Trend Tracker

One
common trait all engineers share; is being curious. How components respond to
subtle changes has always been a big turn on for me. Geeks like to call this
sensitivity analysis.  SolidWorks Simulation
terms this as “Trend Tracker”. The notion being to track changes in a design,
with respect to design parameters e.g. weight, strength etc. Historically this
has been done using pen and paper. At the onset of 21^st century it’s
time to digitize!!

Once
you have a concept design ready, we start testing and making changes on the
fly. Trend Tracker helps you keep track of changes with respect to engineering
parameters. Once user tests the first design or concept design they can declare
that as baseline design. Trend Tracker helps detect trends in results from
different iterations in a static study.

The
following things can be done using Trend Tracking tool.

1. Trend
   Journal:  Maintains details on base design and
   every successive change made to base design.


2. Trend
   Graph: shows
   trends in important result quantities.


3. Gallery: Shows displacement, stress etc.
   plots for every iteration.


4. Restore
   model: This is a
   roll back function allowing user to restore 3 D model to a specific
   iteration.

To
use Trend Tracker…

Create a 3D concept design in SolidWorks. Run a
static test to understand response of the structure under applied load. Once we
have results for a static test, right click on study name and select Trend
Tracker to enable this functionality. 

Symbol
for this tool seems to be stolen from Target. So much so for originality!

Let
us consider an example to understand this better. The part model shown here is
held in position using bolt connections and the cylindrical face is also not
allowed to move. We simulate this using fixed condition on all 3 cylindrical faces.
The load is applied at the other end.

Right
click on name of analysis (Trend Tracker in this case), and activate Trend
Tracker tool. This will show Trend Tracker in COSMOS analysis Manager tree.
Right click on the Trend Tracker tool and set this current analysis as
baseline. All successive runs will be compared to baseline results. Lets go
ahead and now make changes to 3D model.

• Change 1 : change the thickness
  of the model from 16 mm to 14 mm.

Once
changes are made in SolidWorks environment user need not make changes in
Analysis environment. Simply run the test again and results will be updated.  Under Trend Tracker folder, users will see
graphs. These are tracking weight, stress, displacement etc. Users can add
parameters as they think to be fit.

 

     

Looking at the FOS plot, this design
is extremely safe. We can potentially remove some material.

• Change 2: Add a hole (remove
  material) from the component.

Run the test again and trend graphs
will appear automatically in COSMOS Analysis feature manager tree.

 

Trend
Journal is a M.S Word
Document created in the COSMOS Manager tree. This keeps track of changes made
to 3D model, an important process in book keeping. How many times has it
occurred, we scratch details on a piece of paper and loose the quintessential
information to oblivion.

Trend
Graph These are
created by default. Users can manually add data value to be tracked. This
primarily helps in tracking how parameters such as weight, displacement etc
vary with respect to changes in 3D geometry.

View
Gallery is a vault
that stores plots for successive iteration. This is very useful in presenting a
case to the team. This pictorial representation makes it easier for all to
understand what was the design methodology and logic used.

Restore
Model to iteration is used to roll back the
feature added or subtracted between successive iterations.

Rajat Trehan

Product Manager - Design Validation

Computer Aided Technology Inc.

Extract Images from Word 2007

One of my co-workers was creating a very important blog article, and came across a problem. While compiling his blog, he noticed that he needed the images as their own files for typepad. Well, you can't just right mouse button click and hit save image as in Word. (WHAT! are you kidding). But I did find this great little nugget of kryptonite. The new Word DOCX format is really a ZIP file. I thought this was very cool and needed to share it with everyone else.

Microsoft Office 2007's new file format is XML. When you save a document in Word 2007's default DOCX format, you are actually saving a zip file that contains all the elements of the document. You can easily extract the files from that zipped file by opening it with a zip utility such as WinRar or Winzip - or if you change the file extension from DOCX to ZIP recent Windows versions should be able to open it directly.

The image files themselves are stored in a sub folder called Media and can be extracted and renamed for re-use:

 

Bob McGaughey, CSWP
Regional Technical Manager
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

SolidWorks Commercial Edition vs. SolidWorks Stimulus Edition

SolidWorks has recently released the SolidWorks Engineering Stimulus Package (http://www.solidworks.com/sw/esp/engineering_stimulus_package.html) with this package comes a 90 Day License of SolidWorks. The edition of SolidWorks that comes with the Stimulus Package is the same software that is given out to students with the Education Edition of SolidWorks.

For as long as SolidWorks has had both a Commercial Edition and an Educational Edition there has always been the issue of files created in the Edu. Edition putting their Watermark/Stamp on the Commercial Edition files when the Edu. Edition files are used in the Commercial Edition.

The Watermark/Stamp that SolidWorks applies on their Edu. files are something that cannot be removed. If you receive a file that was created in the Edu. Edition and you need to use it in a Commercial Edition your only option is to remodel that file.

This has not changed with the addition of the SolidWorks Stimulus Package so here is what you can expect to see with the different versions of SolidWorks and using a Stimulus/Edu. Edition created file.

Note: The release of Stimulus/Edu. Edition that is available is the equivalent of SW2009.

SW2009 Commercial

Opening a file – When you open a file created in the Stimulus/Edu. Edition you get the following message.

WARNING: We have seen that when you save this file and then open the file later that sometimes the warning message will not appear.

Printing a file – If you want to print your part file you will also get the following Watermark/Stamp on your print whether it is to a printer or PDF file.

