Upgrading a Cubicle Hook with SOLIDWORKS Simulation Topology Study<\/h1>\n
By Brad Phillips<\/em><\/p>\n I recently purchased a small 3D Printer at home and it is really fun to use the power of SOLIDWORKS to design and print little things that are useful in everyday life. At work, I recently needed a hook to hang my coat on which would hang in my cubicle. Online I found a cubicle hook<\/a> that matched the dimensions of the grooves of a standard cubicle. I decided to print it out and see how if it worked. It worked fine but I knew I could use SOLIDWORKS to improve it. Make it stronger, lighter and more organic looking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The original model & original model printed<\/em><\/p>\n Topology Study Mesh & and creating a thin extrude from a sketch of the topology study<\/em><\/p>\n Using a\u00a0SOLIDWORKS Simulation Topology Study<\/a> and the original model I generated the mesh above. From that mesh, I was able to create a thin extrude from a bunch of splines that were traced. After a little cleanup, the new topology optimized hook was ready to be printed.<\/p>\n Final Model & Final 3D Print<\/em><\/p>\n The final print was able to cut the weight of the hook by over 10% which also decreased the amount of filament required for the print. The final hook also feels much stronger and has much less flex when a coat or bag is hanging on it. This was a fun,\u00a0practical use of SOLIDWORKS Simulation Topology study. If you would like to download and print out the hook for yourself, here is a link to download the STL<\/a>.<\/p>\n By Petr Sadlo<\/em><\/p>\n Have you ever encountered a failing task in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional? Here is a little summary how SOLIDWORKS PDM tasks work and some pointers in troubleshooting tasks.<\/p>\n SOLIDWORKS PDM tasks are an API add-in that can run on a remote client(s), on demand, triggered by workflow or scheduled. The task is triggered on the client, queued up in the database, then processed on \u2018Task hosts\u2019. Since the task is based on API anything you can do to file(s) via API, you can do via task as well.<\/p>\n The SOLIDWORKS PDM add-in \u2018SWTaskAddin<\/strong>\u2018 delivered with SOLIDWOKRS PDM is a VB based Add-In and it offers an exposed script allowing user modification.<\/p>\n The script is evaluated during a runtime and passed into the SOLIDWORKS application as a SOLIDWORKS macro. If the task fails, there are few techniques on how to troubleshoot it.<\/p>\n What to focus on when a task fails?<\/strong><\/p>\n If and when a task fails, there will be an indication of what caused the failure in the \u2018Task List\u2019 of the Administration tool.<\/p>\n In addition:<\/p>\n 1. If a log file was produced<\/u> \u2013 check the task log for more details and reason of the failure<\/p>\n Example of failing task log:<\/p>\n ~In this example the reason for failure is self-explanatory, the user is lacking permissions in the target folder.<\/p>\n 2. If there is no log file<\/u>, it may indicate that the script was never processed, likely due to the syntax error introduced by user modification \u2013 in this case compare with the default task (copy the current script into text file then \u2018Reset\u2019 the script and copy the \u2018clean\u2019 script into another text file \u2013 compare them, look for places where the scripts differ\u00a0and focus on the changes)<\/p>\n 3. Define \u2018SOLIDWORKS version to use\u2019<\/u> in task \u2018Advanced Scripting Options<\/strong>\u2018<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4.\u00a0Make sure you can run the macro manually in SOLIDWORKS<\/u>. In order to do that you will need to capture the evaluated script\/macro. (In order to do that you will need to insert \u2018Debug.Assert False<\/strong>\u2018 statement into the existing script, right at the beginning on the Main routine, this will break the execution of the script and you can then access the final macro that would be otherwise passed to SOLIDWORKS.<\/p>\n This will allow you to save and run this macro manually in SOLIDWORKS line by line until you find the place where it fails.). Once the MS Visual Application interface (pictured above) appears, save the macro and close this interface. Then open SOLIDWOKRS and run the macro via \u2018Tools\u2019 > \u2018Macro\u2019 > \u2018Run\u2019.<\/p>\n 5. If there is no problem manually executing the macro and the task is still failing, try different task host<\/u>, keep in mind that a user MUST be logged in on the task host<\/p>\n Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n There are numerous reasons why a task can fail, and the VB based SWTaskAddIn allows us to capture the evaluated script and walk through the macro execution in SOLIDWORKS directly. There has been a lot written about troubleshooting tasks and the SOLIDWORKS Knowledge Base contains a number of solutions that may explain a specific reason for task failing.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/Original-Model-271x300.png\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/IMG_4311-e1534444203862-225x300.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/IMG_4304-e1534444250673-225x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/Topology-Mesh-255x300.png\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/Topology-Sketch-218x300.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/Final-Model-224x300.png\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/IMG_4312-e1534444046423-225x300.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/IMG_4297-e1534444577692-225x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAdvanced Troubleshooting of task based on SOLIDWORKS PDM Task Add-In (SWTaskAddin)<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SWTaskAddin-1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SWTaskAddin-2.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SWTaskAddin-3.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SWTaskAddin-4-615x365.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SWTaskAddin-5.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SWTaskAddin-6.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SWTaskAddin-7-615x415.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SWTaskAddin-8.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SWTaskAddin-9.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SWTaskAddin-10.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SWTaskAddin-11-615x313.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNoteworthy Solutions from the SOLIDWORKS Knowledge Base<\/h1>\n
![\"icon](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/Screen-capture3.png\")
How can this behavior be addressed: SOLIDWORKS\u00ae does not launch; stuck on loading registry, running Activation Wizard hangs when activating automatically or creating an email activation request file?<\/b>
\nFor more information, see Solution Id: S-074683<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/SOLIDWORKS-Electrical-Icon.png\"){kind=icon}
In a SOLIDWORKS\u00ae Electrical integration with SOLIDWORKS PDM, when I click \u2018Check in\u2019 for a project, can I delete the files from the electrical database at the same time?<\/b>
\nYes. Using the \u2018Check In\u2019 dialog box for all of SOLIDWORKS\u00ae Electrical projects, drawings, 3D models, reports, and data files, you can select the \u2018Remove local copy\u2019 option, see Solution Id: S-074966<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Icon](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/Screen-capture1.png\")
In the log file for the Migration XML Import tool, why do I see the error \u2018Failed to load XML file. Error code 0x80004005, reason \u2018Unspecified error, Error processing resource \u2018ePDMimport.dtd\u2019. \u2018 in source line \u201d. Line=0, position=0\u2019?<\/b>
\nFor more information, see Solution Id: S-074893<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/Screen-capture4.png\")
Has access to the SOLIDWORKS\u00ae Simulation Offloaded Simulation functionality always required active Subscription Services (maintenance) for SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium?
\n<\/b>Yes. The following requirements are in effect since the initial availability of the SOLIDWORKS\u00ae Simulation Offloaded Simulation functionality, See Solution Id: S-074707<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/Flow-Simulation-icon.png\"){kind=icon}
In SOLIDWORKS\u00ae Flow Simulation, what is the \u201cDirectory for external databases\u201d and how do I use it?<\/b>
\nFor more information, see Solution Id: S-074743<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n