Design
SOLIDWORKS Smart Components
One of the great benefits of SOLIDWORKS is the way you can capture work and re-use it many times over. There’s no better way of capturing work then by creating and using Smart Components. You’re probably asking yourself what’s a Smart Component? Is it something new recently added to SOLIDWORKS? Nope. Smart components have been […]
The Magic Behind Hollywood Blockbusters Using SOLIDWORKS
Every designer knows that careful attention to detail on their designs is important to ensure the manufacturing team can build the best product possible. However, in Hollywood, a lot can be done with special effects and CGI alone so what if there is no a physical manufacturing? What if they are just designing for the […]
How to Create a Custom Weldment Profile in SOLIDWORKS
Within SOLIDWORKS you have the ability to create your own custom weldment profiles, which can then be used to create structural members and later a cut list. This video shows how to create the library feature part, where to store it and how to then use it to create your model. Additional weldment profiles are […]
New Tab and Slot Feature Streamlines Manufacturing of Fabricated Designs
A costly part of manufacturing fabricated designs (designs made up of components that are welded, glued and even put together with fasteners) is creating the fixtures that are used to hold the parts in positioning during fabrication. Because of this, many designers and manufacturers have turned to designs that include “self-fixturing” features that allow the […]
SOLIDWORKS Modeling Challenge – Measuring Imported Fillets
* This is one of a series of modeling challenges you can use to test your SOLIDWORKS skills. First, read the challenge and try to figure out a solution on your own. Then, compare your solution with my good, better, and best recommendations. As always, feel free to share even more tips and tricks in […]
Understanding Sheet Metal and Transformed Sketches and How They Behave
Sheet metal parts can have sketches in the Folded and the Flat Pattern states (Fig. 1) Sketches created in the folded state can have an equivalent “transformed” sketch in the Flat Pattern state. All sheet metal parts have a fixed face. The fixed face is the one that remains in the same position when unsuppressing the […]
SOLIDWORKS Tech Tip: Compare Documents Command
Often times parts vary slightly in design, which can result in different geometry. The Compare Documents command is used to compare the document properties, the features used, the geometry itself, or a bill of materials between two documents in SOLIDWORKS. Because the documents can be so closely compared, it helps identify areas that may cause […]
SOLIDWORKS Hints & Tips: Adding a custom size thread
In this blog post, we go through the process of adding a custom thread profile, should the profile / size that you require not be available in the standard options. Step 1: The first step is to locate the thread folder where all the profiles are kept, to add your own custom thread to the […]
SOLIDWORKS Tech Tip: Utilizing Curve Driven Patterns
While some of the common patterning commands like Linear Pattern and Circular Pattern can accomplish your modeling needs, sometimes a feature needs to be patterned along a face that has a custom curvature. The Curve Driven Pattern command allows you to pattern along a curve, which is extremely helpful when the pattern needs to be […]
SOLIDWORKS Modeling Challenge – Drafting Curved Surfaces
Just like previous modeling challenges, give this one a shot on your own before scrolling down and reading some of the possible solutions. As always, feel free to share even more tips and tricks in the comments below. Today’s challenge is to add 10 degrees of draft to the end of this 2016 cylindrical SOLIDWORKS […]