Printer

                  

PDF

 

Creating Assemblies & Drawings – Inserting a file created in the Stimulus/Edu. Edition into an Assembly or Drawing you get the same message as opening a Part file.

  

You will also get the same Watermark/Stamp on your print whether it is to a printer or PDF file.

 

Lastly in your FeatureTree you will get a Mortarboard symbol in front of the Stimulus/Edu. Edition Part and the name of the Assembly as well.

The good news is that if you remove the Stimulus/Edu. file from the Assembly the Assembly goes back to “normal”.

SW2008 and prior Commercial Editions

The Stimulus Edition is the equivalent of SW2009 so you will not be able to open those files in an older version of SolidWorks. If you are using an older version of SolidWorks and open up a file created in the Edu. Edition you will not get any of the Warning Messages or FeatureTree Symbols that you see in SW2009. You will however get the Watermark/Stamp added to all of your files when you print 3D or 2D files that use an Edu. generated part or assembly.

The Danger of Dual Monitors

Be careful when creating a registry file that is going to be used across your organization if you are using dual monitors.  You do not want to have something get pushed to a second monitor, if not every user has a second monitor.  A user could get stuck waiting for something that never shows up because it is off their screen.  In SolidWorks 2009, new functionality was added to allow users to put toolbars onto a second monitor.  Also, other commands like Pack and Go from Windows Explorer could get pushed to a second monitor.  Best bet, if creating the settings file that will be sent out across the company, do it with one monitor.  Then let individual users decide what will get moved to their second monitor if they have that option. 

Leslie Lougheed

Is your typing...not up to PAR? Try this out.

 

Another little tidbit for those of you, are just like me, a crappy typist....TYPOMagia. It's a typing program with a roll playing game twist. You type words to build up the strength of your Soliders and then release them upon your enemies. This can also be a good FREE!!! tool to help your kids with their word list for school, because you can create your own custom list. This is if you can type your kids word list without getting so angry you give up. It's fun, free, and good way to make you stop looking a the freakin keyboard.

Bob McGaughey, CSWP
Regional Technical Manager
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Top Ten things about the Windows UI that drive me nutz!

I was at Borders last night and came across the May 2009 issue of Maximum PC Magazine. May issue..., at the first of April, that's a different rant for a different day. While flipping through the articles I saw"Eight UI Inconsistencies That Annoy Us" So, I've modified that list and added my own.

10 WINDOWS DOES NOT CLEAN UP AFTER ITSELF BY DEFAULT   In XP and Vista the Windows temp folder is not cleared regularly. But with 2009 you can use SolidWorks RX to clear out your temp files on a daily basis. This is important for SolidWorks users, it can affect performance. I've even seen it cause, "failed to save document" errors. SO CLEAN IT UP!!

9 RENAMING MULTIPLE FILES CAN BE A PAIN. Currently Microsoft does not have a auto renaming utility for mass renaming. There are some good tools out there though.

8 FILE FOLDERS DON'T SHOW THEIR SIZE IN EXPLORER. Microsoft says this would slow down your file browsing in explorer. Come on Microsoft, you're Microsoft. Get it done and make it fast, Bill probably has an idea. He's not doing too much right now give him a call.

7 FILE SIZES ARE SHOWN ONLY IN KB.Does your car display its speed in furlongs per week? No! That makes as much sense as showing how many kilobytes a 2.5TB file is.

6 THE PROGRESS BAR IS A COMPULSIVE LIAR.  
Whether you're copying files or installing patches, the progress bar is always wrong. This is what we call Bill Gates Time.

5 APPLICATION SPLASH SCREENS ARE USELESS. Splash screens can be pretty, but what purpose or what problem do they solve? Can't we figure out something else for the graphic designer to do?

4 OUTLOOK SEPARATES EMAIL ADDRESSES WITH A SEMICOLON. Here in America we use commas to separate lists.

3 APPS BURIED IN THE SUB-FOLDERS OF THE PROGRAM MENU. Apps belong in the root of the Program Files not sub-folder after sub-folder, where no one will ever find them!

2 DISABLING APPS IN THE SYSTRAY IS HARD.                 In many applications you must go to Run "msconfig" and disable it in the start-up tab. Some you have to find the function in the apps preferences. Last but not least some get installed in your start menu inside of Start-up.

1 THE SAVE ICON IS A FREAKIN FLOPPY DISK! I haven't saved a file to a floppy disk in over a decade. Why is the icon still standard, is it a piece stone age technology?

Robert McGaughey, CSWP
Regional Technology Manager
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Multiple Mate Mode

When putting together assemblies, many times you will have a bunch of parts that are all mated the same to one part.  For example, you might have a bunch of parts that are concentric to the same shaft, or a bunch of parts that are coincident to the same surface.  Instead of adding mate, after mate, after mate, try Multiple Mate Mode.  This is found in the Mate Property Manager and you access it by selecting the paperclip with the lightning bolt on it.

 
In Multiple Mate Mode, the first thing you select is the common reference - the face that the other parts are mated to.  Then select faces from the parts that mate to the common reference. 

    

Change the mate type if the default selection is not what you want.  If you chose to “Create Multi-mate folder”, then the mates will be grouped in a folder in the Mate list.  From here, you can change the mate type, common reference, or distance for all mates in one operation.  Otherwise, SolidWorks will add individual mates for each component as if you were to create them all yourself.

This is not just limited to coincident and concentric mates either.  Try using it for distance and angle mates and adjust the values individually for each part. 

Design Faster!

Leslie Lougheed