What does it take to be a top CAD modeler? How can you rise to the peak of your design game and earn the recognition of your peers? We asked Tom Smith, winner of SOLIDWORKS World 2018’s Model Mania competition, how he found his way to the top.

Meet Tom Smith

Tom Smith coming up the SOLIDWORKS World 2018 stage stairs. (Image courtesy of SOLIDWORKS).

Smith graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1997 as a mechanical engineer. However, it wasn’t until he landed his first job that he began using 3D CAD—specifically, SOLIDWORKS.

“My first job getting out in 1997 was with a very small company,” he said. “There was one guy drawing things by hand and another guy popping it in AutoCAD. I brought in the SOLIDWORKS demo that you could get at the time. You could use it for 30 days. I tried it out, and I’ve stuck with it since then.”

Since he hadn’t learned CAD modeling as an engineering student, Smith learned SOLIDWORKS the old-fashioned way: trial and error. Practice, he explained, was easy to come by.

“When you design things today, usually you go to a website and download the models,” he said.“That wasn’t around back then, so we had to draw everything. Every time you got new bearings, new gear boxes, you got out the calipers and drew everything, and it had to be right. Everyday was modeling things over and over again. You start to get good at it.”

Model Mania

The part that contestants were required to model for Model Mania 2018. (Image courtesy of SOLIDWORKS).

All that practice paid off for Smith. Not only has it served him in his professional career, but it’s won him perhaps the most important prize of all: bragging rights. He has placed in SOLIDWORKS World’s Model Mania competition not once, not twice, but three times, two of those times as the first-place winner.

A tradition of every SOLIDWORKS World since 2000, Model Mania is a competition in which entrants are given a 2D drawing of a part and must model it as quickly and accurately as possible. Competitors are then presented a revision to that part and must make the necessary changes. Winners are chosen based on the accuracy and timeliness of their models. For a convention full of CAD modelers, it’s a fun and popular way to show off their SOLIDWORKS skills.

At the suggestion of a colleague, Smith entered his first Model Mania in 2013. To his surprise, he took second place. The next year, he tried again and one-upped himself, winning first place in the competition.After a three-year dry spell (his own words), Smith reclaimed his crown at SOLIDWORKS World 2018, once again taking first place.

“Model Mania is like real life—you design something, and your boss tells you to change it,” he said. “I’ve been dealing with that for 20 years, so I kind of know what to expect.”

For all you would-be Model Maniacs, Smith was kind enough to pass on some of the CAD wisdom he’s gleaned over the years:

“Don’t leave things under defined. Use major planes, major geometry to stick to. Don’t try to reference sub-features, like fillets. Don’t reference things that will easily fall apart. That’s probably the best trick. If you reference things that aren't going away, like planes and origins, you’re good. If you build to strong reference geometry, your changes will be a lot easier. Another good tip: don’t do everything in one sketch. Split it up. Do fillets afterwards. Keep it simple.

“When you do the contest, they give you two minutes to plan. Take that time to look over the model, build it in your head first and go through the process of what the software’s going to do when you start modeling things so you’re not surprised by anything. Then you start the clock and hack away at it, and just do the best you can really.”

If you’re struggling, it’s good to remember that even the pros have their lapses. He readily admits that when Model Mania host Mark Schneider was going through his solution, Smith noticed a missed opportunity.

“When Mark Schneider was doing the walk-through, he went though the step of doing a shell command,” he said. “And that would’ve saved me like another three minutes, if I’d remembered to do the shell command.”

Mark Schneider’s walk-through of Model Mania 2018. (Video courtesy of SOLIDWORKS).

Thinking Like A SOLIDWORKS Expert

Smith is both a Certified SOLIDWORKS Pro (CSWP) and Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert (CSWE), the highest level of SOLIDWORKS certification currently possible. There are whispers that a new level (SOLIDWORKS Wizard?) might be added, and if so, he will be first in line to take the test.

While he has moved on from being a design engineer—Smith currently runs the SOLIDWORKS PDM system at Victaulic, a provider of mechanical pipe joining solutions—he’s still the go-to guy in the office for SOLIDWORKS advice.

“The designers here give me a call and ask me to help them out if they get stuck on a sheet metal piece or some other wacky model. So, you know, I’m not totally out of it. I’ll sit down with them for an hour and show them how to do things,” he said, jokingly adding, “but it’s nice not to have project managers chasing me.”

Smith spends his spare time modeling and 3D printing his own personal projects, most of them for his hobby of drone racing. An engineer through and through, he still gets his fill of the most important part of any CAD modeler’s education: practice.

“In your downtime, pick something up off your desk, get your calipers and draw it up,” he suggested.

SOLIDWORKS 2018 includes the addition of topology optimization, as we touched on in this article.

Today, we are going to take a look at topology optimization in more detail, and I will guide you through the steps in a tutorial. For this tutorial, we are going to use a generic bracket that I have modeled (see Figure 1). I have uploaded the model onto GrabCAD, so you can download it and try it out too.

So sit back, fire up your copy of SOLIDWORKS 2018, and let’s crack on!

Preparation

Load up SOLIDWORKS 2018, and then load up the bracket.

Now, go to the SOLIDWORKS Add-ins tab at the ribbon at the top of the screen and load up the Simulation add-in. Then, locate the Simulation tab on the ribbon, click the New Study icon, and select New Study from the drop-down menu.

Figure 1. The bracket.

This will open up the study pane on the left-hand side of the screen. In the study pane, find the Design Insight section, and click Topology Study. You can rename your study here if you would like. I have left it as the default name (Topology Study 1). Then, click the green check mark. This will open a new study pane in the left-hand pane under the design tree.

Before you begin the study, you need to define a material so that SOLIDWORKS will know how to define the material parameters from its material database.

From the top ribbon, in Simulation tab, select Apply Material. From this list, select Alloy Steel (SS), and then click Apply.

Defining the Simulation Parameters

Now that the model is loaded, the type of study has been defined, and a material has been selected for use in the study, you can begin to define the parameters of the study, such as loads, fixtures and design constraints.

Take a look at the Topology Study 1 panel in the left-hand pane. It should look like what is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Topology Study pane.

Next, you will define the fixtures. These will represent the mounting points where bolts will hold the bracket to a wall. Right-click on Fixtures in the Topology Study pane and select Fixed Geometry from the drop-down menu.

Spin the bracket around to the rear side, and then select the inner faces of the eight bolt holes. Seven holes are selected in the example shown in Figure 3. When you have selected all eight bolt holes, you can click the green check mark in the Fixture panel.

Figure 3. The Fixture panel.

Now, you want to apply a load. The plates that make up the bracket are 10mm thick and made from steel. They are also fairly strong (to put it mildly).

For the purposes of this example, let’s assume that you wish to hang something fairly heavy on this bracket. Maybe it’s part of a vehicle inspection ramp, for instance. The application doesn’t really matter, but let’s assume that you want it to be heavy and distributed across the top face of the bracket. Right-click the External Loads option in the Topology Study pane, select Force from the drop-down menu, and enter 1000 kg of force in the Force Value text entry box. Before you close the Force/Torque pane, you must select a face where you wish to apply this mass. I selected the top face of the bracket (the one with four holes on).

Now, you can close the Force/Torque pane by clicking the green check mark.

Goals and Constraints

This is probably the most important part of topology optimization in SOLIDWORKS 2018 because this is where you tell the software your design targets in terms of optimization.

Right-click the Goals and Constrains option in the Topology Study pane, and from here you will see three types of optimization options:

• Best Stiffness to Weight Ratio (default)
• Minimize Maximum Displacement
• Minimize Mass with Displacement Constraint

Choose the first option, Best Stiffness to Weight Ratio. This will open the Goals and Constraints pane (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. Goals and Constraints pane.

