My Journey with SolidWorks

It’s almost 5 yrs now since me and SolidWorks are playing together and happily growing. SolidWorks is more like a friend to me other than just CAD software. I cherish my time working with SolidWorks. I never know the tool I started using 5 yrs back will give network of SolidWorks gurus. It’ll be better to call them as friend. And I feel the list will keep on increasing. I would like to thank SolidWorks for being a part of my life.

I just wanted to share my little journey with SolidWorks with you all. A journey which is to go miles and miles, with both me and SolidWorks improving.

My first encounter with SolidWorks

It was year 1999 and I was in third year of my college. We were trained to work on AutoCAD only till that time. Computers were mostly new for us and we hadn’t had much exposure of other stuff we can do with computers. One of my friend got a video of a colorful box rotating. That was first 3d model I had seen. I was overwhelmed with joy just a child does when he gets a new toy to play. Wow was the word came out of my mouth. Without looking at the complete video, I immediately bombarded my friend with questions.

Did you make it? How you did it? Can I do it?

His answers were mostly NO but I was still excited and wanted to know more. Then I asked him if he know how it had been done. He told me that this all has been done through SolidWorks 98. He was sure that I’m still going to ask more so he told me that even he hadn’t much idea about SolidWorks. He said he only know that there is lot of cool stuff we can do in the software. I was still in thoughts that SolidWorks must be some kind of animation software (just like making movies). That day I made my mind that someday I’ll learn the software and do some cool stuff.

We passed out of the college, got into the job. The industry was 2D dominated. Most of the companies were using AutoCAD for their design work. With the year passing I was building expertise on AutoCAD but still that dream of 3D thing was in the mind. I started making 3D models using AutoCAD commands. Though the results were cool but still I wanted to do more.

Years passed like anything and I changed my job from Design & Development engineer to Tool Room head. I have been always fascinated with machines and love their aura. But I know there is something else I have to do apart from just a machine shop guy. I look around and got in contact with IDSPL, a SolidWorks Channel Partner and a Value Added Reseller. When they came to know about my zeal, they offered me to join their technical team. I had no reasons to reject the offer as I can see my dream coming to life. So it was mid 2005 I got my real encounter with SolidWorks and started with 2005 version. And from then onwards it just like a friend to me, helps in doing lot of cool stuff. And best ever gift from SolidWorks is the network of friends I have made in these years. I’m really thankful to all the SolidWorks geeks who have helped me to gain some expertise on the tool and SolidWorks team for their continuous support.

Growing with SolidWorks

SolidWorks has been improving years over years with new versions, adding new features, options and lot of other cool things, thus making a life easier not only for design people but lot of other communities. I’m sure there are many users out here who would admire this it has improved a lot over years and trying to give the users the best technology

Animation and rendering have always brought excitement to me. I see and talk with lot of SW experts and get to know more and more. With lot of improvements in Animator, I’m able to make animation in very simple ways for which I had to spent hours. And similarly with the introduction of PhotoView 360, I’m sure people like me who are beginners in the rendering thing, can easily learn the techniques as this tool is so simple to use. I’m excited for the release of SW2011 though I hadn’t had the chance to have hands on the Beta and Pre Releases because of some other priorities

Are you Exhausted

Thanks for your time for reading my story. I know that was way long though a short but never ending journey with SolidWorks. Hey wait the story doesn’t end here, you’ll have to read more. For your time I would like to tell you about the gift for you in the box; “Two SolidWorks Student Edition software”! Yes, you read it right and don’t need to read again. SolidWorks has sponsored to give away “SolidWorks Student Edition software” for the two best comments being made on this post.


Still hungry for more? Ok, you can also win prizes by taking part in the

But what is SolidWorks Innovation Day Virtual Event?

Last year Dassault Systèmes (DS) SolidWorks Corp. announced the first Solid Works Innovation Day virtual event. The event offers a brand new and exciting experience for SolidWorks community and is an industry first for CAD users in the Asia-Pacific region. The event was launched thinking of people like me who are not able to make it to SolidWorks World or similar events because of many reasons. The idea was to connect SolidWorks users and experts who are spread all over the world on a single platform so that they can share their knowledge and gain more expertise.

