Author Archives: jeff setzer
Using Bend Notes for Sheet Metal Design in SolidWorks 2013
SolidWorks 2013 has some very nice enhancements for bend notes. To start, bend notes can now be controlled directly from a selected view’s PropertyManager. Bend notes can also have more information added beyond direction, angle, and radius. Simply click
... ContinuedNew in SolidWorks 2013: Change Your Life with Search Options
One of the great things about SolidWorks is that each new release is chock full of new functionality and improvements. The challenge of knowing where the settings are located that govern the behavior of all that functionality, unfortunately, becomes larger
... ContinuedRemote vs. Distributed Mass in SolidWorks Simulation
One of the more important and yet challenging aspects to using Finite Element Analysis is constructing a usable model. This model, whether found natively in a CAD package, imported from a CAD package, or constructed within a dedicated FE package
... ContinuedRendering Liquids In PhotoView 360
So close…yet so far. This should look perfect, but it doesn’t. What’s the problem? It is not uncommon, when using PhotoView 360 to portray liquid in a glass, to create the liquid as a second feature in the part file.
... ContinuedHow to Add a Custom Hole Size to the Hole Wizard Database in SolidWorks
SolidWorks Hole Wizard is pretty complete when it comes to industry standards for hole sizes, but what happens when you want a hole size that isn’t in the list? Not a lot of people are familiar with SolidWorks ability to
... ContinuedMake A Single Body with Multiple Open Contours in SolidWorks 2013
SolidWorks 2013 has a great new set of behaviors with thin feature extrusions. In the past, if you wanted to work with open contours, only one open contour was allowed. In SolidWorks 2013, multiple open contours can be extruded as
... ContinuedUse SolidWorks Models in an Apple iBook
Several months ago, Apple announced some major initiatives in electronic publishing, particularly for the primary and secondary school “e-textbook” market. As part of that initiative, Apple launched their free “iBooks Author” product. iBooks Author allows anyone with a Mac (sorry, PC
... ContinuedChange 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
... ContinuedSeven Simple Tips for Modeling Springs
Every so often, I’ll hear a comment about making springs in SolidWorks. Some people say that it’s difficult, or that SolidWorks does not have adequate tools for it. But it’s not really as hard as you would think. With that
... ContinuedGet High-Quality Animation Output from 3DVIA Composer
3DVIA Composer has a “Video” button that will save your animation sequence to an AVI file. This method is very easy to use, and is the place most people go when they want to save their animation to a standard
... ContinuedUsing Curvature Combs to Inspect Curvature
One of my favorite ways to inspect curvature is to use curvature combs. These are graphical elements that display the amount of curvature at a given point on a sketch element. They’re fantastic for predicting problem areas in sketches, especially
... ContinuedMaking Holes at an Angle: The Easy Way
Have you ever needed to make a hole that pierces material at a certain point, but at a compound angle? This can be a little challenging, but there is a method that I use which people seem to like. Instead
... ContinuedDirect Editing in SolidWorks with the Move Face command
Sometimes we need to make a simple adjustment on an imported part. Perhaps, for example, we need to change the diameter of a hole. The current diameter of 3.52mm needs to become 3.72mm; also, the hole has draft that needs
... ContinuedBalloons and Excluding from Bills of Materials
I recently took a support call from a customer who noticed that he was seeing asterisks instead of item numbers when he added balloons to a purchased sub-assembly inside of his assembly drawing. I thought that it might make for
... Continued