Solidworks Custom Property Builder Work Around

I have been asked several times if there is a quick way of populating custom properties into drawings, parts, and assemblies outside of using a data management system.  Solidworks has created a custom property builder to speed up the process.  You can create a drop down list for any custom property so that it can be easily selected. 

 

The problem is that when you save the property template out it only allows you to save this for a part file

 
 To save these templates for drawings and assemblies first you must save it as a part template (.prtprp), then you can rename the extension to .asmprp for assemblies .drwprp for drawings. For step by step instructions on how to use and create the template please refer to the solidworks help menu.

 

Ketul Patel

How to Start a Sheet Metal Part?

Occasionally we get calls from people on how to do something, like start a sheet metal part, but they've not had the training class for that yet. In this post I'll try to share the very basics of starting a sheet metal part. It certainly won't cover everything and isn't meant to be a replacement for training, but it's something for right now. - Check out the attached 10 minute video.

Download Sheet_Metal-How_to_Start

CATI named to the Inc.5000 fastest growing companies for the 4th year in a row

We are proud to announce, for the fourth straight year, CATI has made the Inc.5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies list.  We jumped up over 500 spots from last year's ranking.

>Click here to read the full story. 

Journal File Where and What is it????

With the implementations of Solidworks 2011 and steady migration from XP to Windows 7 there are always pluses and minuses. I never recommend to anyone that when going from one version to the next that you use the copy settings wizard.  I always recommend a clean uninstall and then a fresh install. What I have been seeing as of late has be Journal File errors. You know the one(it usually happens when you quadruple click at 7 in the morning to get going on your projects). "A journal file could not be created. Auto recover will not work. Another session of Solidworks may be running on your machine."

What is the journal file? Answer-it is the record of everything you do in Solidworks in code kind of format, which is why your auto recover works.

You used to be able to set the location for where this was written to back in 06 or so through the tools,options, file locations. Now it is not an option, well kind of of not an option. This is actually managed through a registry key under the current user. It used to be located in the Documents and Settings folder inside of XP but as some of you now know that folder doesn't really exist anymore (they call it a junction point and its hidden)Its a long and boring explanation so will cut to the chase.

Here is the old location  C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\SolidWorks\SolidWorks 20XX

Here is the new location: C\Users\CURRENT_USER\AppData\Roaming\SolidWorks\SolidWorks 2011(if you explore to this location you should see the file dynamically update as you work in Solidworks)

The fact that it is writing in the CURRENT_USER directory gives Windows the ability to utilize multiple profiles on the same machine and make efficient use of data storage.

In order to get this work correctly you could just edit the string under the registry to point to that directory. The correct string is HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\SolidWorks 2011\ExtReferences then look for the Solidworks Journal Files and see where its pointing. AND MAKE SURE THE USER HAS PERMISSIONS TO WRITE TO THIS KEY!!

 

Todd Werginz

Technical Analyst

Computer aided Technology

 

Help your Pressure Vessel Designs meet ASME Section 8 requirments.

A Pressure Vessel study combines results of multiple loads and understand behavior of any cross section as per ASME standards. A typical load includes internal pressure, temperature rise and earthquake loads. So to start with a user will create different static studies to understand design behavior under each load type (pressure, temperature, etc).

 

Using SolidWorks Simulation users can easily study the effect of multiple loads on designs.

 

 

Once a Pressure Vessel Design is run, users can use stress linearization to separate bending and membrane stresses. Simply define a section clipping on the stress plot, then right click and pick linearize. Pick any two points on the section and click calculate. The software generates six graphs for 6 stress components. Compare the numbers generated with ASME section 8 requirement.

So there you go, no need to fret over a Professional Engineer coming down every few weeks to clear your designs. You can use SolidWorks to help you out and assure him or her your designs conform to ASME standards

Rajat Trehan

Product Manager - Design Validation

Computer Aided Technology Inc.

Repurposing at file export

    The other day I got one of those questions.  "I got a question, Bob. Can you take the points from a spline and save them out to a text file?" I was good up to the save them out to a text file. My brain threw the parking brake, "Ok say that again". You should always ask someone to repeat themselves when you think they are asking a stupid question. “So the real question was, “The user needs to get captured points along a curve or line into excel for a project.”

