Customizing SolidWorks Toolbox

I recently had a customer who called into support and was looking for a way to add some custom features to Toolbox. In particular they were looking for:

“On  a number of Hex bolts that I use I need to have 3 different styles of the same size..

Say Ø1/4-20 X 2" Hex Bolts..., (1) Ø1/4-20 x 2" Grade 5, (2) Ø1/4-20 x 2" Grade 8, (3) Ø1/4-20 x 2" Stainless Steel.

Some of my hardware, I need several more styles for given size..  Different color anodizing, coatings, Zinc plate, Chrome, etc...

All these variations of same size have different part numbers on my end..  So the assembly BOM lists which variation goes in the assembly.

I can only get it to list, configure 1 single "style" per size...

How do I get it to list multiple selections (styles) for a given size?”

The answer to this can be found in the Configure area of Toolbox under the Properties Tab. There are 3 basic steps to get this set up for your application.

1.       Define your properties or edit an existing value.

a.       To add a new property simply select in a blank Property Name field.

b.      After adding a new property set the Type to be "Choose List" or "Single Value."

c.       Input  your Values in the appropriate area.

     Options (Set for each Property Value):

• 
  

  “Add as a configuration specific property," turned on by default and generally recommended to be on.

  
  


• 
  

  “Each value for this property requires a new configuration,” this can be turned on for only one of the Property Values.

 

 

 

2.       With a property selected choose to apply it to a Standard or Component.

       

3.       Before selecting your next property you can choose Enable or Disable and set the Default property for an entire Standard or a specific Component. (This means you can set different defaults for different fasteners.)

Once these values are set you can see the results in your Assemblies when you place a

fastener.

Note: Because we are limited to only 1 property that will generate a configuration to eliminate the possibility of overwriting an existing configuration name you will need to first add additional suffix(s) to the Configuration Name, then use the Add/Update button to Create your companies specific part number for that configuration.

If you open the part file you can see the configurations that have been generated as well as each Configuration's Specific Properties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, you can see the results at the drawing level once the BOM is configured to add the additional columns. Notice Item #3 has a different name than the rest of the parts and this is because we did not specify a Part Number when inserting it into the Assembly, so it defaulted to the Description/Configuration Name

Josh Altergott

CATI Support Team Leader

3D Viewing on your iPhone or iPod touch

Brace yourself...this is really cool.

Dassault Systemes, developer of leading software solutions such as SolidWorks and Enovia SmarTeam, has released a free 3D Viewer for your iPhone or iPod touch.  It is compatible with many file types, but most notably those created by 3DVia Composer.

Picture this scenario:

1. Convert your 3D model in to a Composer format
   
2. Upload on to your iPod
   
3. Snap a photo of your environment
   
4. Place your model in to the photo, creating the illusion of your virtual model existing in the photo environment
   
5. Use this on a sales call
   
6. Wow your prospect and make the sale
   
7. Single-handedly end the recession

OK, maybe it's not that easy...or is it?

SolidWorks on an iTouch?

I have heard that a lot of people are very happy running SolidWorks on Apple computers, but is anyone running it on an iPod Touch?

Justin Webster from our InFlow team got this working. There is a trick to it. Any ideas how he did it?

One hint, the trick is not Photoshop. This actually works, but we are still trying to figured out how to right click on an iTouch ;-).

DriveWorks Solo, First Thoughts

I just went through the DriveWorks Solo Training and I'm very impressed!!!  It took me a little under 2 hours to go through the training provided by DriveWorks.  The material is very polished and even has tips explaining why things are happening,  not just instructions to click here and type this. 

The amount of included functionality is perfect for this,  but experienced DriveWorks users will quickly find out what's missing. The search function makes it much faster to filter the rule types even with the limited number of models and rules in the training files.  The form navigation is redesigned making it easier to connect your forms and it makes adding decisions much more intuitive. 

My personal favorite is how driven alternatives is now handled.  That was always a little confusing but Solo makes it much, much, much easier to get the results you are looking.

I'm very pleased with what I've seen with Solo and I'm sure anyone else who gives it a try will be too. Check out www.driveworkssolo.com or contact CATI if you have more questions. 

SolidWorks World 2010 - Early Bird Registration

Early Bird Registration Deadline Approaching

SolidWorks World 2010 will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California, USA from January 31, 2010 through February 3, 2010. Register by October 9, 2010 and save 200 dollars off a full conference registration.  If you are a CSWP (Certified SolidWorks Professional) you will receive an additional 100 off your registration. If multiple people will be attending from your company, be sure to take advantage of the 3 for 2 registration offer.  You and your colleagues will receive three full conference passes for the price of 2. For up-to-date information about SolidWorks World 2010 visit www.solidworks.com/swworld. The CATI Technical Support Team will be presenting at several of the Breakout Sessions and we hope to see you in Anaheim this January. Josh Altergott CATI Support Team Leader

Welcome DriveWorks Solo

DriveWorks recently released a new product, DriveWorks Solo,  that fits somewhere between DriveWorksXpress and DriveWorks Engineer.  I was able to download and install the product yesterday and I’m very impressed.  It works right inside of SolidWorks like Xpress,  but it has a lot of the functionality that is only available in Engineer.  The forms look great and you can even get a real-time preview of your design.  Check out www.driveworkssolo.com or contact CATI if you have more questions. 

SolidWorks Rx erased my WHAT!!!???

As many of us good SolidWorks users do we all try to keep our folders tidy. SolidWorks has given us some great tools for it as well. Like the SolidWorks Rx system maintenance tab.

    Where to find it? Start, All Programs, SolidWorks 200X, SolidWorks 200X SPX.X, SolidWorks Tools, SolidWorks Rx, System Maintenance.

The above image shows the default locations for an install of SolidWorks (plus user info). Do make sure that the folders are pointing where they should be. Notice that the heading says that SolidWorks will clean out all SolidWorks and Windows Temporary files (see image below). This means not just SW files!!

If the folder settings are wrong you could end up losing data you don't want to. This is especially a problem if you use copy settings wizard to copy somebody else's settings to your machine. How does the saying go? One man's garbage is another man's gold... could have a big impact here. We found out through a support issue that somebody was cleaning an outlook folder with this tool. The settings were copied to another user's machine who then lost his .pst archive file containing all of his business correspondence. :{

The other settings at the bottom are good steps to take as well. Although not all users will have the permissions to run defrag.

This maybe a good tool to run on a regular basis say once a week or so.

John Van Engen
CATI Applications Engineer