SolidWorks 2007 bible phần 9 pdf

A single Structural Member feature may create multiple bodies, with each body sponding to a single cut length of stock.. You can orient and positionstructural shape profiles relative to

FIGURE 30.6

Selecting a straight edge for a conical part

Select one of these edges in theFixed Face/edge selection box

Mixing Methods

Once you have used the Insert Bend tool on a part, it is not automatically excluded from usingsome of the more advanced tools that are available through the Base Flange method, unless it is acylindrical or conical part A Flat Pattern feature is added to the bottom of most feature trees, andthe presence of this feature is what signifies that the current part has now become a sheet metalpart to the Base Flange features

However, it is recommended that you avoid mixing the different techniques to flatten parts, forexample, suppressing bends under Flatten and Process Bends, as well as using the Flat Pattern

Tutorial: Working with the Insert Bends method for sheet metal parts

The Insert Bends method has been relegated mainly to duty for specialty functions Gain an standing of how this method works by following these steps:

under-1. Create a new blank part

2. On the Top plane, open a sketch and sketch a rectangle centered on the Origin 12 inches

in the Horizontal direction and 8 inches in the Vertical direction

3. Extrude the rectangle 1 inch with 45 degrees of draft, Draft Outward, in Direction 1, and

in Direction 2 extrude 2 inches with no draft The two directions should be oppositefrom one another

4. Shell out the part to 050 inches, selecting the large face on the side where the draft hasbeen applied The part should now look like Figure 30.7

FIGURE 30.7

The part as of step 4

5. Use the Rip feature to rip out the four corners Allow the Rip to rip all corners in bothdirections The part should now look like Figure 30.8.

FIGURE 30.8

Ripping the corners

6. Draw a rectangle on one of the vertical faces of the part, as shown in Figure 30.9

FIGURE 30.9

Adding a sketch for the cut

Completed rip

7. Use the sketch to create a Through All cut in one direction Notice that the Normal Cutoption is on by default Examine the finished cut closely; notice that it is different from thedefault type of cut because it is not made in a direction normal to the sketch, but rather in

a direction normal to the face of the part Details of this are shown in Figure 30.10

FIGURE 30.10

Using the Normal Cut option

8. Click the Flatten button on the Sheet Metal toolbar Notice that the Flat Pattern featurebecomes unsuppressed and that the Bend Lines sketch under it is shown This works justlike it did in the Base Flange method The finished part is shown in Figure 30.11.

Weldments in SolidWorks are built on driving structural profiles

along sketch entities in a multibody part environment

Weldment members can be curved, you can make them usingstandard or custom profiles, and you can build them from both 2D and 3D

sketches A Cut list within the part keeps track of how much of each profile

is needed to fabricate the weldment Weldments are specialized parts that are

similar in some ways to sheet metal parts

You can use weldments for round or rectangular tubular structures,

struc-tures made from channels, flanged sections, standard or custom shapes,

gus-sets, and end caps, and they can also represent weld beads in the part You

can also use weldments to create structures that are bolted together,

struc-tural aluminum extrusion frames, and vinyl window frames, and you can put

them into assemblies with other parts such as castings, sheet metal, and

fab-ricated plate

Sketching in 3D

Three-dimensional sketching is important for creating weldments in

SolidWorks Structural frames are a large part of the work that is typically

done using weldment functionality in SolidWorks, and frames are best

repre-sented as 3D wireframes You can do this with a combination of 2D sketches

on different planes, with a single 3D sketch, or with a combination of 2D

and 3D sketches If you have confidence in your ability to use 3D sketches,

then that is the best way to go Three-dimensional sketches can be

challeng-ing, but they are certainly manageable if you know what to expect from

them

IN THIS CHAPTER

Sketching in 3D Using Weldment tools Using non-structural components Using sub-weldments Using Cut lists Creating Weldment drawings Tutorial: Working with weldments

Using Weldments

Earlier chapters discuss the tools that are available for 3D sketches; this chapter covers techniquesfor 3D sketching.

Navigating in space

When working in a 3D sketch, the cursor and Origin initially look as shown in Figure 31.1 The

large red Origin is called the space handle, with the red legs indicating the active sketching plane.

