but not too heavy and bulky - it was necessary to find a balance. I also had to smash my head over the location of the holes for oil supply inside the shaft.

Oleg Kanunnikov, Analyst Engineer KOMPAS-3D

In 1988, I graduated from the Moscow Machine-Tool Institute (MSTU "STANKIN") with a degree in "Machines and technology for metal forming". Then he began to work as a designer at the Kolomensky Heavy Machine Tool Plant in the department of hydraulic presses.

The whole department worked in one room, in the best of times the number of employees reached 180! The plant had several more of the same large design departments. Immediately instructed to make a “knot” (assembly, if in KOMPAS terms) - a metal structure to which the electric hoist was attached. In the early years, in order for me to fill my hand, I was entrusted with a full cycle of work: the development of an assembly drawing, the implementation of detailed drawings, the creation of a specification. Then, when I was a little advanced, the details were passed on to the technicians.

I performed assemblies for various equipment: hydraulic presses, hydrostatic presses, special equipment. Each press was the size of a two- / three-story house. Often, equipment was produced in a single copy. For several years he participated in the development of a press line for the Vyksa Metallurgical Plant, worked on a press for hydrotesting large diameter pipes.

All work was done with a pencil on a culman. Only two years later, the first personal computers appeared at the plant: IBM PC-XT and PC-AT. The former could only be used as typewriters, while the latter appeared AutoCAD. Unfortunately, at first computers did not appear in our department, but the topic of design automation drew me immediately, and as much as I could, I disappeared into a foreign department, on the basis of which the CAD department was soon organized.

Last year I headed the packaging bureau in the same department, but now we worked for the entire plant. At times, the size of the department reached 30 people. Given the dimensions of the machines, each package was an original assembly unit for which a full set of documentation was issued: assembly, detailing, specification. Next, we prepared a complete set of documentation for loading packaged products: placement on transport, calculations, explanatory notes and more. All this was agreed with the carrier, in the case of vehicles - with the traffic police.

By that time, PCs appeared in our department, the first to use them were counters. Given my passion for computer technology, I was assigned the automation of calculations and the production of loading drawings. So I joined CAD.

Happened to carry out non-standard research work. One of these tasks is to choose seals for hydrostats operating at tremendous pressure. The working model was assembled in the workshop, on which seals were tested at 4000 atm (!). In wheels of a passenger car, for comparison, 2-3 atm. It was with great difficulty that the supplymen found a pressure gauge for such pressure. A foreign company provided its test seals for free - in the hope of future orders. But they all burst through one or two loads. And ours worked ...

Victor Doin, Application Testing Engineer KOMPAS-3D

Prior to joining ASCON, he worked at the Lukhovitsky Aviation Plant named after P.A. Voronin (branch of JSC "RSK" MiG "). Managed to work in several positions at once.

At first he was the installer of multi-spindle automatic lathes in the normal shop. He made standardized products (bolts, nuts, etc.), disposable seals for freight carriages - by order of the Ministry of Railways. This is not an engineering position, but I recall this experience with nostalgia and consider it no less valuable. The installer serves 3-4 machines and is not only the operator, but also the sharpener of the entire cutting tool. In complex operations, the number of instruments reached 25 units, and each of them needs to be monitored. One can imagine how much chips were formed with so many tools. In order to prevent the chip from winding in the area of the cutting fluids, we sharpened the tool so that the chip did not curl, but chipped. And if you still missed this moment,the tool overheats and breaks. Before that I did not know that metal can burn like a piece of paper.

Then he worked as a design engineer in the department of the chief technologist. Designed in KOMPAS-3D 5.11. I got acquainted with his educational version at the aviation technical school: we performed term papers and diploma works at KOMPAS. I did not work in this position for long, I remember that I managed to develop a tail tail slip for the upgraded deck MiG-29.

MiG-29K,
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In the last year he worked as a process engineer in the tool shop. He wrote technological processes for manufacturing tooling (milling, turning, boring, conductors). Supervised scheduled preventive maintenance of equipment.

