How to Show Sheet Metal Bend Lines in a Drawing

A customer had recently called in looking for a way to show his Bend Lines on the drawing of his sheet metal parts and while some people may say the answer is simple there are several ways to get the Bend Lines to show or not show in your drawing.

The first thing that everyone needs to know is where the Bend Lines are stored/create/saved, or whatever you want to call it. So in a part generated with the Sheet Metal Tools your Bend Lines are stored in the Flat-Pattern feature, remember that this sketch you can show/hide and suppress/unsuppress to control how/when it is displayed. By default it is always in the Folded configuration unsuppressed and hidden and in the Flat configuration it is unsuppressed and set to shown.

 

If your part was created in the “old school” method of Sheet Metal (Create features, Insert Bends). Your Bend Lines are stored in the same location as above but there are 2 other Sheet Metal Features that can interfere if you change the default way those are displayed, if you do not change anything with in them then you should have nothing to worry about.  

 

 

On to the drawing side of things, by default when you insert a Flat Pattern View from the View Palette or from the Model View command it will auto generate a derived configuration in the part file for you and drop in your Flattened view with Bend Notes.

 

If your view does not display properly then here is what you want to look at:

1. No Bend Lines but Bend Notes are show, then your Sketches are more than likely not set to View. Go to the View Drop Down Menu or the View Heads Up Menu and select Sketches.
    
    


2. No Bend Lines or Bend Notes are show, then your Bend Line Sketch for that view is more than likely not set to Show. Go to the Feature Tree and expand the View and drill down to the Bend Line Sketch, Right Click on it and set it to Show. You will probably be missing the Bend Notes and if you want those displayed Right Click on/in the View select Properties and Set the Bend Notes check box to show.
       


3. The last issue that we see is too many lines shown in the Flat and that is because in Part File someone has done an Edit Feature on the Flat Pattern feature and Unchecked the Merge faces check box. By un-checking this you well now see the start/stop of each face.
    
   Note: The Edit Feature of the Flat Pattern is also the area where you can change the Grain Direction of the part and for more information on this see the blog article by Jim Krivoshein, http://blog.cati.com/2011/02/sheet-metal-grain-direction-coil-direction.html

Josh Altergott

CATI Support Team Leader

Simulation Advisor

Simulation Advisor is a set of tools that guide you though the analysis process. By answering a series of questions, these tools collect the necessary data to help you perform your analysis. Simulation Advisor includes:

Study Advisor. Recommends study types and outputs to expect. Helps you define sensors and creates studies automatically.




Bodies and Materials Advisor. Lets you specify how to treat bodies within a part or an assembly and apply materials to components.




Interactions Advisor. Defines internal interactions between bodies in the model as well as external interactions between the model and the environment. Interactions can include loads, fixtures, connectors, and contacts.




Mesh and Run Advisor. Helps you specify the mesh and run the study.




Results Advisor. Provides tips for interpreting and viewing the output of the simulation. Also, helps determine if frequency or buckling might be areas of concern.

Simulation Advisor works with the SolidWorks Simulation interface by starting the appropriate PropertyManagers and linking to online help topics for additional information. Simulation Advisor leads you through the analysis workflow from determining the study type through analyzing the simulation output. By following the workflow, you use, depending on your requirements, each of the individual Advisors.

 

Rajat Trehan

Product Manager - Design Validation

Computer Aided Technology Inc.

How to Change Orientation of an Existing SolidWorks Part

Yesterday I covered how to change the orientation of an imported part (http://blog.cati.com/2011/02/how-to-change-the-orientation-of-an-imported-solidworks-part.html) so today I thought I would cover how to change the orientation of a model created in SolidWorks.

