New in SolidWorks 2015 - Magnifying Glass Access

A new Selection Toolbar in SOLIDWORKS 2015 provides easy access to the most commonly used selection tools, access to selection filters, and a shortcut to activate the magnifying glass during selection.

Magnifying Glass Access:

The Tools menu and the Select flyout menu on the Standard toolbar include the Magnified Selection tool, which displays the magnifying glass tool. The tool is also available on the context toolbar that appears when we right-click an empty space in the graphics area.

A.   Tools menu location

B.   Select flyout menu location

C.   Context toolbar location

The magnifying glass, which we can also display using the G shortcut key, gives a magnified view of a section of a model so that we can inspect the model and make selections without changing the overall view.

We can add the Magnified Selection tool to other toolbars, such as the Heads-Up View toolbar, by clicking Tools > Customize. On the Commands tab, in Categories, select Standard and drag the button to the toolbar where we want to add it.

Note: The magnifying glass is disabled if Use software OpenGL is selected in Tools > Options > Performance. Use software OpenGL is selected by default if you access the SOLIDWORKSsoftware remotely.

SolidWorks Sketching Tips & Tricks - Part 1

  SolidWorks Sketching Tips and Tricks

  1.  Selecting the Correct Plane

If you are not sure on what plane to start your sketch, then always remember the cube shown below. This is the Isometric view as per Third Angle Projection method which is what you try to create in SolidWorks. Imagine your part inside this cube and then select the plane. From this Isometric view when you create a drawing (Orthographic views) the Front of the cube becomes the Front view, Right becomes Right view and the Top becomes the Top view in your drawing.

   2.    Line tricks

When you want to sketch couple of lines like let’s say the three lines as shown below, it’s annoying to select the line command and then once done with the first line, press the Esc key and then again go to line command to do the second line.

There are other ways of doing this in a faster and efficient way.

  A.Once done with the first line, press the Enter key twice on your keyboard to terminate the command and then again press the Enter key to execute the last command.

  B. Instead of click release to place the first point and the again click release to place the second point try to drag the line. Click and then don’t release your mouse button till you are done with that line then again the same for the second Line.      

   

  C.As shown below once done with the line double click fast and you will still be in the line command but the new line will not start from the end point of previous line.

  3.    Sketch Relations

When you are sketching an entity, you get automatic relations and if that relation is shown in a yellow box that means it’s going to be there with the line. As shown in the image below the vertical relation in the yellow box means the line is vertical and the relation is going to be there. The horizontal relation you see next to the vertical is not inside a yellow box since it’s a reference relation. It’s giving you an indication that if you click here the end point of line is horizontal with the other lines.

  4.    Mirror

When you want to Mirror multiple entities and if there is only one centerline then instead of selecting the mirror command and then selecting the entities do the opposite. As shown below make a box selection and select the entities you want to mirror. 

Once the entities you want to mirror are selected, directly select the Mirror Entities command and you will see that it does the mirror automatically as shown below.

How to Change Orientation of Imported Geometry

Change Orientation of Imported Geometry

 

The View orientation of Imported Parts when imported into SolidWorks may not be what is desired for our design. So we can end up with a view that is twisted or at some obscure angle or with an Origin that is away from the actual part and this can make it difficult to insert into an assembly or create a drawing for the part.

Let’s understand this with the below example. Here we can see that when we imported the part, the tab is at an angle. We want the tab to be vertical.

We select a face or a plane that will be one of our three Standard Planes and start a new Sketch. As shown below we create two lines that are perpendicular to each other.

 

 

Now we select the Coordinate System command from Features toolbar as shown below.

 

Here we select the intersection of both lines as our origin. Then we select the lines and make them along X axis and Y axis. If they are in the opposite direction then we can use the Flip option.

 

As shown below a new Coordinate system is created.

Now we save the part as a Neutral format (Parasolid, STEP, IGES etc.) file using the newly created coordinate system as the Output coordinate system.

Once saved we reimport the part and as shown below it uses the new coordinate system and the tab is vertical.

How to Select a Part Configuration when inserting in an Assembly in SolidWorks?

When you want to insert a Part which has configurations, there are three options on how to select the required part configuration.

Option 1: Insert Component option from Command Manager

When you browse using this option in the Dialog box as shown below you can select the part configuration.



 

 

Option 2: Drag and Drop from File explorer

First drag and drop the required part into assembly file from file explorer as shown below.

 

Once the part is inside the assembly it will open a window as shown below where you can select the required configuration for that component.

 

 

Option 3: Changing the Part configuration after dropping it into assembly.

Once the part is inside the Assembly, you can go to component properties by either doing a left or right click on the part directly from the graphic’s area or from the feature manager design tree as shown below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you select the component properties it will open a dialog box as shown below where you can select the required configuration and the part till automatically update.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SolidWorks Motion

Motion Studies are graphical simulation of motion for assembly models. Motion studies do not change an assembly model or properties. They stimulate and animate the motion you prescribe for a model.
Lets look at a few features of SolidWorks Motion

1.     Multiple Motion Results to same Plot

Set a custom time for a key point

Input exact time instead of dragging key point , as the  accuracy can be set to 1 billionth of a second.

Contact groups
Contact groups reduce Setup time and the Computational time.

Drag-out Property Manager

You can drag out the property manager in SolidWorks Motion as shown below. You can drag it to annother monitor if you are working on dual monitors.

Copy-Paste Motion between studies.
 clone them by right clicking on study tab  

Motion’s Various “Hidden” RMB Features

Check Interference feature in the Motion Manager

Export directly to ADAMS

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