Instantly, you can see that the current mass of the non optimized part is 14.05kg. That’s a big old bracket! You could probably build a road bridge with that. I’m thinking that maybe I should have created bigger bolt holes.

Oh well, we won’t worry about it. It’s just an example after all. And, anyway, it will be fun to see how much we can reduce the weight by. That’s what optimization is all about!

Next, go into the Constraint 1 box and type 55 percent into the text box, as shown in Figure 4. This gives a Final Mass of Part equal to 6.3 kg. This value will act as the mass target while the computer runs its iterations.

If you wanted to, you could also activate a second constraint by selecting the Constraint 2 check box. But for now, just use the single constraint, and click the green check mark to exit the Goals and Constraints pane.

Manufacturing Controls

Next down the list in the Topology Study pane is the Manufacturing Controls option.

These add constraints that assist with the manufacturability of the part and can be used to keep regions of material that you don’t want removed by the optimization process.

Right-click on the Manufacturing Controls option, and you can see several options, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Manufacturing Controls.

For this part, you want to choose Add Preserved Region. Clicking this option will open the Preserved Region pane (see Figure 6).

Figure 6. Preserved Region pane.

With the Selection box active, you can now go into the main design window and select the faces that you wish to preserve. For this example, select the inner face of each and every hole on the part. This will preserve the regions around the holes. If you look down at the bottom of the Preserved Region pane, you can see an option labeled Preserved Area Depth. By default, this is switched off. But for this example, you want to specify the depth of the face that you will preserve, so activate it with the check box, and select 7mm depth. This will preserve a cylindrical region that extends 7mm from the perimeter of the bolt hole.

As you change the depth, you will see the depth displayed in the main graphic area in relation to the selected face(s). You can see this displayed as purple circles in Figure 7.

You have finished with these preserved regions now, so you can click the green check mark to exit.

Next, go back to the Thickness Control option and select a minimum thickness of 8mm. This just means that no section will be reduced below 8mm.

And, finally, go to the Specify Symmetry Planes option, and select half symmetry along the longitudinal plane. This will ensure that the optimization process is mirrored on both sides. Without it, the process will produce somewhat random results. As the forces are acting downward, and there is no torque to worry about, you can select this option.

And that’s all for the manufacturing controls in this case.

Figure 7. Preserved Region depth preview.

Mesh and Run (and Grab a Coffee)

All of the basic constraints are set, and you are ready to mesh.

Go to the Mesh option at the bottom of the Topology Study pane, right-click it, and select Create Mesh. This will open the Mesh pane (see Figure 8). From here, you can control the Mesh Density. A finer mesh will create a more accurate study, but will take longer to mesh. The opposite is true for a coarse mesh (it will take a shorter time to simulate, but may not be as accurate). So, select Fine mesh, because this is a simple model and it won’t take too long.

Figure 8. Mesh pane.

And that’s all set up. You are ready to run the study and see what happens.

Go to the Simulation tab in the main ribbon at the top of the screen, and click the Run This Study icon. Now, go and make yourself a cup of coffee. This might take a while, depending on your mesh size and the complexity of your model.

4 Coffees Later…

OK—that took longer than expected, but the iterations have converged, and you have something that resembles an optimized part (see Figure 9).

Figure 9. Optimized Mesh in Material Mass view.

If you double-click the Material Mass1 option in the results inside the Topology Study pane, the pane shown in Figure 10 will appear.

Figure 10. Material Mass slider.

You can see that it didn’t quite reduce down to the target mass 6.3 kg at 55 percent. But you can move the slider left and right to remove more mass, and you can use the color key to identify critical sections that need to remain.

You will notice that the model looks a little lumpy at this point. It’s not very aesthetic, and could benefit from some smoothing. Clicking the Calculate Smoothed Mesh icon will bring up a new pane, where you can fix this. For the smoothest mesh, drag the slider to the right, and it will automatically smooth out the model.

Clicking the green check mark will take you out of the Material Mass pane (see Figure 11).

Figure 11.Material Mass pane.

Notice how the bolt holes in Figure 11 have been preserved with the 7mm depth around the inner face of the holes.

Right, that’s all very nice, but what do you do now with your optimized mesh?

Using the Mesh

Well, you have a few options. You can export it as solid or surface part for further refinement, or you can export it as a graphic for use as an overlay to the original part. In addition, you can export it as a surface and use a third-party plug-in to clean up the optimized mesh and make it all nice.

To export the mesh, right-click the Material Mass1 option in the Topology Study pane, and select Export Smoothed Mesh. This will open up the export pane as shown in Figure 12. You can select to export the mesh as a solid, a surface or a graphic. If you will be exporting the mesh as a solid or a surface, you can convert it to an STL file (or some other file format of your choice) later for use in manufacturing.

Figure 12. Export Smoothed Mesh pane.

Alternatively, you can right-click the Material Mass1 option in the Topology Study pane again, and select the Settings option.

From here, you can superimpose the actual original model onto the optimized shape (see Figure 13), and you can use the optimized plot as a template to carve your model manually.

Figure 13. Overlaid mesh onto the model.

The final option is to export the mesh as a surface and use a third-party plug-in such as Power Surfacing by nPower.

Final Thoughts

SOLIDWORKS has been pretty slow in jumping onto the topology optimization boat.

But as this is the first release of the software to feature topology optimization, it’s not a bad effort. You can certainly play around with it and get the basics.

Currently, SOLIDWORKS only supports stiffness-to-weight ratio, and the two deformation optimizations—it doesn’t support strength-to-weight ratio, but this is reportedly in the works.

Also, using the optimized mesh is still a cumbersome process. You have to export the file, or use the overlay and carve the model manually. It would be nice if the software generated a usable and smoothed SLDPRT file automatically. I’m guessing I’m not the only one saying this, so no doubt Dassault Systèmes will listen to users and work on this for a future release.

About the Author

Phillip Keane is currently studying his PhD at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His background is in aerospace engineering, and his current studies are focused on the use of 3D-printed components in spaceflight. He previously worked at Rolls-Royce and Airbus Military and served as an intern for Made In Space and the European Southern Observatory.

Over the years, while I haven’t taken on the mantle of serving as a main presenter for one of these events, I have served in a variety of capacities. On some occasions, I managed the “marketing”-level aspects of the new release. On others, I either presented during a breakout session on new functionality in a certain product segment or simply served as a technical resource for customers attending the event.

What’s annually piqued my interest is the reaction some customers have to a feature that, upon first glance, really didn’t seem like a huge deal to me or the main presenters during their preparation. We’ve all presented at some point or another, right? As such, we all know there can be times during a given presentation when you don’t get a reaction when you expect to, and vice versa.

At a SOLIDWORKS 2016 rollout I attended, for example, we had some audience members clap when Dan Wagner of Fisher Unitech went over the redesigned reference triad (seen when moving, sectioning or exploding components inside the software, then and now). It’s not a reaction I initially expected for a simple redesign of a triad utility, but I understood why these customers really loved it. It made daily operations they perform easier, both practically and “on the eyes.”

Fast forward two years later, and here we are: SOLIDWORKS 2018. Most live rollout events happened this fall, and, as always, presenters from around the world tackled the task of fitting a huge document (to be exact, 239 pages worth) full of enhancements into a morning’s worth of tech tips.

I tried—really, I did!—to lighten the load on these presenters with the #SW18in140 SOLIDWORKS 2018 tweet series I did (visit @ServicePackSean to review all of the tweets from October through November). But 239 is an inescapably large number of pages to get through, even with my supplementary tidbits.

