{"id":2530,"date":"2015-01-08T16:41:47","date_gmt":"2015-01-08T16:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.solidapps.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2530"},"modified":"2015-11-03T16:59:39","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T16:59:39","slug":"solidworks-tech-tip-path-length-dimension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solidapps.co.uk\/blog\/2015\/01\/solidworks-tech-tip-path-length-dimension\/","title":{"rendered":"SOLIDWORKS Tech Tip: Path Length Dimension"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Path<\/a>Adding dimensions to your Sketches in SOLIDWORKS is one of the first things users learn to do. \u00a0Dimensions, either driving or driven are critical to defining the shape of an object in SOLIDWORKS. \u00a0In some cases though these dimensions provide information critical to the manufacturing process.\u00a0Take for example the need to define, or get the overall length of a belt or chain. \u00a0In some cases, you need to know how long the belt should be for ordering or manufacturing. \u00a0In other cases, you need to work with a purchased or off-the-shelf component which has a pre-defined length.<\/p>\n

The Path Length Dimension in SOLIDWORKS is a great way to capture this information while designing your parts and assemblies in SOLIDWORKS. \u00a0To use Path Length Dimension,\u00a0first expand the Dimension fly-out in the Command Manager (1<\/strong>). \u00a0From that fly-out list, you will find the Path Length Dimension button (2<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\"Path<\/a><\/p>\n

SOLIDWORKS will then present you with with the Path Length Property Manager, including a selection box (3<\/strong>). \u00a0Here,\u00a0you can select any number of Sketch Entities to include in the Path Length Dimension. \u00a0You can select these individually, however in the case of a belt or pulley, it might be easier to use Select Chain (4<\/strong>). \u00a0Select Chain can be accessed from the right mouse click menu on any sketch entity. \u00a0This is a great way to select a series of connected sketch entities; in this case the entire belt path. \u00a0SOLIDWORKS will then add all of those sketch entities to the selection box in the Path Length Property Manager (3<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\"Select<\/a><\/p>\n

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All that\u2019s left is to choose the green check box (OK) button from either the Property Manager itself, the right mouse button menu, or the Confirmation Corner in the upper right hand corner. \u00a0SOLIDWORKS, then does two things. \u00a0It creates a path object from all of the selected geometry, and also adds the Path Length Dimension (5<\/strong>). \u00a0This is like most other dimensions in SOLIDWORKS, in that it can be a driving or a driven dimension. \u00a0In the example below, I\u2019ve changed the dimension to 765mm. \u00a0This value is now driving the overall length of the path; this can be seen by looking at the Reference Dimension I\u2019ve also added (6<\/strong>). \u00a0You can tell it\u2019s a reference dimension because it\u2019s both grey as opposed to black, and also less obvious is the very \u2018uncommon\u2019 value of 174.51mm. \u00a0This is great for cases where you know the length of the belt or chain that you\u2019re going to use in your design.<\/p>\n

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In some cases however, you might have strict location requirements for the pulleys or gears in a design, and instead need to determine the length of the belt perhaps. \u00a0This is where changing the value from Driving to Driven really comes in handy. \u00a0Within this sketch, you can right click on the Path Length Dimension (7<\/strong>) and choose Driven (8<\/strong>) from the right mouse click menu. \u00a0When you do this, the dimension turns grey, and several sketch entities turn blue at the same time, letting you know they are now \u201cUnder Defined\u201d. \u00a0To \u201cRe-define\u201d the sketch, you will want to do the opposite for the dimension along the top (9<\/strong>). \u00a0You will also notice, I\u2019ve changed the dimension to a \u201creal\u201d number, in this case 175mm. \u00a0In doing so, it has automatically updated the length of the Path Length Dimension (7<\/strong>) to 765.24mm. \u00a0We could\u00a0now take this value to the manufacturer to get the proper size belt made for this design if we so desired.<\/p>\n

\"Path<\/a><\/p>\n

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There is it, the Path Length Dimension in SOLIDWORKS, a very powerful tool that was introduced in SOLIDWORKS 2014. \u00a0I\u2019ve also provided a video below showing these same steps.<\/p>\n