SolidWorks' Power Hide Tool

The Tab+Mouse Hover in SolidWorks is an extremely fast* way to hide parts in an assembly that is often overlooked.

Give it a try;

(1) Open an assembly,

(2) Put the cursor over a part,

(3) Press the TAB key on your keyboard.

Viola! That part is hidden!

 

If you'd like a "Full Auto Mode";

Keep the Tab key held down as you move the mouse around.

- Parts will disappear one right after the other!

 

*Full Auto Mode still too slow?!;

Change your settings:

-Tools, Options, System Options, View, Transitions, Hide/show component.

- For max speed, set this to OFF!

Watch this helpful video to learn more about using the Power Hide Tool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f3TP8yf7lQ

Enjoy!

Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Exploded view alternate directions

When creating an exploded view in SolidWorks it is simple to move your parts in the local coordinate system along X, Y, and Z. What if you want to move a part in a different direction? In order to accomplish this we need to reorient the coordinate system. You will first select the component you want to move, then click in the box called z@(name of your assembly)

You will then select a new reference. In this example I am choosing the outer cylindrical surface of the part.

Notice how the reference triad has repositioned itself so Z is along the central axis of the cylinder. Just drag the blue error how you would normally move a component.

Another method to accomplish this is to use a sketch line instead of a component face. The sketch line can be 2d or 3d.

Thanks,

Jordan Nardick, CSWE
Applications Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, INC.

Configurations VS Display States in Assemblies

Configurations and display states are very powerful tools to control how your SolidWorks assemblies look. It is important to understand the differences of what you can control with each of them.

Configurations control assembly feature, part, and sub assembly suppression. Dimensional changes for mates and reference geometry, alternate part translation and rotation, and the current configuration of existing parts and sub assemblies. In this example I am showing a configuration change for an assembly. The second image has one part suppressed, one changed mate dimension, and the crank has been rotated.

Display States control whether are part is shown or hidden, the shading style (i.e. shaded with edges or hidden lines removed), transparency, and the color. The easiest way to see how the current display state is controlling your assembly is to expand out the display pane. Each column relates to the four controllable display states. In my next example I am showing a display state change. The crank assembly has been hidden, the color of the bracket has changed from blue to gray, the upper yoke shading style is now hidden lines, and the lower yoke is transparent.

I would also like to note that when mass properties are calculated for an assembly hidden parts are considered; suppressed parts are not.

Jordan Nardick, CSWE

Technical Analyst

CATI

HELP!!! My feature tree is missing entities in 2012.

Update as soon as possible to avoid this issue.

Important fix included in SolidWorks 2012 SP2 for missing entities in part and assembly FeatureManager after converting data to SolidWorks 2012 format

DS SolidWorks Corporation has detected a workflow that may result in the FeatureManager missing items or having entities listed at an incorrect position in the FeatureManager. This issue may occur with files that have multiple configurations during the conversion of data from a prevision version to SolidWorks 2012 SP0 or SP1. Files created in SolidWorks 2012 are unaffected.

SolidWorks 2012 users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to SolidWorks 2012 SP2 as soon as possible to avoid this issue. A hotfix is also available for SolidWorks 2012 SP1 users and attached to Solution S-058181.

Symptoms: Affected files will be missing entities in the feature tree, such as features and mates in one or more configuration of the model.

Correction: The fix in SolidWorks 2012 SP2 and the SP1 hotfix prevents the issue during conversion. In many cases, the fix can also repair affected files that have already been converted. Once repaired, the issue can not recur.

If SP2.0 or the SP1.0 Hotfix does not resolve the issue with a particular file set, then please collect the problematic SolidWorks files and contact your SolidWorks Reseller for further review.