Some of the highlights of last year event

  • Through this virtual experience platform, attendees can choose over 40 different sessions from an action-packed agenda.
  • Speakers include CAD industry veterans, DS SolidWorks key executives, and product and technical experts.
  • Event was available in three languages; English, Simplified Chinese, and Korean, To better address the cultural and language diversities in Asia-Pacific region.
  • Attendees were able to connect and chat with one another. This gave the opportunity to share knowledge and gain expertise.

Moreover the event gave a feel like we are in an event similar to SolidWorks World. There was presentation on lot of tools by SolidWorks as well as its partner’s products. The best thing was the tips and tricks and finally the technical question session where a user can ask their questions regarding SolidWorks and talk about new development in the tool, features, etc. All the presentations were available to user even after event was over so that if anyone has missed any session, he/she can take it at a later stage.

Similarly this year also the SolidWorks Innovation Day Virtual Event will be hosted in same manner it was done last year. The SolidWorks Innovation Day Virtual Event will start on November 1st 2010. Registrations are already open for the event. So go and get yourself registered

The early bird prize for registration this year is new 8GB iPod Nano!

I hope some more prizes are being sponsored like last year.

The prizes offered last year were

The prizes offered this year are

  • First Prize: Ipad 32GB WIFI (1 Winner)
  • Second Prize: HP Netbook (Mini 210-2015tu PC) (2 Winners)
  • Third Prize: Ipod Shuffle 2GB (5 Winners)

    • Apart I hope to see lot many changes (new stuff) in the event as there is quite improvement in the tool and lot other partner products have been developed and used over the year which help to reduce your design cycle in a way or other. So if you have missed the event last year, I would strongly recommend you not to miss this year.

    Here is sneak peak on the agenda for this year.

    Choose Join the SolidWorks Innovation Day virtual conference, November 1-3,2010.  Through this online venue, you can attend the conference anytime you prefer, right from where you are! Each day, you will be able to view new exciting videos on the platform. At the end of the three days event, most popular videos will be available on the platform for you!  So, remember to come back every day to check out on the latest presentations!

    Also if you like to feature your design on the event or have some cool tips/tricks to share with fellow SolidWorks users, SolidWorks AP Community would like to hear from YOU! Write us a short description about yourself and insert 2 of your rendered images. Download and complete the user profile template from http://files.solidworks.com/ap/ve2010/community.pptx and send it to lxyi@solidworks.com. Stand a chance to win some of the prizes! What are you waiting for? Go Register and submit your design too. Who knows you can be one of the lucky winner!!

    Finally just want to tell you again to share your experience with the SolidWorks like

    “How do you actually find out about SolidWorks and started using it? What version was it then? How SolidWorks has helped you in your career growth? Any other cool story with regards to SolidWorks. Whatever you want to share, simply post in the comment area and take away “Two SolidWorks Student Edition software”

    This is not the end of story. You can still win a coupon for taking CSWA exam for free. There are 10 coupons to be win, so hurry up and share your experience with SolidWorks and become a winner.

    Please add a comment to this post here to participate

    Follow LetsG0Design on Twitter for every new updates!!

    Thanks for your time to read my story. Hope to hear about your experience with SolidWorks.

    SolidWorks question: why does opening a part cause others to open too?

    Have you ever opened a particular SolidWorks file that caused other SolidWorks files to automatically open as well? This can be very frustrating if you want to open a signal part, but then 5 other parts load with it.  Most people who encounter this behavior figure out that there are external references that link the files together.

    Over the years, I’ve seen people give several types of responses for this behavior in SolidWorks. Some people simply live with the undesired behavior. Others may say, “the file is corrupt,” or “there’s a bug in SolidWorks.” Some people spend hours trying to resolve the cause of the behavior without success (me being one of them, many, many, many years ago).

    The answer?

