SolidWorks 2010- P10 pptx

With the Direction Of Pull field active in the Draft Analysis PropertyManager, select the face of the washer that was used as the neutral plane.. Running the Draft Analysis tool while y

M o d e l a W a s h e r 2 3 9

faces that are perpendicular to the neutral plane, and without an added draft, they will cause issues for the molding process

F i g U r e 6 6 Selecting which surfaces to draft

9 Click the green check mark to create the drafted surfaces.

Check the Draft of a Part

Now that you have added draft to the washer, you need to ensure that it is indeed

drafted properly to meet the manufacturing requirements You can check the draft

and how it is applied to your part by using the Draft Analysis tool This tool not only

verifies the draft but can show the angle changes on a face as well as determine the

optimal areas for the parting lines, injection, and ejection surfaces in parts

The Draft Analysis tool uses colors to show whether faces on the part have a

pos-itive draft, have a negative draft, or have the needed draft based on the draft angle

specified and the neutral plane selected Faces that have a positive draft meet the

minimum angle required for the mold to be pulled in the direction specified; these

faces are shown green by default Faces shown in red are designated as having

neg-ative draft and are faces that cannot be extracted with the mold being pulled in the

designated direction Often, the faces shown as having negative draft are ones that

will sit on the other half of the mold, unless the surface or features is an undercut

Flipping the direction of pull will often swap the colors Faces that are shown in

yellow require more draft applied to them, or the draft angle in the Draft Analysis

PropertyManager needs to be decreased

The great thing about the Draft Analysis tool is that it allows you to continue

making modifications to your part while the tool is active This gives you real-time

feedback while you modify the model The colors designating positive, negative, and needed draft will remain on the part until the tool is deselected The following steps will set your requirements for the draft of the washer, and you will leave the analysis running while you finish your part to ensure that changes you make do not affect the overall moldability.

1 Select the Mold Tools tab in the CommandManager, and click the

Draft Analysis button

2 With the Direction Of Pull field active in the Draft Analysis

PropertyManager, select the face of the washer that was used as the neutral plane Then click the Reverse Direction button to match the direction you specified when creating the draft

3 Set the Draft Angle option in the Analysis Parameters section to 1°

This will represent the minimum draft that is required by the facturer Then click the green check mark to finish selecting options

manu-Add Multiple Fillets Using FilletXpert

With the Draft Analysis tool running, you are now going to add some radii to the edges of the washer Running the Draft Analysis tool while you finish your model will allow you to see whether the drafted faces need to be tweaked as the fillets are added As in an earlier chapter, you’ll use the FilletXpert to add the radii to the washer because it allows you to add the fillets without needing to select the tool after each fillet After adding the necessary fillets, you will also be adding a cham-fer to one of the edges Unfortunately, the Chamfer tool does not have an Xpert



You can also enable

the Draft Analysis

tool in the menu by

selecting View ➢

Display ➢ Draft

Analysis.

M o d e l a W a s h e r 2 4 1

option like the Fillet tool does, but that won’t slow you down this time since you

only need to add one chamfer To add radii to the washer, do the following:

1 Select Fillet in the shortcut bar.

2 Click the FilletXpert button at the top of the Fillet PropertyManager.

3 In the Radius Value field, enter the value 010, and select the top-outside

edge of the washer, as in Figure 6.7 Click Apply in the FilletXpert PropertyManager

F i g U r e 6 7 Adding a fillet to the washer model

4 Change Radius value to 025, and select the outer and inner edges of

the lip of the washer, as in Figure 6.8 Click the green check mark to create the second set of fillets, and close the Fillet PropertyManager

F i g U r e 6 8 Adding another fillet to the washer model

5 Select Chamfer in the shortcut bar, and change the value of the

chamfer distance to 010 There is no need to specify the angle since

the default is already set to 45° Then select the upper-inner edge on the inner diameter of the washer, as in Figure 6.9 Click the green check mark to exit the Chamfer PropertyManager

6 Once you have confirmed that the additional fillet and chamfer

fea-tures did not affect the draft requirements of the part, deselect the Draft Analysis button on the Mold Tools tab by clicking it once again

F i g U r e 6 9 Adding a chamfer to the washer model

Configure a Part

Configurations in parts are extremely helpful when you want to create different versions of a part Instead of creating multiple parts that are only variations of the original, you can include those variations in the parent part Take the washer, for instance You may have different sizes of the washer that are used in your company, but instead of having multiple models, you can include the dimensional variations within configurations of the original washer

