If you’ve used SOLIDWORKS, you have probably used Interference Detection; it’s a great tool for finding static interferences in assemblies. (It can be found on the Evaluate Command Tab). If you’re like me, sometimes you will mate your components and they will overlap in some way, but it will not be overtly obvious. Interference detection can help reveal what is intersecting so that you can fix the problem. Even a super useful tool like Interference Detection has its limits though, […]
The standard method for documenting your design is to create a drawing file for the assembly, and several other drawing files for each individual component. Alternatively, it may be ideal to have the component information contained as separate sheets in a single drawing file. This method is more common with smaller assemblies but could also be scaled up and applied to larger ones. With this approach, you might have the assembly shown on the first sheet and the various components […]
When moving your SOLIDWORKS License Manager to a new or temporary server, there are several steps you can take to make your life easier and minimize or even eliminate any downtime for your SOLIDWORKS users. This involves some setup on the Server machine and Client machines, but if you follow these steps, the actual switch over for Server machines should only take a few minutes. We will focus on the NEW Server Location first: Step 1) If you are using […]
Not long ago I was helping a customer with a SOLIDWORKS Composer support question. The customer was working on creating a Bill of Materials and various items were changing from view to view. This type of issue is something I hear about regularly so let’s look at this behavior with the following example, “why are my callouts changing or simply blank?” In this first view, you can see that the callout shows item 6. Also, notice the selected component is […]
One of my favorite new features in SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional 2019 is the ability to create decals using video images. We can now apply decals using *.mp4 and *.avi files, just as we would with static image files in the past. This functionality makes simulating screens in animations, like the video below, incredibly easy. Notice that in this video, the animated decal actually emits light into the scene. Just like standard decals, we can control appearances, mapping, and more with […]
Adding your own list of content definitions to the Library of parts data is not a difficult process. SOLIDWORKS Schematic has a feature allowing data to be imported in the form of Excel files or text files for part and attribute creation. Step 1: Importing the Data You are able to select the type of files (text or Excel file) as the data source and to be imported. Step 2: Definition of a Data Range Pick the Data range for data to […]
This questions came up recently with a customer. How to automate converting SOLIDWORKS parts to DXF? If the part is Sheet Metal, this is easily done directly from the part with a Right Click. For non-sheet metal parts, this can be completed using the Task Scheduler in SOLIDWORKS Professional 2018. This process will require two trips through the Task Scheduler. The first step will insert the parts into drawings and the second is to export drawings to DXF. The easiest […]
Simplify, simplify, simplify! I cannot count how many times I’ve had this discussion with customers when reviewing their CAD models and listening to what they want to analyze with SOLIDWORKS Simulation. I know how easy it is to start a new SOLIDWORKS Simulation study and begin setting up an analysis on fully-featured CAD models – click a button and you’re on your way. Let’s look at an example of starting simple and working towards the complex with SOLIDWORKS Simulation that […]
Have you ever opened up a drawing and got the dreaded empty drawing views because the drawing cannot find the SOLIDWORKS part or assembly file references? Ugh. Now what??? You don’t even have any way of seeing what the missing reference file used to look like or should look like? No worries. DO NOT SAVE the SOLIDWORKS drawing file with the missing file references. Just close the drawing without saving. In SOLIDWORKS, go to the Open File Open select Quick […]
HTML five you say, that sounds great…. What’s HTML 5? Well, it’s simple, “HTML5 is the latest version of Hypertext Markup Language that defines web pages.” In other words, it’s the lifeblood of modern web pages. HTML 5 is a very common language for all web browse big and mobile can see and use. If you have a mobile phone, PC, MAC or a raspberry pi, you are going to be able to view that content. As you can see by […]