    SolidWorks is doing what it is supposed to do when you open one file, and then other external referenced files open automatically with it!  This is intended behavior.  It is also behavior that you can control at the system level.

    There is a setting in System Options that allows you to tell SolidWorks how to handle external referenced files.  It’s at Tools pulldown>Options…>System Options tab>External References.  At that screen, the fourth line from the top says, “Load referenced documents:” followed by a drop-down field with the following choices:

    • Prompt – ask the user before opening referenced files
    • All – open all referenced files every time
    • None – never open referenced files
    • Changed Only – only open referenced files if there is a change

    As far as I have seen, Changed Only appears to be the SolidWorks default choice for this setting.  To tell SolidWorks not to open external referenced files, change this setting to None. Save the setting by clicking OK button.

    loadextrefs

    That’s it!  I know, this seems like such a simple solution for something that may have been particularly frustrating.

    Tempered Glass Is Always Perfect…Except When It Isn’t

    This article is written by Paul Bieber of US Glass and Paul.  It is reposted here with his permission.

    Every fabricator strives to deliver perfect tempered glass. That is why you buy from them. Most of the time, they succeed in this perfection. Sometimes their in-house quality program will reject glass, but you never know this. What happens when they ship the glass and your foreman says, “Boss, we have a problem!” Could be you and the fabricator are working to different standards of perfect. ASTM C 1048-04 is the standard for Heat-Treated Flat Glass, either Heat-Strengthened or Fully Tempered. This is the puppy we should all be petting.

    Last week we learned that flat glass isn’t perfect, so if a fabricator tempers a piece of flagrantly flawed float (say that three times), and it still meets the standards, you own it. Tempering adds even more variables to the mix.

    Let’s read excerpts of the standard on distortion in glass:

    7.4.1 “Thermally tempered and heat-strengthened glass is made by heating glass in a furnace to a temperature at which the glass becomes slightly plastic. Immediately after heating, the glass surfaces are rapidly cooled by quenching with air from a series of nozzles. The original flatness of the glass is slightly modified by the heat treatment, causing reflected images to be distorted.”

    7.4.2 “…Fully tempered and heat-strengthened glass that has been made in a horizontal furnace my contain surface distortion. Distortion will be detected when viewing images reflected from the glass surfaces.

    7.4.4 “Sealed insulating glass units also exhibit distortion regardless of glass type. Air or gas, trapped in the sealed airspace between the panes, expands or contracts, with temperature and barometric changes, creating a pressure differential between the the airspace and the atmosphere. The glass reacts to the pressure differential by being deflected inward or outward.”

    The standard addresses concerns that we all have. It acknowledges that glass isn’t perfect. Mostly, when it comes to scratches and rubs in glass, the flat glass standard C1036, applies. So if a scratch is not visible from 11 feet away, it doesn’t exist. These standards are critically important to your business. Ask your fabricator for a copy, or go to ASTM.org, where you will pay a fee for a download.

    The biggest issues with tempered glass is size tolerance and ‘bow and warp’.
    There are special sections that address both of these.

    Here is a basic chart for size tolerance that should be adhered to:

    Thickness………Finished Size Tolerance, Length or Width, plus or minus
    1/8 ……………………. 1/16
    3/16 ………………….. 1/16
    1/4 ……………………. 1/16
    3/8 ……………………. 3/32
    1/2 ……………………. 1/8
    3/4 ……………………. 3/16

    As this is a plus or minus tolerance, one side of a 1/2 lite can be full by an eighth, the other side shy an eighth, making the lite 1/4 out, and it still is acceptable.

    The standard for bow and warp is based on the overall size and thickness of the finished lite. Let’s look at the allowable bow in just two thicknesses,

    Size(in) 20-35…35-47…47-59…59-71…71-83…83-94…94-106

    1/4 ….. (.12)…..(.16) …..(.20)….(.28)….(.35)….(.47)…..(.55)
    3/8 ….. (.08)……(.08)….(.16)…..(.20)….(.24)….(.28)…..(.35)

    A lite of 1/4 tempered, 48 x 96, can be warped over a half-inch! Do you find this acceptable? The standard does, and if your glass comes in with this warp, what do you do?

