SOLIDWORKS

Let’s discuss two pieces of software that work really well together in the 3D part inspection world: SolidWorks, and Control X. SolidWorks is one of the leading CAD tools in today’s design and manufacturing world. One of its advantages is that it offers you the opportunity to create a 3D annotated model. This can include things such as explicitly-specified dimensions, tolerances, 3D GD&T, surface texture symbols, finish requirements, and so on. This 3D annotated model [...]

There is new functionality in SolidWorks 2017 that allows you to offset 3D curves on a surface. Offsetting 2D geometry is very efficient. It allows you to quickly grab 2D geometry and create a same shape contour with a specified gap distance. However, when working with 3D sketches containing 3D curves, it’s not as simple. As of SolidWorks 2016, many steps were required to accomplish this task. Now in SolidWorks 2017, it got a whole [...]

There is a great new enhancement in SOLIDWORKS 2017 that improves the Mate Controller tool. One of the benefits in creating assembly designs in CAD is the ability to simulate component motion. In CAD, you are able to define 3D motion constraints called Mates so that the part interaction resembles real-world motion – whether you want to simulate a robot, a lift mechanism, or even a bionic arm. However, creating animations when a series of [...]

Since as early as SolidWorks 2000, SolidWorks has had the Hole Wizard tool to quickly help you create a hole on your part with a predefined cross-section, based on the standard and sizes that you chose, but now there is a new tool in SolidWorks 2017 called Advanced Holes. This is useful when the hole gets a little more involved, containing multi-sized cross-sections, like trying to create the holes for the shoulder bolts in the [...]

Today we are going to talk about the enhanced functionality to the Thread feature in SolidWorks 2017, mainly using multiple start threads. There are various reasons why someone might use threads with multiple starts. The main one is that it allows the lead distance of a thread to be increased, without changing its pitch. This proves useful when fine threads are required, but at the same time you want a quick advance, for example like [...]

There is new functionality in SOLIDWORKS 2017called Convert to Bodies, that allows you to remove the feature history in a part, while retaining geometric references in the assembly. This new feature comes in handy if you have a simple assembly and you want it to one of your manufacturers, but don’t want to share the feature history of the part you designed. One option is to save out the part file as a neutral format file, [...]

In today’s blog post we are going to introduce three new enhancements to Parts and Features in SolidWorks 2017. The first one has to do with using Instances to Skip in patterns. When creating a pattern, SolidWorks would already give you the flexibility to remove a pattern instance by clicking on the pink spheres; this way you weren’t bound to the array produced. Although at times, depending on how many instances you wanted to skip, [...]

A new in SOLIDWORKS 2017 called Convert to Bodies will allow you to remove the feature history in a part, while retaining geometric references in the assembly.  This new feature comes in handy if you have a simple assembly and you want it to one of your manufacturers, but don’t want to share the feature history of the part you designed. One option is to save out the part file as a neutral format file, such [...]