Creating Custom Weldment Profiles
by Josh Altergott, Technical Analyst

 

SolidWorks has supplied a limited number of Weldment Profiles, and there is a need for most users to create additional profiles. There are a couple of ways to add to the supplied profiles and things to remember when creating the profiles. These are the ways you can create profiles.

  • Create New
  • Copy/Modify an existing profile
  • Use ToolBox

All supplied profiles are stored in <installation dir>\data\weldment profiles. You can add to this directory but it is recommended that you create a new folder (locally or on the network) to store your new profiles in. This will keep you from losing your custom profiles when updating your software.

Make sure that you set your File Locations to show this.

 

After you set up your new weldment profile location use one the three methods listed above to create your profile sketch, we are going to show you the ToolBox method here.

 

  1. Select the type of feature that fits your needs and drop that into a new assy.

I chose a Unistrut member for this example.

 

  1. Next open that part that you created and save a copy of it to your new directory you created for your profiles.

 

  1. You can now close the assy and part file, and open the copy that you just created.

 

  1. Next delete the Mate References and the Extrude feature, you will be left with just the sketch. This is our new weldment profile.


 
  1. Now you will want to modify the sketch to add the location points for when you insert your profile. I added the points shown in green and the centerlines. You will want to add whatever geometry will help you in locating your profile.

 

Note: you can also set up custom properties for your profiles that will carry over to the weldment cut list in the drawing. (To see some examples of these custom properties look at the existing weldment profiles).

 

  1. The last step it to save the file as a Library Feature (sldlfp) in your weldment profile folder.

 

 

To create a profile using the other two methods follow these steps.

            Create new: Follow steps 5 & 6 after creating your profile.

            Modify Existing Profile: Follow steps 2-6, except in Step 2, open an existing profile

 

 

Quick Tip: for when you are adding location points to you profile.

The example below shows how if you add a line from tangent to tangent across the fillets and put a point in the middle this will allow you lay the angle iron flat.