How to Use the SolidWorks Design Checker - Part 4

In part 4 of this series on the SolidWorks Design checker, we will take a look at a way to have SolidWorks learn standard checks from an existing document. It is quite simple actually. SolidWorks Design Checker has a tool called Learn Checks Wizard. This tool is used to retrieve design checks based on attributes from an existing SolidWorks part, assembly, or drawing document. For this blog article, I will keep it very simple so that you get can get a basic concept of what the Learn Checks Wizard does. Let’s get right into an example.

Open a new SolidWorks Part Document. I will use the default part document from the tutorial folder. This is one of the templates that come right out of the box. Let’s see how SolidWorks chose to set up all the options.

Pull down the “Tools” menu and pick Design Checker > Learn Checks Wizard. On the right side of your screen, in the Task Pane, the Design Checker tab appears. Here you can see a list of all the different types of checks that are available. For example, the first one is Document Checks. Let’s expand Document Checks.

Underneath Document Checks is a list of checks related to the document itself. In front of each check is a white box. Click in the white box to select the check. As you select a check, information about that check appears below. So, if you select Dimensioning Standard, you can see that the Dimensioning Standard is set to ISO.

Go ahead and click around to see some of the checks available including: Document’s Arrow Style, Custom Property, Units Setting, Note Font, Dimension Font, Detail Font, Section Font, View Arrow Font, Surface Finish Font, Weld Symbol Font, Table Font, Balloon Font, Detail View Label Font, and Section View Label Font. As you select each check, you will see that whatever the current document is set to will be applied to that value in the check.

Some checks do more than just display the checks available, they actually allow you to input some data. Take for example Dimension Checks. Scroll down to Dimension Checks and expand it. Select Dimension’s Font Check. A red box appears and asks you to select the specific dimensions that have the qualities desired for this check. Notice what happens if I pick a dimension from a simple sketch while in Edit Sketch mode.

The dimension I selected appears in the middle panel and the dimension parameters are captured. It is just that easy to have SolidWorks generate checks from you current document. Once you go through the list of checks and select the ones that you want to be learned, click the green check box in the upper left corner of the Task Pane. The checks are generated and the SolidWorks Design Checker opens, allowing you to save a .swstd file to use as a template to check other SolidWorks part, assembly, or drawing documents.

In conclusion, Learn Checks Wizard is a great WYSIWYG way to create checks with the SolidWorks Design Checker.

We hope this series has given you an insight to how to access the tools in the SolidWorks Design Checker.  Please check back to the CATI Blog as the Dedicated Support Team will continue posting new series of articles every month that go further into the details of many of the SolidWorks tools. All of these articles will be stored in the category of Daily Dose.....of SolidWorks Support and links to each article with their release date are listed below:

• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part1 (Bryan Pawlak 5/7/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part2 (John Van Engen 5/8/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part3 (Blake Cokinis 5/12/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part4 (Neil Bucalo 5/13/14)

Neil Bucalo, CSWP
Certified SolidWorks Support Technician 2013
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Design Checker Series – Part 3

Welcome to part 3 of our Design Checker series blog.

In this section we will be discussing the Build Checks area.

Starting the Build Checks, you will have 2 options, either create a new standard file, or open an existing file (along with Help and Tutorial). The Standards file will be the file that all the checks are will be compared to.

Creating a Standards file.

This is where you will be specifying any areas to be checked.

These can include:

1. Documents


2. Annotations


3. Dimensions


4. Drawing


5. Part


6. Assembly


7. Features

As with all these options, you have a variety of settings that can be specified, however with any area you will have a few addition options on Criticality and also have the options for the referred auto correct value option.

You will also notice that there are a few additional tabs along the top

Dialog View (default)

Summary view

Options

-The Options tab is one that may get overlooked. There is one important setting here that may throw you off if not selected. You will notice that you have to check the Active Configuration or All Configurations. Make sure you have your settings set accordingly.

Once you set all your checks, you obviously want to save the file. The file will be saved as a ".swstd"

We hope this series has given you an insight to how to access the tools in the SolidWorks Design Checker. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the Dedicated Support Team will continue posting new series of articles every month that go further into the details of many of the SolidWorks tools. All of these articles will be stored in the category of Daily Dose.....of SolidWorks Support and links to each article with their release date are listed below:

• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part1 (Bryan Pawlak 5/7/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part2 (John Van Engen 5/8/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part3 (Blake Cokinis 5/12/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part4 (Neil Bucalo 5/13/14)

 

How to use the SOLIDWORKS Design Checker – Part 2

Checking Against an Existing File

The Check Against Existing File tool validates the active document against checks created from existing files.

