If the overall size of your models change significantly, there is a good chance you will need DriveWorks to change your drawing sheet scales to keep your model looking nice on the sheet. Imagine this is my drawing. Let’s say the height of my part does not change much, but my length (which is currently 100 in the model master) can change significantly. DriveWorks (Pro and Solo) gives us two sheet properties that we can use to drive the […]
With nearly every design, you’ll have a few variables that nearly every decision hinges off of… working height, conveyor height, cycle time, etc. These values always seem to change, forcing a lot of updates through out your designs. There are several ways you can link your SOLIDWORKS models to these constants. The most common methods involve creating relationships between your parts and other files [“Layout sketches”, “Skeleton Sketches”, “Phantom Parts”] these parts get inserted into all of your assemblies. It works […]
With nearly every design, you’ll have a few variables that nearly every decision hinges off of… working height, conveyor height, cycle time, etc. These values always seem to change, forcing a lot of updates through out your designs. There are several ways you can link your SOLIDWORKS models to these constants. The most common methods involve creating relationships between your parts and other files [“Layout sketches”, “Skeleton Sketches”, “Phantom Parts”] these parts get inserted into all of your assemblies. It works […]
When you first begin programming for applications, the Internet is your friend, it is usually the fastest way to figure out how to write a section of code. Over time your own personal code library is going to grow. You would rather use code from your own library – you trust it. The problem is that it is usually easier to find code examples on the Internet than your own hard drive! I recommend trying the “Find in Files” function in Notepad++. [Notepad++ […]
When you first begin programming for applications, the Internet is your friend, it is usually the fastest way to figure out how to write a section of code. Over time your own personal code library is going to grow. You would rather use code from your own library – you trust it. The problem is that it is usually easier to find code examples on the Internet than your own hard drive! I recommend trying the “Find in Files” function in Notepad++. [Notepad++ […]
In SOLIDWORKS Enterprise PDM, I do not like the idea of mixing languages within the same Enterprise variable. I want to be able to run reports and see BOMs in a chosen language. Multi-language reports and BOMs are difficult for users. I like adding a suffix to each variable name for each language, i.e. “Finish” is broken in to multiple languages: “Finish-English”, “Finish-French”, etc… Then define different BOM column sets pointing to each corresponding language. Same concept for search cards, […]
In SOLIDWORKS Enterprise PDM, I do not like the idea of mixing languages within the same Enterprise variable. I want to be able to run reports and see BOMs in a chosen language. Multi-language reports and BOMs are difficult for users. I like adding a suffix to each variable name for each language, i.e. “Finish” is broken in to multiple languages: “Finish-English”, “Finish-French”, etc… Then define different BOM column sets pointing to each corresponding language. Same concept for search cards, […]
I know companies that spend a lot of money translating drawings. Typically it is a slow, tedious, manual process. Since often times the translators aren’t engineers, you can sometimes get embarrassing translations. If your standard notes are blocks, translating these notes can be done very quickly. SOLIDWORKS’ blocks have a “FileName” property that a macro can easily change. Change the “FileName” property and the block immediately changes to the new block. So if you are clever about your block naming strategy, a […]
I know companies that spend a lot of money translating drawings. Typically it is a slow, tedious, manual process. Since often times the translators aren’t engineers, you can sometimes get embarrassing translations. If your standard notes are blocks, translating these notes can be done very quickly. SOLIDWORKS’ blocks have a “FileName” property that a macro can easily change. Change the “FileName” property and the block immediately changes to the new block. So if you are clever about your block naming strategy, a […]
A library of drawing notes for your drawings: Helps save time Avoid confusion with groups outside of engineering Makes training easier for new hires Make things easier if in the future you need to make changes to your notes through automation. I like turning my common annotations (notes) into blocks, then saving the blocks into my design library. Now when I am ready to add common notes to my drawings, I can drag and drop my notes […]