Convert an image into a SolidWorks feature

   
This Solidtec - SolidWorks Technical Tip Demonstrates - how to insert an Image into a SolidWorks sketch and use it as the basis for sketch entities to then create a feature. The video also show how to scale the image entities and move them in an easy manner. 
This Video was produced By Solidtec Solutions, SolidWorks Provider in Australia & NZ. www.solidtec.com.au
www.solidtec.co.nz

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SolidWorks Appearance & Background

A short video on how to change the Appearance and Backgrounds in SolidWorks via the heads up toolbar.

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Hydrostatic Tank Simulation

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How to Upgrade your Solidworks installation 2012 - 2013

This is a guide for upgrading SolidWorks from one version to another - for example from SolidWorks 2012 to SolidWorks 2013. We highly recommend that you uninstall the old version completely, and then install the new version. This ensures you have a clean start with the new major release.


If you would like to run two major versions of SolidWorks (e.g. 2012 and 2013) alongside each other, click here.


This is not intended to be a step-by-step installation guide and assumes some familiarity with basic computer maintenance, etc. If at any stage you are unsure of how to proceed, please contact your Solidtec Application Engineer.

The steps below are for standalone SolidWorks licenses. To check if you have a standalone license, from SolidWorks go to the Help menu. If you have the option to "Transfer license", you have a standalone license. If you have a network (SNL) license, most steps will be the same. If unsure, contact your Solidtec Application Engineer.

Contents

1. Before you begin
2. Uninstall the old version
3. Install the new version
4. After installation
1. Setup
2. Toolbox installations
5. Further information
   

   Before you begin

   *SolidWorks 2013 can only be installed onto Windows 7, it is not Supported on Windows XP
   for more information: http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/SystemRequirements.html 

1. Back up any local data. We recommend keeping a copy of your data in the old format should you need it. This being things like Custom templates located locally on the machine inside the default SolidWorks locations. Best to navigate to >>System Options>>File Locations>> and take a look at the main sections where you believe you may have made customisation  (note that if you use a network location for templates, weldment profiles or toolbox and so forth the above is not required)
   
   
   *The above mainly applies to users who use the out of box setup of SolidWorks and tend to add to the default locations with their custom created files, if you use Toolbox and have added custom components its also best to back this folder up also. 
   
   
   If you are unsure about backing up any custom files than please contact your local SolidWorks Applications Engineer.
2. Make a note of any SolidWorks customisations, such as keyboard shortcuts. From SolidWorks >> (start a new Part if none are open) >> Tools >> Customize >> Keyboard tab >> check "Show only commands with shortcuts assigned" >> Copy List. This will copy the settings to the Windows Clipboard and you can then paste them into Excel or Notepad, etc. Although this requires you to re-input your keyboard shortcuts after reinstalling SolidWorks, there is no risk of "contaminating" the Registry settings. If though you are would like to attempt to stream line the procedure explained above you could alternatively use the Copy Settings Wizard
   
   
   
   <CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION>
   *Note that in some cases during an upgrade procedure Settings copied using this wizard may not work so it is best also use the above method as a record.
3. Copy the SolidWorks Serial Number. From SolidWorks >> Help >> About SolidWorks. Make a note of the Serial Number (copy to Notepad or write it down on paper, etc.) - you may need to re-enter it during installation later on.
4. Transfer the SolidWorks License off the machine. This ensures your license is available to use on another computer if anything happens during the uninstall/reinstall process. From SolidWorks >> Help >> Transfer License. If you are having trouble connecting to the SolidWorks License Server, make sure that internet traffic is allowed to/from https://activate.solidworks.com/
5. Make sure you are logged in to Windows as an administrator. If you are unsure, see http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001093.htm



Uninstall the old version

*Make sure that you have sufficient rights on the machine to uninstall software and reinstall software, make sure that you also have access to the System Registry to remove entries of old SolidWorks versions. To find out more about your permission contact your Company IT Department.


6. Uninstall SolidWorks. Start Menu >> Control Panel >> Programs and Features (Add/remove programs in WinXP) >> SolidWorks >> Uninstall. The SolidWorks 2012 Installation Manager will start.

1. with SolidWorks 2012 we have new options for uninstalling / cleaning the system ready for a new version of the software. You should see a Summary page like the image above. Make sure that you select to uninstall all the software that was installed with the previous version, this will ensure that the new major version install is clean.
2. By Default if you click Remove Items with out selecting an advance option the Installation manager will remove the program files and folders. But it will keep certain aspects of the old version, it wont be completely clean. The registry settings of your previous SolidWorks setup will also still be in the system. For some users this easy uninstallation method is fine as they may already have a new computer that is clean.
3. A cleaner method is to click on the Change button next to the Advanced Options here we can remove the Registry files that we have created that has all the settings of keyboard short cuts, file locations etc (we can later reload these using the copy settings wizard or manually)
4. Using the Advanced Options we can also remove old Data Files and Folders like toolbox and template folders.
7. Once you have chosen your method that you would prefer to uninstall SolidWorks please proceed to uninstalling the Software, if you come across any issues during the uninstallation process please contact your local SolidWorks Applications Engineer for further assistance, if you do get an error with Log Files please save these for reviewing.
8. A restart of your machine is best after the un-installation has been completed.
   