Any sketch entities that you draw lie on this plane The cursor also indicates the plane to which theactive sketching plane is parallel The XY graphic shown in Figure 31.1 does not mean that the

sketch is going to be on the XY plane, just parallel to it.

FIGURE 31.1

The space handle and the 3D sketch cursor

Pressing the Tab key causes the active sketching plane to toggle between XY, YZ, and ZX Theactive sketching plane indication does not create any sketch relations; it just lets you know the ori-entation of the sketch entities that are being placed If you want to create a skew line that is notparallel to any standard plane, you can do this by sketching to available endpoints, vertices,Origins, and so on If there are not any entities to snap to, then you need to accept the planarplacement, turn off the sketch tool, rotate the view, and move one end of the sketch entity

An excellent tool to help you visualize what is happening in a 3D sketch is the Four Viewport view.This divides the screen into four quadrants, displaying the Front, Top, and Right views in addition

to the trimetric or isometric view You can sketch in any of the viewports, and the sketch updateslive in all of the viewports simultaneously This arrangement is shown in Figure 31.2 You can eas-ily access the divided viewport screen by using buttons on the Standard Views toolbar or the viewselector in the lower-left corner of the graphics window You can also manually split the screen byusing the splitter bars at the lower-left and upper-right ends of the scroll bar areas around thegraphics window These window elements are also described in Chapter 2

When unconstrained entities in a 3D sketch are moved, they move in the plane of the screen Thiscan lead to unexpected results when viewing something at an angle, moving it, and then rotatingthe view, which shows that it has shot off into deep interplanetary space This is another reason forusing the Four Viewport view, which enables you to see what is going on from all points of view atonce

FIGURE 31.2

The Four Viewport view

Sketch relations in 3D sketches

Sketch relations in 3D sketches are not the same as in 2D sketches Although vast improvementshave been made by the addition of relations such as Midpoint and Equal, other relations are miss-ing, such as Symmetric and Pierce Pierce is replaced by Coincident, because in 3D sketches, there

is no difference between Pierce and Coincident; this is because relations are not projected into aplane the way they are in 2D The Symmetric relation, however, is sorely missed

On the other hand, several other relations are available in 3D sketches that are not found in 2Dsketches, such as AlongX, AlongY, AlongZ, and OnSurface

As mentioned earlier, relations in 3D sketches are not projected like they are in 2D sketches Forexample, an entity in a 2D sketch can be made coincident to an entity that is out of plane This isbecause to make the relation, the out-of-plane entity is projected into the sketch plane, and the rela-tion is made to the projection In a 3D sketch, Coincident means Coincident, with no projection

As a general caution, keep in mind that solving sketches in 3D is more difficult than it is in 2D.You will see more situations where sketch relations fail, or flip in the wrong direction Angledimensions in particular are notorious in 3D sketches for flipping direction if they change and goacross the 180-degree mark When possible, it is advisable to work with fully defined sketches,and also to be careful (and conservative) with sketch relations.

For example, the sketch shown in Figure 31.3 cannot be fully defined without also overdefiningthe sketch The main difficulty is that the combination of the tangent arc and the symmetric legs ofthe end brace cannot be located rotationally, even using the questionable reliability of 3D planesthat are discussed next The only workable answer to this is to create a separate 2D sketch on a real2D sketch plane, where the plane is defined by the elements of the 3D sketch If you are interested

in examining this part in detail, then you can find it on the CD-ROM The filename is Chapter 31 –Cant Define.SLDPRT

FIGURE 31.3

Three-dimensional sketches may be difficult to fully define

Planes in space

Starting with SolidWorks 2006, it has been possible to create planes directly in 3D sketches These

This set of sketch entitiescannot be located rotationallywithin the 3D sketch

Unfortunately, there is a lot to watch out for with 3D planes, as they are called The first thing towatch out for is that they do not follow their original definition like normal Reference Geometrytype planes Figure 31.4 shows the PropertyManager interface for creating 3D planes; however,keep in mind that the plane does not maintain the original relation to these initial references Theparent-and-child relations that SolidWorks users are used to are suspended for this one function,

or work in the reverse from what you normally expect

FIGURE 31.4

The three-dimensional planes PropertyManager

Three-dimensional planes cannot be fully defined unless there is some sketch geometry on theplane that is in turn related to something else Relations cannot be applied directly to the planeitself, only to other entities on the plane Horizontal and Vertical relations of entities on the planeare relative only to the plane and not to the rest of the part, and so making a line horizontal on theplane does not mean anything when the plane rotates (which it is free to do until it is somehowconstrained to prevent this)

