SOLIDWORKS Support Monthly News – September 2021
Hello to all,
Welcome to the new edition of the SOLIDWORKS Support Monthly News! This monthly news blog is co-authored by members of the SOLIDWORKS Technical Support teams worldwide.
Why I can’t dimension holes in the flat pattern
By Mario IOCCO
Error “The SOLIDWORKS Document Manager Library is invalid. Please see your administrator.” while doing Pack and Go
By Vinod KALE
Recently, an issue was reported while performing a ‘Pack and Go’ from SOLIDWORKS or Windows Explorer shows an error ‘The SolidWorks Document Manager Library is invalid. Please see your administrator’.
The ‘Pack and Go’ in SOLIDWORKS allows you to collect all related documents into one file. This is useful for quickly saving and sending entire projects.
Generally, the ‘Pack and Go’ functionality depends on the SOLIDWORKS Document Manager DLL (swdocumentmgr.dll) that is located in ‘C:\Program Files\CommonFiles\SolidWorks Shared’ directory. This issue can occur if the version of ‘SwDocumentMgr.dll’ is not correct.
So what could be the causes for incorrect DLL version?
- With multiple SOLIDWORKS versions installed, repair or install of older version of SOLIDWORKS after the newer version can cause the wrong version of DLL to be registered.
- With third party application installed (that uses different version of SOLIDWORKS Document Manager), there are chances that ‘Pack and go’ uses the ‘SwDocumentMgr.dll’ of third party application instead of SOLIDWORKS. Some Autodesk products like ‘Desktop Connector’ uses the different version of ‘SwDocumentMgr.dll
There are couple of ways we can fix this issue:
- Rename ‘SwDocumentMgr.dll’, and then repair the SOLIDWORKS installation
- Uninstall the third-party application, so that ‘Pack and Go’ will use the correct SOLIDWORKS Document Manager DLL.
How to find out whether ‘Pack and Go’ is reading the correct swdocumentmgr.dll?
— Capture the issue using procmon log and search for the following entry:
‘C:\Program Files\Common Files\SOLIDWORKS Shared\swdocumentmgr.dll’
In this case, the ‘Pack and Go’ performed from windows explorer was reading the ‘swdocumentmgr.dll’ from Autodesk product ‘Desktop Connector’ location, as shown in image:
How SOLIDWORKS Costing considers different CAM processes to calculate cost of manufacturing a part?
By Gaurav GAYAKWAD
SOLIDWORKS Costing calculation mainly depends upon the Material Removal Rate (MRR) of recognized feature instead of defining it for specific machine type.
Kindly see below explanation as given in help document for Machine parts.
Machined parts start as a block of material or a plate stock of material (such as metal plates or cylinders). Machined parts are drilled, milled, or turned, and then cut by a water jet or plasma to create the final shape.
When you calculate the cost of machining a block-shaped or cylindrical stock body, the Costing tool incorporates the cost of the following:
- Milling operations (such as face, flat end, or ball end milling, and chamfering)
- Drilling operations (such as blind and through drilling, reaming, and tapping)
- OD turning, ID turning, and face turning operations for cylindrical parts
- Library features
- Custom operations (such as painting, anodizing, and heat treat)
- Machine or process setup operations (such as milling machine setup costs)
You can find detailed information about SOLIDWORKS costing in the help section. Kindly find below link for same.
The SOLIDWORKS® costing tool is mainly designed to estimate the cost for manufacturing a particular product. The costing tool is not designed to determine the exact manufacturing strategy, but SOLIDWORKS has tried to include the biggest contributors to the cost that are derived from the manufacturing process.
Accuracy of costing
A costing estimate is an accurate way of determining basic costs for machining, and these costs have a variety of ways they can be refined on a feature-by-feature basis if the customer finds it necessary. The costing tool is also only as accurate as the information the user inputs into the costing template, so if they are trying to mimic their own manufacturing processes, it is important to create these costing templates accordingly. Of course, it is obvious that it is difficult to include every manufacturing variable at the moment, so usage of this tool should be done with the knowledge that its primary intent is to give designers a better understanding the approximate cost of the part and how changes to the part can affect its cost.
You can exclude any cost that’s been added by right clicking on the cost and selecting exclude. These operation will then move under ‘No Cost Assigned’ folder.
Noteworthy Solutions from the SOLIDWORKS Knowledge Base
Is there a SolidPractices document available on the topic of “Moving SOLIDWORKS® Data to the 3DEXPERIENCE® Platform?”
Yes. The attached SolidPractices document in the Solution Id: S-079337 outlines the current tools and methods available for moving SOLIDWORKS® CAD data from a Windows® File Explorer folder structure to the 3DEXPERIENCE® Public Cloud platform.
Is there a SolidPractices document available on the topic of Productivity Tools for CAD Administrators?
Yes, The attached document in Solution Id: S-079375 provides guidance to CAD administrators, and introduces productivity tools that enable them to get the most out of SOLIDWORKS®.
Why is the SOLIDWORKS® PDM icon in the task tray missing and does not show at all on some systems, making menus for vault ‘log in’, ‘log off’, ‘Presence note’ and ‘Task host configuration’ inaccessible?
On some operating systems (primarily server operating systems), the ‘Explorer.exe’ process starts in ‘Elevated’ mode. This can also cause elevation of the SOLIDWORKS® PDM ‘Edmserver.exe’ process. To get more information, see Solution Id: S-079329
In SOLIDWORKS® Flow Simulation is there an example that compares these predefined fluids: H2O (Ideal) vs. H2O (Real) vs. Steam?
Yes. Refer to the attached example in Solution Id: S-079202 and the explanation.
That’s it for this month. Thanks for reading this edition of SOLIDWORKS Support News. If you need additional help with these issues or any others, please contact your SOLIDWORKS Value Added Reseller.
Comments and suggestions are always welcome. You can enter them below.