Install the new version

*Make sure that you have sufficient rights on the machine to uninstall software and reinstall software, make sure that you also have access to the System Registry to remove entries of old SolidWorks versions. To find out more about your permission contact your Company IT Department.


9. THIS IS A CRITICAL STEP! Disable any Anti-virus programs that are running as these can interfere with the installation process. Some Anti-virus programs are very difficult to disable – if in doubt Google for instructions “disable < Anti-virus Program Name>”.
   
   If required, you can generally disable anti-virus programs manually:
   
   1. Start >> Run >> Control Panel >> Administrative Tools >> Services.
   2. Find all relevant anti-virus services >> RMB >> Stop
   3. Once installation is complete >> RMB >> Start
10. Insert the SolidWorks Media Disc (make sure it is the correct bit version - 32 and 64-bit versions are supplied in the box). Or if you have downloaded the full version of SolidWorks 2013 from the customer portal (5Gb Download) than run the setup.exe.
    
    If the Installation Manager does not start automatically from the Disk, browse to the media location in Windows Explorer and RMB on Setup.exe >> Run as administrator to begin installation.
11. Run through the Installation Manager.
    
    
    1. Installation type is Individual.
    2. Enter the Serial Number if prompted (enter extra Serial Numbers if installing Simulation Premium or Flow Simulation).
    3. If you have SolidWorks Professional or Premium, click here to read about installing/upgrading the Toolbox.
    4. In some cases it may still pick up the old installation locations of the previous install SolidWorks depending on what steps you performed in the above, in most cases this is fine to use default installation locations. 

After installation

Setup

12. If you transferred the license off the computer previously, or there was no license on the machine, when starting up SolidWorks you will be asked to activate the product. Run through the process, using correct contact details (these will be associated with the Serial Number). If you are unable to activate, use the 30-day Trial Activation. This will give you access to SolidWorks for 30 days regardless of what version of SolidWorks you are entitled to. If this happens please notify your Solidtec Application Engineer.
13. Make sure that the File Locations are set up correctly if using a central file server. From within SolidWorks >> Options >> System Options tab >> File Locations. The most common locations to change are: Document Templates, Sheet Formats, Weldment Profiles and Custom Properties. To add a Custom Properties location you may need to delete the existing location first (SolidWorks can only handle one location for the Custom Properties file).
    
    
    *Note that depending on how you have uninstalled the software and if you removed the registry files from the previous version; you may not need to re-import your old SolidWorks settings / customised shortcut keys / layouts. 
14. Apply any customisations, such as keyboard shortcuts, toolbar layouts, etc. if you used the  Copy Settings Wizard than please double click on the .sldreg file created.
    
    

Toolbox installations

15. If you have SolidWorks Professional or Premium with the Toolbox add-in, the correct method to update the Toolbox data is as follows:
    
    1. Browse to your existing (e.g. 2012) Toolbox data folder - by default this is in C:\SolidWorks Data.
    2. Copy the folder and its contents - rename the copied folder something like "SolidWorks Data 2013". Make another copy of the original folder and keep it with the rest of your backed up SW2012 data.
    3. During installation, on the Summary page under Toolbox Options >> Change. Choose to "Upgrade an existing Toolbox location" and browse to the "SolidWorks Data 2013" folder. Continue the installation process.
    4. This will upgrade the contents of the new folder, leaving the previous folder intact if you wish to continue using SolidWorks 2012. If you do not need the 2012 data any more, you can delete the original "SolidWorks Data" folder.
16. If you have already installed SolidWorks and need to change the location of the Toolbox from the default local installation path to a file server path, from within SolidWorks >> Options >> System Options tab >> Hole Wizard/Toolbox >> Browse to the correct location.
    
    
    

Further information

Further information on installing SolidWorks can be found here:

• SolidWorks Installation and Admin Guide – the official Admin guide.
• How to ensure a clean uninstall and update of SolidWorks – a more involved method of preparing your machine for a clean SolidWorks installation.

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Using Design Tables to limit Models

Introduction to use of Design Tables to limit models to Standards, using the case study of a circular path of stepping stones. This video was presented by Heidi Green, Applications Engineer at Solidtec Solutions, Solidworks Provider in Australia and New Zealand. www.solidtec.com.au

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Australia and New Zealand users of Solidworks - Please read

For all our users of Solidworks 2013(PR and SP 0) in the ANZ region, please be aware of the following  bug in the Weldments module:

As of Solidworks release 2013(PR and SP 0), we have found that a few Weldment profiles have incorrect sizes.  For example, in figure 1 below, the profile is selected from the "AS" standard, Type is "Equal Angle AS-NZS", and size is 45x45x3.  We can see the error here is that it's actually 50 x 50 x 7.8.  We have found at least two profiles where this problem exists(45x45x3 & 50x50x3).  There may be others.  We can also see errors with the sketch itself.  The problem has been reported to Solidworks and will be fixed in a future release.