    Talk with your fabricator early-on in your relationship and understand what tolerances they ascribe to. Do they have a tighter standard for a high-quality piece like a shower door or table top, than they do for general glazing? This is the key. Know what your fabricator expects of themselves and you will know the standard you can promise your customers.

    One last thought, these standards are not law. If you make a contract with a customer to provide perfect glass, that is fine. Buy you probably will need to order two or three lites to get one that is dead-on perfect. If you try to always sell perfect, you better adjust your pricing now.

    The original posting of the article may be found here.

    Senseless Sunday: eyeing time

    • The old statement “a broken clock is right at least twice a day” is meaningless if the clock is digital.

    • The tool used in old shoe stores to measure foot size is called a Brannock Device.

    • The eye muscle is the fastest reacting muscle of the whole body. It contracts in less than 1/100th of a second.

    • The number googolplex cannot be written out since a googol of 0’s (zeros) cannot fit into the observable universe.

    Understanding the Glass Standards

    This article is written by Paul Bieber of US Glass and Paul.  It is reposted here with his permission.

    Glass and perfect don’t go together in the same sentence. There will always be something that the fussiest customer will complain about. Your two options are curling up with a bottle of Southern Comfort or understanding the glass standards that are used within our industry.

    The basic standard is ASTM C 1036-06. This means: American Society for Testing and Materials, Standard # C1036, updated in 2006. If you want to download the full standard (for a small fee) go at ASTM.org and you will see the breadth of their offerings. You may be able to get a full copy from your glass wholesaler or key fabricator.

    This is the standard for flat glass, that is annealed glass coming from the floaters. Tempered and laminated glass have different standards which we’ll discuss in the future. But this is the parent of all the standards. If something is allowable by this standard, it is allowable in tempered or IG, or Lami, or whatever. I cannot stress how important it is for you to use this standard. Your vendors do. I bet every glass shop in America has called up their fabricator complaining about a small scratch on Mrs. Johnson’s IG unit, and hears that it is within standards. You must understand these standards, and be able to manage your installs and problems using C1036-06 as a guideline.

    Let’s look at the standard. Again, this is for annealed glass, coming from the floater, or going to you, or to your customer. there are various sections in the standard, here is section 1.3: “The specification cover the quality requirements of flat, transparent clear, and tinted glass. This glass is intended to be used primarily for architectural glazing products including: coated glass, insulating glass units, laminated glass, mirrors, spandrel glass, or similar uses.” This covers it all. Your products are in this list.

    The next point to understand is there are 4 different qualities of glass mentioned, Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. Each has different standards, with Q1 being the fussiest and Q4 the most lax. Q1 is defined as glass for high-quality mirrors, Q2 for general use mirrors, Q3 for “Production of architectural glass products including coated, heat treated, laminated and other glass products.”, and Q4 as general glazing applications.

    The average glass shop should expect their products to meet Q3. Here are some examples of the Q3 standard:

    • Blemishes under 1.2 mm allowed
    • Blemishes 1.2-2.0 mm allowed if 24″ apart
    • Blemishes over 2.0 mm not allowed

    So if there is on small blemish in a piece delivered to you, you own it.

    Let’s look at one other part of the standard–The Q3 “allowable Shell Chip Size”, which details what size chips are allowed:

    • Chip Depth Less than or equal to 50% of glass thickness
    • Chip Width Less than or equal to glass thickness
    • Chip Length Less than or equal to 2 times the chip width.

    So if you sell ‘perfect glass’ and promise beautiful glass, you may not be able to purchase beautiful glass from your fabricator. Sure, you can buy two of every order, and one will be better than the other, but you won’t be in business for more than a week or two. Ask your fabricator what standards they use, and if they do the same or better than C1036. That answer is what you have to sell to.

    Tempered and Lami have even looser standards, which we will discuss next week [in the next article].

    The original posting of the article may be found here.