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Creating a Base Flange as
a Cross Section
Use a Miter Flange Instead
of a Hem!
Getting a Clean Tapered
Edge in the Flat Pattern
Custom Relief Type
Controlling the Default Bend Radius
Control the Corner Gap of a
Four-Sided Box
Create a
Fill Pattern with a Fill Boundary
Using SolidWorks
Vent Feature for Sheet Metal
Fixing Corner Relief
Bend Tables
SolidWorks
Built-In Calculator
Displaying Toolbars with
Keyboard Shortcuts
Change the Orientation of the Standard Views
Biggest Time Saver
for SolidWorks ... The Scroll Mouse?
Moving and Copying Features
Jog Fixed Length vs
Non-fixed Length
Add your Personal Touch to
SolidWorks - Part 2
Add
Your Personal Touch to SolidWorks - Part 1
Repeating the Same Commands in SolidWorks
Radial
Dimension on a Revolved Feature
Create an Edge Flange on a
Curved Planar Edge
Create a New Sheet Metal Forming Tool
Turn Off Sketch Relations Flags to See the
Sketch Better
Copy Entities Versus Mirror Entities
Hole Wizard Pre-Selection
Versus Post-Selection
Use a Miter Flange Instead of a Hem!
Sometimes when you want
to place a hem on two or more edges of a part, the Miter Flange
command will make your life easier. While it may not let you use as small of
a radius as you want (we all think we can bend zero radius, but we can’t)
the ease of use and control is so much better.
Getting a Clean Tapered Edge in the Flat
Pattern
Many times when you
design a part with a tapered edge, you really want the flat pattern to have
a clean, single line edge without the bumps along the bend area. See how to
accomplish this, looking at several techniques in SolidWorks to see which
one really gets the job done.
Custom Relief Type
When you create an Edge
Flange or a Miter Flange that does not go the full length of the edge you
select, you have the opportunity to specify a Custom Relief at the
short end.
Controlling the Default Bend Radius
In the general use of
SolidWorks, the default bend radius on a new part is whatever you specified
as the default value on the last sheet metal part you had open. How do you
prevent having to always check and change the default bend radius when you
start a new part?
Control the Corner Gap of a Four-Sided Box
A common part is the
four-sided box. There is one question that arises very often with this very
common part. How do you control the gap in the corners of a common
four-sided box to ensure that the flat pattern is squared up for punching?
Create a Fill Pattern with a Fill Boundary
A Fill
Pattern allows you to fill a defined region with a predefined cut shape or
pattern of features. You can sketch a boundary to be used as well as control
the pattern layout.
Using SolidWorks Vent Feature for Sheet Metal
The Vent command is a
unique way to create sheet metal cutouts. Think of the vents for cooling
fans on your computer. What would have been a long process to sketch is
greatly simplified by this feature.
Fixing Corner Relief
The Corner Trim
command is a great tool for preparing your sheet metal parts for
manufacturing; however, it does not allow you to see the results in the 3D
model. A simple work around is to use the Unfold command to flatten
the bends in the corner you are concerned with and then apply an extruded
cut to remove the material.
Bend Tables
SolidWorks
allows you to create three different styles of Bend Tables: Bend Allowance,
Bend Deduction, and K-Factor. But, the help file is not much help since it
is out of date and talks about the old text file method of creating the
tables. The sample tables provided aren't much help either, since they do
not use the correct format.
SolidWorks
Built-In Calculator
A lot of people have a
calculator close to their workstation. I tend to use to the Windows
calculator on my computer. Did you know that SolidWorks has a built-in
calculator? This may not be the most advanced feature of SolidWorks, but
many users to do not take advantage of this great tool.
Displaying Toolbars with Keyboard
Shortcuts
While many users already
use keyboard shortcuts, many miss the optional ability to control the
display of toolbars with keyboard shortcuts. Learn how to
the clever user can quickly create a powerful interface where the use
of keyboard shortcuts can quickly toggle the display of custom toolbars.
Change the Orientation of the Standard
Views
There are many standard
SolidWorks views to choose from. Once in awhile you get a part that just
isn’t oriented the way you think it should be. What you think is the Top
view is really the Front view.
Biggest Time Saver for SolidWorks . . . The
Scroll Mouse?
Your mouse plays a vital role in using SolidWorks. If you
have a two button mouse with a scroll wheel, the wheel acts as a third
button. SolidWorks takes full advantage of the common three button mouse to
pick commands, select objects, and accept features.
Moving and Copying
Features
A great way to increase your productivity is to reuse work that you have
already done. SolidWorks makes it very easy to reuse features such as
extruded bosses, extruded cuts, holes, and sketches by allowing you to drag
and drop features from one place to another.
Jog Fixed Length vs
Non-fixed Length
The Fixed projected length check box can be used
to maintain the original length of the part or to add material to hold the
fixed edge of the part.
Add Your
Personal Touch to SolidWorks - Part 1
One way to add your personal touch is using an image file as the SolidWorks
background. You may want to use a picture of your family, favorite car,
vacation place, or company logo. Then, share your
favorite background images with fellow SolidWorks users by emailing them to
us to upload to the website.
Add Your
Personal Touch to SolidWorks - Part 2
Another way to add your personal touch is using PropertyManager skins. A
skin is just a tiled bitmap image applied as a background of the
PropertyManager. Then, share your favorite background
images with fellow SolidWorks users by emailing them to us to upload to the
website.
Repeating the
Same Commands in SolidWorks
Many times when working in SolidWorks, you have to repeat
the same command over and over again. Or, you may use a few commands over
and over again. Fortunately, there are functions in SolidWorks that help you
out considerably.
Radial
Dimension on a Revolved Feature
See how to dimension the sketch properly to place the
desired radial diameter dimensions on a revolved feature.
Create an Edge
Flange on a Curved Planar Edge
SolidWorks 2007
now allows you to add an edge flange on curved planar
edges. Single curved edges, multiple tangent edges, cylindrical edges, and
lofted edges on parts can now be used easily to create an edge flange.
Create a New
Sheet Metal Forming Tool
You can easily create your own forming tools using the Forming Tool
command in SolidWorks 2006. The Orientation Sketch and the colors that
identify the stopping faces and the faces to remove are added automatically.
Turn Off Sketch
Relations Flags to See the Sketch Better
When working in a sketch,
sketch relations are very useful. A small flag appears in the sketch
indicating which sketch relation was used and where. Sometimes, though,
these small flags can add up and make it difficult to see sketch entities.
SolidWorks allows you to control the display of the Sketch Relation flags.
Copy Entities Versus
Mirror Entities
Sketches often
contain shapes that are used more than once in a sketch. There are various
ways in SolidWorks to accomplish this. Which way is better?
Hole Wizard
Pre-Selection Versus Post-Selection
There are two ways to use the Hole
Wizard in SolidWorks. You can either select the plane or face to create the
hole on before or after you select the Hole Wizard command. What's the
difference? |
