SolidWorks 2010- P18 ppsx

The Save Modified Documents window will display the assembly and two parts that make up the assembly, as shown in Figure 14.8.. 9 Save As window with option to save internallyN O t e Af

M a k e A s s e m b l y C o m p o n e n t s V i r t u a l 4 7 9

6 In the FeatureManager, the component will show that the virtual

component is a copy of the original part model This is good since you do not want to affect the original parts in any way

N O t e It is not possible to make the parts of a subassembly virtual while in the higher-level assembly You have to open the subassembly sepa-rately in order to make its components virtual

7 After repeating the same step for the second component in the

assem-bly, click Save on the menu bar

8 The Save Modified Documents window will display the assembly and

two parts that make up the assembly, as shown in Figure 14.8 Since each component was modified, click Save All

F I g u r e 1 4 8 Save Modified Documents window

9 A second Save As window will ask whether the unsaved virtual

com-ponents are meant to be saved externally or internally, as shown in Figure 14.9 Select the Save Internally option, and click OK The assembly with the internal virtual components is now ready to be sent The virtual components can then be saved externally on the other end

F I g u r e 1 4 9 Save As window with option to save internally

N O t e After making all the components internal to the assembly, the resulting file will be slightly larger than the sum of its individual files

Create a Part from an Assembly

In the previous section, you made the components of the bulb subassembly virtual in order to send the assembly as a single file The two drawbacks to that approach are the technique is not very useful for larger files, and the file size is slightly larger than the sum of the individual components But the advantage is that the recipient of the file can make the components external once again and have a standard assembly with its referenced components

Another technique that is significantly easier and works just as well for large assemblies as it does for small assemblies is creating a single part file from the assembly Saving an assembly as a part file creates a SolidWorks part file (*.sldprt) that either contains solid bodies for each component or contains just the external surfaces as surface bodies The resulting file is much smaller in size compared to the assembly and the parts

When trying to decide whether this technique works for your needs, consider how the resulting part is meant to be used If the components are meant to be used for manufacturing, then the solid bodies would need to be converted using

a utility such as FeatureWorks to recognize the features, if the feature data is required For large assemblies, this can be a painstaking process, and sending the assembly and supporting components as native SolidWorks files would probably

be the best approach However, if the feature data is not required, exporting the files as either an IGES, STEP, or Parasolid is often requested by the machinist

We have found that using this technique works best when the part is meant solely for reference purposes or for creating renderings We have even used this technique when we had an assembly of a vendor-supplied part and we needed to use it only as

a portion of a larger assembly By converting the parts of the assembly into solid

C r e a t e a P a r t f r o m a n A s s e m b l y 4 8 1

bodies, the file size is smaller and requires less time for generation since there are

no features to load into memory The resulting part file will also not have any

ref-erences to the original assembly or parts, and changes made will not update the

original files

In this instance, assume that the resulting part will be used for quoting purposes

You’ll create a single part from the top-level assembly, and each component will be

converted into a solid body, allowing the ability to hide and show individual

compo-nents To do this, perform the following steps:

1 Open the desk lamp assembly that was created in Chapters 11 and 12.

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

menu bar, and select Save As

3 In the Save As Type field, select Part (*.prt, *.sldprt).

Below the Save As Type field, you are presented with three options

Each option affects how the part will be created from the assembly

external Faces Selecting External Faces will create a part file with

no solid bodies and only the outside visible faces as surface bodies

exterior Components This option will create a part file with the

visible components saved as solid bodies Any internal components that are not visible will not be saved

All Components This option will convert each individual

compo-nent in the assembly into a solid body

4 Select the All Components option, and click Save to create the new

part file The assembly can now be closed, and just so you can see the result, you will open the new part file

5 Click Open in the menu bar, select the part file you just created, and

click Open

6 If prompted to proceed with feature recognition, click No.

7 The FeatureManager, instead of displaying parts and assemblies, now

has a list of solid bodies, as shown in Figure 14.10 Each solid body corresponds to a component in the assembly, giving the recipient the

