Art Woodbury
Creating DXF Files in SolidWorks
3D (-1) (Exporting 2D DXF files) We design in a 3D world, but many parts are manufactured from flat sheet. The flat pattern of a sheet metal part and flat plates used in weldments are examples. Laser and waterjet cutters of flat parts may want to use a DXF file instead of native geometry. Let’s [...]
SolidWorks Tech Tip: Imported Sheet Metal Parts
You may have to work with imported sheet metal parts that have problems. Here’s a roughly modeled part made to look like sheet metal. There are no bend reliefs and the bends are all made with sharp corners. SolidWorks is very good at converting parts like these. Using the Insert Bends command almost finishes the [...]
SolidWorks Tech Tip: Showing all assembly mates between 2 parts
It’s easy to see where a single mate is located. Just mouse over an item in the Mates folder, and that mate highlights in the graphics window: What if you’re interested in seeing all the mates between two specific parts? If there are a lot of mates in the folder, the method above is hit-or-miss, [...]
SolidWorks Tech Tip: Looking under the surface
Contract manufacturers often receive solid models in a neutral format, such as Parasolid, STEP or IGES. These formats preserve the geometry, but they have no feature history. This can make them difficult to edit using normal solid features. A way around these limitations is “direct editing” of the model, and recently there has been a [...]
SolidWorks Tech Tip: Transformers (real ones, not action figures)
SolidWorks has a command to make a circular helix along a straight line. But how do you make a helix that isn’t circular and doesn’t follow a straight path? These shapes are found in many products, such as heat exchanger tubing, springs and wrapped wires. Let’s look at a model of a toroidal transformer where [...]
SolidWorks Tech Tip: Fit Spline (you CAN have it all)
Splines are versatile. They define the complex, organic shapes that are important in industrial design. But there’s a price to pay: controlling splines usually requires moving spline points, dragging control handles and editing tangent influences. That’s a lot of work, although often it’s necessary. Fortunately, there are times when you can get the smoothness (“curvature [...]
The “Wild Kingdom” of mates in SolidWorks Part II
What’s the fastest way to show mates between two components in SolidWorks? This was a question posed to the tech team here at CAPINC at our internal Beat the Geek challenge last week. Let’s uncover some of the possible solutions: One method is to use the Show Mates function that is part of context menu [...]
