Steve Falls -- ESF Diversified Inc.
Steve Falls had a great idea for making a common mechanical device safer: a shackle. Often used in lifting operations, a shackle is a horseshoe-shaped device with a bolt that can be easily opened and closed to allow quick fastening and unfastening of slings, chains or wire ropes. One of the strengths of the shackle, its ability to be opened quickly, creates a safety risk. The bolt in the shackle can work free, or "back out," during repeated lifting cycles, or with a swinging load, causing the lifting system to catastrophically fail, dropping the load and seriously endangering those working nearby or damaging property. To avoid this, people often over-tighten the bolt and end up ruining or significantly decreasing the life of the shackle.
Steve came up with a retainer to ensure the bolt remains in place and patented it. Not only does it improve safety, but it also helps lengthen shackle life.
Steve was looking for reasonably priced professional solid modeling software to help complete the shackle bolt retainer design and produce drawings for its manufacture. Extensive experience with Pro/ENGINEER gave him a clear idea of what he was looking for in a parametric solid modeler, but he did not want to spend thousands of dollars for Pro/ENGINEER or SolidWorks. An ad for Alibre Design in a popular trade journal interested him, but it seemed too good to be true. However, after one phone conversation with Jay, an Alibre sales engineer, Steve was ready to give it a shot.
"I looked at version 5.0 of the software, but it didn't have a feature I really needed -- a helix for generating threads. Very soon after that, version 6.0 came out with the helix feature! I was impressed with how fast Alibre came out with a major new release. I purchased the software the first time I called. I knew I had a 30-day money back guarantee, so I decided to buy rather than use the trial -- as a customer I get priority support. Given the price, I figured I could not go wrong if Alibre Design worked as claimed.
"I found Alibre Design really simple to use -- I felt productive after only three hours. Of course, I know Pro/E, but I think anyone can pick this up. The techniques used in Alibre Design are very similar to those in other solid modeling applications. I emailed Jay and told him it was a great product and there was no way I would consider sending it back. It is really hard to believe that software this good is priced so low compared to other CAD products.
"Even though the software is easy to use there are always things you need a little help on when you're getting started. The things I could not figure out on my own were readily found in the help files and manual.
"Again, thanks for a great software product. I will recommend Alibre Design to others -- I've already demonstrated it to a number of my associates and clients.
"Keep up the great work."
Steve Falls
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ESF Diversified, Inc. is located in Pasadena, Texas, about 15 miles Southeast of Houston.
P.O. Box 7608
Pasadena, Texas 77508
| " | I use Pro/E at work.
Alibre Design is much easier to learn and it provides essentially the same end result." | | |
Shackle bolt retainer, patent 5,460,418
| " | Thanks for a great software product. I will recommend it to all of my friends and people I know." | | |
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