Figure 1

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SolidWorks screen capture

This video demonstrates a few tools for performing a screen capture, as well as some of the functionality within these tools.

This video was created by Darren Silsby - Solidtec Application Engineer

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Solidworks Task Scheduler

Description

This blog Shows how Solidworks can help use down time more efficient by carrying out time intensive jobs and giving more space for performing productive tasks.

Through Solidworks Task Scheduler, tasks like solving large simulation studies with number iterations could take long time but through task scheduler you can select to carry out this runs while you are in heading home and in the morning your results will be ready for you.

The setup is very easy. For example, I need to run this model 4 times against different applied forces. So I need is to open my Solidworks task scheduler tool under solidworks tools and select the update simulation task. In this window I will name my task to 4 iterations, select the location of the file and finally select the time for in which this task will place. That is all, in time the task scheduler will launch Solidworks open the file, run the 4 iterations and save the results automatically saving from spending this time waiting for your results.
Other time consuming tasks like creating drawings from part files or even printing a patch of drawings can be done over the night.
It works and guides you through the process by asking you to input the required information. So, the printing task for example will require you to enter the paper size, number of copies required and the printer that will be used. The time required for this job is set to the ideal time of the day so Solidworks will take care of these tasks so you can even make use of your down time.
There are 19 out of the box tasks that can be done while you are not using solidworks as you can see and even you can add your own customized tasks.
Solidworks dose not only offers you an effective design tool but also helps you have a better use of your time.

Created By Amgad

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How to create an offset spline on surface curve in SolidWorks

This video goes through two techniques to achieve an offset curve of a spline on surface. 


1. Surfacing techniques   
1.1 Ruled surface - Normal to surface   
1.2 Extend surface   
1.3 Offset surface   
1.4 Intersection curve

2. Projection   
2.1 Project spline on surface to appropriate plane (convert entities)   
2.2 Use offset entities on 2d sketch  
2.3 Use project curve to (sketch on faces) to project 
      offset curve back onto original surface.


In addition to the two techniques, the video also outlines a situation where the projection method will give undesirable results.

This Video was created by Solidtec Solutions Application Engineer Costa Armen

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SolidWorks 2012 Import Capabilities & FeatureWorks

This Solidtec - SolidWorks Technical Tip Demonstrates the capabilities of importing 67 different file types and also the FeatureWorks tool.

This Video was produced By Solidtec Solutions, SolidWorks Provider in Australia & NZ.
www.solidtec.com.au

This Video was created by Solidtec Solutions Application Engineer Perry Klinger

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SolidWorks Autotrace Functionality

In this video, I show the SolidWorks Autotrace feature.  Using Autotrace, we can use an image in the sketch environment to capture the outline of the image.  Then, we can create 3D solids from it.

This Video was created by Solidtec Solutions Application Engineer Nayshil 

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Creating configurations using the "Alternate Position View" function

In this video, I illustrate how to create configurations to show the range of motion of a solidworks assembly. The configurations are created at drawing level within Solidworks using the "Alternate Position View" function. Please leave a comment should you have any questions regarding this function. Hope you enjoyed this quick tip!

This Video was created by Solidtec Solutions Application Engineer Suraj 

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SolidWorks-Sheet Metal - Mitered Flanges on an Internal Corner.

This video shows how to use SolidWorks to add mitered edge flanges to an internal corner of a sheet metal part that will unfold correctly.
Focus is on removing the interfering material that is often created in the flange features.

This Video was created by Solidtec Solutions Application Engineer Stewart

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SolidWorks-Miter Cut through Sheet Metal Corner

Description: This video show how to use SolidWorks to add a "Cut" feature through a folded sheet metal corner creating a miter that can still be unfolded.
Focus is on the "Normal Cut" option in the cut feature.

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SolidWorks Instant3D Capabilities

This video shows the capabilities of SolidWorks Instant3D and Rapid Sketching. Instant3D and Rapid Sketching are excellent tools to use while wanting to quickly and efficiently create a model and make design changes.

This Video was created by Solidtec Solutions Application Engineer Perry Klinger

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Edrawings Functionality ( FREE )

In this Video Damien shows eDrawings for non CAD Users, eDrawings is a free tool that can be downloaded from solidworks.com

This Video was created by Solidtec Solutions Application Engineer Damien Murphy

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Modifying Solidworks Installation to Update Serial Number

This video goes through how to modify your Solidworks installations to update your serial number from Trial version to full version, or standalone to network license, etc.

This video was produced by Gabriel Davila - Application Engineer

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How To Create Smart Components

This video demonstrates how to utilise the Smart Component feature in SolidWorks to optimise and streamline your design process.
This Video was created by Solidtec Solutions Application Engineer Christian van der Horst

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How to download, create, and organize Weldment Profiles

This interactive PowerPoint shows how to locate the current weldment profiles, download additional profiles, as well as creating custom profiles, and the folder structure required.

