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.
Whether you’re already designing in FRAMES or looking for more support on how to use the software, we’re offering up four tips that will help you make the most of 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.
4 Tips on How to Design Even Faster in 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 to help you get started.
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
When 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
There are so many benefits of using FRAMES for your aluminum extrusion design. The FRAMES software is currently available for download and can be used right away to get started planning, designing and developing 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 frames@misumiusa.com.