Although there were no direct design tasks, still I had to deal with the development of design documentation for a device in which boring the holes of the spar of the tail and the fuselage of the Ka-60 helicopter is made. Then at our factory they launched the assembly of one of the modifications of “Killer Whales”. We brought helicopter rigs from Kamov to restore it. Our workshop was engaged in repair and manufacturing, I was responsible for preventive maintenance.

Helicopter Ka-60

I was given a pile of old documentation for equipment and a fitter as assistants. We disassembled this rather big device, sorted out the details: which are for restoration, which are for scrap. They began to deal with the documentation, it turned out that the drawings are very old, some drawings are not, and the changes that took place on the product are lost. I myself, bit by bit, restored the documentation. In general, I had to overcome many difficulties - and all this in the conditions of tight deadlines (after all, nobody removed the main tasks from me). But it was very interesting, and we did it. A fixture was made, a spar was bored on the machine. They were scared. To screw up a part, the workpiece of which weighed more than a dozen kilograms of aluminum alloy, and the process of its manufacture on a CNC machine was several days - you know.The decisive moment in this story was the installation of control pins on the side member in the stock of the assembly shop when the fuselage is docked. Only when all the pins fell into place did I breathe a sigh of relief.

Larisa Ivanova, Application Testing Engineer KOMPAS-3D

Five years before ASCON, she worked as a design engineer in the Design Bureau of Electrical Equipment at the Lukhovitsky Aircraft Building Plant named after P.A. Voronin. The plant is engaged in mass production, and the main task of the designers was not to develop new products, but to provide technical support for the existing ones: documentation support in the workshops, eliminating inconsistencies, considering the possibility of replacing materials, testing aircraft systems, issuing notifications of improvements, issuing wiring tables for harnesses, consultation on diagrams and drawings, creation of 3D models according to the available drawings.

One of the most difficult tasks was the release of documentation for electric harnesses. I was responsible for the fuselage harnesses, and they are the most saturated. I had to work out many schemes and manually fill out the wiring tables, create wire drawing drawings and make specifications - at that time the factory did not have specialized software to automate these processes.

MiG-29 assembly
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I recall how I participated in the development of power supply systems, first in the assembly workshop, and then in the test workshop. It was interesting.

Natalya Baranova, Application Test Engineer KOMPAS-3D

From 1999 to 2007 she worked at the Kolomensky plant. First, a process engineer. My bureau was responsible for turbochargers and trays of diesel engines and diesel generators. I was assigned the assembly of the rotor and rotor shaft - quite complicated to manufacture products.

Turbocharger 6TK

On the one hand, the work of the technologist is not directly related to design activity. But in each process there are a large number of sketches, and often the subsequent sketch differs slightly from the previous one. During my work, the department of the chief technologist was not yet computerized - and we had to do all the sketches manually. Moreover, we drew them on tracing paper with ink using a pen. Up to forty to fifty fairly complex sketches in the process!

The worst thing is to accidentally put a blot on the sketch, especially if it is already finished.

After a couple of years, when I met KOMPAS 5.10 (then still only 2D), I realized what I had been missing all this time: a tool that allows me to quickly and easily, using the commands “copy” - “paste”, transfer the sketches I need from file to file and make your edits. At that time, it seemed something transcendent.

I also recall the task of drawing up a workshop plan. The plant purchased several new machines, it was necessary to place new equipment and transfer the old one, taking into account the standards and the minimum movement of parts during their manufacture. We did this work together for three weeks. They cut the pallets of machine tools from paper on a scale of 1: 100 and tried to place them in the workshop, drawing aisles, movements of telphers. The main difficulty was the repeated drawing on millimeter paper of A0 format of the environment that surrounded the machines. After meeting KOMPAS, she mentally did the same job much faster.

In 2001 she moved to the design department: she was responsible for the development of the diesel oil system. It seems to many designers that pipe routing is a simple matter, in fact, everything is not so simple. Of course, there are no complicated calculations for strength, wear resistance. But you need to know the design of the entire engine, know how the nodes are connected, what additional equipment can be placed around the diesel engine, know where it is supplied, and take into account the dimensions of the diesel engine installed by customers. And also to coordinate and take into account the binding of the diesel by other systems.