There are 2 ways to do this on a feature based model and both have their pitfalls. The first method is probably the one with the most potential for failure of other features in the part and that is changing the Sketch plane that the base feature is created on. The reason this can be bad is because you need to think about the other features in the model and how their Sketches were defined. If they were all defined off of other model faces then everything may work out OK but if anything was based off of a plane it more than likely blow up on you and could cost you a lot of rework time. Also do not forget about the potential issues if you already had a drawing file created for the part as you will have to go in and do some cleanup work on that as well. 

The second method is a little sounder and that is using the Orientation Dialog Box, this is an older version of the View toolbars that are used today but can have its benefits.To get to this all you need to do is hit the Space Bar while in SolidWorks, this lists all of the Standard view with an * next to them and has 3 buttons across the top New View, Update Standard Views, Reset Standard Views. New View does exactly what it says creates a new view in the exact orientation and zoom of a file, this is a good way to save off obscure views that you may want to put on a drawing or an area of the part that you want to work on later.

The Update Standard Views button will allow you to redefine the Standard Views of your part and the way it works is as follows:

1. Rotate, Zoom, select a face and view Normal To, to get your part in the orientation you want it.


2. Select (single click) on one of the Standard Views listed in the Orientation dialog box.


3. Select the Update Standard Views and it will now make the Orientation you set in Step 1 to the Standard View you selected in Step 2.

 
Just like in the previous method discussed above do not forget about the potential issues if you already had a drawing file created for the part as you will have to go in and do some cleanup work on that as well.

The great thing about the using the Update Stand Views method is that you can always go back to the original view orientation by using the Reset Standard Views button to reset everything back to the way the part was first modeled.

 
Have a great weekend,

Josh Altergott

CATI  Support Team Leader

How to Change the Orientation of an Imported SolidWorks Part

Today’s and tomorrow’s Daily Dose of Support is a combination of support calls I have seen over the years and that is how to change the orientation of a part file. The reason I am breaking this into two articles is because there are different methods, one for Imported Models and another method for Feature Based Models created in SolidWorks.

The orientation of Imported Parts when brought into SolidWorks as we all know we are at the mercy of what the “designer” in some other CAD Software thought was best for their application. So we can end up with a Front view that is twisted and at some obscure angle or with an Origin that is miles away from the actual part.

 

To correct this is actually a pretty simple process and can be used to cure several problems all at once. First things first correct any problems with the geometry. This means run Import Diagnostics, combine all Solid Bodies, patch all holes in surfaces, etc….

Once you have you model in a “workable” state you will need to do the following:

1. Select a face or create a plane that you want to become one of your 3 Standard Planes and start a new Sketch.


2. Generate 2 perpendicular lines in the proper orientation to represent 2 of the parts Axis.
    


3. Create a new Coordinate System (Features toolbar, Reference Geometry), use the intersection of the lines as the Origin and the Line for the Axis (X, Y or Z). Do not forget to use the reverse direction to get the Axis in the correct direction.
    


4. Save out the Part as an IGES, STEP, or any other neutral format, making sure that once the File of Type is selected you go to the Options.


5. In the Options dialog box change the Output coordinate system to your new Coordinate System you created.
    


6. Re-import the model back into SolidWorks and it will now be in the orientation of the new Coordinate System and any model changes you made to correct bad geometry should carry over to the new part.

Please check back tomorrow to see how to change the orientation of a Feature Based Model created in SolidWorks (http://blog.cati.com/2011/02/how-to-change-orientation-of-an-existing-solidworks-part.html). 

Josh Altergott

CATI Support Team Leader

DraftSight Install and First Glance

The exciting _FREE_ 2D CAD tool from Dassault Systems is now Released Product!

It took only a few moments to download this mear 57MB install. It took even less time to install and required no reboot or shutdown of other applications! (Win 7 x64)

As a first test I tried opening a 10MB .dwg file from a customer who had been unsuccessfull opening it with SolidWorks. This file opened with only one message of an entity type, I selected ok and viola there it is! If it hadn't been for that message window it would've been opened instantly!

