SolidWorks 2013 - Whats New Feature -VOL II- Previous Release Interoperability

Previous Release Interoperability

You can open SolidWorks 2013 parts and assemblies using SolidWorks 2012 Service Pack 5.

From SolidWorks 2012 on, you can open a future version file in Service Pack 5 of the previous release. For example, in SolidWorks 2013 Service Pack 5 you will be able to open SolidWorks 2014 files. Interoperability is only supported between consecutive releases. For example, you cannot open a SolidWorks 2014 file in SolidWorks 2012 Service Pack 5.

Future version files appear in read-only mode when opened in the previous release. However, once you upgrade to the next version of SolidWorks, all the FeatureManager

design tree data is available. SolidWorks 2013 files have reduced functionality in SolidWorks 2012 Service Pack 5. SolidWorks 2013 files will not have most FeatureManager design tree data when opened in SolidWorks 2012 Service Pack 5. Any actions that require FeatureManager design tree data cannot be performed with a SolidWorks 2013 document open in SolidWorks 2012 Service Pack 5.

 

 





 Watch SolidWorks 2013 - New Feature



The following table summarizes what you can and cannot do in SolidWorks 2012 Service Pack 5:

 

 

SolidWorks Part Reviewer

The SolidWorks Part Reviewer is an add-in for SolidWorks that allows a user to walk through a design.

Part Reviewer helps to review how parts are created feature-by-feature. It guides you through features to teach you how they were created. You can also create your own parts and add your own comments so anybody using the Part Reviewer can read your comments. This feature was introduced in SolidWorks 2012 version.

To access Part Reviewer, click Tools > Add-Ins. Under SolidWorks Add-ins, select SolidWorks Part Reviewer as shown below

After selecting the Part Reviewer add on you will see the Part Reviewer tab in the task pane as shown below.

Now you can select the Play button and the Part Reviewer will guide you feature by feature and show how the parts were created.

Thin Feature in SolidWorks

Thin features are usually open sketches which can be extruded in both directions. Below we will see this feature in Extruded Boss/Base and Revolved Boss/Base command located on the Feature toolbar. 

1.       We start by creating a line sketch and give it a dimention of 100 mm along the length.

  Now we go to the Feature toolbar and select Extruded Boss/Base command as shown in the image below. The dialog box will pop up and we select extrude height of 10mm and by default the Thin Feature dialog box is checked since it’s an open sketch.

As shown below the Direction 1 is 10mm along the black arrow and the thin feature is 30mm along the red arrow. Here in the Thin feature dialog box we have extrude options of One-direction, Midplane or Two-directions.

As shown in the below image now we have a Solid rectangular part from a line.  Also the default name of the feature is Extrude-Thin1 which can be changed in the same way as it’s done for other features.(Double click or select and F2 key)

Now below is an example of Thin feature using Revolve. We have created an open sketch using lines and arcs. There is a center line about which we will rotate the sketch.

Once we come out of the sketch and hit the Revolved Boss/Base command we will see the below warning. SolidWorks is telling us that the sketch is currently open and do we want to close the sketch? In this case we would say no as we are creating a thin feature.

       As shown below we will select the thickness of part in the Thin feature dialog box. We can see the preview of the part also below.

Finally we get the part as shown below.

New Tools in SolidWorks 2012

With SolidWorks 2012, you'll experience faster design, more continuous workflow, shorter devlopment times, and more collaboration. With more than 200 enchancements in SolidWorks 90% of it has been requested directly by customers. Lets take a look at some of the enchancements.

1.       Unit System is located on status bar. Can expand the pull down and change the units as shown in the below image.

2.   Command Search can be used to search command directly from the tools bar as shown below. Not only can activate the command directly from there but can also click on glasses and will tell you the location of that command.

3. Large Design Review Mode lets you open the large assembly real fast. In this mode you can use walkthrough's to visualize as well as section and measure the assembly. To open any assembly simply select the Large Design Review mode as shown below and the assembly file will be opened quickly .

Since the assembly loads fast there are certain parameters that won’t appear in the feature tree like Assembly features, mates and patterns. Below is the image explaining what things can be edited and what cannot be while working in this mode.

Below are the options available in Large Design review mode.

4.Feature Freeze bar is a new feature with which you can lock the features in the Feature manager design tree and thereby not only can lower the rebuild time but also make sure that those features cannot be modified. Below the location of the Feature Freeze Bar is shown and it’s located below Part name as shown below.

Below is an image where you can see the features locked using the feature freeze bar.

SolidWorks Add-in Tools - Design Checker

SolidWorks Design Checker verifies design elements such as dimensioning standards, fonts, materials, and sketches to ensure that SolidWorks documents meet pre-defined design criteria.
Design Checker has the following modules:

• Build Checks - can be used to set the requirements for evaluation
• Check Active Documents - used to validate documents
• Check against existing file - validate the active document against design checks created from existing files.
• Learn Checks wizard - retrieve design checks based on attributes from an existing SolidWorks part, assembly, or drawing document.

Lets take a look at how to automatically fill the title block

SolidWorks Tips & Tricks - Plane creation

SolidWorks Tips and Tricks Series: Plane creation

SolidWorks Tips and Tricks - Weldments

Weldments functionality enables you to design a weldment structure as a single multi body part.

SolidWorks Tips and Tricks - Sketching Line

SolidWorks simple yet powerful tools helps designers to easily navigate the software with ease. Lets see how we can do sketching line in SolidWorks.