So we started to work on the issue. First off, there isn’t a save selected points to excel. This is going to need a work around. What formats can I save out of SolidWorks and can I read them in a tool like notepad or notepad++ easily. Take a look.

 

After saying out each one of these file formats, the one I thought of first was the best answer, IGES. IGES development began in late 1979 due to an increasing need to share data between CAD systems. While the IGES format is not the most powerful method for transferring CAD data, it is very common because it was one of the first detailed systems. This format was designed to be very open, and the data can be read in any text reader program. To learn more about the IGES format you can look at the Wiki page about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I didn't know IGES had a LOGO, cool!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IGES

 

Armed with this information I went add saved my part as IGES file. But the spline points didn’t show up in the IGES file the way I expected. In the IGES format the designation of 116 at the beginning of a line is a point. But I was looking for a line that had an X,Y,&Z values, but I was getting more than that. Going back to the model I created a new sketch and added points on top of the points of the spline on the original sketch. I resaved the IGES file and got much better results, which I copied to my clip board.

Now let’s get it into Excel. I pasted the data from the clip board onto a new text document. Excel can import a text file as a delimited file, where commas and colons with separate the data into cells. So there you go.

 
 

Cheers

Bob McGaughey, CSWE

 CATI

How to enter points with x, y and z coordinates?

Sometimes you may receive files from vendors or get information from a CCM where you need to plot out reference points using x, y and z coordinates.  There are not many tools in SolidWorks that will allow you to enter in x, y, z coordinates regardless of the feature type. 

One trick is using a 3D sketch…

In a 3D sketch:

1  -  Create however many points you need.  (Doesn't matter the location.)

2  -  Select a point.  Using the property manager on the left hand side, enter in the x, y, z coordinates of the point.

Note:  Parameters for any entity in the property manager are strictly for reference.  Entering values in the parameter boxes will NOT constrain the geometry.  Relations and dimensions are highly recommended to fully constrain sketch entities.

3  -  Because of the above note, the point is not constrained and is still floating in 3D space (hence the blue / under defined color).  This is one of the few times that it would be a good idea to use the “fix” relation so that you do not in advertently move the point.

4  -  Repeat the steps for the additional points.

 

Nathan Brunner, CSWP

Technical Analyst

Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

CSWP exam tip –Utilizing the “Edit All..” button for quick equation changes

The first section of the CSWP exam has you build a part, figure the mass of the part and then change several dimensions to then calculate the mass again. This tip is to help you save time on this first section of the CSWP.

The exam gives you a list of dimensions to use to build the part. What you want to do is take this list and create equations from it, before doing any modeling.

 

Now that you have the dimension equations in place go ahead and model the part by using these equations to define the specific dimensions called out in the CSWP exam. Once you have finished modeling the part and have obtained the original mass, the exam will ask you to change the dimensions listed and recalculate the mass. To quickly do this, utilize the “Edit All…” button in the equation editor.

 

 

The “Edit All..” panel will pop up and allow you to quickly change any or all of your equations. Once you have edited the primary equations, click ok. This will update your equations and your part, allowing you to now calculate the new mass without individually editing each equation or dimension.

 

Nicholas Jansen

Technical Analyst

Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

SolidWorks 2012 Is Here!

Be the first to see SolidWorks 2012 live at the CATI Design Innovation Summit.  The Design Innovation Summit is a unique opportunity to learn how you can help your company succeed in making better products faster.  Attendees will have a chance to win a trip to SolidWorks World 2012, sponsored by Objet Geometries.

>>Click Here to Learn More

Event Highlights:

• The latest SolidWorks Solution offerings


• FREE hands-on SolidWorks Training


• User focused content


• Multiple presentation tracks to customize your experience


• 3D Printing from Objet Geometries


• Presentations from top SolidWorks World Presenters


• See real products designed in SolidWorks


• Network with fellow SolidWorks users


• Contests and prizes(Win a trip to SolidWorks World 2012)

Locations and Registration:

Date	City	Location
October 4	Hartford, WI	The Wisconsin Auto Museum & Schaur Arts Center	View Agenda & Register
October 5	Palatine, IL	Harper College	View Agenda & Register
October 11	St. Louis, MO	The MotoMuseum	View Agenda & Register
October 13	Indianapolis, IN	Indiana State Museum	View Agenda & Register

All events are 8am - 5pm. The agenda varies by location. Click through to see the agenda and register for an event near you.

