SolidWorks UK

Worried about mixing up versions or losing data between sites? Take steps to unify your Design and Production Facilities

 

SolidWorks^® Enterprise PDM (product data management) software is enabling a U.K.-based aerospace design firm to collaborate across 14 time zones without worrying about mixing up versions or losing important ideas and modifications between sites.

Aero Sense Technologies Ltd. purchased 25 seats of SolidWorks Enterprise PDM software to coordinate operations between its production facility in Sri Lanka and its design sites in Exeter, U.K., and Los Angeles. SolidWorks Enterprise PDM software stores CAD models and supporting documents – anything from documents to images – in an indexed central repository. Secure access and built-in audit functions protect data from accidental and deliberate damage while tracking who accesses design data, what they changed, and when.

Aero Sense Technologies produces specialized measurement products for the aerospace industry. Typically, either the company’s Los Angeles or Exeter team will create the initial design using SolidWorks CAD software, then share it with each other through SolidWorks Enterprise PDM. Both teams validate each others’ design and adjust the parameters, and the two teams work back and forth to perfect the design. Exchanging data across time zones enables Aero Sense Technologies to work on its designs almost around-the-clock and bring them to production sooner. When a design has finished the prototype stage and first production, the staff at the Sri Lankan production center uses the CAD files to design and implement the production processes.

“We need robust data management and revision control between our three sites. Working from a common data model in SolidWorks Enterprise PDM gives us the control and functionality to maintain our documents’ integrity,” said Aero Sense Technologies Senior Mechanical Engineer Ashley Roy. “There are many different document formats involved in product development – SolidWorks files, Word documents, other CAD files, etc. SolidWorks Enterprise PDM creates a common environment that enables our staffs to collaborate while maintaining authoritative versions of documents and data models.”

 

 

 

Futures… made of… Virtual Parts and Assemblies!

SolidWorks 2010 introduced some great new functionality to the area of Virtual parts and assemblies.

First of all lets go back to basics:
What are virtual parts and assemblies?

• A part or assembly that does not have a saved file on disk
• Saved internally in the assembly
• Can be a bought-in, non modelled item such as paint or glue
• Square brackets are used to denote the part or assembly as virtual

Virtual components are especially useful in top-down design. During the conceptual design process, when you frequently experiment with and make changes to the assembly structure and components, using virtual components has several advantages over the bottom-up design method:

• You can rename these virtual components in the FeatureManager design tree, avoiding the need to open, save as a copy, and use the Replace Components command.
• You can make one instance of a virtual component independent of other instances in a single step.
• The folder where you store the assembly is not cluttered with unused part and assembly files resulting from iterations of component designs.

So what’s new in virtual parts and assemblies in SolidWorks 2010?

• Make existing components virtual
• You can make externally saved components virtual, which breaks the link to the external component file. Existing references are ignored and the component is renamed.
• Naming virtual components
• The name of a virtual component now always includes its parent assembly's name. This ensures the virtual component is always unique.
• Copying virtual components
• You can copy virtual components between assemblies. The copy is not linked to the original virtual component. Existing references are not copied, and the copy is given a new name.
• Moving Virtual Components
• You can move virtual components within the hierarchy of the FeatureManager design tree. Existing references are ignored and the component is renamed.

Lets take a look at an example:

Technorati Tags: Virtual Components,SolidWorks 2010,Tips and Tricks

What’s New in SolidWorks 2010… the events

Today I am in the lucky position of watching one of our resellers run through the new features in SolidWorks products for 2010.

A room full of customers who seem to have a great relation ship with the reseller and who also seem very eager to see what the day brings!!

If you haven’t been to one of these customer events then make sure you check out Launch Events and get signed up.

One of the tools that seemed to raise great interest is the new Configuration Publisher. This tool allows you to build up the logic of your configurations in an easy drag and drop interface… what’s great about this method is that you don’t have to manually add all the configurations before people can use them!. 

If another user wants a configuration of this design they just pick the configuration based on real information like size, what features are needed, what type of part you want or what material etc… no longer do you need to remember the exact part number for the wanted design!!!

SolidWorks will then build that configuration on demand!

Sharing configurations of designs doesn’t stop there. Whilst using the Configuration Publisher you can also see a 3D Content Central preview… Here you can see the “online” view of your design. There is also a Publish to 3D Content Central button too.

This will take you to www.3Dcontentcentral.com just sign up as a free supplier and you can very quickly share your designs with thousands of registered users…

Recently I heard of an independent survey that stated that around 80% of CAD users will look to buy the component that they have downloaded and used in their assembly… so putting your models online could boost your sales!!

Technorati Tags: SolidWorks 2010,SolidWorks,What's New,Tips and Tricks,Configuration Publisher,Configurations

SolidWorks 2010 SP0.0 is Live

If you are a current subscription customer you can get the latest version of SolidWorks right now on the customer portal.

If you have ever seen me present SolidWorks you will know that I have my favourite features and tools… (worrying I know!) well 2010 has many new features I really like but there can only be one favourite… What is it… Mouse Gestures!!!

If you hold the right mouse button down and move it in a direction you will see a disc appear. This disc can contain icons to activate SW commands.