If you have .dwg and .dxf data files that you need to get into quick, try out the Production Version of DraftSight!

http://www.3ds.com/

DraftSight Officially Out of Beta

Dassault Systèmes announced today the general release of the Free 2D CAD program DraftSight. DraftSight has been available in beta since this past summer. The general release is available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.   Several enhancements and updates have been added based on feedback from the user community. It looks like MAC users will have to wait a little longer for a general release. Follow the links below to read the full press announcement and to download DraftSight for free.

>Read the full press release from Dassault Systèmes

>Download DraftSight

 

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

How do I upgrade my SolidWorks Network License Server to a new version?

One question that we get a lot these days is, “How do I upgrade my SolidWorks Network License Server to a new version?”

The answer to this is upgrading the server is something that can generally be done in less than 15min if you follow the steps below. Also working directly on the server is the best place to make these changes to prevent and possible security issues of working through Remote Desktop.

1. Start the SNL Administrator.


2. Stop the Service.


3. Modify/Transfer the current activation back to the server.


4. Close the SNL Administrator.


5. Uninstall the current program through Add/Remove programs.


6. Delete all directories related to the SNL. Most important is the folder that contains the sw_d.lic file.


7. Install the new SNL Administrator and follow the prompts up to and including the activation process. Once activation is complete you will want to see Version19 if you installed and activated SW2011 (V18=2010, V17=2009, etc…).

Note: The newest SNL Administrator will support older versions of SolidWorks installed on the client machines. 

Josh Altergott

CATI Support Team Leader

Why is there an (SS) in my SolidWorks Material?

The Support call that I found interesting yesterday was the customer who called in and
asked, "Why is there an (SS) at the end of my material name? This is causing confusion on the shop floor especially when the material is Aluminum."

 
 
Asking around the Support group no one seemed to have the answer to the question so we
asked SolidWorks why this was and below is the reply we received from them.

“Please note that some materials in the SolidWorks Materials library have stress-strain curves defined
for use with the plasticity and nonlinear elastic models for nonlinear studies (SolidWorks Simulation). These materials are identified by showing (SS) attached to the end of their names in the list box. Materials with S-N curves are identified by (SN), and materials with both S-N curves and stress-strain
curves are identified by (SS,SN).”

The only issue with this is the names are not modifiable unless you create a custom material database and change the name in the new database.

Josh Altergott

CATI Support Team Leader

Why are there so many Hex Bolts in Toolbox?

The question that was asked the other day was “Why are there so many Hex Bolts in the Inch Standard of Toolbox and where doe the information come from.

The answer to this is simply because there are many different standards, to go into a little more detail we need to look at where SolidWorks gets their information from and where we can find out more about the different sizes in SolidWorks.

To answer the question of where does SolidWorks get their information from the answer is the Machinist Handbook. SolidWorks does not put every last nut, screw, bolt, bearing, washer, etc… into the Toolbox but they do put the most commonly used hardware into the Toolbox.

To answer the question of where to find more information on the sizes of the fasteners you can do this by either looking it up in the Machinist Handbook or if you do not have one you can simply look at it through SolidWorks by going to Tools, Options and from System Options select Hole Wizard/Toolbox.

If you look at the 2 examples below you can see the differences between a regular and heavy Hex Bolt. Besides the difference in the size of the head the heavy starts at ½” vs. the ¼” of the standard, there are also differences in length that can be viewed.

 
 

Remember if there is something that you want to see added to the Toolbox, log into the SolidWorks Customer Portal, through the SW website (www.solidworks.com) and submit an enhancement request. You can also make changes to your Toolbox by copying a standard and adding or subtracting the different features, sizes, and lengths.

Thanks,

Josh Altergott
CATI Support Team Leader

Sheet Metal "Grain Direction" / Coil Direction

Here is another reason to read the "What's New" document (p.50-52) with each release of SolidWorks. ;)

With SolidWorks 2011 there is a prominent new feature for your sheet metal blank, the "bounding box". This is the smallest rectangle that the parts blank("flat pattern") will fit. The "bounding box" is a sketch found under the Flat-Pattern feature and can be toggled on/off.  