As such, in this article, I’m going to highlight five of my favorite “little” enhancements in the latest release. As I alluded to earlier, my hope is that you will find one or two of these “little” enhancements a little bigger than some might initially perceive!

1. Temporarily Hiding Faces When Selecting Mates

In the software, when you’re inside of the Mate command within an assembly, the process of selecting component faces that are not readily accessible from within the viewport just got much easier.

Over the course of using assemblies within our 3D CAD programs, we’ve all been in scenarios such as the one seen below. Pictured below is a spot where I’m trying to get the backside face of the grey component. The problem? I can’t see it currently. My assurance that the face exists does not help my mouse one iota when it comes to selecting this face:

By highlighting over the planar face blocking my view of the backside face and pressing the Alt key, I can temporarily hide this planar face for the purposes of this mate only. Once my Profile Center mate is added between the desired faces, the planar face formerly blocking my desired selection fully returns to the viewport as if it never left. No further action is needed to bring it back into the fold.

And with one mate and one temporary hide operation committed, we’re on our way. The assembly is fully defined at this point in the software.

2. Performance Evaluation Tool Enhancements

Those of you who know my CAD side best know that I am a huge proponent of the Performance Evaluation tools available when analyzing SOLIDWORKS files. A wise man named Neil Sardin as once told me: “SOLIDWORKS is full of a million simple things.” I find this commentary fittingly applicable to the performance settings and criteria governing our software experience.

As a senior SOLIDWORKS support engineer, I believe I’m reasonably well-versed in what makes SOLIDWORKS “tick.” However, if you’re reading this, it probably isn’t your day job to answer questions about why SOLIDWORKS works the way it does. With the 2018 release, the software has simplified the task of analyzing assembly performance criteria by offering more accessible ways to decipher this data.

When you open Performance Evaluation in assemblies (Evaluate>Performance Evaluation), you get an instant look at true key performance indicators related to the underlying components of the assembly. It’s fairly true to say that an assembly is little more than the compilation of its parts (or subassemblies) fit together to portray and test the dynamic motion and positioning of these items in conjunction with one another.

With that said, assembly performance is dependent on component characteristics to a large degree. When evaluating assembly performance overall, this understanding is paramount. As such, the Performance Evaluation tool gives you a look at open times, whether any components are older version files, graphics triangles count (generally, how detailed a component is), shaded image quality (slider settings per component, as set under Document Properties>Image Quality) and more.

The tool itself is not new. What’s new in this release is the simplicity with which you can view what many would regard as the first and easiest things to consider when diagnosing assembly performance drains (such as open time, shaded image quality, etc.).

3. Updating SpeedPak Configurations Automatically

It still makes me happy whenever I run across a customer who is using the SpeedPak configuration functionality inside of assemblies. SpeedPak is a fantastic way to limit the amount of fully-considered topological detail inside of your assemblies. Essentially, it is a configuration that visually mimics its parent configuration, while only leaving behind some small subset of edges, faces, etc. These edges and faces are typically used to maintain mates, enable dynamic measurements and more.

The rest of the geometry, you ask? It’s effectively kept visible as graphics entities. You can always switch back to the fully-loaded configuration as you wish. You can also add additional faces and edges to remain available when the SpeedPak is in play.

One thing that’s always bugged me a bit is the need to instruct the software manually to update a SpeedPak configuration if, for example, its parent configuration was changed to any degree. In SOLIDWORKS 2018, this is no longer the case when saving files with SpeedPak configurations available.

From System Options>Assemblies, you can instruct SOLIDWORKS 2018 to update out-of-date SpeedPak configurations when saving files.

4. Reading Custom Properties from Non-Native CAD Formats

We all know how much work and consideration go into making sure the metadata stored within our CAD files is true and current. This transcends SOLIDWORKS. Whether you’re using Inventor, SolidEdge or CATIA, this remains a concern for many CAD users for a variety of reasons.

When SOLIDWORKS 3D Interconnect introduced the possibility to import these file types (and more), it made the task of inter-CAD collaboration seem much more realistic. You could establish active linkages to non-native CAD files like Inventor, CATIA, SolidEdge and more, without necessarily dumbing the process down to a “one-and-done” import of the geometric data into SOLIDWORKS.

Previous versions of 3D Interconnect would show geometric changes made to an Inventor or CATIA file in their native platforms after the original import of these file types into SOLIDWORKS. Now, in 2018, you also have the ability to import the custom property-level metadata from these file types into the software as well. This should ease certain anxieties that may exist for many users regarding cross-CAD collaboration and/or the use of legacy CAD data inside of SOLIDWORKS.

5. Controlling Dismissed Messages via the Settings Administrator

A true “last but not least” for me, this enhancement has the potential to save CAD administrators from a lot of confusion-generated headaches. As annoying as it might be to answer questions from software packages when you’re “just trying to get your work done,” the answers to questions asked by SOLIDWORKS can matter a great deal.

For instance, consider the following question: “Unable to locate the file bracket.sldprt. Would you like to find the file yourself?” When asked this question, you have three possible selections to choose from in order to instruct SOLIDWORKS on what to do in this case.

You can either: (1) browse for the file yourself, (2) suppress the component or (3) suppress all components found to be missing during load. You also have a checkbox designed to allow you to dismiss this message in future sessions.

If you choose “suppress all components…” and instruct the software not to show you this message again, you may find it confusing when, in future sessions, components are unable to be suppressed normally because they cannot be found. For CAD admins unfamiliar with System Options>Messages/Errors/Warnings (where you can reintroduce dismissed messages), this can be a pain.

With the newfound ability to control dismissed messages when using the Settings Administrator, CAD admins can avoid these sorts of confusing scenarios.

As I mentioned earlier, the task of internalizing every enhancement to the software can seem impossible. Whether it’s through articles like these, my #SW18in140 series, the “What’s New” document or SOLIDWORKS 2018 resource centers, I hope you continue to learn new and exciting ways to enhance your workflows with the latest edition of the software!

About the Author

Sean O’Neill is a senior SOLIDWORKS support engineer at Fisher Unitech and a graduate of Villanova University.Based out of the Philadelphiaarea, he is a Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert (CSWE), a former SOLIDWORKS World presenter and a former SOLIDWORKS VAR marketing manager. You can follow him on Twitter (@ServicePackSean).

• Parts have too much detail or too many features
• Parts have “Level of detail” slider set too high—found in Document Properties
• Parts have rebuild errors
• Parts are coming from a directory that is slow to access—due to network location
• Parts are opening in an older version format of SOLIDWORKS

This checklist provides items to examine and correct whenever working with a slower assembly. The challenge faced is determining which parts are slowing down the assembly so that we can open these specific parts and address the issues listed above.

SOLIDWORKS 2018 introduces two great new tools to address this challenge: Assembly Performance Evaluation and Assembly Visualization. Before examining these latest tools, we will take a look at the new SOLIDWORKS 2018 Assembly Open Progress Indicator, which will help answer one of the most common questions when opening a larger assembly in SOLIDWORKS: “Is my SOLIDWORKS still actually opening my assembly? Or is it hanging?”

The Assembly Open Progress Indicator in SOLIDWORKS 2018

Figure 1. The Assembly Open Progress Indicator in SOLIDWORKS 2018.

Figure 1 shows an example of the Assembly Open Progress Indicator in SOLIDWORKS 2018. This enhancement appears whenever we open an assembly in SOLIDWORKS 2018, allowing us to see the progression of files being opened in the software.

Figure 2. A breakdown of The Assembly Open Progress Indicator.