F I g u r e 1 4 1 0 Components in part file converted to solid bodies

Open Files in eDrawings

Earlier in this chapter we briefly covered how eDrawings can be used as a viewer to open native SolidWorks files as well as documents saved in the eDrawings format

Before moving on to the next chapter, we’ll talk about the eDrawings software

Instead of going into great detail, we will show you how to open a document in eDrawings:

1 Locate SolidWorks eDrawings 2010 in your program group, and

launch the program, as shown in Figure 14.11

F I g u r e 1 4 1 1 eDrawings program

O p e n F i l e s i n e D r a w i n g s 4 8 3

2 Select Open on the toolbar in the eDrawings window.

3 At the bottom of the Open window, you can select the file format of

the file that you intend on opening, as shown in Figure 14.12 Select eDrawings Files (*.edrw)

F I g u r e 1 4 1 2 Selecting the eDrawings file type

earlier, select the file, and click Open

5 The graphics area of the eDrawings software will now display the

draw-ing You will notice that it looks exactly like the drawing in SolidWorks

In fact, it is the same The only difference is that you cannot make any changes to the drawing

6 The user interface for eDrawings also a lot simpler from that of

SolidWorks As you can see in Figure 14.13, the tools available can be used for rotating, zooming, and measuring That is why the program is perfect for non-SolidWorks users; it is an easy program for anybody to use

F I g u r e 1 4 1 3 eDrawings toolbars

7 After you are finished exploring eDrawings, close the program.

If You Want More Practice…

Throughout the chapter we introduced you to a couple of ways to save files to make it easier to send them via email Now would be a good time to experiment with other SolidWorks files using some of the other export formats listed in the file type field of the Save As window Many of the file formats have their own set

of options To learn more about the options, you can click the Help button in the lower-right corner of the Export Options window

Are You experienced?

Now You Can…

Save a document as a PDF fileE

ECreate a detached drawingE

EUse the Pack and Go utilityE

ESave a document in the eDrawings formatE

ESave components of an assembly as virtual componentsE

ESave an assembly as a part fileE

E

SolidWorks comes preinstalled with templates for drawings, parts, and

assem-blies as well as sheet formats for the most common drawing sheet sizes

These templates are enough to get you started when using SolidWorks, but as you become more familiar with the software, you may find yourself making changes to these templates every time you create a new document Many companies use these templates as the starting point when creating their own standard tem-plates, and that is exactly what you will be doing in this chapter and the next one

Starting with the out-of-box templates that ship with SolidWorks, you will

be creating a whole slew of custom templates that can be used throughout this book In this chapter, you will be concentrating on parts and assemblies as well

as some additional items that can be used in the two environments Usually it

is the duty of the CAD manager or one of the power users in an organization to create the templates that will be used, but there may be a time when that power user is you With the skills you will learn in these two chapters, you will be able

to create the most commonly used templates in SolidWorks

Create Part and Assembly Templates

In the previous chapters, when it came time to create a new part or assembly, you were instructed to download the appropriate templates from the companion website In the next couple of sections, you will be re-creating those templates starting with the preinstalled templates Creating custom templates of parts and assemblies allows you to set document properties, custom properties, and other modifications for each only once

Few organizations need to create more than one part and assembly template to

be used for all modeling But we have found that it is sometimes helpful to have multiple templates to match different part and assembly types For instance, if your organization commonly creates models in both English and metric units, you can create separate templates for each unit type

Create a New Part Template

The part template that comes installed with a fresh copy of SolidWorks will work for many users without any modifications When creating the templates that ship with the software, SolidWorks did a great job of determining the combination

of common document properties that works for most users However, we have always found the need to make small changes, such as the number of decimal

C r e a t e P a r t a n d A s s e m b l y Te m p l a t e s 4 8 7

places on dimensions, the default display settings, and even what document

prop-erties are included by default Custom templates can then be shared throughout

your entire organization

Making refinements to the SolidWorks templates is not only a huge time-saver

in the grand scheme of things, but it is also extremely easy Since you will be

starting with the standard templates available, you will only need to make a

cou-ple of small modifications The following steps will take you through the process

of making the small changes that are required for the examples in this book:

