FMEA stands for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. Not that FMEA analysis has much to do with CNC, but you might come across it in your CAD studies. I will cover FMEA very briefly here. FMEA has really risen to power and prominence over the last few years because of software advancements and computing power increases. To sum up FMEA quickly, you are trying to find where and why some thing would fail or break before it actually does.
FMEA is a risk assessment technique for identifying possible failures in a system, part, assembly, process, etc. The Failure Mode part of FMEA are the ways, or modes, in which something might fail. Failures are any errors or defects that can be potential or actual. The Effects analysis of FMEA refers to studying the consequences of those failures.
CAD Software Price Points
I consider there to be a few different price points in the CAD Software Market. These can be categorized as hobby or professional price points. This is usually a good break as well in the features a program offers. Here is a quick run down.
Hobby CAD Software
Could possibly be free
$0-$500 price point
Could be 2D, 2.5D or 3D capable, usually 2D or 2.5D
Stand alone licenses
Meant for ease of user interface
Probably missing some advanced tools
Professional CAD Software
$500-$10,000 price point
2D, 2.5D and 3D capable
Network version that let multiple designers interact
Different modules or plug-ins like FMEA
Full featured, most every type of tool is available
Examples of Commercial CAD Software Programs
AutoCAD
Turbo CAD
IntelliCAD
Pro/Engineer
CAD Pro
Alibris
Solidworks
QuickCAD
Rhino3D
Before you buy you should really check out all the options. There are many types of software and each one is a bit different. You need to look over the advantages and disadvantages and then make the tough call.