This Video was created by Solidtec Solutions Application Engineer Heidi

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Indentation Methods in SolidWorks

Three Indentation methods are presented using the indent, deform and freeform SolidWorks features. The sheetmetal forming tool is another example of an indentation method however this has been deliberately excluded from this short demo. To review this method please click on the following link (http://solidtecsolutions.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/creating-custom-forming-tool.html).


This Video was created by Solidtec Solutions Application Engineer Costa Armen

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Signing up for a customer portal Account.

How to sign up for a SolidWorks customer portal account from solidtecblog

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Standard SolidWorks troubleshootinq

Quick tip - make sure you test also with User Account Control off - Contact suport for further clarification,ALWAYS back up Registry before making changes

Standard solid works troubleshooting procedures from Solidtec Blog

Quick tip - make sure you test also with User Account Control off - Contact suport for further clarification,ALWAYS back up Registry before making changes

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Creating a Custom Forming Tool

In this video, Suraj illustrates how to use the existing forming tools in the Solidworks design library and also how to create a custom forming tool.

This Video was created by Solidtec Solutions Application Engineer Suraj

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SolidWorks Custom Fastners

How to set your SolidWorks part files to be excluded from a section in drawings by default.

This how to video was produced by Magnus Whittall -- Applications Engineer 

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SolidWorks "Copy Settings Wizard"

In this video Stewart will show you how to back up your SolidWorks settings
using the SolidWorks settings wizard. This tool can be used in a multi user environment
where users need to have the same settings & file locations.

This how to video was produced by Stewart N -- Applications Engineer NZ

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SolidWorks Chain Assembly

In this video demonstration by Damien he will show you how to model a chain assembly in SolidWorks using a curve driven pattern.
This video was produced by Damien M -- Applications Engineer NZ

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Solidtec Customer, Therma Truck, Wins Enterprise Connect Significant Achievement Award

Therma Truck design and manufacture refrigerated truck bodies and vans. Therma Truck produce custom bodies, cool cube stock bodies, eutectic bodies imported from Italy, and perform body repairs. At the 2012 Manufacturer’s Monthly Endeavour Awards, Therma Truck won the Enterprise Connect Significant Achievement Award for their ‘Therma Truck Lean Implementation’.


By embracing principles of lean manufacturing, they were able to significantly reduce their overall inventory. The Manufacturing Monthly Endeavour Awards recognise and celebrate the efforts of industry leaders in achieving excellence in manufacturing. The Enterprise Connect Significant Achievement Award is open to current or former Enterprise Connect clients.


As a Solidtec Solutions customer, Therma Truck use SolidWorks for their design needs. Solidtec caught up with Daniel Liebau, Design Draftsman to talk about how SolidWorks has helped Therma Truck become more efficient. 

“Before SolidWorks was introduced, all of our drawings were done by hand,” said Daniel.  “SolidWorks has provided us with a platform to be able to keep drawings consistent and produce them quickly” added Daniel. Therma Truck has been using SolidWorks 3D CAD for four years. “Since implementing SolidWorks, we’ve been able to extract design rules from what used to be only in the designers mind, and put them in a tangible format for future use,” said Daniel. 

When asked what he liked about SolidWorks Daniel mentioned that “SolidWorks has definitely increased consistency in the manufacturing process. I really like the fact that our drawings are consistent and I have quick access to our bill of materials. It gives me confidence that the finished product will go together with little or no rework.”

SolidWorks helps design teams become more productive and helps manufacturing processes become more efficient. “Our largest gains have been in time and productivity,” said Daniel. “Our drawings process has become more streamlined as it now follows documented design rules, and the drawing pack that we produce now has a lot more detail,” Daniel further explained. “Our manufacturing times have also been cut due to our bill of materials allowing us to pre-order and pre-cut materials to size. It also lets us produce data that is used for costing the job” said Daniel. 

“We chose Solidtec as our SolidWorks provider because we saw a lot of value in their support services. Their engineers are very knowledgeable and quick to resolve issues,” said Daniel. 

Solidtec CEO Shane Preston said that “On behalf of Solidtec, I would like to congratulate Thermatruck on winning the Enterprise Connect Significant Achievement award at the Manufacturers Monthly Endeavour Awards ceremony. Thermatruck is truly representative of the SolidWorks community in Australia and New Zealand, an organisation finding success in a competitive market through the use of technology and innovation.”