Supported file formats are:

• DWG files (*.dwg)


• Part (*.sldprt, *.prt)


• Assembly (*.asm, *.sldasm)


• Drawing (*.drw, *.slddrw)


• Template (*.prtdot, *.asmdot, *.drwdot)


• Drafting Standard (*.sldstd)

Here we have 2 similar documents. They don't have to be identical but these images are for illustration purposes. In these pictures some of the fonts and styles were changed. We will use the first document to be our standard. The second document needs to be checked.

    

Activate the document that we want to check and go to the design checker. Where do we find the tool?

When you run Check Against Existing File, Design Checker creates a new standards file based on the file you selected, opens the file in the Build Checks module, validates the active document, and shows the results in the Task Pane as seen in the following images.

WHOA!! That's a lot of checking!!

You can specify which items are important and which are minor. To see the results of the active comparison return to the drawing being checked and look at the task pane for the results.

Each of the checked items that didn't pass show up in the task pane and can be dealt with on an individual basis or auto corrected all at the same time!

We hope this series has given you an insight to how to access the tools in the SolidWorks Design Checker.  Please check back to the CATI Blog as the Dedicated Support Team will continue posting new series of articles every month that go further into the details of many of the SolidWorks tools. All of these articles will be stored in the category of Daily Dose.....of SolidWorks Support and links to each article with their release date are listed below:

• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part1 (Bryan Pawlak 5/7/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part2 (John Van Engen 5/8/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part3 (Blake Cokinis 5/12/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part4 (Neil Bucalo 5/13/14)

John Van Engen
Senior Technical Analyst
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

SolidWorks Flow Simulation: Tracer Studies

Tracers allow you to study the flow of a admixture (tracer) in the existing carrier fluid under assumption that the presence of admixture has a negligible influence on the carrier fluid flow. Such assumption is justified if the concentration (mass fraction) of the admixture is relatively low.

This example shows how to obtain a flow field and how to define a tracer source to simulate the pollutant dispersion. Here we consider the street canyon, a road and its flanking buildings shown in figure 1. The street is 50 m wide and is flanked on the North side with 100 m high tower block (31 stories) and on the South side with 30 m high building (10-11 stories). Orientation of the street is east-west.

           

                  To see how the wind flows around the buildings we will display Flow Trajectories.

 

       The iso- surfaces of the Tracer Mass Fraction allow us to estimate areas of high traffic pollution.

 The distribution of Tracer Mass Fraction in the symmetry plane and on the leeward face of the tower block helps 

Traffic pollution in a street canyon is characterized by large vertical variability, which is not only related to variation in the traffic amount but is also influenced by meteorological conditions.  SolidWorks Flow Simulation is great tool to simulate wind profile, and understand flow characteristics under varied conditions. 

Rajat Trehan

Product Manager 

Computer Aided Technology Inc.

 

 

How to use the SOLIDWORKS Design Checker – Part 1

This month we are going to begin a deep dive into the SOLIDWORKS Design Checker. We are going to take a look at how this tool allows a company\user to maintain consistency across their documents. The Design Checker is a utility that verifies settings in a document such as dimension standards, annotation settings, fonts, materials, units, ect.

The SOLIDWORKS Design Checker is an add-in that is available in SOLIDWORKS Premium and SOLIDWORKS Professional only. This can be turn on by going to Tools, Add-ins and checking the box next to SOLIDWORKS Design Checker.

The Utility can be launched from the Tools pulldown menu (with or without a document open)

The Design Checker will open with a dialog box allowing you to select one of the available modules.

The available modules are:

Build Checks – use this tool to set the requirements for evaluation.

Check Active Document – use this tool to validate your current document.

Check Against Existing File – use this tool to validate the active document against design checks from existing files.

Learn Checks Wizard – use this tool to retrieve design checks based on attributes from an existing SOLIDWORKS document.

 

The Welcome to SOLIDWORKS Design Dialog box allows you to access the following options:

Create a New Standards File – build a new .swstd file.

Open an Existing Standards File – browse to a .swstd file to check an active document.

 

Check Active Document

The Check Active Document tool uses the design check standard that was created to check your open document.

