As a followup to an item at SolidWorks World 2009, Terrafugia has announced its flying car, the Transition, has made a successful test flight! They’ve made a rather non-traditional press release about the event on their website. It is in the form of a Photo Gallery. They also have videos of this and other events.
Model Based Definition (MBD)
As we move further into the realm of 3D CAD software, something that is still catching on is the idea of driving all specifications directly from the model file, instead of having a separate drawing. There are various terms for this, but I’ve seen Model Based Definition (MBD) most recently. I personally am not critical of this idea. I am critical of moving 100% to this form of documentation without better support from our 3D CAD packages and ASME/ISO standards.
Models are generally considered basic. All this means is that the tolerance is derived from some “other” specification. This is normally in the form of associated Geometric Tolerances. To fully define a part in MBD, you’ll need a GD&T scheme, often supplemented by traditionally dimensioning and tolerancing where needed. The difference is that if drawings are not used, this has to be done within the model itself and then is somehow communicated to the manufacturer. The task to communicate this information to the manufacturer via the model is harder than it might seem as first glance. This is due to the myriad of 3D CAD formats and versions now available. GD&T information may not translate to other formats, such as STEP and IGES.
Additionally, any information that would’ve appeared on the drawings now has to appear within the model itself. So, shortcutting the drawing step doesn’t mean one gets to ignore the information that would’ve been included on a drawing. It just means all of that now needs to appear in the model.
With that said, ASME Y14.41 supposedly standardizes this effort. In my opinion (and yes I’ve read it and “own” a copy), it is lacking right now.
If considering a MBD program, just make sure everyone understands that the model is now the drawing; and that means it will need to be as accurately detailed as the drawing would’ve been; and since this information is now in the model, a method of communication will have to be established with the manufacturer if they don’t have the ability to use the format where the GD&T information resides.
An alternative is to use the drawing in conjuction with the model, which together provide the complete specification. In this case, the drawing will still be the primary specification (usually for critical-to-function specifications), but it makes use model to complete the specificaiton. The model can either be basic, or used with some traditional tolerance. Where the model is basic, I’ve seen companies place a generic profile feature control frame in the general notes. This FCF is applied to the model for any dimensions that are unspecified on the drawing. If such as system is employed, it is important to clearly state this on the drawing to prevent ambiguities.
New Area on Lorono’s SolidWorks Resources
Recently, a new file area on the Lorono’s SolidWorks Resources has been created, called Engineering and Design. The purpose of this new area is to provide some general engineering and design reference materials. These materials are not necessarily related to SolidWorks itself, but useful to its users (and really anyone in the mechanical engineering field). This new area will be expanded rapidly over the course of this month to include files that provide organized tables and functional calculations regarding on wire gages, positional tolerancing, sheet metal tolerance, thread sizes, metal coating and finishes, etc.
If there are tables, calculation spreadsheets or other data compilations you would like added to this area, please feel free to contact me with your files so that they may be included. (I will not put up copyrighted material, like images of charts made by this or that publisher, without permission from the author. However, data itself will be welcomed, preferably within an excel file.)
Also, comment here if you have any particular requests for this or any file area.
Getting Errors when using downloaded Macros?
Errors when running downloaded SolidWorks macros (Visual Basic 6) can be caused by many different issues, depending on the macro and which version of SolidWorks being used. Here are some general points that may help.
Reference Libraries
Check reference libraries associated with the macro. These can be accessed by opening the macro through SolidWorks API editor (edit macro function), then going to pulldown Tools>Reference Libraries. If any of the listed libraries have the word MISSING in front of them, remove their check mark. You may need to replace it with a similarly named reference library that is included on your system. For example, if “SolidWorks 2008 Object Library” is missing and you are running SolidWorks 2007, then look for and activate the library named something like “SolidWorks 2007 Object Library”. SolidWorks may be able to do this automatically, but on many computer systems, you will need to manually make this edit, particularly if using a macro made on a version of SolidWorks newer than you are using.
Conversely, errors can be caused by having conflicting libraries loaded at the same time (i.e., having too many libraries). No errors will appear in the reference library list. If you are certain the correct library is loaded already, trying removing other SolidWorks related libraries one by one until the issue is resolved.
Also, the correct reference library may not be loaded at all. Research the line of code causing the error to make sure the correct reference library is loaded to support those instructions.
Additionally, if a macro was made on a newer version of SolidWorks than what you are currently using, its instructions may not be supported at all on the system running the older version of SolidWorks. In this case, you will need to find an equivalent API method for the older SolidWorks version, if one exists.