At first they worked on a kulman. The sensations are about the same as when writing the technical process manually :) The work is interesting, often requiring brainstorming, but how it comes to translating the idea that was invented on paper is tedious, long. And God forbid, someone will make changes to the nodes - you have to redo a good half of the drawing. And these are three or four sheets of A1.

Then computers were installed, we got acquainted with CAD systems - and life immediately shone with new colors. At first it was a “zoo”: KOMPAS, AutoCad, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, Unigraphics. Of course, at that time we could not assemble a full-fledged diesel engine on any of these systems. There was a lack of both the capabilities of the programs and the capacities of our computers. But for us, the system engineers, this was a salvation. One powerful computer was purchased in the department, on which the external circuit of the diesel engine was recreated, and we began to run pipes along it. Initially, the usual extrusion operations. And not all nodes (there was simply not enough machine time for all), but only those where, according to our calculations, collisions could arise. But this facilitated the work greatly.

KOMPAS at that time only stepped into the world of 3D, but the main product of the designer is documentation. And here he simply had no equal. Firstly, the support of our GOST, and secondly, it was understandable. I liked to open some new features in KOMPAS, parameterization was very pleased. And a particular pleasure is the automatic entry of zones into the specification and renumbering of positions depending on the decimal number of the incoming components. Let me remind you: a drawing on three or four sheets A1. Previously, the arrangement and reconciliation of zones took a lot of time, and if changes were made to the numbering of positions, it was necessary to reconcile everything.

From 2015 to 2018, she worked at the SOMEX company, which produces equipment for the mining industry and spare parts for it. At first she was a design engineer. At that moment, when I came to the enterprise, the design department was small, and the product range was wide. The work was the most diverse: the product that you design today did not at all resemble what you did yesterday, and was very different from what you will do tomorrow. I designed pipes, pipe fittings, sieves and butas, pulp dividers and pumps. And since almost everything was lined with polyurethane, I also designed casting molds. Each time a new challenge.

I remembered the design of my first pulp splitter. We received a drawing from the customer with a request to make the lining polyurethane. At first, the task seemed simple, since we had a product drawing. But the difficulty was that the slurry divider was very large and represented a whole structure. It was impossible to transport it to the place in assembled form. Designers expected that the individual parts of the product would go to the enterprise and it would be welded in place. But metal with polyurethane cannot be boiled: firstly, polyurethane will flow, and secondly, harmful substances will be released during welding. As a result, I redesigned the pulp splitter, relying on the dimensions and characteristic points provided by the customer: broke it into pieces, calculated strength, took into account the maximum possible dimensions.

Pulp Divider

The design department worked at KOMPAS V16. I was familiar, comfortable. And then I was given the task of designing a pump frame. I decided that “it’s better to lose a day, then fly in 5 minutes”, and sat down to study the application “Equipment: Metal structures”. And found happiness. It turned out that everything related to profile hire and sheet material can be done much faster and easier.

Being a "trumpeter" is apparently karma. The design department grew, was separated into a separate unit, within which departments were created. I was appointed head of the hydrotransport department. We designed pipes and pipe fittings (tees, bends, gate valves, expansion joints, etc.), as well as pulp dividers. I continued to design, processed customer requests, adapted the projects of main pipelines to our products. A considerable part of the time was taken by checking the drawings. Of course, there were design errors in the drawings, especially in complex products. But most of the errors were of a design order: a sign of unspecified roughness, although it is not on the drawing, an error of tolerance between holes and so on. And these errors did not occur due to the illiteracy of the designers,but simply because when working with your drawing, "the eye is blurred." And the pace of work was very high. Remembering now this time, I think: “for every designer, according to KOMPAS-Expert, no matter how much time I have freed up for what I like to design”.

