How to overline text on a SolidWorks drawing

Occasionally, a SolidWorks user may need to state a number or variable as approximate within an annotation note.  The mathematical symbol for this is an overline.  Overlining text is not readily supported by SolidWorks.  One solution is to draw a line over the text.  This is undesirable due to the messiness that comes about when trying to associate notes with sketch entities.  Another solution is to create a new custom symbol within the Gtol.sym file.  This takes time.  Also, the symbol has to be manually shared if the drawing is opened on another computer.  

 Here is a quick and dirty trick for creating overlined text on SolidWorks drawing:

  1. Start an annotation note.  
  2. With the note active and your typing cursor placed at the desired location within the note, click on the Stack button from the Annotations toolbar.

    3. stackicon

  3. Choose the style with the division line across the center.
  4. Choose the bottom alignment option.
  5. Type your overlined text in the Lower text field.
  6. Select OK.

stackwinww

 The one drawback to this trick is that it will force spacing above your line of text.  This may only be a concern if one tries to use this technique within the general notes.

Turn Toolbox parts into regular parts

Management of Toolbox parts can be a headache, especially if they are used in a PDM/PLM environment.  There is a little known fact that may help some CAD administrators with their Toolbox file management issues.  By default, any files from the Toolbox are flagged with a hidden property called “IsToolboxPart”.  To make SolidWorks forget that a part is from the Toolbox, this property must be set to “No” for each individual file.  SolidWorks has a small utility buried deep in its folder structure that does just that.  It’s called “Set Document Property”.

 setdocprop

To access it, run the file at this location “C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks\Toolbox\data utilities\sldsetdocprop.exe” in most cases.  Once the program is open, it’s fairly self-explanatory.  Good luck!

Convert Entities workflow change in SW 2010

Convert Entities tool in SolidWorks  is commonly used to pull modelled edges into sketches.  Previous to SolidWorks 2010, the user had to select each edge or face and then execute the Convert Entities tool.  If the user only had a few edges, this worked fine.  However, if the user had a lot of edges or a chain of edges, this method was cumbersome.  Even still, many SolidWorks users are familar with the old way.  In many cases, the old way is actually best.

So, what changed? 

Convert Entities now has a PropertyManager.  The user is no longer required to preselect the correct entity types before starting the tool.  They can now start the tool, and then make their selections.  In addition to selecting faces and edges, the user now has the option to select a chain, which allows them to convert contiguous sketch entites more quickly.

What’s wrong with the new method?

There are several message threads on the SolidWorks Forums where users are complaining about the changes to the Convert Entities workflow.  A particular point of contention comes from those users who have a shortcut keystroke convertentitiesassigned to Convert Entities.  In such cases, the user only has to select their entities and then type one keystroke to convert them to the sketch.  This is very easy and fast.  The new dialog box in the PropertyManager drastically slows this process by requiring additional input from the user to dismiss the Convert Entities tool.

Is there a solution?

For us experienced users, there is a solution.  The Convert Entities PropertyManager has a pushpin.  With the Convert Entities PropertyManager open, simply click on the pushpin and then OK.  This will allow Convert Entities to be in “expert mode”.  In other words, the tool will work the same as it did in SolidWorks 2009 and previous.   This task has to be repeated each time the user starts a new SolidWorks session.

To bring back the PropertyManager for Convert Entities within the same session, simply activate the tool without any pre-selected entities.  The pushpin can be reactivated.

Long term solution?

The new workflow for Convert Entities is great, but it needs to be just a little smarter.  There should be a system option in SolidWorks that allows the user to pull the pushpin on the PropertyManager by default, instead of requiring the user to do it once for each session.  If you have an opinion about this, I welcome your comments here and on the SolidWorks Forum.

SolidWorks Legion April 2010 Contest Winners

The SolidWorks Legion April 2010 contest is over.  I wish to thank everyone for their participation.  There were a lot of comments made by many individuals.

First Place

With the most entries, it was no surprize that Deepak Gupta would win something.  In fact, it wasn’t much of a surprize that he won first place, the CSWP test voucher.

Second Place

Also not much of a surprize is that Joe Hasik would win something too!  Well, he won second place, the book “signed” by Sir Richard Branson.

Third Place

The third place winner is Donal Waide. I wish for Donal to have many cold drinks in the summer and hot beverages in the winter!

Congratulations to all the winners!

I was walking through the metric jungle

Today was a wonderfully sunny day, so I said to myself, “Hey, why not take a stroll through the metric garden.”  (Why do I ask myself such things? Don’t ask me.) The metric stroll should be easy enough, with its scientifically simple base ten measures.  The simple meter is wonderfully divided up into 100’s and 1000’s for convenient lengths of measurement.  It also quickly multiplies into…umm, kilometers.  No one uses hectometers? Oh wait, the French kind of do to derive their hectare.  It’s funny, that hectare isn’t listed in SI.

It’s arbitary

Sure, the imperial foot may have been based on someone’s actual foot length, but it is a useful length for some industries. Its not nearly as arbitary as the meter, which is defined as the distrance that light travels within a vacuum in 1/299792458th of a second. Why does SI use a bizarre fraction to define the core unit of measure for their decimal system?

Maybe base ten numbers aren’t all they are cracked up to be. What, never heard of metric foot? Or for that matter, metric ton, metric inch, or metric mile. Why do all of these units exist? For all the berating that the imperial system gets, the measures within it are based on real world needs. Since ancient times, units very similar to the modern imperial system have been common place. That said, it may be important to note that both SI metric system and imperial system have goofy offshoots.

Missing units!

Hey, what happened to the liter? An entire unit of measure for volume is missing from the international standard! Did aliens abduct the liter for use on their alien world? Well, no. It’s actually very common in the US, if that doesn’t seem ironic. Oh, and don’t get diehards started on a discussion about the correct spelling of meter or liter!

Psst, USA is metric!

Something else that is ironic, the USA has been legally metric since 1866.  So, it’s not true that the USA isn’t metric.  Neither is it true that the rest of the world is 100% metric.  Specific industries, companies, populations and individuals still have the right to choose their standards and measures, both in the USA and elsewhere.  Pipe threads in France are NPT, not the ISO sizes that were meant to replace them.  Pints of bitter are still actual pints in Britain.  Speaking of Britain, I’m reminded of the TV show Top Gear.  Miles, horsepower and inches are so commonly used on that show, I forget that the UK is supposedly metric.

This stroll through the metric garden is starting to look more like a forced hike through the metric jungle.