Tag: symbol

Sort of a recent history SOLIDWORKS Symbols Library

Since SOLIDWORK 2012, new symbols were added to the SOLIDWORKS Symbol Library with each release. This is not intentional. This fact is an artifact of an increased focus on Drawing functionality in SOLIDWORKS since that time. So, just as a curiosity, I’m going back to see what was added, and roughly when. It’s not going to be precise in some cases because not every addition to the library showed up in the What’s New.

Note that this list does not include symbols created as part of new annotation tools, such as Location Label, Flag Notes or Movable Datum Targets.

2012-2014

There is an older article that covers symbols which were added from 2012 to 2014 called New stuff in SolidWorks 2014 (not mentioned in “What’s New”): Symbols. It covers the introduction of inspection symbols, functional symbols (such as Rho and center of mass) and introduction of drawing view symbols.

2014

Additionally, in 2014, several JIS weld symbols were added and supported in the Weld Symbol annotation for JIS drawing standard.

  • Edge
  • Keyhole
  • Scarf
  • Stud
  • Penetration
  • Backing
  • Chadding (following figure)
JIS Weld symbols

Finally, an updated version of the JIS Chadding symbol was added

JIS Chadding symbol

2015

Spotface symbol for hole callouts was replaced. The previous version of the symbol relied in the current font of the document, so text within the symbol only lined up properly for one specific font. This new version simply followed ASME specifications and ignores the document font.

Spotface

2016

Though not in the What’s New, several Inspection Symbols where added.

  • Left Filled Circle
  • Right Filled Circle
  • Top Filled Circle
  • Bottom Filled Circle
  • Full Filled Circle
Inspection circles

2017

A lot of new symbols where added to support ISO drawing standards, plus one new ASME symbol.

ISO Tolerencing symbols

ASME symbol called Conical Taper, which can be found in Modifying Symbols category:

Conical Taper symbol

2018

Draft symbols were introduced.

  • Plus Draft
  • Minus Draft
  • Parting Line Diamond
  • Parting Line
  • Tolerance Draft
Draft symbols, including one symbol that does not appear in the standards, but used by some customers

2019

More ISO Tolerencing symbols were added.

Additional ISO Tolerencing symbols

Your own customizations to the Symbol Library

SOLIDWORKS has a file called GTOL.SYM from which the Symbol Library is derived. This file is an editable text file. Here’s a couple of sources on how to edit this file to create your own symbols:

Do you need one or more symbols added to the SOLIDWORKS Symbol Library?

Although there is no guarantee of implementation, you are welcome to submit requests for new symbols via the Enhancement Request link within your Customer Portal. Make sure your submission includes any standards or other specifications to which your symbol must comply, the purpose of the symbol, and other information about the symbol to help us understand its use.

More information about submitting Enhancement Requests may be found at SOLIDWORKS corporate blog.

2013 Sneak Peek from SolidWorks Blog: Center of Mass

From the SolidWorks Blog,

SolidWorks 2013 won’t be officially unveiled until September 10, but over the next few weeks, we’ll be giving you sneak peeks at a few of the new features we’ll be shipping this fall. And here’s the first.

In SolidWorks 2013, center of mass is a selectable entity in drawings, and you can reference it to create dimensions. In a drawing, you can create reference dimensions between center of mass points and geometric entities, such as points and edges.

 

 

Plug for Enhancement Requests

In past articles, I’ve mentioned some enhancement requests (ER’s) for SolidWorks.  Most (All?) of the enhancement requests I’ve made are now SPR’s, which are slated for some action at some time in the future.  To get the ball rolling on these requests, I’d like to invite others to vote for these changes in the Customer Portal.  I’m not going to provide links to my requests, as they wouldn’t work anyway with the Customer Portal’s java script.   I will mention a brief description of each change, and bold keywords which may be used to easily find the open SPR’s in the Customer Portal.  These are my requests, many of which I’ve talked about prior to submitting them to the ER system.

  • Support new ASME Y14.5-2009 symbols on drawings and models.
  • Option to force captilization (note the misspelling) of annotation notes on drawings (original article).
  • Add CR (Controlled Radius) symbol (original article).
  • Support External Threads as an actual feature similar to Hole Wizard (original article).
  • and a new one (no SPR yet), the ability to auto insert angle dimensions and values in sketch mode, just as we can already do with linear dimensions.  (This was inspired by a recent article by Deelip Menezes, in which he apparently misjudged SolidWorks dimension capabilities in sketch mode, but ended up finding a good candidate for an ER anyway.)

I have other SPR’s, but these are the ones that are actually enhancement related (as opposed to bugs or workflow annoyances).  Please visit the Customer Portal soon.  Choose “Enhancement Requests”.  In the ER search field, enter the bolded keyword(s) for each of the requests above.  Then pick and vote for the associated SPR.