1 Click New in the menu bar.

2 If the New SolidWorks Document window is displayed in the simplified

mode that displays the three basic templates for parts, drawing, and assemblies only, click the Advanced button in the lower-left corner of the window, as shown in Figure 15.1

F i g u r e 1 5 1 New SolidWorks Document default novice view

3 In the New SolidWorks Documents window, select the Part template,

and click OK

Access the Document Properties

Document properties are properties that affect the active document only Many times

there a few properties that need to be adjusted to meet your needs, and instead of

remembering to do so each time you create a new part model, you can do it once in

the template All future parts created from the template will contain the properties

O

SolidWorks will save your preference so that each time you create a new docu- ment, the Advanced view will be the default view.

specified in the template In this section, you will make some minor changes that will affect how you create the parts in this book

N O t e Modifications made to a template will affect only future parts

Existing part models will not be updated at the same time

1 In the menu bar, click the Options button.

2 On the top of the Options window, there are two tabs The first tab,

System Options, is where you can specify settings that will affect the entire SolidWorks environment regardless of which file is cur-rently open The second tab, Document Properties, is used to specify options in the currently active document only Select the Document Properties tab to view the categories for the settings available for the current document type

3 Since the current document is a part, the section on the left of the

Document Properties window displays the option categories that apply

to part documents, as shown in Figure 15.2 To view the options for each category, select the category, and the options will be displayed to the right of the section

F i g u r e 1 5 2 Document properties category list

explore the Option Categories for Parts

Although the sections on the Document Properties tab are available in parts, blies, and drawings, the options available in each section relate directly to the active

assem-C r e a t e P a r t a n d A s s e m b l y Te m p l a t e s 4 8 9

document As you become more comfortable with working in SolidWorks, you may

encounter the need to make fine adjustments in your document Sometimes it could

be as basic as adjusting the units in the document, but there are many more

adjust-ments that can be made The best way to learn about each option is to click the Help

button in the lower-left corner of the window, and the description of each option in

the window will be described in the Help window Although the help file is a good

start, the best way to learn is to play We recommend opening a new document and

experimenting with different settings so you can get a good feel for what can be

done The following are the main categories on the Document Properties tab along

with a brief description of each:

Drafting Standard Use this option to select a drafting standard for detailing in

the active part file, as well as to rename, copy, delete, export, or load saved

cus-tom standards

Detailing This property contains options related to how annotations are

han-dled in the active document including text size, importing of annotations, and

the cosmetic thread display

grid/Snap This property contains options on the grid display in the active

document as well as the snap functionality

units The Units options are used to specify the unit system used such as IPS

and metric You can also adjust the precision of dimensions, mass properties,

and simulations

Colors In part models, you can adjust the colors for each feature type For

other color adjustments such as for the background, text, planes, and others,

you should use the system colors Sometimes it is nice to customize the colors,

but if you send the file to another user, the difference may become confusing

Material Properties You can adjust the density of the material specified for the

active part as well as how the section for the material is displayed

image Quality You can adjust the display quality for the active part You

can also make further adjustments in the Performance section of the System

Options section

Plane Display You can adjust options such as the color, transparency, and

intersection of planes

DimXpert You can specify the default settings affecting how annotations are

added to a part using DimXpert

N O t e DimXpert allows you to fully annotate a part model, satisfying the requirements of ASME Y14.42-2002, which eliminates the need to have separate part drawings.

Specify Options for the Part Template

The following options are the most common adjustments we usually need to make to a part file To save time, we often make these adjustments at the tem-plate level so all our parts will be created correctly These options are also the ones used when you created the parts and assemblies in earlier chapters To set the document options for the template, do the following:

1 In the category list, select Units to specify the units used for

dimen-sions, Mass Properties, and Motion Studies

2 Ensure that the IPS unit system is selected in the Unit System

sec-tion, as shown in Figure 15.3

F i g u r e 1 5 3 IPS unit system specified in the document properties

3 Below the Unit System section is a table that lists the type of units

in the document that can be updated For the Length row, select the downward-pointing arrow to view the number of decimals that can

be specified when adding dimensions to the part model, as shown in Figure 15.4 Select the entry that shows 123; this entry will specify that dimensions in the part model and sketches will be displayed with three places after the decimal point If you require more precision, you may specify that dimensions are displayed with up to eight num-bers after the decimal points

