The cost of late discovery
A design error found at the desk costs minutes. Found at review, it costs hours. Found on the shop floor or at the customer, it can cost days, scrap and reputation. Automated design rule checks move discovery to the earliest, cheapest point.
Types of design rules
| Rule type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Machining | Minimum internal radius for the tool, hole depth-to-diameter ratio, standard drill sizes |
| Sheet metal | Bend radius vs thickness, minimum flange length, hole-to-bend distance |
| Moulding / casting | Draft angles, uniform wall thickness, no undercuts without side actions |
| Welding | Accessible weld joints, standard weld sizes |
| Assembly | No interferences, fastener clearance, tool access |
| Company standards | Approved materials, preferred sizes, mandatory properties |
How automated DRC works
- Read the model through the CAD API: features, faces, edges, holes, bends, properties.
- Evaluate rules from a configurable rule library with thresholds per material or process.
- Report results with severity levels and highlight the affected geometry in the model.
- Suggest or apply fixes where safe, such as changing a hole to the nearest standard size.
Rule SM-003: hole too close to bend
Condition: distance(hole edge, bend line) < 2.5 × thickness + bend radius
Severity: error
Message: "Move hole or add relief - risk of distortion during bending"When to run checks
- Live: lightweight checks while modelling.
- On demand: full check from a ribbon button.
- On save or check-in: automatic and non-blocking warnings.
- At release: mandatory gate in the PDM / PLM workflow.
Keep rules configurable
Manufacturing capabilities change as you buy new machines or change suppliers. Store rule thresholds in a shared configuration that manufacturing engineers can update without new software releases.
Design rule checking puts your best manufacturing engineer's knowledge next to every designer.
Benefits
- Fewer manufacturing queries and engineering change orders.
- Faster, more focused design reviews.
- Better collaboration between design and manufacturing.
Automate your design rules
ENGIMANDI develops design rule checkers for SolidWorks, Inventor, Creo, CATIA and Fusion 360. Read more about model validation tool development.