If the macro does not use Forms, a quick way to make sure you are using current reference libraries is to simply cut and paste the complete code from the existing macro file to a new one created fresh on your system. Often, this will fix any mismatched reference libraries, but it might still require research to make sure all the necessary reference libraries are loaded for that macro.
Sub-Modules
When executing the macro, make sure you specify the “Main” sub-module as the starting point. This is the section of code following the line “Sub Main ()”. Most macros are set up with Main as their starting sub-module. This is usually a fix if you are having issues associating your macro with an icon on a Toolbar, assigning a shortcut key, or trying to execute the macro from within another macro.
If the macro does not have a Main sub-module, then you may need to study the macro to discover which sub-module is meant as the starting point.
Copying code from online or plain text source
Sometimes when code appears in plain text, such as in a .txt file or from a forum online, it may not be formatted properly. Some of the lines may be too long for the plain text source, so they are line broken. This will disrupt the code, as SolidWorks API will misunderstand the instructions. When copy and pasting code from a plain text source, make sure to go over the code to insure all the lines are properly reconstructed by removing erroneous line breaks.
Sources for help
If issues are still occuring, contact the author(s), if available. Also, make sure to read over the material and examples provided in the SolidWorks API Help file included with SolidWorks. If those do not completely solve the issue, then search over various online forums dedicated to SolidWorks and SolidWorks API support. Many of these forums are listed under Forum Links. If the search doesn’t resolve the issue, then post a question on those forums detailing the issue and requesting help from other SolidWorks users. You may also contact your VAR, as the issue you are having may actually be a bug or known issue in the SolidWorks API system itself.
SWW09: A Swan, a Dolphin and 3 Matts (fluff article)
First the Dolphin
The Swan and Dolphin Disney resort is a beautiful place. It is actually two hotels that are kinda sorta treated as one resort. They do have separate front desks and you cannot check-in one and check-out in the other, as the SW Geek found out when we arrived (he went to the Swan when his room was in the Dolphin). The walk between the two hotels isn’t too bad.
The Dolphin appears to be larger. It has a large ground floor lobby (which is confusingly called floor 3) with a lot of lounge areas. There’s a bar off to one side that was frequented by SolidWorks World attendees on a nightly basis, and daily too. Unfortunately, the bar area wasn’t quite large enough to accommodate all the people looking to loosen up after a busy day.
The Swan
The Swan has a good bar. From what I understand, many upstanding citizens where debauched one evening by its karaoke night on Wednesday.
The 3 Matts
So, I’ve added the photo to the left here. This is for clarity so that everyone may know which Matt is which. I hope this photo clears everything up.
I’m kinda used to be the only Matt wherever I go. Its like, I’ve got a common name that usually allows me a certain degree of uniqueness. Well, not so in the SolidWorks online community.
Just for the record, I didn’t copy anyone with my name. I’ve had it from birth. Really. You can ask my parents if you don’t believe me. I’m not so sure about the other Matts though. They will have to give you their own references regarding the issuance of their name. (Just kidding guys)
To tell us apart, note that Matt Lombard had his bags with him the whole time. He was hocking his books from those bags throughout the convention in a true entrepreneurial fashion. Also note that Matt West can be identified by his jacket and glasses. As for me, is it odd that I really don’t recognize myself in that photo? I don’t know who that blond guy is…oh, that’s me. Dang, pictures really do add 10 pounds.
Quantity and Balloons in SolidWorks 2010
Adding quantities to balloons is something that many of us do when making assembly drawings in SolidWorks. This is a very manual and sloppy process which involves adding carefully placed text next to each balloon that points to a part with multiple instances. Some people use split balloons, but still manually edit each one for the desired affected.
Tobin Sparks and BalloonNote
Along came Tobin Sparks. Tobin was just starting out in the world of macro and API within SolidWorks. Tobin was a quick study, learning from the likes of handleman (expert API guy) on Eng-Tips and myself (macro hack). Tobin saw a need and filled it by creating the BalloonNote macro. This macro simplified the process of adding quantities to balloons. The macro does have its quirks, but overall it is very well conceived and executed.
For the past eight months, BalloonNote has really been the state of the art when it comes to adding quantities to balloons. OK, that’s a slight overstatement, but the macro is very cool.
What’s New Announcment at SWW09
Either way, SolidWorks has stepped up. At SolidWorks World 2009, the What’s New presentation showed off many new abilities planned for SolidWorks 2010. One of those new functions is the adding of quantities to balloons. Strangely, there are some eerie similarities between the SW2010 function and Tobin’s macro. I cannot get into too much detail beyond the announcement itself. I will say that it will be nice to have the functionality built into SolidWorks.