In addition to the new "bounding box" sketch, there is a new option in the property manager for the Flat-Pattern feature: "Grain Direction". You can define a grain direction to use when calculating the bounding box for sheet metal parts. The software determines the smallest rectangle (bounding box) that aligns with the grain direction to fit the flat pattern. By default (in my testing) the "bounding box" aligns itself with the longest straight side. From Edit Feature of the Flat-Pattern you can define which edge you'd prefer be aligned as the grain direction and should you later change your mind redefine or clear the selection entirely and let the software choose for you. 

 
 
 
 
I hope this post gives a little better "direction" (pun intended) for your sheet metal parts!

How about "Grain Direction" on the drawing?

Here are some SPR numbers to watch:

565602 ‘Ability to show the grain direction by arrow when the flat pattern view is placed’- flat pattern drawing view.

565603 ‘Align the Flat pattern to the grain direction or the boundary box length & rotate the view so that after placement its horizontal or vertical.’

586631 ‘grain direction and fixed face should be options within doc props>sheet metal’- Provide the user with tools>options>doc props>sheet metal options for fixed face and grain direction.  These option will be the default on, but the user has the availability to turn them off via RMB>view properties individually

SolidWorks Simulation reporting to the roof for snow duty

Its been a busy snow shoveling season this year. With Chicago land area receiving ~22" snow everyone around had their fair share of workout. My neighbors were concerned about their roof and a couple suited up and climbed on to clear the frosting.

I came across a blog article by Stephen Endersby that puts logic to shovel heads.  Stephen Endersby is Product Manager for Analysis Products at SolidWorks Corp. 

Thanks Stephen for a great story. Wow I would have never put so much thought into this.....

Rajat Trehan

Product Manager - Design Validation

Computer Aided Technology Inc. 

Error Saving Sketches to Neutral File Formats

In working support calls yesterday I ran into a issue that could easily get anyone stumped, a customer had a file open that had a 3D Sketch in it and when they tried to save it out as a STEP, IGES or and other format they got an error that the data could not be exported.

The answer to this was actually pretty simple and the file that had the 3D Sketch in it was an Assembly file so I had the customer do the following:

1. Make sure you were out of Edit Sketch Mode in the assembly.


2. Start a New Part file and tile the windows so you can see both the part and the assembly.


3. Select the Sketch(s) from the Feature Tree of the Assembly and Copy (ctrl C).


4. Select in the Part file to make it active and Paste (ctrl V).


5. Perform a Save As, select your file type of choice. Note: Make sure to go to the options and set the options so that Sketches will export.

If you want to test the file before you send it on to whoever needs the information just Open that file into SolidWorks and see how it imports.

In the case of this customer they needed it so they could import this into MicroStation and they tested it in both SolidWorks and MicroStation while I had them on the phone and it imported just what they needed in both programs.

Happy Friday,

Josh Altergott

Support Team Leader

 

How to change your SolidWorks Desktop Icon

I got an interesting email into Support the other day and thought it would be something other users would be interested in.

"I'd like to change the desktop icon to a Pac-Man icon so I can put it next to the AutoCAD icon (I've already changed this to a blue ghost) and make it look like SolidWorks is about to eat AutoCAD. However, I cannot change the icon using the normal method. Can this be done?"

Unfortunately SolidWorks does not allow you to Right Click on their icons and go to Properties and select the Change Icon. I did a little research and could not find a way to get this done easily so I went back to the customer and while I was trying to find a way to get it done they came up with a creative workaround.

Their steps were:

1. Make a shortcut to some other file


2. Change the icon


3. Redirect the new icon to SolidWorks

And here are their results.



