Have You Ever Used Part Reviewer In SolidWorks?

SolidWorks Part Reviewer can be used to review how parts are created feature by feature. Very similar to roll back, but easier. You can find Part Reviewer on the Evaluate tab.

Click on Part Reviewer and notice it opens in the Task Pane area. You can use the arrows to guide you through the features and sketches of the model. Arrows from left to right (Jump to Begining, Step Back, Step Forward and Jump to End).

When you activate Show Sketch Details in the Part Reviewer Task Pane, the sketch will be shown as you step through the features of the part.

When the Show Sketch Details is NOT activated you will only step through the features.

Comments can also be added when using the Part Reviewer by activating Edit Feature Name and Comment. Once activated you can enter comments and notes, you can Date/Time Stamp, Save and Close, Delete or Cancel.

When Show only features with comments is activated. Guess what? That's all you will see.

And finally, glasses to the far right of the Part Reviewer Task Pane will hide features.

I hope this was of help to you. Have a great day.

Roger G. Ruffin Jr
Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

 

Stratasys Hits the Slopes with 3D Printed Skis

Not all the winter sports records are being set in Sochi. Here’s one fresh from Lake Tahoe!

Stratasys co-founder, chairman and chief innovation officer Scott Crump recently braved the slopes to test a pair of what are believed to be the first fully functional 3D printed skis.  Dominic  Mannella, the Stratasys senior applications engineer who designed the skis, noted,  “Scott loves to be the first to try anything, especially when it comes to 3D printing. I am not aware of anyone who has ever taken 3D printed skis downhill before. 

For the 3D printing method, they chose Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing Technology because it works with a range of production-grade thermoplastics suitable for abusive outdoor environments.  A ski segment was 3D printed on the Fortus 900mc Production System.

The skis were designed in SolidWorks. 

>>Click here to read the full article found on the Stratasys Blog.

 

Tracy Golden
Marketing Assistant
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

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.

How to break a derived part in SolidWorks

A derived part in SolidWorks is a part that is based on an existing part. The first feature in the feature tree reflects this. There are two ways to create a derived part. One is using the "insert part" function from the insert drop down menu. You can also create a derived part by dragging a part into a blank part from the file explorer tab on the task pane.

When the part is inserted it prompts you to choose what you are transferring. Generally what you would put in would be the solid bodies. Clicking the green check before clicking in the view window will place the original part on the origin of the new part.

Notice the feature tree only has a folder with the original part name and no feature history. This is fine for most cases and if any changes are made to the original part the derived part will also change.

In the future if you do not want this functionality you can break the link between the two parts. To do this right click on the first feature in the feature tree and choose "list external refs".

At this point you can break the external reference and the part will no longer update. However if you also turn on the check box "insert the features of the original part if all references are broken" You will then have the feature tree to work with from the original part.

Thanks,

Jordan Nardick, Elite AE
Applications Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Stratasys Case Study - Trek Bikes Leverages the NEW Objet500 Connex3 Full Color Multi-material 3D Printer

Trek’s prototyping lab was among the first to adopt the Objet500 Connex3, an advanced color multi-material 3D printer that runs on PolyJet technology. It creates prototypes that look and feel like production parts, with more material options and more uptime than ever before. The system builds color parts with clear, tinted and flexible components all in one job, for example.

Download a PDF verison of their story.

Specifically, engineers at Trek embraced the capability to integrate soft rubber-like components into models built from their favorite prototyping material, durable Digital ABS™. This is crucial because so many bike parts and accessories contain rigid and soft components. Before Connex3, the lab would have had to build those devices in separate jobs, swapping out 3D printing materials in between, and then bond the components. Or, to print in one job, downgrade the rigid portions to a less durable,
non-composite material. 

Download a PDF verison of their story.

Jim TeDesco
Marketing Manager
Computer AidedTechnology, Inc.

Fatigue Analysis: What you need to know

Fatigue Analysis helps identify how repetitive load cycles cause structural failures. SolidWorks Simulation helps you identify failures in components subjected to stresses less than yield and do not experience plastic deformation and have relatively long lives. This type of usage is commonly referred to as high-cycle fatigue. For ductile metals, high-cycle fatigue is generally considered to be greater than 100,000 cycles of operation. Calculation of high cycle fatigue requires a S-N curve or stress versus number of cycles curve, in addition to linear static stress data. 

The materials database in SolidWorks Simulation has S-N curve built into it for some materials, identified by a SN in bracket next to material name. Typical process of doing fatigue calculations is to calculate linear static stress, then assess damage using stress range in S-N curve, accumulate the damages using Miner's rule (in case of multiple load histories). 

This approach works for components designed for high cycle operation, and besides S-N curves are readily available for most standard materials.SolidWorks Simulation helps users define two types of loading histories (a) constant amplitude (b) variable amplitude.

The procedure to solve both loading histories remains the same as described earlier, except variable amplitude load event requires a history. The user can use the same technique to define a load location, however the load history will have the variable amplitude data. Based on type of data (amplitude only, amplitude and frequency, amplitude and time) the user can pick different options to calculate fatigue life.

I hope this was a good insight into Fatigue Analysis solution of SolidWorks Simulation.

Rajat Trehan

Product Manager 

Computer Aided Technology Inc.

SolidWorks EPDM - How To Search For SolidWorks Configurations By Name in EPDM

Here is a great article posted on the InFlow Technology Blog.  This article answers the question "Have you ever wanted to search by configuration name using SolidWorks Enterprise PDM?".If so, the search option is available to you on the "Complete Search" search card. The image below shows where to look on the card:

Read the rest of the article on the InFlow Technology Blog

Read the rest of the article on the InFlow Technology Blog

 

Jim TeDesco
Marketing Manager
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.