You can use a part configuration for more than just dimensional variations with

a part You can use configurations to specify different materials, custom properties, suppressed or resolved features, or even appearances This can be extremely helpful when you have whole families of parts, and it is also a great time-saver since you will not need to create multiple models You can use configurations in a variety of ways, and there are even a few different ways to create them We will not be able to get to each version here, but we can at least get you started exploring configurations

In the following steps, you’ll create a second configuration to the washer that will contain a larger diameter version You will be using the Modify Configurations window in SolidWorks to create the configuration and also modify the dimensions

in each version Although there are a couple of ways to create configurations, we find this method the quickest and easiest way since it allows you to create configu-rations on the fly and it gives you a tabular view of the dimensions being modified

1 Click the plus (+) next to the Revolve1 feature in the FeatureManager

to show the child sketch

M o d e l a W a s h e r 2 4 3

2 Select the sketch, and click the Edit Sketch button in the context menu.

3 While holding the Ctrl key, select the three diameter dimensions and

the overall height in the sketch, as shown in Figure 6.10

F i g U r e 6 1 0 Selecting the dimensions to configure in the sketch

t I p If only one dimension needs to be configured, you can skip the step

of opening the sketch Selecting the sketch in the FeatureManager will play the dimensions used in the sketch without opening it You can then right-click one of the dimensions to configure it

dis-4 Right-click, and select Configure Dimension in the menu.

5 In the Modify Configurations window, select the field labeled

<Creates A New Configuration>, and type Config2 (see Figure 6.11).

F i g U r e 6 1 1 Modify Configurations window

6 Since the new Configuration is named Config2, you might as well

change the name of the original configuration that is currently named Default to Config1 Right-click the field labeled Default, and select Rename Configuration in the menu

7 In the Rename Configuration window, type Config1, and click OK.

t I p Renaming the configurations makes it easier to determine which configuration is being referenced in drawings and assemblies In many organizations, the configuration names match the part number for the con-figuration of the part

8 Change the values for the dimensions in the Modify Configurations

window by selecting each cell and typing in the new value Change the values to those shown in Figure 6.12

F i g U r e 6 1 2 New values for washer configurations

9 Click OK to accept the changes You may be prompted to rebuild the

document; click Rebuild in the window to continue

The Modify Configurations window is not exclusive to configuring dimensions

You can configure features of a part and parts in an assembly using the same process When you right-click a feature in a part and select Configure Feature, you can specify whether the specified feature is suppressed or resolved in a part

In assemblies, you can use the Modify Configurations window to specify the part configuration used in the assembly as well as specify that the part is suppressed

or resolved in each assembly configuration

Switch Between Configurations

When a part contains configurations, the graphics area will update ing on the active configuration As you switch between configurations in the part, the model will change to include the variations specified, whether they are dimensional variations or just a simple appearance change to the part The FeatureManager will also display the active configuration being shown in the graphics area Figure 6.13 shows how the name of the active configuration appears next to the part name at the very top of the tree

depend-M o d e l a W a s h e r 2 4 5

F i g U r e 6 1 3 Name of active configuration in FeatureManager

The configurations in a part can be viewed, modified, and activated in the

ConfigurationManager In Figure 6.14, you will see a tab that is available above

the FeatureManager design tree to give you access to the ConfigurationManager

Clicking the tab will hide the FeatureManager design tree and show the

ConfigurationManager

F i g U r e 6 1 4 ConfigurationManager tab in FeatureManager

View the FeatureManager Design Tree and

ConfigurationManager at the Same Time

Sometimes it is helpful to be able to view the FeatureManager design tree and

the ConfigurationManager at the same time Instead of switching back and forth

between the two tabs, it is possible to show both of the panes at the same time

This allows you to continue to make modifications to your features and then switch

between configurations quickly To show them both at once, do the following:

1 Move the mouse pointer to the double line directly above the

FeatureManager until the mouse pointer changes to include double

lines The double line bar is referred to as the horizontal split bar and

is used to split the left pane into two windows

2 While holding the left mouse button, drag the split bar down below

the rollback bar, and release the mouse button The FeatureManager

is now shown in both sections of the pane (Figure 6.15)

F i g U r e 6 1 5 FeatureManager split into two panes

3 Click the ConfigurationManager tab in the lower pane of the

FeatureManager to view the available configurations

t I p Double-clicking the horizontal split bar will return it to its last position If the FeatureManager is split, it will return to the top of the FeatureManager If the FeatureManager is not split, double-clicking it will place the split bar at its last position

4 In the ConfigurationManager, the available configurations will be

dis-played The active configuration will be shown in black, and the rest of the configurations will be shown in gray To activate a configuration, double-click the configuration name, and the part will be updated in the graphics area

