34 people attended this meeting.

Transcription

1 NEWSUG Meeting Minutes February 8, 2011, 5:00 p.m. Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, Wisconsin While this report generally covers the meeting events, those events have been arranged into a logical sequence and refined with the purpose of making them helpful, rather than precisely representing the presentations as they happened. 34 people attended this meeting. Click on these links for easy navigation: Announcements Tips and Tricks Linked Features & Creating Parts within Assemblies Converting a DWG to a SolidWorks Part Next Meeting Announcements Jobs: Bob Braun is an informal employment clearing house. When he hears about a job opening, he sends a blind copy of the opening to everyone on his list of candidates. If you have an employment opportunity or an employment need, send a note to Bob at bob.braun4him@gmail.com. Please remember to sign up for each meeting so that we can provide the correct amount of food for the dinner break. If you discover later that you cannot attend after all, just sign up again, except add a comment that you cannot attend as previously planned. Return to top Tips and Tricks Don Glaske Sketching: Hold the Ctrl key to avoid auto relations. Drawing a rectangle, circle, etc you can toggle to a different one by the A key. Use the Shift key when dimensioning to the Min or Max of a slot, two holes, etc Parts: Copy Feature by Ctrl and dragging to a new location Only in a Part Creates Feature. Copy a Sketch from Design Tree by Ctrl C, select desired Plane, Ctrl V. Copy a Derived Sketch, pre-select Sketch and Plane from Design Tree, go to Insert Pull Down, Insert Derived Sketch. Page 1 of 6

2 Parts/Assemblies: Add center plane to part/assembly, Ctrl select two opposing faces then select Plane, under Reference Geometry. The new plane will be centered between the two selected surfaces. Copy a Plane by Ctrl dragging in graphics area - Not in Feature Manager. Save SW Parts and Assembly files as a 3D PDF file. Pretty cool! Assemblies: Use the Alt key when reordering parts in the Feature Manager, this keeps the parts/assemblies - won t drop into another sub-assembly. Ctrl and drag a part or a sub-assembly to make a copy. NOTE: Assembly grab from the Feature Manager and Part grab from either Feature Manager or Assembly in the graphics area. Show mate highlights when hovering over the mates, Right Click on Assembly name in Design Tree, Click on Tree Display, Click on View Mates and Dependencies. Drawings: Use the Shift key to move all aligned views together or window select views, move w/ mouse. Use the Ctrl select to copy notes. Drag notes over another existing note to combine notes. Empty Views, Insert and hide. Awesome for hiding notes. Right click, Add Annotation. Keyboard Shortcuts: F : Fit View R : Browse Recent Documents Enter : Repeat Last Command Spacebar : Orientation Box Shift + C : Collapse All Browser Items Shift +Arrow Keys : Rotate Views Shift + Z : Zoom In Caps Lock + Z : Zoom Out Ctrl + B: Rebuild Ctrl + Q: Force Rebuild Ctrl + R: Redraw Ctrl + M: MateXpert Ctrl+1: Front View, Try other numbers? S : Shortcut Key Keyboard Shortcuts: Windows Default Ctrl + Tab: Cycle through open windows Ctrl + A: Select all Ctrl + C: Copy Ctrl + S: Save Ctrl + O: Open Ctrl + P: Print Ctrl + V: Paste Ctrl + W: Close Return to top Page 2 of 6

3 Linked Features & Creating Parts within Assemblies Bob Braun General Principles: Discussion is in the context of assemblies and editing parts that are within assemblies Not all options and features are discussed here You can create an assembly sketch to drive as many parts as you want Starting A New Part: In an assembly, start a new part Command manager Insert Component New part SolidWorks is looking for a plane in your assembly that it will use as a sketch plane. Can be a flat surface on an existing assembly part Prefer a source plane in the assembly for reliability Sketch the first features of the new part Sketch will have a preference to link to assembly geometry Origin, Planes Edges Convert entities Add all sketch features you want Sketch features can be linked to assembly sketch Extrude or revolve Either sketch and add more features or stop part edit Key Point: New part is in the assembly file, not a part file (yet)! New part can stay in the assembly file forever like built up features Rubber roll covers Epoxy potted features Wires and tubes that are not detailed in their bent shape Artificial features that do not fit in BOM Web or other product To convert to a standard part Open part Use Save As Manage Linked Features: Symbol -> generally means there is an active external reference Symbol ->* means that the external reference is locked Symbol ->x means that external reference is broken In sketch Display Delete Relations external references are displayed and can be deleted all references can be deleted Breaking External References: Warning! This is not reversible (but it can be reconstructed) 1. Right click file name in feature manager 2. Select List External Refs Options to lock all or break all Page 3 of 6

4 General Principles: External references are powerful design tools use them when they are helpful External references extend the web of interlinked files they create added risk of instability. Understand the risks. External references can be removed and all practical traces removed, once design work has been done Final Warning: When a part is created as a part of an assembly, it can become unpredictable when you use a SaveAs on the assembly. SolidWorks recommends that you use a SaveAs Copy Summary: In an assembly, parts can be Edited, which permits you to add features that are linked to geometry that is already in the assembly. Sketch geometry Extrude limits features You can insert new parts into an assembly and never put them in their own files Manage linked features within the linked parts Page 4 of 6

5 Return to top Converting an AutoCAD Drawing to a SolidWorks Part Carol Beard Click on this link for a 29-page document that you can print to refer to. This shows: How to start with an AutoCAD drawing like this: And create a SolidWorks part from it, like this: Page 5 of 6

6 Return to top Next Meeting: The next meeting will be May 3, 2011 at FVTC. The main presentation topics will be: CAD Libraries Creation and Management Lofting & Sweeps Sketch Blocks. Page 6 of 6