In Figure 2, key areas of the Assembly Open Progress indicator can be seen. First is a progression of how long each component is taking to open in SOLIDWORKS. This feedback is incredibly valuable. When we opened a large assembly in previous versions of SOLIDWORKS it was difficult to answer the question “Is SOLIDWORKS actually doing anything?” because there were few indicators as to the status of the open process. Now we can answer this question with a definitive “yes,” as we can see how long each component takes to open. This feedback can help determine whether we have a bottleneck in our FILE>OPEN procedure.

A common example of a large assembly FILE>OPEN bottleneck would be seen when opening files from a slow network drive. By utilizing the Assembly Open Progress Indicator, we could determine whether the assembly opens significantly faster from a local drive as opposed to a network drive. We could use this feedback to justify the costs involved in improving network speed or as justification to change the FILE>OPEN procedure—possibly moving files to a local drive before opening them.

The Assembly Open Progress Indicator also shows us how long the assembly is taking to open and how long it took the last time to open. This is great feedback as it can help us plan our morning. If we know that it will take 7 minutes and 37 seconds to open our assembly, then that might be just enough time to go grab a cup of coffee and discuss the project with a co-worker.

Now that we have the assembly open, let’s take a look at the new tools to help us determine which parts are causing the highest demand on our system.

SOLIDWORKS 2018 Assembly Performance Evaluation

Figure 3. The Performance Evaluation Icon on the Evaluate toolbar.

The Performance Evaluation tool has been significantly improved in SOLIDWORKS 2018. This tool always has shown the number of sub-assemblies in an assembly, mates and resolved components, and other great assembly information. In SOLIDWORKS 2018 we are presented with new information to help troubleshoot slower assembly performance.

Figure 4. The new assembly Performance Evaluation window in SOLIDWORKS 2018.

In Figure 4 we can see that the assembly Performance Evaluation window now includes feedback to help identify parts that may be causing our assembly to underperform. The Performance Evaluation window distinguishes between files that may be causing the assembly to be slow to open and files that may be causing the assembly to be slow to work with.

The upper section of the Performance evaluation window shows files that are slow to open. Although it might be hard to see, the slowest file being opened is only taking .90 seconds to open. In my opinion this is a perfectly acceptable amount of time and is likely occurring because we are opening the files from a local hard drive.

Figure 5. The Performance Evaluation tool shows slower opening times when accessing files from a network drive.

Figure 5 shows much slower opening times when working with files from a network drive. The top three components are opening much slower than the fourth component at 32.82 sec, 21.94 sec, 11.51 sec and 0.51 sec respectively.Since these files are coming from different network locations we could use this information to justify relocating the slower files, possibly to a local drive, or use this information to justify investing in network architecture to speed up the process of opening and saving SOLIDWORKS projects.

Figure 6. The Performance Evaluation tool shows components that are causing a high taxation on our graphics card.

Figure 6 shows the lower half of the Performance Evaluation tool. As described back in Figure 4, this section of the performance evaluation tool tells us which components are going to be slow to work with.Some common symptoms of an assembly being “slow to work with” are:

• Slow when switching between windows
• Screen randomly goes all white for several seconds
• Slow when going from EDIT PART mode back into EDIT ASSEMBLY mode
• Slow when making/working with drawings

All of these symptoms can be caused by certain parts in our assembly having too much detail and generating too many graphics triangles. As we can see in Figure 6, my top component has 310,704 graphics triangles and has a quantity of 8 instances. In the Performance Evaluation tool the triangles are represented as a result of the number of triangles in each instance multiplied by the quantity of parts, thus each instance of this component has 310,704/8 = 38,838 graphics triangles.

This number is far too high for a single part file. I like to separate my parts into three categories when working with large assemblies and dealing with graphics triangles:

MOST PARTS – 0 to 999 graphics triangles per instance
SOME PARTS – 1,000 to 4,999 graphics triangles per instance
FEW PARTS – 5,000 to 30,000 graphics triangles per instance
NO PARTS – Greater than 30,000 graphics triangles

By sticking to these goals we are able to ensure that our large assemblies and drawings of large assemblies can maintain an acceptable level of performance.

SOLIDWORKS 2018 Assembly Visualization

Figure 7. The SOLIDWORKS Assembly Visualization icon.

As discussed above the most common culprits in assembly performance degradation are parts slow to open and ones that have a high number of graphics triangles. Using the assembly Performance evaluation toolbar we can see this information in bar graph format. Using SOLIDWORKS Assembly Visualization provides this information as a color representation overlaid on our assembly.

Figure 8. Using Assembly Visualization to sort by time to open – RED = longer to open.

Figure 8 is an example of sorting the assembly into colors based on how long each part takes to open. This can be helpful when working with an assembly that is slow to open or slow to save, as described in the section above on assembly Performance Evaluation.

Figure 9. Using Assembly Visualization to sort by number of graphics triangles – RED = higher number of triangles.

Figure 9 features a similar example of sorting, but time sorting by number of graphics triangles. As we can see, some of the parts taking the longest to open are the parts with the highest number of graphics triangles. This knowledge can be valuable when trying to determine why our assembly is slow to work with, as described above.

New ASSEMBLY VISUALIZATION Sorting Options in SOLIDWORKS 2018

Figure 10. After launching Assembly Visualization click the REBUILD icon, shown on the left.

One of the coolest enhancements to SOLIDWORKS 2018 is the ability to launch the Assembly Visualization tool and then click on the rebuild icon, shown on the left in Figure 10.This icon automatically adds columns to sort by Graphics Triangle, SW-Open Time and SW-Rebuild Time. These three categories are the most common culprits when working with slowdowns in larger assemblies. The ability to identify which specific part files are causing the slowdowns is the first step in resolving them.

Now That We Have Identified the Problematic Files, How Can We Address These Issues?

There are two primary types of slowness when working with large assemblies: the assembly is slow to open and save, or the assembly is slow to work with.When the assembly is slow to open or save, we can identify which parts are taking the longest to open and attempt to determine why they are taking so long to open. Most commonly the files in question are coming from a slow network, and the solution is to move the files to a local hard drive to get faster read/write times. Occasionally these files are of an unusually high file size, so the solution is to open and work with the file to reduce overall file size.

When files are slow to work with, the most common culprit is that the number of graphics triangles is too high. When this occurs it indicates that our part files have too much detail. One method commonly used to address this is to open the part files and examine the setting for DOCUMENT PROPERTIES>IMAGE QUALITY.

Figure 11. After launching Assembly Visualization click the REBUILD icon, shown on the left.

If this setting is in the “red zone” on the far right, it will lead to a high number of graphics triangles. Opening a part file with a high number of graphics triangles and reducing this setting will help the overall performance of a larger assembly by reducing the number of graphics triangles your graphics card needs to process.

Once this setting has been set to about 1/4 of the way from the left, we are ready to move on to the final step: creating a simplified configuration of an overly detailed part file.

Figure 12. Taking a part with a lot of detail and creating a SIMPLIFIED configuration.

When it comes to reducing the overall number of graphics triangles in an assembly that has slow performance, the single best action is to create SIMPLIFIED configurations of the parts that have the highest number of graphics triangles. This SIMPLIFIED configuration can remove hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of graphics triangles from the overall assembly.

When you have extruded text, suppress it. When you have helical threads, replace them with a cylindrical boss.When you have features that you aren’t going to be able to see at the top level assembly, suppress them. Everything you do to reduce the number of graphics triangles in your top level assembly will help with your overall assembly performance. Creating a simplified configuration to reduce the overall number of graphics triangles in our assembly is one of the most effective tools we have to help speed up larger assemblies that begin performing poorly.

