Part Archives - Page 5 of 14 - SolidWorks Legion

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.

Tutorial: Tag your features

tagsclipart In this article, I’m covering a topic of tags, which I briefly addressed in my recent breakout session at the SWUGN Summit – San Jose. What are tags? This website has tags that are assigned to most of its articles. Not just blogs, but many types of documents have tags which are used to increase searchability and enhance content filtering. SolidWorks added tags functionality in SolidWorks 2008. In SolidWorks, tags can be assigned to documents and features.

Instructions to assign tags to features:

In the view pane or FeatureManager design tree, select any feature.
In the status bar, at the lower right of the SolidWorks window, click the Tags icon.
Tags box will pop up near the icon and will include any tags already in use for that feature.
Type new tags into that field, separating each with a semi-colon. (Once a tag is typed, it is applied. There’s no “OK” button to accept.)
(Click on the Tags icon again to close the Tags box.)

Tag Location

Then, to use the tags:

In the filter field (at the top of the FeatureManager design tree), type-in the desired tag.
This will automatically filter out all features which do not contain that tag nor match that text in their description.
To redisplay all features, click cancel x in the filter field.

filterlocation

Enhancements planned for SolidWorks 2011

There were a lot of new SolidWorks 2011 functionalities that were demonstrated in today’s general session. There’s a long list of improvements. SolidWorks presented most of these improvements as part of an on-stage skit, so it was difficult to keep track of all the discussed changes. However, this is my best attempt to give a nearly complete list:

Parts

Revolve will be extrudable “up to surface”
Defeature feature allows for the removal of internal features of a part to protect IP.
Real View is “fully customizable”
Display Manage that controls settings such as color, transparency, etc.
Photoview 360 now has a preview menu within SolidWorks Works
Animation can be pre-rendered
Further improvements have been made to memory usage and optimization
Within Non-linear simulation, planar simulation allows the user to run simulation on a 2D slice of a part to save time; also, that 2D slice can be projected back to the 3D part.
Feature lock!

Drawings

Dimensions spaced evenly and in the right view (on new views, or to correct existing views)
Thumb wheel to change spacing of dimensions
Dual dimensions allowed in hole table
Weld tables now available in drawings
Weld callouts can be automatically added to a drawing

Assemblies

Chamfers and fillets can be used for weld prep
Cut sweep allowed
Weld gaps with actual geometry
Walk thru function, just like video games
Multiple piping enhancements

SoliDan’s presentation at SolidWorks World 2010

Daniel Bertschi (aka, SoliDan) is a CAD support specialist who will be giving a presentation at SolidWorks World 2010 on how to get more out of the solid models once engineering and design are complete. The presentation will detail how to “keep [models] working for you in manufacturing.”

Specifically, he will detail advantages of using SolidWorks models beyond the drawing, to create a variety of parts, such as: sheet metal, molded/cast, tubular, and machined parts. Dan also plans on discussing various methods of model use in manufacturing; and “potential hurdles to overcome.” Essentially, attendees of Dan’s breakout session should learn the potential their models have to save time & money in manufacturing & procurement.

If you are attending SolidWorks World 2010, you may wish to book Dan’s presentation on your schedule on Wednesday, February 3 at 2:45PM. If you aren’t going to be able to attend, he’ll be posting his presentation online after SolidWorks World 2010.

New 3D Printer under $5000!

Solido has announced that they will introduce a new commercial 3D printer that will sell for “considerably less than $5000″, at SolidWorks World 2010. If the announcement holds true, this has the potential to be a game changer in the industry.

Helping Solido to showcase their product are Scott Harris, co-founder of SolidWorks, and Terry Wohlers, president of Wohlers Associates. This will be at a press conference on Monday, February 1st (day 2 of SolidWorks World 2010).

Solido states that their goal for this product is to provide casual 3D printing of CAD models, just as one might print out a paper document. They claim that their product, called Solido SD300 Pro, will print models quietly, accurately and inexpensively right in the office with no toxic or messy materials.

They also claim that the SD300 Pro is suited for all stages of production with accuracy within .004”, including flexible living hinges. Printed parts could be drilled and finished, all without any outsourcing. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to check out their product and claims.

Stump the Chumps submission form

See if you can stump the chumps with your SolidWorks questions at our session in SolidWorks World 2010:

Stump the Chumps question submission form

Also, if you have files to submit as part of your question, please email your question and files to stumpthechumps@gmail.com.