For more information on Therma Truck visit www.thermatruck.com.au
For more information on Solidtec Solutions visit www.solidtec.com.au 

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Setting Standard Material to your part from Solidworks Design Table

This video makes use of Solidworks Macro. The requirement is that your part has multiple configurations, and has a Design Table within the file also. It needs a configuration specific custom property, but if this does not exist the macro will add it for you, and set the default value to Plain Carbon Steel. When you run the macro, it will read the corresponding Material name from the Design Table and set it for your part's corresponding configuration. This feature is not currently available in Solidworks, but has been suggested that it will be in the 2013 release.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEjkiLsxjXk&

Link to Macro

This video was created by Gabriel Davila - Applications Engineer Solidtec Solutions

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Handy time saving modelling tips for Solidworks

In this video, I show 5 Solidworks features, often under used, that can help you get the job done quicker. Here are the features shown:

-Vent feature -Fill pattern -Smart feature -Replace component -Smart Fasteners

In the video, the replace component feature I show is the same component, but a light weight version. This works successfully because all mating reference id's are the same. If you wish to replace a model where mating references are different, you will have broken mates. To avoid this, one trick is to mate the model to be replaced using the 3 default planes(Top, Right, Front). These planes have the same face id across all parts and assemblies, making the task of replacing components a breeze.

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SolidWorks

A video by SolidTec on how you can easily use SolidWorks to create a 3D part model and then detail it in a drawing.

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Flat Pattern of Multi Body Parts

A short video to show how to create drawing views of individual bodies of a multibody part. Presented By Andrew C - Applications Engineer Solidtec Solutions

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Create evenly distributed sketch points along a curve in SolidWorks and export to excel

This blog shows you how to create evenly distributed sketch points along a sketched curve in SolidWorks, then export the x,y,z coordinates of those points into excel and additionally, import the x,y,z coordinate data back into SolidWorks as a 3d sketch. First, an arbitrary curve is generated, reference geometry point tool creates evenly distributed points. Another sketch is generated that is coincident with the original sketch and a convert entities is performed. This results in sketch points in a 2d sketch. A macro named, "xyz to excel" is then executed to generate a list of x,y,z coordinates in excel. The same data is then imported from excel to SolidWorks using a similar macro based excel document named, "excel to xyz.xlsx".

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MACRO AND EXCEL FILE

Presented By Costa A - Applications Engineer Solidtec Solutions

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How to Upgrade: SolidNetwork Licensing Administrator

Interactive online Slide Show:

Created By Perry K - Applications Engineer Solidtec Solutions

If your having issues viewing this at this size please check out the
Full Screen button located at the bottom right hand corner.

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Property Tab Builder

This video demonstrates how to utilise the SolidWorks Property Tab Builder to easily assign custom properties to SolidWorks parts, assemblies, drawings or weldment.  

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Solidworks Move Face Tool

Solidworks Move Face tool comes in handy when you have received a Parasolid, iges or step file and want to make changed to features on the model.

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Upgrading SolidWorks Toolbox

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Mold Tool functions in SolidWorks

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Large Design Review

Working with Large Assemblies in SolidWorks 2012

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Solidtec Solutions demonstrates 3D CAD software SolidWorks 2012 with new and enhanced features

Software and 3D design specialist company Solidtec Solutions will use the opportunity of two major tradeshows in Australia and New Zealand, Austech 2012 (Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park, May 8th-11th, Stand D168) and Emex (ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane, Auckland, May 1st-3rd, Stand 3084), to present the 20th release of the popular CAD software SolidWorks 2012.

SolidWorks is the industry leading design software providing the
manufacturing community tools that increase productivity and focus on innovation to create products better, faster, and more cost-effectively.

“The new release comes with dozens of new useful features, which demonstrate how much the bar has been raised as to what users today expect from their CAD software,” says Shane Preston, CEO of Solidtec Solutions. “The new features fall into four major categories: Automation of commonly-used functions, enhanced performance, new workflows for changing the product development process, and additional collaboration capabilities.”

One of the standout new features of SolidWorks 2012 is SolidWorks Costing, an integrated costing tool that automates manufacturing cost calculations for sheetmetal and machined parts. Very often, engineers spend a good amount of time modifying designs to address cost concerns, using spreadsheets and manual quote processes to get the proper data. Given that many of these engineers are already SolidWorks users, the company saw an opportunity to deliver a more repeatable and accurate way for users to do what-if analysis on the materials and manufacturing methods associated with particular designs.

Visitors to the Solidtec stand during Autech 2012 and Emex can experience the benefits of SolidWorks 2012 first-hand, and the Solidtec expert team will be at hand to demonstrate the whole suite of new features, which have the potential to improve local manufacturers’ productivity and competitiveness.
“We chose Solidtec because they showed us the relevance of SolidWorks to our business and how we would benefit from it,” comments Neil Newnham, Managing Director at Belco Custom Trailers. “The demonstration they gave showing SolidWorks capabilities around framework and drawings was excellent. They knew exactly what we needed, and really highlighted just how simple SolidWorks is to use.”

From the outset the entire Solidtec team across Australia and New Zealand has been focused on adding value to their manufacturing customers and assisting them in increasing their innovation, sustainability and profitability. Solidtec’s performance would indicate these efforts are resonating with its customers, as Solidtec has been acknowledged as the fastest growing SolidWorks 3D CAD provider, trainer and support organisation in Australia and NZ and has been recognised as one the top performing SolidWorks resellers worldwide.

“We would like to congratulate Solidtec for its inclusion in President’s Club for 2011, an elite group of top performing SolidWorks resellers,” says Kenneth Clayton, vice president of worldwide sales at Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. "Selling 1,000 licenses in less than 3 years is a great accomplishment."