Conclusion

SOLIDWORKS 2018 has introduced some terrific tools to help us work with our larger assemblies. When we first open an assembly, we are now presented with a progress bar to ensure that the assembly is opening as efficiently as possible. After the assembly is open, we can click on the assembly Performance Evaluation tool to examine whether any one set of files opening particularly slower than the remaining files. We also can use this tool to examine which files are requiring the highest amount of graphical processing resources by yielding the highest number of graphics triangles.

If we find that parts are opening unusually slowly, we can move them to a faster read/write location, such as our local hard drive. If we find that parts have an unusually high number of graphics triangles, we can open these parts and create a new simplified configuration to reduce the overhead on our graphics card, making the assembly much faster and easier to work with.

About the Author

Tobias Richard is a SOLIDWORKS elite applications engineer from Philadelphia. He has been working with SOLIDWORKS software since 1998 and has been providing training, technical support and tips and tricks since 2001.

Dassault Systèmes notes that “ SOLIDWORKS 2018 provides four new solutions to help you simplify interactions between product development teams and ultimately improve your business. Accelerate product innovation and grow your business with these new processes: design to manufacture, distributed data management, designer to analyst, electrical and the Internet of Things.” I dove a little deeper to see what these new solutions, as well as other new features and improvements, could mean for CAD managers.

Licensing

One of the more critical tasks for our firm is managing the licenses for all the different software platforms we operate. I need to make sure we are operating within the contract agreement parameters for each license as well as make sure I have the correct seats available for our CAD design technicians when they need them. Ease of transferring licenses is a huge issue for us because, for obvious budgetary reasons, we don’t buy a copy of every CAD software package we might use at a given time for every CAD design technician we have.

SOLIDWORKS offers two main categories of software licenses to fit your specific business or project needs. One is perpetual, which includes standalone and network licenses—both available with an optional subscription service. The other is term licenses, which allow you to pay for usage in specific periods of time, like 90 days or one year.

Some of our CAD design technicians use laptops, while others are on desktop machines for various reasons. Those using laptops simply take them home when needing to work evenings or over the weekends. The technicians that use desktops at the office don’t have that luxury. That’s where the activate/deactivate function within SOLIDWORKS comes in handy when dealing with standalone licenses. You can install a SOLIDWORKS license onto as many computers as you like, provided only one computer is operating the software at any given time. So, we have those CAD users simply install SOLIDWORKS on their home machines as well as deactivate their office version and then activate it at home when they need to work from there.

For floating or network licenses, SOLIDWORKS 2018 has the SolidNetWork License Manager console to help manage access to the software. The console shows the total number of network licenses available and whether they are in use, borrowed or free to use. When a CAD technician needs to use SOLIDWORKS, they select a free license when the software starts up and then return it when they are done so that it is available for others to use. Users can also “borrow” a license for up to 30 days. If the user has not returned the license by then, the license manager will automatically do so.

SOLIDWORKS SolidNetWork License Manager. (Image courtesy of SOLIDWORKS.)

The term licensing is a great option for many companies due to the lower upfront cost. We may have a specific project that will require us to have two more CAD technicians operating SOLIDWORKS, but we also know that this project will only last around three months, and after its completion, our SOLIDWORKS capacity needs will return to normal. Thus, “renting” two additional seats for just those three months is the perfect solution.

Enforcing Standards

Managing multiple users working from multiple locations doesn’t help when it comes to enforcing CAD standards. It increases the risk of CAD technicians using their own modified templates, changing settings that we try to standardize to keep a consistent and professional look to our drawings. SOLIDWORKS 2018 has new features to help manage CAD standards.

Prior to the 2018 release, users could not specify a file location for a general tables template. Now we can consolidate styles and formatting by specifying a path for the general tables template in the Systems Options under File Locations. Having a consistent look and feel to our drawings when our client receives them—regardless of which or how many CAD technicians worked on the project—goes a long way to ensuring a professional deliverable.

Another great feature in this category is the ability to update and synchronize settings and options across multiple machines. You even have two control options when doing this—manual or automatic. With the manual option, you upload your desired settings to the cloud storage service and then download them to all the other machines. The automatic option allows you to synchronize all your machines with the cloud storage service. If I update those settings, they will automatically be applied to the other machines upon their startup or login. I even have the ability to vary those synchronization settings per machine. I could set certain machines for manual download and other machines to automatic; and any settings I want to lock cannot be overwritten by the synchronization. This gives me the ability to be stricter about enforcement with newer CAD technicians or those who typically have difficulty following the standards.

Additional File Formats Supported

As I mentioned earlier, we have several different CAD software packages that we utilize based on the client and their project needs. In addition, we receive files from both clients and vendors in a myriad of different formats. So, the ability for our technicians to work with those file formats in the software platform that they are most comfortable with is a very important factor to us.

While not new to 2018, SOLIDWORKS 3D Interconnect got some great updates that further improve the ability to work with third-party native CAD data within SOLIDWORKS. 3D Interconnect was introduced in 2017 and replaced the prior translation capabilities, allowing you to:

• Insert third-party CAD data directly into a SOLIDWORKS assembly without converting it to a SOLIDWORKS file.
• Open the third-party 3D CAD format in the SOLIDWORKS software with its associative link to the original part.
• Update changes in the SOLIDWORKS file if you update the third-party CAD data in its authoring application by maintaining all downstream features created in SOLIDWORKS.

This worked for platforms such as CATIA, Autodesk Inventor, PTC Creo and Solid Edge. The 2018 release now supports STEP, IGES and ACIS file formats as well. SOLIDWORKS 2018 3D Interconnect allows you to read reference planes, user-defined attributes or custom properties from any of these formats.

A PTC Creo part opened and edited in SOLIDWORKS. (Image courtesy of SOLIDWORKS.)

In addition to the capabilities of working with third-party CAD files listed above, SOLIDWORKS 2018 supports reading the following information as well:

• Assembly cut features
• Custom properties
• Material properties
• Unconsumed sketches and curves
• Reference axes from CATIA V5 files only

Conclusion

Minimizing my time managing software means I will have more time to work with our CAD technicians, ensuring they are supported and empowered. It also gives me more time to help coordinate projects and build relationships with clients. SOLIDWORKS 2018 has both new and improved features that will help me accomplish just that.

Visit the SOLIDWORKS website for more information and a free demo.

About the Author

SOLIDWORKS CAM is designed to automate manufacturing programming for 3D data created in SOLIDWORKS 2018, marking another step toward manufacturing information arriving in the shop without drawings.

SOLIDWORKS CAM for 2.5-axis milling and turning is powered by long-time SOLIDWORKS partner CAMWorks (click for video). The decision to include SOLIDWORKS CAM with SOLIDWORKS 2018 is part of long-term strategy to build a comprehensive and robust manufacturing ecosystem. (Image courtesy of SOLIDWORKS.)

For designers and engineers, access to SOLIDWORKS CAM means having a better understanding of how their 3D data will be interpreted by rules-based machining with knowledge-based machining (KBM) captured for manufacturing. This will enable them to incorporate design decisions and revisions based on the limits of their machining and manufacturing capabilities.

By making more informed design decisions based on this knowledge, design teams can machine prototypes and manufacture them inhouse, which will enable them to control quality, time to market and delivery costs. SOLIDWORKS CAM also empowers companies to employ “build-to-order” strategies—where custom parts can be designed and CAM code generated much faster.

SOLIDWORKS CAM Overview

As designers want to check the manufacturability of their designs earlier in the design process, having an integrated CAM system closes the knowledge gap between the digital design data and how that data will translate into its physical form when it is machined.

SOLIDWORKS calls this a Smart Manufacturing ecosystem, and it includes Model-Based Definition (MBD), Costing and Inspection. Another benefit of this integrated CAM system is that it automatically updates toolpaths as changes and updates are made to parts.