Sponsored By:

 

Date

City

Location

Agenda

October 4

Hartford, WI

The Wisconsin Auto Museum & Schaur Arts Center

View Agenda

October 5

Palatine, IL

Harper College

View Agenda

October 11

St. Louis, MO

The MotoMuseum

View Agenda

October 13

Indianapolis, IN

Indiana State Museum

View Agenda

Assembly Instructions Made With 3DVIA Composer

Leverage 3D CAD data to streamline communication between engineering and manufacturing divisions within your organization.  3DVIA Composer makes it easy for you to create high quality assembly instructions that will help you save time and money.

Objet Geometries, leader in the 3D printing industry, gives one lucky winner an iPad 2

Congratulations to Carl Schoenberg from Ideal Team in Chesterfield, MO for winning an iPad 2 courtesy of Objet Geometries!  Carl participated in the recent Objet and Time Compression Magazine survey in order to be eligible for the prize.

To claim his prize, the CATI team invited Carl to our St. Charles, MO office, located just outside of St. Louis.  CATI Technical Analyst Nathan Brunner was on hand to treat Carl to a tour of the facilities, including a look at the Objet30 Desktop 3D Printer.

Carl with his new iPad 2 and the Objet30 3D Printer.

Carl with CATI Technical Analyst Nathan Brunner 

Visit www.CATI.com to learn more about 3D Printing.

Also, be sure to check out the Objet Blog for the latest 3D printing and Rapid Prototyping news. 

 

Jim TeDesco
Marketing Coordinator
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

SolidWorks IIF equal’s to “the syntax is wrong” error workaround



  

Ever try creating an if-then statement in SolidWorks to control a feature. Well if you ever want to then you need to use the IIF function. Yes there are two I’s.

 

Background:

The syntax of the Visual Basic IIf function is:  iif(expression, truepart, falsepart)

 

where:

·expression is the expression you want to evaluate

·truepart is the value to use if expression is true

·falsepart is the value to use if expression is false

 

ex:

· The following equation suppresses a linear pattern when the value of global variable "overall length" is less than 40.

"LPattern1" = iif ("overall length"<40, "suppressed", "unsuppressed")

 

· This following equation unsuppresses a rib feature when a particular dimension is greater than 100.

"Rib1" = iif ("D3@Sketch1">100, "unsuppressed", "suppressed")

 

Issue:

What SolidWorks doesn’t like and will prevent from working is the equals sign used for an equal’s to syntax. Such as

 

“D1@sketch3” = iif (“D2@sketch1” = 0.5, 1.0, 1.25)

 

Work Around:

The workaround for this is to utilize the “double negative” syntax. Such as

 

“D1@sketch3” = iif (not(“D2@sketch1” <> 0.5), 1.0, 1.25)

 

Which is equivalent to “D1@sketch3” = iif (“D2@sketch1” = 0.5, 1.0, 1.25)

 

 

Radical SolidWorks Workarounds for Fillet, Draft, and Shell

For the August installment of our CATIpult webcast series, we are honored to have special guest presenter Ed Eaton, Sr. Industrial Designer with DiMonte Group.  Ed is well known in the SolidWorks community and has contributed presentations for SolidWorks World.

When:
August 11, 2011
12pm-1:30pm

Register Here

Radical Workarounds for Fillet, Draft, and Shell
Shell, Draft, and Fillet are entirely reliant on the faces of the model they are applied to. This presentation discusses how these applied features actually 'think' and why they sometimes deliver surprising results (or no results at all). We will discuss how models can be re-structured to improve the success of these applied features and deliver predictable results.  When that is not possible, we'll discuss extreme tactics that can always be used to beat those applied features into submission to get the model we need.

Learn more about DiMonte Group at http://www.dimontegroup.com

Register Here

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.