This type of auto-naming can happen when SolidWorks is importing a file from one of the common neutral formats like IGES, STEP, Parasolid or ACIS.  (SolidWorks can also save out to those neutral formats, making it one of the most ‘multi-lingual’ CAD programs out there.)  It can also happen if the original designer had a different philosophy or just a different language than you.

So what’s an easy way to rename those hundreds of part files?  Or at least remove the annoying prefix that the designer put on all of them?  One answer is Pack and Go.

One of the most useful new features in the 2007 release, Pack and Go makes a copy of your current file AND all its references in a new location or new zip file.  Just the fact that you can Pack and Go your top level drawing and not have to worry if its assembly, its sub-assemblies, its part files and all its external references made the trip safely is a revolution.  But that’s just half of the story.

What Pack and Go can also do is rename your files while making the copy, while keeping all those devilish little file pointers intact.  (Those file pointers are the reason your assembly references will break if you just drag-move a SolidWorks file in Windows Explorer.  They also cause indigestion, pre-mature hair loss and the destruction of hundreds of keyboards annually.)

You can click in the “Save To Name” column and manually change the names one by one, but the really cool tools are a check box to add any prefix or suffix you want to all the files.  (Like ‘- rev 2’ or ‘- for the Indiana plant’, for example.)

You can also do a find and replace in all the Save To Names using the “Select/Replace” button.  So, to remove that “Imported-“ from every file name, (and replace it with your own thing), just use Pack and Go!

The “Include Drawings” button seems to work only if the drawing is in the same folder, and the “Include Simulation Results” button doesn’t seem to work with Flow Simulation, but over the last 4 releases, Pack and Go has been our go-to tool for moving any size assembly, nice and safely.

P.S.: Even without SolidWorks open, if you right click on a SolidWorks file in Windows Explorer, you’ll get a “SolidWorks” menu, with a Pack and Go option.  Great for copying those large assemblies!

• Kinematic Systems
  • Movement of part(s) under enforced or constrained motion.
  • Fully controlled and only one possible motion result irrespective of force and mass.
  • Zero degrees of freedom
• Dynamic Systems
  • Movement of part(s) under free motion subject to forces.
  • Partially controlled and infinite number of results depending on forces.
  • Greater than zero degrees of freedom

In motion simulation, you can mix these types of systems, as in the case of a medieval trebuchet system. There are moving components that are part of a fully controlled motion system, like the gear mechanism, and there are free motion object (the projectile). SolidWorks motion calculates 3D contact between objects, incorporates friction, can accommodate springs and dampers and can even show you if any interferences are occurring during the motion simulation run.

In this setup, shown in the video below, we turn the crank of the trebuchet 2 and 3/4 times (990 degrees) for a duration of 3 and 3/4 seconds (pretty fast while in the heat of battle). Then we define contact occurs where two wedge shaped components come together, which triggers the projectile to slide down into the basket. In the basket, we define a virtual spring, which pushes the projectile snug into the correct launching position. Once the 3 and 3/4 seconds are up, we get out of the way of the crank and let it go, to watch the rack and pinion gear system, which is sent back in the opposing direction due to a large counterweight and we see the projectile launch.

Once the simulation has actually run, we can get a rich amount of plot data , including how much torque is required to turn the crank (Do we need Andre the Giant from the Princess Bride and wrestling fame to turn the crank?) or as we mentioned earlier, we want to know how much damage we inflicted on my enemy. Simply choose the plots button in the SolidWorks Motion interface and choose the Category of plot you wish, in our case Displacement/Velocity/Acceleration and then choose a sub-category, in our case linear velocity, and then the component direction, in our case the magnitude. Then click on the projectile inside of SolidWorks and we can then get the speed of the object when it hits the enemy, which is 527 in/sec (around 30 mph). Not bad for a miniature version of the trebuchet projectile at 1/2 a pound which sits on my desk in Meriden, CT.)

The rediscovered shortcut is to pre-select the edges of the holes that you wish to add hardware to. These can be on completely separate surfaces, or on separate parts. After you choose the edges, go ahead and right-mouse button click on the part in the Toolbox browser and choose “Insert into assembly” Then it will happily go on its way to placing the hardware in exactly as you will it. At the end of the process, it will then prompt for the size and length, which you can select in the PropertyManager or dynamically on-screen with the drop down list and green arrow. See the YouTube video below for more.

The layout sketching technique is quite powerful, especially for larger designs and machinery. Take a look at the engine image below. You can see how one could design a quick mechanism in 2D, with all the mechanism dynamics of the alternator bracket, positions of belt tensioners, ect… Each of these components would be “block” entities in a single layout sketch in assembly mode. Once the components work to you satisfaction, you can drop in the 3D components if they all ready exist and mate them to the layout sketch. This approach is also great for program managers who want to retain control over the position of components and assign ownership of subsystems of components to project engineers using SolidWorks Enterprise PDM.

The other class in the Horizontal phylum of mates is the Delphi class. I did not make this up. This is been a technique that has been around for quite some time in the world of CAD. Long before SolidWorks and their new-fangled geometric, associative mates, the Delphi technique allows engineering teams to mates systems of components to datum planes that are strategically places. Much like the compartments of a submarine, components are mated to sketching planes are various stations., as in the image below.

This technique actually holds a patent, filed under US Patent 7472044, in which the patent abstract states: Abstract
A method for converting a vertically structured CAD/CAM model to a horizontally structured CAD/CAM model, comprising: identifying and establishing a base feature; establishing a parent coordinate system; identifying a parent modeling element; identifying each dependency for each feature from the parent modeling element; restructuring each dependency for each feature for placement, such that each feature exhibits a direct associative relationship with a reference feature; and restructuring each dependency for each feature for positioning, such that each feature exhibits a direct associative relationship with another reference feature.

The most common use for the AssemblyXpert in SolidWorks is to ask the assembly how many parts it has. No need for Sodium Pentathol here. Just go to the Tools… pulldown menu or the Evaluate tab in the Command Manager and choose AssemblyXpert. You will then be presented with a host of stats relating to your design.
You will note it spills it’s guts relating to top level components, mates being solved, ect…

I got a great tip from my colleague at CAPINC Al Zullo while he was working with a customer. The customer’s assembly disappeared, all the components in the feature tree were still showing. The zoom to fit command blew the screen to infinity. Once again, we bring in the AssemblyXpert. The tool told us that there was a component “very far away from the origin” and showed a wrench button….click….moved the component into view and the zoom factor fixed itself. He didn’t even need to initiate waterboarding!