SOLIDWORKS CAM is available as an add-in to every version of SOLIDWORKS Desktop for users on the subscription plan.

By utilizing the data-rich 3D CAD model to reduce repetitious manual steps that exist in development processes like programming CNC machines, SOLIDWORKS CAM should save users from making common errors, as well as save them time.

The fundamental structure of SOLIDWORKS CAM uses KBM to make the programming process more efficient. It does this by giving users some headroom to learn as they program. This gives them the ability to focus on pertinent design decisions based on the components or assemblies they’re working on.

Another practical application of SOLIDWORKS CAM is that it not only gives users the foresight to understand how the features of their digital 3D CAD designs will be interpreted by CNC machines, but also gives them insight into how much it will cost to manufacture them.

Key Features of SOLIDWORKS CAM

1. It enables users to program in either an assembly or a part environment.
2. It can interpret surface finishes and tolerances to optimize the best routes for manufacturing a part.
3. It automatically applies standard manufacturing strategies to increase efficiency and uniformity.
4. It performs automated quoting and analyzes against traditional methods to account for every characteristic of the part in advance.
5. It makes automatic adjustments of machining strategies based on tolerance specifications and model-based definition.
6. Its Automatic Feature Recognition gives users automatically generated machine programming for prismatic parts by referencing programming standards.
7. It has 2.5-axis functionality with part and assembly machining.

Tolerance-Based Machining

Let’s say you’re a CNC programmer or machinist and you use SOLIDWORKS. You come across a part file created by a designer or an engineer and it has data such as tolerances and dimensions that you can see. Your job is to prepare the part to be manufactured.

Every bit of data about the part is critical for CNC programmers and machinists. The part must be manufactured with total precision for it to pass quality assurance (QA). As a machinist or CNC programmer, you may have to alter the machining size or geometric features to develop, create and manufacture a part that is going to meet the demands of the tolerances made by the part’s creator, whether they are a designer or an engineer.

Integrated CAM tools have enabled machinists and CNC programmers to meet the needs of designers and engineers by creating toolpaths based mainly on the part’s geometry, but not without some difficulty. In SOLIDWORKS CAM 2018, machinists and CNC programmers need to perform less drudge work because machining strategies are based on tolerance data rather than part geometry. (Image courtesy of SOLIDWORKS.)

SOLIDWORKS CAM will automatically identify machinable features and provide suggested machining strategies. Since data from the tolerances of a part file inform machining decisions, a CNC machinist or programmer will see both symmetric and asymmetric linear tolerances. If you are dealing with asymmetric linear tolerances, SOLIDWORKS CAM 2018 will automatically adjust the machining allowance on the wall to give you the best chance at manufacturing to QA standards.

So, instead of programming or machining to CAD data, the tolerance data is used to create automatic machining strategies, but what about surface finish callout data? Say you have two access surfaces with surface finish callout data. Tolerance-based machining in SOLIDWORKS CAM 2018 works in the same way by identifying machinable features. When it comes across surfaces with surface finish callouts, the software will automatically create separate features and machining strategies for each of those two surfaces.

Tolerance-based machining doesn’t quite cover certain depth parameters, parallelism and concentricity—but there is a product roadmap in place to create feature recognition to identify these and other missing “wish list” features.

Bottom Line

As the industry continues to move away from 2D drawings, the amount of information that is contained within a 3D CAD file format is increasing. Adding product and manufacturing information (PMI) data and other manufacturing data is becoming more commonplace within SOLIDWORKS software.

With SOLIDWORKS CAM so accessible to engineers and designers, they’ll be able to pack more manufacturing data into 3D CAD models, CAM users like designers, engineers, CNC programmers and machinists will benefit from the automatic machining strategies provided by SOLIDWORKS CAM.

And it’s free! As long as you are a subscriber.

Not Enough? Let’s Look at SOLIDWORKS CAM Pro

If you do need more functionality, such as turning, high-speed machining or 5-axis machining, SOLIDWORKS CAM Pro may be worth the extra cost.

SOLIDWORKS CAM Pro has a number of features that are not included in SOLIDWORKS CAM, particularly when it comes to turning features:

General Features Included in SOLIDWORKS CAM Pro:

1. Automatic Feature Recognition – Turn.
2. Indexing of the 4th & 5th axes including tombstone
3. Assembly Machining
4. CAMWorks Configurations

Turning Features Included in SOLIDWORKS CAM Pro

1. Face Rough
2. Face Finish
3. Rough Turn
4. Finish Turn
5. OD Threading
6. Cut-off
7. Groove Rough
8. Groove Finish
9. Bore Rough
10. Bore Finish
11. Center Drill – on center
12. Tap – on center
13. ID Threading

Complete list of the differences between SOLIDWORKS CAM Standard and SOLIDWORKS CAM Pro.

SOLIDWORKS has sponsored ENGINEERING.com to write this article. It has provided no editorial input. All opinions are mine, except where quoted or stated otherwise. —Andrew Wheeler

Trakka Pty. Limited is an Australian company dedicated to enabling adventure with its lineup of luxury camper vans, motorhomes and other specialty vehicles. If you’ve never spotted a Trakka vehicle in the wild on the open Australian roads, you may have seen one on the cover of a SOLIDWORKS product brochure or featured in a SOLIDWORKS promotional video. Trakka has been designing its products in SOLIDWORKS since 2005, taking full advantage of the computer-aided design (CAD) software to carefully craft premium adventure-ready vehicles.

Michael Lord, Trakka design engineer and R&D manager, has been a long time proponent of SOLIDWORKS and recently spoke at the SOLIDWORKS 2018 launch event at company headquarters in Waltham, Mass. Ever since he was selected as the SOLIDWORKS World Internet Correspondent in 2011, Lord has been an active and friendly voice in the SOLIDWORKS community. He now writes a blog about his use of SOLIDWORKS in designing Trakka motorhomes and other special purpose vehicles.

“The introduction of SolidWorks at Trakka was an exciting and interesting time for me personally, as well as a tremendous change in direction for the company,” revealed Lord in an interview with SOLIDWORKS after winning the internet correspondent role in 2010.

Seemingly a perfect match, SOLIDWORKS and Trakka have been in harmony ever since. Now, we’ll take a look at how Lord and the rest of the Trakka team use SOLIDWORKS to realize their vehicle visions, and what they find most helpful in the new SOLIDWORKS 2018 release.

Switching to SOLIDWORKS

A Trakka SOLIDWORKS design from 2010. (Image courtesy of SOLIDWORKS/Trakka.)

Before adopting SOLIDWORKS in 2005, Trakka used a hands-on, in-vehicle approach to develop its vehicles.

“We needed to adopt a more streamlined, automated approach using production-based models to support growth and began evaluating 3D CAD systems to better support our development effort,” Lord explained. “We looked at a few 3D packages, including SOLIDWORKS software and Solid Edge, before implementing SOLIDWORKS.”

The Trakka team settled on SOLIDWORKS for a few reasons: it would be easy to learn, offered advanced visualization and rendering tools, and included sheet metal design and fabrication capabilities. To Trakka, SOLIDWORKS seemed the best option to delve into 3D CAD—and it turned out to be a good choice, according to Lord.

“TRAKKA can be divided into pre- and post SOLIDWORKS,” he said. “The introduction of SOLIDWORKS changed everything—not just in the way we designed, but how we manufactured.”

Since the switch, Trakka’s business has grown and improved substantially. Some of the many enhancements of post-SOLIDWORKS Trakka include a significant increase in its product portfolio, considerably less product time-to-market, improvements in manufacturing quality and a hefty reduction in prototyping time.