M o d e l a W a s h e r C o v e r 2 4 7

Something to keep in mind when switching between configurations is that

changes made to the model can impact other configurations Depending on the

option selected in the Modify Dimension window, changes to dimensions can

apply to the active configuration only, to all configurations, or even to selected

configurations The same holds true to applying appearances, suppressing and

resolving features, and adding new features

Model a Washer Cover

The washer from the previous section will more than likely be made of a black

rubber-like material that does not really add to the appearance of the overall

desk lamp The washer cover model you are about to create has no other

pur-pose other than covering the washer to provide a clean look to the overall

prod-uct The cover will be made of the same brass material that will be used on the

other metallic parts on the lamp

The washer cover also gives you an opportunity to explore another way to

create a revolved part Up to this point, you have been creating revolved parts

with closed profile sketches to create a solid cross section Most of the revolved

features you will need to create will indeed require a closed profile, but there are

times when you can create what is referred to as a thin feature A thin feature is

when a feature, such as a revolve, is created from an open profile, and the

thick-ness is added at the feature level Using a thin feature is equivalent to offsetting

the sketch to the required thickness and closing the ends to create a closed

profile But instead, the sketch can be left open, and the thickness is specified in

the PropertyManager, saving you the time it would take to close the sketch

The following steps should make it easier to understand the concept of using

thin features as you create the model for the washer cover:

1 Open a new part template, and save the file as Washer Cover.

2 Set the number of decimal places used in length to three places in

the document properties

3 Select Revolved Boss/Base feature, and create a sketch on the front

F i g U r e 6 1 6 Sketch of washer cover

Add Sketch Fillets

Up to this point, you have been adding fillets using the fillet tool on the model

This is usually the preferred method since too many fillets added at the sketch level will affect the overall speed performance of parts and assemblies However, sometimes it is more beneficial to add fillets at the sketch level, especially for models such as the washer cover Since the feature that will be used to create the model is a thin feature, it is better to add the fillet in the sketch to keep from having to create multiple fillets on both sides of the part By adding the fillet in the sketch, when the thickness is added to the feature, the outside fillet on the model will change in radius depending on the thickness specified

In this sketch, you require two different radii to be specified for the fillets But instead of using the same method for both, we want to illustrate a couple of dif-ferent ways of adding the radii The first method requires selecting two adjacent sketch entities After specifying the radius and selecting both entities, the sharp corner will be replaced with a radius The second method only requires specify-ing the radius and then selecting the point where the two adjacent sketch enti-ties meet Both methods are accepted practices, but we find the second method

a lot quicker and easier, and we are sure you will see why

1 Select the Sketch Fillet tool in the shortcut bar.

2 In the Sketch Fillet PropertyManager, set the Radius value to 050.

3 Select the bottom line of the sketch and the angled line that is

con-nected to it, as in Figure 6.17

M o d e l a W a s h e r C o v e r 2 4 9

F i g U r e 6 1 7 Adding a sketch fillet

4 If the preview of the fillet, shown in yellow, meets your expectations,

click the green check mark in the PropertyManager to create the fillet

This method is probably the most widely used approach to adding fillets in sketches, but in our opinion it is not always the best way

The next method is often quicker and provides the same result, and

we always prefer the faster method as long as the integrity of the part

is not sacrificed

5 Change the Radius value in the Sketch Fillet PropertyManager to 020,

and select the point that makes the top corner of the sketch, as shown

in Figure 6.18 Click the green check mark to add the sketch fillet

F i g U r e 6 1 8 Adding sketch fillet by selecting point

6 When you are finished adding the fillets, click the green check mark

once again to exit the command

Create a revolved Thin Feature

The sketch is now complete and ready to be revolved to make the cover You probably have a nagging feeling that the sketch is incomplete, but we assure you that as long as the sketch is fully defined, it is more than sufficient to create the necessary model To create a thin feature, you don’t need to select any spe-cial tool You will be able to use the same Revolve Boss/Base tool that you have already used in previous chapters The only difference is that you will specify the thickness of the revolve in the PropertyManager

1 Click the Exit Sketch button in the conformation corner to begin the

Revolve command

2 When prompted to automatically close the sketch, click No.

W a r N I N G It is important that you do not select to automatically close the sketch when prompted If you select Yes, SolidWorks will attempt

to create a closed profile resulting in a model that does not meet the design intent of the part

3 In the Revolve PropertyManager, the check box in the header of the

Thin Feature section should be selected If it is not already expanded, click the chevron in the header to view the Thin Feature options (Figure 6.19)

F i g U r e 6 1 9 Revolve PropertyManager

4 In the Direction1 Thickness field, enter the material thickness of the

washer cover as 025, and click the green check mark to create the part.

