Throwback Thursdays: Weldments
Sometimes when looking at what to post for Throwback Thursdays, I immediately think to the late 90’s for ideas. This is most likely because when people on Facebook post their own pictures on Throwback Thursdays, this era seem to bring out the most humorous moments. Yet when you look over the last 20 years of SOLIDWORKS there are a lot of enhancements in just the last 10 years that have changed the way we work completely, and today’s has always been one of my favorites!
In last week’s Throwback Thursday post, I discussed the history of Sheet Metal in SOLIDWORKS. Specifically; how this set of tools ushered in the ability to design around a specific manufacturing or design style. However, Sheet Metal isn’t the only tool in the SOLIDWORKS family to do this. A younger sibling of Sheet Metal was born in SOLIDWORKS 2004, which changed the way we design welded structural members, simply called Weldments.
Before you can have a conversation about Weldments though, you have to take a step back to the year before, SOLIDWORKS 2003. Multi-body parts, one of the most significant enhancements in SOLIDWORKS to date, was released that year. Multi-body parts are one of those special features that completely changed the way we use SOLIDWORKS today, and will most likely have its own throwback post in the future. It was also a critical component in the DNA of making Weldments successful. Weldments, at its core, leveraged this new capability to have multiple solid bodies in a single part file. Built on top of this, Weldments, like Sheet Metal, introduced a whole set of tools specifically focusing on building structural member based designs.
When it released, Weldments contained nearly all of the tools we still use today; these included Structural Member, Trim/Extend, Gusset and Fillet Bead. Weldments also came completely ready to be detailed in Drawings with support for the new Cut List table.
Since its release, Weldments, like every other tool in SOLIDWORKS, has seen its share of enhancements over the last 10 releases. This has included support for bent members, allowing for bends in tubes and pipes. Cut Lists today are completely automated; veterans will remember needing to sort each cut list item into their appropriate folders to get the Cut List to update properly. And over the years, SOLIDWORKS has provided new profiles for free on 3DContentCentral.
Weld Groups became among the first real productivity changers for Weldments, allowing you to build nearly an entire Weldment from one feature. Likewise, Lightweight Weld Beads released a few years ago ushered in big changes in performance for those who wanted to show every Weld Bead in their design. Finally, this past year, SOLIDWORKS 2014 introduced support for Configured Weldment Profiles; one of my personal favorite enhancements to Weldments.
If you haven’t used any of the Weldment Tools in SOLIDWORKS, I highly encourage you to take a look at some of the free training available at My.SolidWorks, or this week’s Part Reviewer Blog Post by my colleague Kim. Either way, Weldments, like a lot of tools in SOLIDWORKS, provide a plethora of ways to be used, and shouldn’t ever just be considered for use in structural Weldments. One of my most well received sessions at SOLIDWORKS World has always been Weldments: Does it have to be welded, where I show how to use the Weldment tools for things like extruded aluminum assemblies. In fact, stay tuned for next week’s Tech Tip Tuesday post, where I will look at how to do just this.
Jeremy Regnerus
Latest posts by Jeremy Regnerus (see all)
- How to create Spur and Helical Gears in SOLIDWORKS - July 24, 2014
- Throwback Thursdays: Weldments - June 12, 2014
- Throwback Thursdays: Sheet Metal - June 5, 2014