After changing the number of digits that will be displayed in sions in the table, a bubble will display a message alerting you that since the current standard has been modified, the standard name will

dimen-be changed to “ANSI-MODIFIED.” At this point, you will continue making changes to the settings

C r e a t e P a r t a n d A s s e m b l y Te m p l a t e s 4 9 1

F i g u r e 1 5 4 Specifying the precision of length dimensions

4 Select Image Quality in the options tree

5 At the top of the Shaded And Draft Quality HLR/HLV Resolution

sec-tion, you can use the slider to set the image quality resolution of the part in the graphics area, as shown in Figure 15.5 By default, the slider position is in the middle of the bar As you move the slider to the left toward the Low end, the quality of the model is of lower quality, but it does speed things up By moving the slider toward the High end, the quality increases, but it can make some older systems run painfully slow Move the slider to the ¾ position on the High end of the bar

F i g u r e 1 5 5 Adjusting the display resolution of the active part

Save the Modified Document Settings

Even though you made only a couple of adjustments to the document

proper-ties, it wouldn’t hurt to save these changes for future documents Not only will it

come in handy when creating other templates that are meant to share the same

options, but you can use the saved changes to update the properties of existing

documents Once a modified standard is saved, it can be recalled in another

doc-ument, and the options will be applied The following steps will save the settings that you will then use to create your assembly template with the same options.

N O t e You can also store standards files on a network location, ing other users in your organization the ability to update any files they may have to the current company standards

giv-1 In the option tree at the very top of the list, select Drafting Standard.

2 Click Save To External File.

3 In the Save As window, browse to a folder that you want to be used for

storing data from SolidWorks

4 Specify the name that you want to save the modified standard as in the

File Name field, or accept the default name ANSI-MODIFIED.sldstd Click Save to save the standard and to close the Save As window

Save the New Part Template

Before you can use a new template for creating parts, you must save it in the appropriate templates folder As soon as it is saved, it will become available in the New SolidWorks Documents window If the template is saved in a shared network location, all SolidWorks installations that point to the template folder will also be able to use the template Save the template as described:

1 Click OK in the lower-right corner of the Document Properties

win-dow to save the changes made to the part template

2 Once all the options have been set per the previous sections, click

Save in the menu bar

3 In the Save As window, browse to the location where your SolidWorks

templates are located In most cases, the location for templates in SolidWorks 2010 is C:\ProgramData\SolidWorks\SolidWorks2010\

C r e a t e P a r t a n d A s s e m b l y Te m p l a t e s 4 9 3

N O t e If you downloaded the part template in previous chapters, you can just overwrite the version downloaded or choose to skip saving the changes you made

5 Close the part template, and it will be ready for use the next time you

need to create a part file

Create a New Assembly Template

with Saved Standards

In the previous section, you created a new part template from a preinstalled

tem-plate You made adjustments to the document properties to better suit your needs,

but that leaves the assembly template that you still need to create Instead of

fol-lowing the same steps to create a new assembly template, you can use the modified

standard template you previously saved Since the document properties you

speci-fied in the part template correspond exactly with those you need to adjust in the

assembly template, there will be no issue with importing the same options The

following steps will describe the process of importing settings previously saved

N O t e Not all document properties are available in all three SolidWorks file formats There may still be additional adjustments that cannot be shared among the different formats If you’re not sure what has been imported, it is always a good idea to check how the options were applied

1 Click New in the menu bar, and select the Assembly template in

the New SolidWorks Document window Click OK to open the new assembly file

2 If prompted to begin the new assembly by inserting parts in the file,

click the red X in the Begin Assembly PropertyManager

3 Select the Options button in the PropertyManager, and select the

Document Properties tab in the window

4 In the Drafting Standards section, click the Load From External File

button

5 Browse to the folder in the Open window that contains the standards

file you saved in the previous section Select the file, and click Open

6 Since all the document properties were already specified in the saved