5 Look at the preview in the graphics area (Figure 6.20) The sketch

you drew is supposed to represent the inner surface of the part If the preview does not show the sketch being the inner surface, click the Reverse Direction button in the PropertyManager

C r e a t e a S u b a s s e m b l y 2 5 1

F i g U r e 6 2 0 Preview of revolved thin feature

6 Click the green check mark to create the revolved part.

7 Save your changes by pressing Ctrl+S or by clicking the Save button

on the menu bar

The model for the washer cover is now complete Since you included the fillets in

the sketch, you don’t need to add any fillet features To see the advantage of adding

the fillet at the sketch level, take a look at the inside and outside faces of the part

The same fillet now has different radii depending on the direction of the offset

Create a Subassembly

With the parts you created in the previous sections, you can now begin to build

your first assembly As far as assemblies go, this one will be one of the easiest ones

you can possibly make, so it is good one to use to introduce the process In the

assembly, you’ll mate the washer and washer cover together to allow you to quickly

insert them into the top-level assembly later You could actually individually insert

the components into the top-level assembly, but that approach is not considered

good practice for a couple of reasons First, the more components that are

individu-ally inserted into the top-level assembly, the more it can affect the overall system

performance Next, in our opinion, the more parts that you have showing in the

FeatureManager, the more overwhelming it can be, especially on very large

assem-blies Also, think about how many extra times you need to apply mates to all the

instances of the part in a large assembly

So, to build the assembly, follow these steps:

1 If you did not close the washer from the earlier section, press Ctrl+Tab

on the keyboard to switch between the open documents If you closed

t I p Pressing R on your keyboard will display a thumbnail for the most recent documents opened in SolidWorks Selecting one of the thumbnails will open that document in the graphics area.

2 Click the downward-pointing arrow next to the New button on the

menu bar, and select Make Assembly From Part/Assembly

3 In the New SolidWorks Document window, select the assembly

tem-plate, and click OK

4 In the Begin Assembly PropertyManager, select the file named

Washer in the Part/Assembly To Insert section, and click the green check mark The part will automatically be inserted at the origin in the new assembly file

5 Save the assembly as Washer Sub-Assembly, Desk Lamp.

In the FeatureManager, instead of listing features for the part, the parts that make up the assembly are shown Since you have only one part added to the assembly so far, there is only one listed On the same line that shows the name of the part that exists in the assembly is a wealth of information First, in front of the name of the part is the symbol showing the document type of the model Since the washer is a part document, the symbol for a part is shown If you inserted another assembly, the icon would show the symbol for an assembly After the icon, in

parentheses, is the letter f This shows that the part is fixed in place and cannot be

moved At least one part in an assembly should be fixed, and the other components are then mated to the base part — otherwise, the whole assembly will be able to move, and that is not a good thing Because you created the assembly from a part, the part is automatically fixed If you were to create a blank assembly and insert the part manually, it would not necessarily be fixed

After the name of the component shown in the FeatureManager, inside the brackets, is the number of instances of the component If you were to insert more washers into this assembly, this number would increment up with each subsequent part This number cannot be changed and will not be reused in the assembly for the part named even after a component is deleted from the assembly

Last, inside the parentheses following the instance count, the active tion and display state names appear In later chapters, we will be covering display

configura-C r e a t e a S u b a s s e m b l y 2 5 3

states, so for the time being you can concern yourself only with the configuration

that is displayed When you created the model for the washer, you made it with

two configurations This is the time that you need to specify which configuration

the current assembly will be utilizing The next section describes the process for

selecting the configuration of a part in an assembly

Select a Part Configuration

As we mentioned in the previous section, since you created the washer with

two configurations, you need to specify which one will be used in the assembly

Depending on the active configuration when the part was saved, the correct

con-figuration may very well be displayed in the FeatureManager at this point, but

just in case, follow these steps for specifying the configuration in the Component

Properties window:

1 Select the washer in the FeatureManager, and select Component

Properties in the context toolbar

2 In the Reference Configuration section of the Custom Properties

win-dow, ensure that Config1 is selected

3 Click OK to accept the selected configuration, and close the window.

After clicking OK in the Custom Properties window, the name of the

configu-ration in the FeatureManager should now show Config1 Once the washer is set

to the appropriate configuration, move to the next section to learn how to insert

the washer cover into the assembly