“Growing at such a fast rate is confirmation that our focus on ensuring customer success is resonating with the manufacturing community; we cannot achieve our goals without our loyal customers,” says Shane Preston, CEO of Solidtec Solutions.

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Map SolidWorks Drawing to DWG-DXF Layers

See how to map SolidWorks drawing entities onto different layers and colors in a DWG or DXF file.

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SolidWorks Flat Pattern capabilities in Sheet Metal Parts

A short demonstration video that demonstrates the flat pattern capabilities in SolidWorks using Sheet Metal parts and lofted bends.

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Sheet Metal Square to Round Loft

A short video show how to create a sheet metal loft between a square and a round profile.

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SolidWorks Interference Detection

This video demonstrates the basic functionality for interference detection within a SolidWorks assembly. This includes interferences for fasteners, multi-body parts and explores some of the other options in the property-manager for the interference detection tool.

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Using the 2D to 3D toolbar in SolidWorks

In this video Perry from Solidtec will show you how to import a dwg or a dxf into SolidWorks 2012 and by using the 2D to 3D toolbar, convert the imported entities to 3D.

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Dimensioning Flat Pattern of a Cone

This video shows a trick on how to be able to dimension the arcs of of a cone in a flat pattern view.

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Solidworks BOM

A quick video on the creation and updating of Solidworks bill of materials.

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Solidworks Drawing Views and Associativity

This is a brief overview of Solidworks drawing views and the associativity between parts, assemblies and their drawings.

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Solidtec Solutions thanks their customers for contributing to their outstanding growth in 2011

At the recent SolidWorks World 2012 event in San Diego Solidtec Solutions was recognised for their outstanding performance for their sales and technical expertise in 2011. 


This comes on top of Solidtec Solutions being voted as the Top Reseller in Asia Pacific for Customer Satisfaction at the 2011 SolidWorks World.


Solidtec Solutions welcomed around 300 new customers into the SolidWorks community in Australia and New Zealand in 2011 and this growth lead to Solidtec Solutions being recognized as the 4th best performer worldwide across SolidWorks resellers in 2011.


“Solidtec Solutions has seen incredible growth in the two and a half years we have been selling SolidWorks 3D CAD solution in Australia and New Zealand. From the outset the entire Solidtec team has been focused on adding value to our customers and assisting them in increasing their innovation and profitability and our phenomenal growth and performance would indicate these efforts are resonating with our customers,” said Shane Preston, CEO of Solidtec Solutions ANZ.


Solidtec is also committed to adding value to customers through their technical expertise and this expertise was recognised at SolidWorks World 2012 with Damien Murphy being awarded Elite Application Engineer status. Damien is one of the few SolidWorks Certified Simulation Advanced Professional and Flow Simulation Professionals in ANZ and he is sharing his simulation knowledge regularly with customers in Solidtec’s new Webtec technical training courses.


“Solidtec differentiates itself with the most Certified SolidWorks Experts in Australia and New Zealand and their advanced knowledge and experience quickly and easily resolves our customers complex support queries and assists them in getting the most value from their SolidWorks software,” said Gareth Hudson, Solidtec Solutions Technical Services Manager.


About Solidtec Solutions
Solidtec Solutions is a specialist company offering design and manufacturing solutions in 3D CAD Software, Design Validation and Simulation, Design Automation, Product Data Management (PDM), Documentation Software and CAD Tools to engineers, designers and manufacturers. Solidtec Solutions is the fastest growing SolidWorks 3D CAD provider and support organisation in Australia and New Zealand, offering comprehensive training and subscription services to assist our customers in increasing their profitability, innovation and sustainability.

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Basic Motion

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How to submit an Enhancement Request for SolidWorks

This is a video that demonstrates how to submit an enhancement request for SolidWorks.

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Evenly spaced holes along a plate.

Even spacing of holes (or features) along an edge of a plate.

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SolidWorks World 2012 - Interesting Keynote - Photo Journal

Countdown to SolidWorks World 2012: “Father of the iPod” to Keynote

Leading Event Showcasing “Love of Design” to Take Place February 12-15, 2012

Just a few years ago, the iPod revolutionized personal electronics worldwide. Tony Fadell, the designer who spearheaded the team that brought the iPod to market, will keynote SolidWorks World 2012, the company’s annual summit of engineers and designers. Dassault Systèmes SolidWorksCorp.’s SolidWorks World event will take place February 12-15, 2012, in San Diego, and focus on the theme of “united by design.”

Known as the “Father of the iPod,” Fadell made his mark via his former positions as Apple’s senior vice president of the iPod division and adviser to Steve Jobs. Today, Fadell is changing the game again as founder and CEO of Nest, a hot startup that’s introduced the world’s first learning thermostat. The Nest Learning Thermostat™ learns about you and your home to automatically turn itself down when you're away, guide you to energy-efficient temperatures when you’re home, and free you from programming hassles by creating a customized temperature schedule. Nest has been dubbed the “iPhone of thermostats” by Wired, and the New York Times describes it as “gorgeous, elegant and very, very smart.”