Setting the File Location to search for .swstd files

1. Click Tools, Options, System Options, File Locations


2. Select Design Checker Files in the pull down menu


3. Add the path to the folder location that contains the .swstd files.

Running Check Active Document

1. 
   
   Launch the Check Active Document from Tools, Design Checker, Check Active Documents.
   
   

   A Design Checker tab opens in the Task Pane.

   
   


2. 
   
   In the Design Checker task pane:
   
   
   
   
   1. Click the + symbol to add a new standards file
   
   
   2. Click the – symbol to remove a standard from the list
   
   
   3. Check one of the boxes to select an existing standard to run on the active document
   
   
   4. Click Select File to open a document to check.
   
   

1. Click the Check Document to check the active document and display the results based on the selected standard.


2. 
   
   Depending on the passed and filed checks, the following messages are displayed:
   
   
   
   
   1. A message that your document is per standard.
   
   
   2. A list of failed checks organized by criticality level.
   
   

Correcting Filed Checks

To correct failed checks:

1. Expand the individual notes to show the Actual Value and Preferred Value(s)


2. Select Auto Correct All to fix everything automatically, or select one or more failed checks and click Correct Selected to fix the failed checks individually.


3. Click the Refresh button at the top of the window to revalidate the document.


4. Click the red X in the upper right corner to close the tab without saving the changes.

Validating Additional Documents

To validate additional documents:

1. Check the first active document and make corrections.


2. Switch to another open document.


3. Click Check Document to validate the second document using the same settings.


4. Switching between the active documents will allow you to view the various results.

The Design tool is a powerful tool that helps keep consistency in our files. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Please be sure to check back as our tech team continues to uncover and explain the additional functions inside of the SOLIDWORKS Design Checker.

We hope this series has given you an insight to how to access the tools in the SolidWorks Design Checker.  Please check back to the CATI Blog as the Dedicated Support Team will continue posting new series of articles every month that go further into the details of many of the SolidWorks tools. All of these articles will be stored in the category of Daily Dose.....of SolidWorks Support and links to each article with their release date are listed below:

• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part1 (Bryan Pawlak 5/7/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part2 (John Van Engen 5/8/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part3 (Blake Cokinis 5/12/14)


• SolidWorks Design Checker - Part4 (Neil Bucalo 5/13/14)

Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

How to Create Threads

Threading is an important feature of many parts.  While cosmetic threads can be used in some cases to decrease the file size, they are often vital for the end product such as when using the part file to print in a 3D printer.  For this example, threading for a cap will be created.

To begin, a sketch must be created on the plane where the threading should start.  In this case the threading will start at the bottom of the cap.  A circle is then created that shows where the spiral will be as seen from the bottom.

Once that has been accomplished, the Spiral/Helix command should be chosen from the Features toolbar.

One useful tip is to set the start angle so that it coincides with an existing plane.  That way the profile can be easily created.

This spiral will become the path of a swept extrusion.  Now, the profile for the sweep must be created.  This can be any shape as long as it is coincident to the starting point of the path.  Since this was done on the inside, the Display Style can be changed to Hidden Lines Removed.

Now that both the path and the profile have been created, the Swept Boss/Base can now create the threads.

As a way to clean up the thread, the ends of the thread can revolved.

 

As was mentioned before, adding actual threads will increase the size of the file, in this case it increased by 37%.

Chad Whitbeck, CSWP

Applications Engineer, CATI

Create your own custom CommandManager Tab

SOLIDWORKS makes it easy to customize the interface so you can work more efficiently. Did you know you can add your own tab in the CommandManager?   It only takes a few easy steps.

Most customization of the CommandManager is done when the Tools, Customize, Commands dialog is up, similar to customizing regular toolbars. Let’s make a new tab.

Right mouse click on one of the Command Manager Tabs and click Customize CommandManager in the dropdown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The CommandManager will display all possible tabs available depending on your SOLIDWORKS Products. The last tab is an empty tab ready for customization.

Click on Empty Tab and rename the tab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new tab is ready to customize by clicking on the Commands tab, sort through the commands you’d like to add to the new tab. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drop and drag each command into the CommandManager.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new tab is added to the drop down along with the checkbox to show or hide it.

To delete a tab, simply Right Mouse Click on the tab and Delete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All existing CommandManager tabs are available to customize.  Don’t be afraid to customize your workspace to make your job more efficient.   To keep your SOLIDWORKS interface customizations, use the SOLIDWORKS Copy Settings Wizard.

Happy Customizing!!!

Judy Marlo

CATI Application Engineer