Monthly Archives: October 2012
Climbing Ladders With SolidWorks: Don’t Just Stress About Strength
I love this time of year in New England–the weather, apple picking, the colors as the leaves turn. But what I don’t love is the half a trillion leaves that fall into my garden that I then have to blow/rake
... ContinuedBig Ass Fans Move Big Volumes of Air With Help from SolidWorks
Whether you’re trying to cool off your living room, restaurant, industrial plant or business, you’ll probably need a “big ass fan” to circulate high volumes of air and get the job done right. Big Ass Fans, a Kentucky-based manufacturer, produces
... ContinuedNew in SolidWorks 2013: Dowel Holes
A new hole type finds its way into the Hole Wizard for SolidWorks 2013. The much anticipated Dowel Hole now allows users to create this unique feature with characteristics that are unique to this type of hole. This includes things
... ContinuedNew in SolidWorks 2013: Expanding Process Costing and API Support
SolidWorks 2013 provides automatic manufacturing cost estimation to support more manufacturing processes and improves access to cost data for downstream manufacturing systems. Machined part costing with increased capabilities for turning and mill/turn, improved process recognition, and multibody support New APIs
... ContinuedSolidWorks’ Users Ignite the 2012 MassChallenge Competition
The world is full of great ideas and MassChallenge is helping novice entrepreneurs make their ideas a reality. MassChallenge’s global accelerator program and startup competition is designed to give entrepreneurs the momentum needed to launch and succeed. Each year, through
... ContinuedSave $200 when you register for SolidWorks World 2013 by October 26
It’s hard to believe that the first early-bird deadline for SolidWorks World 2013 is coming up this Friday. In case you’ve forgotten, SolidWorks World is being held January 20-23 at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort in sunny
... ContinuedSolidWorks Enterprise Licensing Made Simple
You’ve anticipated installing a newer version of SolidWorks Enterprise PDM for the last month. You’ve let everyone know of the impending update. You’ve downloaded the latest service pack from www.SolidWorks.com. You’ve made backups of your SQL databases. You’ve ensured the
... ContinuedCustomizing SolidWorks Flyout Toolbars
The other day while watching a video on some of the new SolidWorks 2013 features, I noticed that one of the Flyout Toolbars for Annotations had a command for Cosmetic Threads that I did not have in my Flyouts, so
... ContinuedNew on Born to Design: Franck Muller designs the world’s most complex watches with SolidWorks
Swiss-based luxury watchmaking company, Franck Muller, is known for making complex watches with hundreds, sometimes thousands of tiny moving parts. In an industry steeped in tradition and precision, see how SolidWorks® software is enabling their engineers to bring new innovations
... ContinuedNew in SolidWorks 2013: Optimize Designs for Sustainability and Materials Costs
SolidWorks 2013‘s new Raw Material Financial Impact Tool quickly evaluates the financial and environmental impacts of a raw material change in real time to enable more informed design decisions. Optimize designs for environmental impact and material cost Find the best
... ContinuedThe Stratos Project: One Giant Freefall for Mankind
Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…it’s Felix Baumgartner breaking the skydiving world record from the edge of space. Today in Roswell, NM, the Red Bull Stratos project brought Baumgartner 128,120 ft above the earth
... ContinuedFender Musical Instruments Corporation Rocks at Guitar Production
Music legends such as Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, and Kurt Cobain all have one thing in common aside from greatness: the Fender electric guitar. Offering a wide array 0f electric guitars such as the Stratocaster and
... ContinuedIntersect – The Trimming Shears of the FeatureTree
Like some advanced part and surfacing features, I’ve struggled to know when to use them. Recognizing when and how to use a feature can sometimes turn your part from a tangled FeatureTree mess to a nice efficient tree. I knew
... ContinuedNexxt Spine is developing the next generation of spinal implants with SolidWorks
A few weeks ago Richard Doyle and I were attending some
SolidWorks User Group meetings in the American Midwest. Whenever I go on a tour like
this, I like to spend the day visiting with SolidWorks customers in the area.
During my most recent trip, I met with a very interesting SolidWorks customer
called Nexxt Spine, located in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Nexxt Spine creates spinal implants and instruments for the
medical community. They focus on creating products that are both
high-performance and easy to use. Most of their implants are made to screw
directly into vertebrae and other bones connected to the spinal column, and all
are manufactured in their own facility in Indianapolis.
While I was visiting, the team at Nexxt Spine actually let
me try out the practice system designed for spinal surgeons. As you can see in
the image below, they let me use one of their precision instruments to screw an
implant into a simulated bone.
Change Your Tree: See the Mates First!
Sometimes when working with an assembly, I am more interested in seeing the component mates than the component features. While I know I can expand a component in the FeatureManager tree and then expand the mates folder beneath it, I
... Continued