To create a game-changing product, function and design must go hand in hand,” said Fadell. “We certainly put that principle to work when developing the Nest Learning Thermostat, and I’m excited to share more about that experience with the thousands of passionate, designers and engineers who will attend this year’s SolidWorks World.”

To this end, crowdsourcing will be a hot topic on Day 2 of SolidWorks World. Social development is becoming increasingly important to product ideation and creation, and SolidWorks customers will showcase how it’s easier than ever to bring ideas to fruition. With an engineering-focused hive mindset, creativity and expertise come together in incredible products. Stay tuned for more ideas that will change the way you think about product development.

Day 3 of the event will bring the long-awaited What’s New session. Attendees will get a sneak peek of SolidWorks 2013, as well as a view of what’s on schedule for SolidWorks—and its users—this year.

Kevin Goosie, an engineering designer at SAIC, who tweets at @kgoosie, will be this year’s official Internet Correspondent. He will be blogging about SolidWorks World 2012 on the SolidWorks blog.

Users can connect with SolidWorks World 2012 online through the following vehicles:

• DS SolidWorks Forums
• DS SolidWorks Blog – SolidWorks World 2012 topics
• DS SolidWorks on Twitter
• SolidWorks World 2012 account on Twitter
• SolidWorks World 2012 hashtag (#SWW12)
• DS SolidWorks on Flickr
• SolidWorks World 2012 Flickr 
• DS SolidWorks on YouTube

A complete agenda is available online. Users can register for SolidWorks World 2012 at:https://registration.itnintl.com/sww12/regonline/RegLogin.aspx. Early Bird discounts end on January 20.

CLICK HERE to view the photo journal - Part 1 - from Michael Lord

CLICK HERE to view the photo journal - Part 2 - from Michael Lord

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Create sheet metal bodies from complex geometry

Any solid geometry containing offset developable surfaces (linear in one direction) with a constant thickness can in theory be flat patterned. This refers to the types of solids that are created using the following techniques,

1. A linear sketch profile that is swept along a 3d spline curve where the spline curve has curvature in all 3 Cartesian directions.

2. Linear profile sweep along a linear path with "twist along path" applied.

3. Linear profile extrusion with applied twist and bending using the flex feature where the bend must be orthogonal to the twist direction.

These types of solids cannot be created as sheet metal bodies using the traditional sheet metal methods including both bottom up and top down approaches. Bottom up refers to creating the sheet metal parts by adding material and flanges on the fly, whereas top down is defined as creating the solid and converting this to a sheet metal body.

Each sheet metal feature used in both bottom up and top down approaches have specific requirements such as the need for planar faces or linear edges for certain selections. The “complex” solid geometry referred to in this blog does not contain such geometry or simply cannot be selected for the inputs into these sheet metal features.

This blog presents an approach using a combination of sheet metal, surfacing and solid features/ methods to obtain the end result of a Multibody sheet metal part.

The lofted bend feature can be used to create a sheet metal body with complex bending in one direction, it requires two 3d sketches containing 1 open contour in each 3d sketch. The two edges of the first Multibody segment may be converted into two 3d sketches using convert entities. An alternative and faster way to obtain this result is to use the face curves feature. Once the 3 lofted bend sheet metal solids have been created, a method for eliminating interference is presented, utilising the indent feature with the cut option toggled on. The lofted bend feature does not perfectly mimic the original geometry and therefore a method for removing unwanted portions of material using surfacing commands (zero offset and thickened cut) is demonstrated.

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Creating CAM with Wrap

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Creating Custom Decals

This video shows you how to use custom Decals in SolidWorks 2012. 

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Perspective in 3DVIA Composer

This video explains how perspective works in 3DVIA Composer. Depending on whether you zoom in and out with the mouse wheel, or by dragging while holding down the left and right mouse buttons, Composer will either change the Field Of View (FOV) or move the camera position respectively.

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A Green Street Machine? Foden Designs Use SolidWorks Sustainability to make the unheard of a Reality

Foden Designs are a contract manufacturer and custom designer of general and custom aftermarket automotive products. With an extensive background in manufacturing fasteners, shafts, drive systems and hose fittings for the automotive sector, Foden has taken this experience and knowledge to a new level and diversified their services to include many other industries. Foden also provides contract machining to the hydraulic, gas, mining, and construction sectors. Solidtec Solutions caught up with James Foden (Director) recently to talk about their use of SolidWorks Sustainability.

Foden Design Challenges

• Keeping design and manufacture to a budget
• Ensuring the design and manufacture are sustainable with minimal environmental impact
• Being able to design and manufacture within short time frames to meet customer demand

SolidWorks/Sustainability Design Solutions

• Flexibility in allowing rapid changes from one material/manufacturing technique to another
• Ability to analyse material changes and their impact on costs and sustainability in a matter of minutes
• Savings in both time and money
• Being able to measure environmental impact
• Working within client budget constraints

“Originally Foden Designs purchased SolidWorks Sustainability with a specific Automotive project in mind. We chose Solidtec Solutions as our provider because we felt we were working with the best provider of SolidWorks that best suited our needs, and their customer service is of the highest quality”

The Project  - A Green Street Machine?