“It put us on a level playing field,” Lord said. “We are a small company, but SOLIDWORKS allows us deal with large multi-national corporations when it comes to technical data.  We receive CAD data from the likes of Volkswagen, Fiat and Mercedes-Benz. This was unheard of prior to us using SOLIDWORKS. It also gave us access to the laser cut and computer fold sheet metal industry, so we went from cut and weld of standard material to a more accurate, lightweight and better product.”

Trakka and SOLIDWORKS 2018

The latest SOLIDWORKS release, SOLIDWORKS 2018, has brought even more features and tools that enable Lord and the rest of the Trakka team to boost their productivity and simplify workflow.

“We try and adapt with each new release and continue to adopt the new features and enhancements, which we see as a benefit to increase our productivity,” Lord said.

One of the features from SOLIDWORKS 2018 that Trakka is most excited about is SOLIDWORKS CAM, which integrates CAMWorks-powered CNC programming directly into SOLIDWORKS. This gives users access to part and assembly machining, 2.5 axis milling, 2 axis turning and tolerance-based machining.

Trakka is eager to explore SOLIDWORKS 2018’s new Tab & Slot feature for sheet metal design, a tool for automating the creation of self-fixturing features. This new tool aims to reduce assembly and setup costs during manufacturing.Check out the video below to see how this works (and keep an eye out for a certain Australian-made recreational vehicle).

While these new SOLIDWORKS features are a welcome addition, they’re not what Lord likes most about the 2018 update.

“For me it’s the smaller enhancements that reduce mouse travel and clicks, which provide some of the greater benefits,” he said. “The new Welcome Dialogue screen is a good example of that.”

The SOLIDWORKS 2018 Welcome Dialog Box. (Image courtesy of Michael Lord).

Other smaller enhancements of SOLIDWORKS 2018 that Lord praises include more versatile mouse gestures, new color-coded folders, improvements to the auto-rotate view normal to sketch plane on sketch creation tool, 2D and 3D sketch mirroring and the new Sketch Ink toolbar. You can read more of Lord’s thoughts on SOLIDWORKS 2018 in his blog post detailing the new release.

The Story Continues

The relationship between Trakka and Dassault Systèmes (DS) SOLIDWORKS has continued to strengthen through the years, and both companies continue to prop each other up. Because of their mutual respect for each other, when Trakka was asked to provide a model for DS SOLIDWORKS to use, they did so without hesitation.

“At the time we were unaware on how DS SOLIDWORKS would use the model,” Lord said.“It’s been quite exciting and a surprise to see the extent and amount of promotion base around our product.”

Now, Trakka motorhomes adorn the landing page for SOLIDWORKS 2018 and are featured prominently in SOLIDWORKS promotional content. As for Lord, an outdoor adventurer himself, using SOLIDWORKS to design Trakka’s adventure-ready vehicles is a fulfilling experience.

“The bottom line is I still enjoy what I do,” he said.“There is tremendous job satisfaction as well as challenges, which keep me coming back day after day.”

Bosses and Cuts in a single command

Figure 1. The fundamental elements of a Tab and Slot command.

When working with Tab and Slot command in SOLIDWORKS 2018 we want to break down the feature into four fundamental areas. The first two areas are the boss and cut features. The image above shows we are working with an assembly of two parts. Our goal is to create a boss extrude on one part and a cut extrude on the other part. The boss extrude feature will be our tab. The cut extrude feature will be our slot. After establishing which component gets the tab and which gets the slot, we will specify how much larger the slot should be relative to the tab. This offset distance is our slot clearance. Lastly, at the outer corner of each tab we can choose to apply a fillet or chamfer, and we can set the desired size of the fillet or chamfer.

These are the four fundamental specifications for a Tab and Slot command. As this blog proceeds we will also see how to set values like Number of Tabs, Tab Offset from End, Width of Tabs and Height of Tabs.

Not Just for Sheet MetalParts

Figure 2. Where to find the Tab and Slot command in SOLIDWORKS 2018.

As we can see in Figure 2 the Tab and Slot command is found in the pulldown menu INSERT>SHEET METAL>TAB AND SLOT. This is a little misleading because this great new command is not limited to sheet metal parts and can be used in any part type.

Figure 3. The Tab and Slot command being executed on a non-sheet metal part.

In Figure 3 we see a simple part file with two boss extrusions. This file is not a sheet metal part. However we are able to execute the new Tab and Slot command to create the finger joint for this woodworking project.

Figure 4. Adding the Tab and Slot command to the features section of the SOLIDWORKS command manager.

Since we can use the new Tab and Slot command on any part types, not just sheet metal parts, I like to customize the SOLIDWORKS Features command manager and add the Tab and Slot command icon. (This way I don’t forget where to find the command).

How it works

To get started with the Tab and Slot command in SOLIDWORKS 2018 we will begin with a simple multi-body sheet metal part.

Figure 5. A simple sheet metal part with two solid bodies, each with a different thickness and material specified.

When we launch the command using INSERT> SHEET METAL> TAB AND SLOT we are presented with the following property manager:

Figure 6. The property manager for the Tab and Slot command.

Since there are a lot of options in the property manager for the tab and slot command, we will tackle a few of the options at a time.

Figure 7. The first group of options for the Tab and Slot command.

The first option we see is for Group. A group can be thought of as a series of tabs (and slots) along a single edge. If we wanted to create another series of tabs and slots along another edge, but we wanted both features to share some commonalities, we could accomplish this by creating a second group rather than finishing one feature and beginning an entirely new Tab and Slot command. For today’s example we will simply use a single group.

Next, we see the option for Tab Edge, shown in blue in Figure 7. The Tab Edge will be selected by the user and dictate the component from which the tabs will be extruded, as well as the location of the tabs. In Figure 7 we have selected the edge from the rear, thicker component. This component will be the component that has tabs added to it, and the tabs will be added to this edge (as shown in the preview).

We now have the option for Slot Face, shown in pink in Figure 7. The slot face will be selected by the user and dictate the component upon which the slots will be cut, as well as the location of the face for the cut extruded slot. In Figure 7 we have selected the face of the front, thinner component. This component will have the slots added to it, and the slots will be cut extruded from the face selected.

Next, we see the two options for Start Reference Point and End Reference Point, shown in purple and green in Figure 7. This indicates the start and end points of the edge to be used in the Offset settings (see below). These points are selected automatically when the user selects the Tab Edge and do not need to be manually selected.

Figure 8. The next group of options for the Tab and Slot command.

As we continue down the Tab and Slot property manager we next see the option for Offset. This option can be enabled or disabled. It allows the end user to specify a distance from each of the end reference points specified earlier in the command. The offset distance from the start reference point and end reference point may be specified independently.If the user chooses to uncheck the option for Offset, the tabs will simply be created exactly at the end of the tab edge. This would be similar to indicating an offset distance of 0.00. In Figure 8 we have specified an offset distance of 0.125 in from each reference point to our first and last tab.

Next, we have the section for Spacing. In this section we can specify a distance between tabs or the desired number of tabs. In Figure 8 we have specified that we would like to generate three tabs equally spaced along our tab edge.

The we have the option for our tab length and height. These options are fairly straightforward, and I generally set the desired length and then the desired height to a blind value. In our model the thinner front sheet metal component has a wall thickness of 0.060 in.With this in mind we have set my tab height to a value of 0.100 in. This will generate a tab that sticks out from the mating component by a distance of 0.040 in, which will make alignment and welding of the two components a little easier. In the Tab Height section we have options for Blind, Up toSurface and Offset From Surface.

Figure 9. The final group of options for the Tab and Slot command.

The final group of options for the Tab and Slot command, found at the bottom of the property manager, allows us to set the option for Edge Type and Slot Gap.