Right Mouse Gestures: My Tip!

Speed up your designing… Make a quick movement in one of 4 or 8 directions to activate commands. These commands can be chosen by you as the “disc” is fully configurable. Just right click on a toolbar and select customise. Then head over to the Mouse Gestures tab and start setting up your disc.

I have found that the most natural tools are viewing tools as you have the S Key for all your features.

Below is my set up for the Assembly, Part, Sketch and Drawing environment

 

My tip would be to keep the icons and positions quite consistent through the different environments as this make it easier to remember… after a little while it starts to feel really natural and you will soon be wondering how you lived without it :)

Remember that Normal To will now view Normal to the closest standard view so you don’t need to waste space on you disc for Front, Left, Top etc.

Technorati Tags: SolidWorks,SolidWorks 2010,Mouse Gestures,Tips and Tricks

SolidWorks 2010: Smarter. Faster.

   

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Discover SolidWorks 2010 and find out how it will optimize the core design functions you stake your career on every day.

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The little things in life… well in SolidWorks 2010

Here is a quick SolidWorks 2010 tip to make viewing around your model nice and easy…
Many of us like to view the model in certain directions… be it front, left, right or so on. But sometimes you don’t know which view to pick.

Take this example… I want to look normal to the bar code. Now is that the front view, the side view… mmmm
I could look at the triad, I could just try a view or I could pick the face and go normal to…
Well this just got much easier!!

If you now hit Normal To with nothing selected SolidWorks will take you normal to the nearest standard view. Hitting it again will flip the direction!

So just rotate near the view you want and hit normal to…
In a 2D sketch this takes you normal to your sketch plane… removing extra clicks and making viewing in SolidWorks a more intuitive experience.

Try it out… I think you will like it!

Technorati Tags: SolidWorks 2010,Tips and Tricks,SolidWorks

This week, its all about SolidWorks 2010

This week is all about SolidWorks 2010… Beta 3 is available through the customer portal and the NDA has been lifted. Check out the Blog roll for new features in SW2010… These guys are right on the mark and have already posted some great reviews. Also be sure to check back here for the first of our SW2010 posts.

For myself this week I am adding the finishing touches to my presentations for our Reseller meeting on Wednesday. On this day we show all the SW2010 goodness to the whole channel.

Fingers crossed it goes well :)

I will leave you with a quick SW2010 snippet…

If you like to add Dimensions manually to the drawing using the dim tool. Look out for the Rapid Dimension Glyph…

Select any edges you want to dimension and the glyph appears… click one of the segments and SolidWorks automatically places and organises that dimension for you. Not many things in CAD deserve the word “Cool” but I think this does!! :)

Don’t take my word for it… try it out!

Technorati Tags: SolidWorks 2010,SolidWorks Drawings,Tips and Tricks

Using “Off the shelf” Cables in SolidWorks Electrical Routing

I have recently been preparing some material for a meeting I had on Tuesday this week. The purpose was to review some of the capabilities of SolidWorks Electrical Routing.

One of the requirements was to use standard “off the shelf” cables. Luckily SolidWorks has a nice tool that allows a user to specify standard cable info, SolidWorks will then ensure that when you place it in your assembly the cable length, diameter and connections meet the required spec.

However the requirement had a but…
The customer bought cables at a minimum length of 1m and went up in 500mm increments. These cables were to be placed into a relatively small space. In the real world this is an easy job that you can solve with a cable tie.

So how can this be done in SolidWorks??

 

Technorati Tags: SolidWorks Premium,SolidWorks Electrical Routing,SolidWorks Tips and Tricks,Tips and Tricks

SolidWorks 2010 Beta 2 available for subscription customers

Current Beta Programs: 

·         SolidWorks 2010 Beta 

·         SolidWorks Simulation 2010 Beta       

·         SolidWorks Enterprise PDM 2010 Beta

Beta Program Participants Can:

• Download and install SolidWorks beta software.
• Get beta support and track issues.
• Join the beta forums to discuss features, ask questions and learn about what’s new in SolidWorks software.
• Participate in the Beta Brainstorm, which lets you share, vote, and comment on ideas about the beta program.

You can WIN GREAT PRIZES worth up to $3,000 or more!

Making quick dimension changes… using your mouse wheel.

Whilst working on a design task this morning it needed to try out a few positional changes in a sketch.

Personally I am a big fan of using the mouse wheel to quickly change the dimension values… but today I found that I could improve on this!

I’m sure you are all familiar with “spin box” increments even if you don’t recognise the name… You can also change the value of the spin box increments in the SW options, by default they are 10mm. this means that when you click the spin box the value changes by 10mm.

Another way to increment using the spin box values is to drag the slider bar or roll your mouse wheel. This gives you quick access to changing your dimensions.

SolidWorks gives you more control… by holding down Ctrl or Alt you can further change how the spin box increments your dimensions. Take a look at the image below:

Using the above info and your middle mouse wheel is a really quick way to make changes in a sketch or anywhere you get the dimension dialogue.

Technorati Tags: Sketching,Tips and Tricks,SolidWorks