Now, working in ASCON, I try to make the product so that it would work “easier” for me “then”. Probably, those working methods that are convenient for me are not suitable for everyone. Indeed, each enterprise, moreover, each designer, has its own “beaten track” of design. He is comfortable as taught as used to. Therefore, I am always for the exchange of experience!

Konstantin Moskalev, head of the CAD construction group

I have been at ASCON for three years, before that from 2010 to 2017 I worked as a design engineer, in recent years - as a leading technologist / ISU in a company that specialized in the design of chemical and metallurgical industries. A feature of the work of the technologist is that the technological section in the design of industrial facilities is crucial for almost all other sections. As a result, the technologist has the task of issuing development tasks, monitoring their implementation and docking related sections - both with the technological section and with each other, and naturally, no one removes the task of developing the technological section.

Chemical and metallurgical industries are, as a rule, hazardous production facilities in which you deal with substances unusual for ordinary life. Therefore, the design of such objects is a rather creative process, at some point unusual tasks in the spirit cease to be: "what to make a heat exchanger for cooling 40% HF" or "where to make a fan for gases with a temperature of 400 ℃." However, the most difficult task is to interconnect various sections, since they constantly had to deal with the human factor, and people are more complex and more unpredictable than hazardous industries.

Now I am doing the same thing at ASCON: I set tasks for developers, highlight the highest priorities, act as a link between users and developers, and study feedback. ASCON has a fairly wide range of construction applications, and often to help our development team we attract external consultants: our customers, it happened to attract my former colleagues. Sometimes such cooperation is one-time in nature, and sometimes it becomes so dense that you begin to consider these people as part of a team.

Vladimir Panchenko, Head of Application Division

After graduation, according to the distribution, I got to the “Special Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering” (Kurgan). For six years he worked as a design engineer in the department of motor installations, left the company as a designer of the 1st category.
About the main products (infantry fighting vehicles) to talk is not accepted. But there was also civilian production. For example, the mini-loader MKSM-800 . Very interesting car.

Mini loader MKSM-800

Initially, the production did not use our documentation, but a CD from Slovakia. The product has already been mass-produced. The drawings were translated and rewritten according to our standards and given to the preparation of production. And then it began! On the very first samples manufactured at the plant, a huge number of inconsistencies got out. Designers had to turn on for real.

The engine overheated. The fan was four-blade and it was not enough for sufficient air circulation through the radiator of the cooling system. In the photo below, it is already eight-bladed, and in the drawing for it - my signature. But most of all the trouble was the muffler. Actually, it is simple (pipes with holes) and worked fine. But it was installed on the engine manifold, which “walked” on rubber mounts, and the tail of the muffler was supposed to fall into the hole in the back door, which also “walked” along with the body and awnings.

The design was re-performed. At first I drew a design, but it was spatial, in the face value, I calculated the dimensional chains. It turned out that the tail does not fall into the center of the hole, even at face value. Thanks to colleagues from Slovakia :) The design was fixed, notifications were issued. But the shop has already welded the party. I had to figure out how to fix the backlog. The solution turned out to be simple and cheap: they welded an additional flange.

All this happened in parallel with the development of computer technology. First there was CASCADE (the predecessor of KOMPAS), then KOMPAS under DOS, Windows. I also mastered 3D - in Kitezh / K3, DUCT. The modern designer will not even try to work like that, but we did not pick and choose. The main thing was to solve the problem, and creative approach and engineering ingenuity helped to work miracles. Then there was SolidWorks 97. It was already designing in 3D. For real.

As a result, all this logically led me to ASCON.

More than 20 years have passed. Of course, now there are slightly different tasks, but the spirit of the designer has been preserved. In addition, constant communication with users greatly broadens the horizons. KOMPAS is used to solve a very wide range of tasks - from classical engineering to the design of aircraft, industrial facilities. You delve into many tasks of users personally and, together with the ASCON-Application team, try, understand, master different approaches to design. And it’s very cool!

KOMPAS was created by engineers and for engineers. Actually, my biography confirms this. Of course, users always want more. And right away. This is not always possible. But we are trying. We are of the same blood!

KOMPAS developers - designers or programmers?