Annotation views are a tool used in SOLIDWORKS to organize product manufacturing information (PMI). Using annotation views a user can group specific annotations together and simultaneously orient the part normal to a plane in order to give a manufacturer a better grasp of the part.
Although I usually organize all my PMI into standard annotation views such as the Top, Right and Front views typical of engineering drawings, I sometimes find it useful to organize my annotations into further sub-categories. In this example I created additional annotation views in a model of a suspension rocker that would be used on a mountain bike.
Since this rocker consists of two milled pieces connected by a welded bar, I needed to use annotations for both the machining and welding processes that would produce the part. In addition, I placed a set of dimensions that would later be used in assembling the full bike suspension system.
Although the PMI I placed was enough to define the part, I ran into issues with organization because there was more than one manufacturing process required to complete the part. Since my initial annotation views only grouped the annotations by their viewing plane, the machining, welding and assembly information was all displayed in the same views. A more effective way of displaying the annotations was to group them by their manufacturing discipline in addition to their viewing plane.
To better organize my PMI I made duplicates of my standard annotation views and renamed them according to their manufacturing disciplines. As a result, the makers of the suspension rocker would be able to hide unneeded information when looking at the model so that they could focus only on information that pertained to their manufacturing processes.
Originally posted by Tyler Smith in the SOLIDWORKS Tech Blog.
Find out more on SOLIDWORKS
Contact Sales
Request a Demo
