Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Where's the center of mass?

Recently I have had customers asking for a way to add a center of mass point to their drawing so they can dimension to this point.   This is now possible in SolidWorks 2013 using the Center of Mass function.


To use this function, you must turn on this function in your part or assembly.  To do so, go into the
mass properties window and check the option “Create Center of Mass Feature”.



Mass properties window


This will create a Center of Mass feature in the Feature Tree just below the origin.



Center of mass feature tree

To access this point inside of your drawing file you will need to go to Insert, Model items and check the option for
Center of mass symbol Center of Mass under the Reference Geometry section.



Insert model items center of mass


You will now see the center of mass point on the drawing.  This can be dimension to, and will update as the model changes.



Drawings showing center of mass


Hope this helps you out.


 


- Bryan Pawlak, CSWE


 CATI



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