There are three options for edge type:Sharp Edge, Fillet Edge and Chamfer Edge. In Figure 9 we can see the option for Fillet Edge was chosen and that a radius of 0.040 in was applied.

The slot gap represents an offset distance, relative to the dimensions of the tab, which will be applied to the slot cut extrudeon all four sides. In Figure 9 we can see that we are applying an offset distance of 0.020 in to provide the desired clearance for our tabs.

And that’s the overview of the Tab and Slot property manager. There are a lot of options in this property manager and like so many tools in SOLIDWORKS, if you don’t see a preview right away the culprit is usually a bad dimension for the width of the tab or there are too many instances of the tab to fit along the selected edge. Another trick that I find handy is to change the end condition of the tab from UpToSurface to Blind, as this seems to yield more consistent and reliable results.

Patterns and Mirrors

One of the best things about the new Tab and Slot command is that it can be used as part of a pattern or mirror feature.

Figure 10. Mirroring the Tab and Slot features.

One important concept to remember when using a feature pattern (or mirror) is that when working in an assembly or on a multi-body part, we can only create a feature pattern on one single body at a time. This means that we will need to do two pattern features to pattern both the tab and slot. In Figure 10 we can see that we were able to mirror the tab feature (shown with the green line) and the slot feature (shown with the pink line), but we had to do it in two separate mirror commands due to the concept of multi-body design mentioned earlier.

Conclusion

SOLIDWORKS 2018 has made some great improvements to help speed up the process of working with parts and features. One of my favorite improvements is the cool new Tab and Slot command. This command allows users to create a boss extrude and pattern (the Tab) on one part and a corresponding cut extrude and pattern (the Slot) on a second part, all in one single command. Although the Tab and Slot command is found in the pulldown menu INSERT> SHEET METAL> TAB AND SLOT, it is not a command limited to sheet metal type parts. Tab and slot can be applied to any part file type, which makes it incredibly valuable for woodworking type projects. Check out the new Tab and Slot command in SOLIDWORKS 2018 and enjoy this great new time saving feature.

About the Author

Tobias Richard is a SOLIDWORKS elite applications engineer from Philadelphia, Pa. He has been working with SOLIDWORKS software since 1998 and has been providing training, technical support, and tips and tricks since 2001.

The most significant addition to this latest release of SOLIDWORKS revolves around the new touch, gesture and pen-based inputs.

Just to clarify, these features are only available to users of Windows 10 who have downloaded the Windows 10 Creators Update. You can download that update at this link.

You can use pen and touch input with compatible, touch-enabled devices to create freehand sketch strokes and convert them into sketch geometry with the tools in the software’s Sketch Ink CommandManager. You can access this function by right-clicking the CommandManager tab and clicking Sketch Ink or View > Toolbars > Sketch Ink.

Clicking the touch icon tool in the Sketch Ink CommandManager will allow you to use a finger to sketch entities in the graphics area. Similarly, if you want to use a pen/stylus on a touchscreen or drawing board, you can click the pen icon, which is also found in the Sketch Ink CommandManager.

As well as being able to draw freehand, you can use these new input methods to draw lines, arcs, polygons, circles and ellipses.

Take a look at the short video below to see a demonstration of how touch sketching works in SOLIDWORKS 2018.

Man in the Mirror

The next new additions we will take a look at are enhancements to the mirror entities sketch functions.

In previous releases of SOLIDWORKS, mirroring entities was only possible around linear entities such as lines or edges. If you recall, if you wanted to create a symmetrical sketch when using an earlier release of the software, you would literally have to sketch a line and use that as your mirror reference line. Then, the selected entities that you wanted mirrored would appear on the opposite side of that line.

Now, you can mirror your entities about a plane or a planar model face too.

Figure 1. Now you can mirror 3D sketches about a plane. (Image courtesy of Hawk Ridge Systems.)

You can do this by clicking the mirror entities icon in the sketch toolbar, or, alternatively, you can click the following menus:

Tools > Sketch Tools > Mirror > Mirror About

And then you can select a reference plane or a planar face in the graphics area.

Of course, this means that you are now able to mirror 3D sketches as well, rather than just 2D sketches.

Take a look at the video below for more information.

I'll Take Your Brain to Another Dimension…

Pay close attention! The next enhancement to SOLIDWORKS 2018 sketch feature is the addition of Smart Dimension to the Context Toolbar.

In previous releases of SOLIDWORKS, you could only preselect entities and then use the Smart Dimension tool to dimension entities (in fact, the tool on the context menu no longer supports preselection at all). That has changed for this release, and users can now dimension certain entities from the Auto Insert Dimension tool on the Context Toolbar.

The entities supported by the dimensioning tools on the context menu are:

• Line: Linear dimension
• Arc: Radial dimension
• Circle: Diameter dimension
• Two lines at an angle: Angular dimension between entities
• Two parallel lines: Linear dimension between entities
• Arc or circle, and line: Linear dimension between line and centerpoint
• Point and line: Linear dimension between line and point
• Arc or circle, and point: Linear dimension between point and centerpoint
• Arc/Arc or Circle/Circle or a combination thereof: Linear dimension between center points

Smart Dimension, it seems, just got smarter.

Much Undo About Nothing

In previous releases, when working with large sketches, the Automatic Solve Mode and Undo would repeatedly turn off in large sketches. In SOLIDWORKS 2018, this has changed, and now you can enable and disable Automatic Solve Mode and Undo, and modify the threshold limit for sketch entities.

To control Automatic Solve and Undo in Parts and Assemblies, follow these steps:

Click Tools > Options > System Options > Sketch

• To disable the behavior of automatic turn off of Automatic Solve Mode and Undo, clear Turn off Automatic Solve Mode and Undo when a sketch contains more than this number of sketch entities.
• To modify the threshold limit, select Turn off Automatic Solve Mode and Undo when a sketch contains more than this number of sketch entities and enter the input value in the input box.

Then click OK.

And to control Automatic Solve, Undo, and No Solve Move in Drawings:

Click Tools > Options > System Options > Drawings > Performance

• To disable the behavior of automatic turn off of Automatic Solve Mode and Undo, clear Turn off Automatic Solve Mode and Undo and turn on No Solve Move when a drawing view contains more than this number of sketch entities.
• To modify the threshold limit, select Turn off Automatic Solve Mode and Undo and turn on No Solve Move when a drawing view contains more than this number of sketch entities and enter the input value in the input box.

Then click OK.

Dangerous Curves

SOLIDWORKS 2018 allows users to flip the tangency direction for specific curved sketch entities, such as splines and arcs.

This is very easy to do and can be used for repairing failed tangencies in your sketch.

In the Design Tree, right-click the sketch containing the arc with the tangent failure and click Edit Sketch to open up the sketch in the main window.

In the graphics area, right-click the arc or spline in question, and click Reverse Endpoint Tangent on the shortcut menu. You will notice that the tangency is now reversed and the arc has been flipped.

Click Edit > Rebuild

And you’re done.

Circular Sketch Patterns

And last, but by no means least, in SOLIDWORKS 2018 circular sketch patterns are no longer limited to the number of instances allowed. And the keen-eyed among you will have noticed that I have now run out of puns for the subheadings!

That seems like a good time to bow out, gracefully or otherwise.

Keep an eye out on the main Engineers Rule front page for upcoming news and tutorials for the latest release, SOLIDWORKS 2018!

About the Author

Phillip Keane is currently studying his PhD at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His background is in aerospace engineering, and his current studies are focused on the use of 3D-printed components in spaceflight. He previously worked at Rolls-Royce and Airbus Military and served as an intern for Made In Space and the European Southern Observatory.