Client Brief: “I want to build a show car that really promotes my business”.

  

We don’t associate street machines and modified cars as being ‘green’, but this clients’ business is a sustainable building and construction company who have developed a specific green tick program that is government approved, allowing them to licence other companies in sustainability for their industry.

The client wanted to build a ‘green street machine’.  James admitted that “straight away we knew we needed to have documentation to support our actions and decisions in building this car so we looked at our options, namely”;

• Outsourcing all of our projects to have someone else do the analysis
• Hiring a new staff member to do the research and analysis for the project or;
• Finding the software to allow our current designer to do the analysis internally

For James Foden the choice was easy. “Why outsource what we can do in house with the right resources? Why put on a new staff member that specialises in sustainability when the software is a far cheaper long term option”; which is why James made the decision to go with SolidWorks Sustainability.

“SolidWorks Sustainability allows us to select different materials and ways to manufacture new products on the fly. We also now have the ability to recycle, reuse and modify old parts, or to determine if are they’re better off left out of the project as they might have a bigger carbon impact then making new components in the long term”.

“In the end it always comes down to the end use of the product.  So whilst we proved that some existing items would last the test of time, in some cases they might have been far too heavy, causing the vehicle to use excess fuel, tyres and brakes etc.  So we felt if we could make a new part out of the right material we could in turn use a greener material that makes a lighter car”. Which is the innovative angle that James had to take to make a street machine turn green.

For Example: when Foden considered the wheels for the car, the new options vs. the original steel base line were:

Cast Aluminium                14.35kg

Billet 6061 Aluminium         14.3kg

Magnesium                        9.04kg

Carbon                              9.46kg

After the above comparisons were made, the total weight of the car in original factory spec and the target with the new manufactured components was analysed. The owner then took into consideration as to whether the reduced weight would actually positively affect critical factors such as fuel consumption and tyre wear etc. If the effect was enough to offset any new emissions caused by the manufacture of any new parts, then the new part could be incorporated in to the design. The final decision was to go with a new, light weight magnesium wheel.

The end result is a green fuelled car that has the street machine style, keeps its 70's look, but uses modern materials. “By doing so we were able to reduce the cars long term carbon footprint with respect to the expected lifecycle of the vehicle” says James.

Shane Preston, Solidtec CEO commented that “it’s great to see customers such as Foden Designs utilising SolidWorks products to solve their design challenges. It’s what the software was designed to do. The use of SolidWorks Sustainability for such an interesting project shows just how innovative our customers can be, and how the SolidWorks product range can compliment that innovation.”

James noted another benefit that Foden has experienced with SolidWorks Sustainability. “Since we originally bought SolidWorks Sustainability we have also found we have been able to offer our mining and industrial customers a service and choice which we did not previously have. Giving the customers an option of where and how they want the product made, based not just on cost, but environmental factors as well, is a very valuable capability”.

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Solidtec Solutions announces increased value to Subscription customers with free Web Technical Training

Solidtec Solutions is providing even more value to Subscription Service customers with free online technical web training that will be run in a new and interactive format to ensure Solidtec customers are the most educated and highly supported SolidWorks users in Australia and New Zealand.


Our new Solidtec Webtec technical web training courses are designed to enable our customers to get the most from their SolidWorks 3D CAD solution with a practical, hands on approach to training.


Solidtec Webtec will be free for all Solidtec Subscription Service customers in Australia and New Zealand and will be offered in the following categories:


SolidWorks Web Training
Solidtec delivers these monthly technical web training sessions to their Subscription customers to demonstrate how SolidWorks can solve design problems and to introduce new modelling and detailing techniques and methods. Attendees can interact live with the presenter and are encouraged to submit topics, problems and models that can be covered in case studies in future sessions. These sessions will be facilitated by Stewart Nankivel who has over 15 years’ experience in SolidWorks technical training.


Simulation Web Training
Simulation technical training sessions are aimed at existing Simulation users wanting to increase their knowledge and confidence in SolidWorks Simulation. This online training is interactive providing attendees an opportunity to ask questions and even submit problems and models to be covered in future sessions. With the introduction of this free monthly technical training, Solidtec Solutions will bring together the SolidWorks Simulation Community in Australia and New Zealand by providing a forum where users can interact and share their Simulation knowledge. These sessions will be facilitated by one of the few Certified Simulation Premium and Flow Simulation Professionals in ANZ, Solidtec's Elite Application Engineer and in-house Simulation expert, Damien Murphy.


“Solidtec Solutions is committed to adding value to our customers through initiatives such as Solidtec Webtec so they increase their profitability and innovation and benefit from the knowledge and experience of our technical experts and the ANZ SolidWorks community” said Gareth Hudson, Solidtec Solutions Technical Services Manager.

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