WebCAD

WebCAD is a CAD app that runs in the browser. With WebCAD connected, your assistant can design mechanical parts and simple mechanisms for you in WebCAD: it writes the model in ArchScript, WebCAD's text modelling language, builds it in WebCAD, shows you pictures of it, and gives you a STEP file that opens in other CAD tools or can go to a machine shop or a 3D-print service.

What you can ask for:

• Plates, brackets, enclosures, pulleys and other machined or printed parts, with holes, slots, pockets and rounded edges.
• Assemblies with joints that move, such as hinges, arms and linkages. WebCAD reports parts that collide or come apart as a joint moves through its range.
• Gear pairs and simple drivetrains.
• A first stress check of a part: a material, a fixed face and a load, with the peak stress and how far the part bends (2 WebCAD credits per study).

What you get:

• Every build reports PASS, or FAIL with the problems found, so the assistant can fix them before it calls a part done.
• Pictures of the model from the directions you ask for.
• A STEP file for 1 WebCAD credit, made only when the build passes. Download links work for 24 hours.
• In assistants that show apps in the conversation, a 3D view of the part that you can turn and zoom, with a STEP button.

Limits:

• A PASS means the model builds in WebCAD. Whether a part is right for its purpose (fit, strength, safety, manufacturability) still needs a person's review.
• Stress results are a first check for a person to review, not an engineering sign-off.
• A build takes from about 15 seconds to a few minutes.

You need a WebCAD account (app.webcad.ca). Looking up, checking, building and pictures use no credits; STEP files and stress studies use the account's WebCAD credits (25 a month on the Free plan; see webcad.ca/pricing). WebCAD does not keep your scripts after a build; STEP files are deleted after 7 days, and the 3D view's part shapes after 24 hours.