In production equipment and jig & fixture design, many companies face challenges such as rising design man-hours and increasingly complex CAD operations.

Equipment design, in particular, involves many parts and frequent design changes. As a result, CAD usability and processing speed directly affect design man-hours and development speed.

To address these challenges, Thai Escorp recommends IRONCADdesigned for equipment and jig & fixture design.

Top-Down Design Ideal for Conceptual Design

IRONCAD is a 3D CAD system designed to improve the efficiency of conceptual design. In many CAD systems, the design process typically follows the steps of creating a 2D sketch, applying constraints, and then generating a 3D model.
In contrast, IRONCAD enables top-down design, where the design progresses by directly placing 3D shapes.
With this workflow, basic shapes can be placed by dragging and dropping them from the 3D parts library on the screen, and their dimensions and shapes can then be easily adjusted.

This approach allows users to quickly develop:
・Equipment layout planning
・Structural design studies
・Conceptual design

TriBall Operation for More Efficient Design Work

One of the distinctive features of IRONCAD is TriBall. TriBall is a tool for positioning and adjusting parts in 3D space, enabling intuitive operations such as moving, rotating, copying, and creating patterns.
In many conventional CAD systems, multiple operations—such as setting assembly constraints—are required. However, by using TriBall, the number of steps needed for part placement and adjustment can be significantly reduced.

In equipment design, tasks such as part positioning, layout changes, and mechanism studies are common. As a result, high operational efficiency directly contributes to reducing design man-hours.

Smooth Performance with Large Assemblies in Equipment Design

In equipment design, assembly data often becomes very large.
In typical equipment design projects:
2D data: about 30 MB or more
3D data: about 500 MB or more

IRONCAD optimizes display data to 、maintain smooth performance even with large assemblies.

As a result, it offers the following advantages:
・No need for high-end workstations
・Smooth operation even on standard PCs

For the same design data, a STEP file created in another CAD system (338,783 KB) can be reduced to 127,892 KB when converted to IRONCAD’s native format (ics.file). As a result, even large-scale data can be opened in approximately 7–10 seconds.

Editing CAD Data from Other Systems

In equipment design, CAD data is often exchanged with customers and partners in various formats.
IRONCAD supports a wide range of CAD formats, enabling seamless collaboration across different CAD systems. The standard and optional supported formats are listed below.

[IRONCAD Supported File Formats]
■ Standard Formats (STANDARD)

■ Optional Formats (IC-TRANS)

This makes it easy to:
・Modify data from other CAD systems
・Reuse existing design data
・Maximize the use of design assets
As a result, companies can expand their equipment design capabilities without additional software costs, even when working with customers and project partners who use different CAD systems.

Robot Simulation Support

IRONCAD supports the integration of the robot simulation software icROBOSim as an extension.
With this feature, users can perform the following directly within the CAD environment:
• Checking the robot’s working range
• Motion verification
• Interference checking with surrounding equipment
Since both design and simulation can be performed in the same environment, it also helps reduce rework when design changes occur.

Few CAD systems currently support both equipment design and robot motion verification in the same environment, making this a significant advantage for improving the efficiency of production equipment design.

Ease of Use of IRONCAD from a Former Design Engineer’s Perspective

I have over 14 years of experience in jig and equipment design. After using IRONCAD, I found it to be a CAD system that truly understands the workflow of engineers.

Especially during conceptual design, engineers often:
• Place components first and then evaluate the layout
• Refine the design through trial and error

IRONCAD allows multiple independent parts to be created within the same workspace and assembled without constraints. This makes it particularly well suited for conceptual design, allowing designers to work freely without interrupting their design flow.
In addition, the ability to integrate robot simulation software as an extension makes IRONCAD a highly cost-effective CAD solution for equipment design.

Why Not Try IRONCAD?

Thai Escorp began offering IRONCAD in March 2025 and is currently providing product demonstrations and trial versions.
If your company in Thailand is looking to improve the efficiency of equipment design, we encourage you to experience IRONCAD’s stress-free operability for yourself.

▲ From left: Ms. Shimizu (Thai Escorp) and Mr. Ikeda (Creative Machine)

THAI ESCORP LTD.
Mika Shimizu
Manager & Sales Engineer / Welding Division

Creative Machine Co., Ltd.
Akimitsu Ikeda
West Japan Sales Group / International Sales Group/strong>