Hey all! I never went to mechanical engineering school so now I’m teaching myself the best I can. To validate some of my designs, what FEA software do you recommend? I currently run commercial version of Solidworks 2026. I’d like to try free software first before purchasing the Solidworks plugin. Let me know! Thanks!

Hey all! I'm curious how does everyone organize their projects or jobs? I feel like organizations of our files is just as important as designing the parts. Especially when it comes time for revisions and manufacturing. In my line of work I design parts for my business and the other half I do job shop work for customers (3d scanning, 3d CAD and help customers find manufactures to produce their parts) For my job shop work, the folder tree starts with the Customer Name. Within their name I have their invoice or quote number of their job. Once inside the invoice or quote number I'll have a folder for engineering and manufacturing. I like to keep the original engineered part separate from the manufactured part so that I always have the original part. (saved as copy) Engineering folder will have everything related to designing that part. Ill have a folder for Hardware, References, Prints and 3mf for 3d printing prototypes. Manufacturing folder stays pretty clear with just the CAD file, STEP file and drawing. For my business, its very similar. I start with the vehicle manufacture first but it gets very much cluttered as there are lots of, vehicle models, type of part (armor, brackets, electrical), revisions, references and months to years of developing parts. I'd like to clean up my business folder so I'm curious to what everyone is doing.

I am mechanical engineering 3rd year student, focusing mostly on design and i am interested on automotive and part designs with a little bit of solidworks tutorial practice experience. Need help how to improve in design and what practices would help me.

January is over and the year is in full swing. Let us know in the comments of this post what you have been working on this year so far. Pics & screenshots highly appreciated. Also, check out a sneak preview of my latest design. Video coming soon-ish, still more work do do!

Also available in the classroom section. Check out this detailed description of the latest design.