Enjoy,

Josh Altergott

Support Team Leader



SolidProfessor "Every Day is Game Day" Webinar

The "Everyday is Game Day Webinar" will show you how you can keep your SolidWorks skills sharp with SolidProfessor's SolidWorks video training and tutorial courses. 

>Register for the Webinar

For engineering teams, Every Day is Game Day, and you need your team performing at their best to achieve success... whether it be:

• The necessity to reduce design cycle times


• Accelerating time to market with new products


• Being on the cutting edge; Creating new, innovative products

If your team isn't training to achieve your engineering goals every day, your competition is leaving you behind.

Thursday, Feb. 17, 11:00AM CST
Thursday, Mar. 10, 11:00AM CST

>Register for the Webinar

Jim TeDesco
CATI Marketing

Simulate Bolt connection

A connector is a mechanism that defines how an entity (vertex, edge, face) is connected to another entity or to the ground. Using connectors simplifies modeling because, in many cases, you can simulate the desired behavior without having to create the detailed geometry or define contact conditions.A Bolt  can connect two components, multiple components, or a component and the ground. You can define bolts through a mixed stack of solids, shells and sheet metal bodies.

 

There are three commonly used strength parameters for bolts to estimate bolt failure. Yield strength, Ultimate Strength and Proof Strength (90% of Yield strength). The most commonly used parameter is the Yield strength of the bolt's material or grade, but users should choose a strength value that is most appropriate for the application.

The bolt connector formulation is an approximation of a complex nonlinear behavior. It provides accurate results when the bolts are under tension. In loading scenarios where the bolts are under compressive loads, the axial forces of bolt connectors may not be accurate. In such cases, a decrease in preload bolt force can result in a "loosening" of the bolt and loss of contact between the bolt and the components. This behavior cannot be captured by the bolt connector formulation in Simulation. For these cases, model the actual bolt and define no penetration contact sets between the bolt and the components.

Rajat Trehan

Product Manager - Design Validation

Computer Aided Technology Inc.

 

Check Out 3DVIA Post3D From DS SolidWorks Corp.

3DVIA Post3D is a new product from DS SolidWorks Corp.  3DVIA Post3D provides a virtual, online environment for Product Designers and Engineers to collaborate in 3D. Just post your design, then invite others to view and discuss the work in real-time at your own customizable URL.  It is like having a virtual showroom for your products.  Post3D will be released later this year, but you can learn more by visting the preview site.
Follow this link http://www.post3d.com/

Jim TeDesco
CATI Marketing

Computer Aided Technology, Inc. Recognized for Industry Leadership at SolidWorks World 2011

Last week over 5,000 SolidWorks users descended upon San Antonio, TX for SolidWorks World 2011.  It was a great week, filled with big announcements, inspirational speeches, presentations from SolidWorks partner solutions, and Kevin Bacon.  We were introduced to companies like, MAKO Surgical, Barrett Technologies, and Local Motors, all of which are leveraging SolidWorks to change the world.

Bertrand Sicot took the stage as the new CEO of SolidWorks.  His biggest announcement, in addition to two new product offerings, n!Fuze and Post3D, was that “there will always be a desktop solution from SolidWorks.”  A point he made several times.

>Click to view SolidWorks World 2011 presentations from the CATI Technical Team!

During SolidWorks World, SolidWorks takes the time to honor Value Added Resellers from around the world. CATI, was acknowledged for their expertise in SolidWorks Solutions by receiving the President’s Club Award.  The President’s Club Award is given to elite members of the reseller community that demonstrate a commitment to providing customers with a comprehensive SolidWorks Solution to their design, engineering, and manufacturing challenges.  In addition to the President’s Club Award, CATI took home other top honors; receiving the 100% Club Award for meeting or exceeding all product targets and recognition as North America’s #1 Reseller of SolidWorks Enterprise PDM. In addition, several CATI team members took home individual awards for technical and sales excellence.

 

Jim TeDesco
CATI Marketing