Beyond this, when a plane violates a sketch relation, the relation is not reported, which severelylimits the amount of confidence that you can place in planes that are created in this way

The basic recommendation on this tool is to either use it at your own risk, having been warned, orsimply to leave it alone The preference is to use reference planes that are created in the familiarand reliable way Although this requires that the planes be made beforehand, it guarantees that theplanes will stay where you put them, or move in controllable ways.

If you choose to use these planes, to activate the plane for sketching, then you can double-click theplane with the cursor, or select the plane and press the 3D Sketch On Plane button on the Sketchtoolbar The plane is activated when it displays a grid You can double-click an empty space toreturn to regular 3D Sketch mode

Planar path segments

Some path segments that are allowed in 3D sketches can only be used if they are sketched on aplane These entities include circles and arcs, and can include splines, although splines are notrequired to be on a plane It has already been mentioned that to sketch on a 3D Plane (a plane cre-ated within the 3D sketch), you can simply double-click the plane

To sketch on a standard plane or reference geometry plane, you can Ctrl-click the border of theplane with the sketch entity icon active or double-click on the plane The space handle moves,indicating that newly created sketch entities will lie in the selected plane

When sketching a rectangle, you are accustomed to getting horizontal and vertical tions on the lines of the rectangle, which orient it in space When sketched on a selected plane in a 3D sketch, the elements of a rectangle are given relations similar to those of a parallelogram, where parallel and perpendicular relations are used instead of horizontal and vertical ones.

rela-This is due in part to the nature of the 3D sketch, where horizontal and vertical relations are replaced

by AlongX, AlongY, and AlongZ.

Dimensions

Dimensions in 2D sketches can represent the distance between two points, or they can representthe horizontal or vertical distance between objects In 3D sketches, dimensions between points are

always the straight-line distance If you want to get a dimension that is horizontal or vertical, you

should create the dimension between a plane and a point (the dimension is always measured mal to the plane) or between a line and a point (the dimension is always measured perpendicular

nor-to the line) For this reason, reference sketch geometry is often used freely in 3D sketches, in part

to support dimensioning

Using the Weldment Tools

Like the Sheet Metal tools, the Weldment tools in SolidWorks are specialized to enable you to

cre-CAUTION

CAUTION

Structural Members are discussed next in this chapter.

This feature does not offer any special default settings, except for the ability to set custom ties that transfer to all Cut list items that are created in the current part, and the fact that the MergeResult option is turned off by default in Weldment parts The former is important when multipleweldments go together to make an assembly You can access the custom properties interface, shown

proper-in Figure 31.5, through the Properties option on the Weldment feature RMB menu

A single Structural Member feature may create multiple bodies, with each body sponding to a single cut length of stock In other words, the feature name “Structural Member” does not necessarily refer to a single piece of the weldment, although it may.

corre-One limitation of the use of sketches in Structural Member features is that only two selected sketchentities may intersect at any one location For example, at each corner of a cube, three path seg-ments intersect, and so you can only select two of those elements at one time to create a StructuralMember feature Because each of the path segments requires a piece of metal, the leftover path seg-ments may be used by a second Structural Member feature

NOTE

When creating the sketch for the weldment, it is important to decide what the sketch represents.For example, does it represent the centerline of the structural elements, or does it represent theclosest that the elements can be to one another or to something else? You can orient and positionstructural shape profiles relative to the frame sketch in several ways, with positioning at the shapecentroid being probably the most intuitive for closed shapes, and a corner being most intuitive forangle channels.

Figure 31.6 shows a single 3D sketch of a simple frame and a Structural Member feature in theprocess of creation You must select the standard first, then the type, and finally the size A limitednumber of profiles come with the software, and although it is very likely that you will need to cre-ate some custom profiles; fortunately, they are very easy to create

To access a large number of weldment profiles in various standards, open the Design Library andselect the SolidWorks Content icon Under that, the Weldments folder has several zip files contain-ing weldment profiles Ctrl-click an icon to down load the file, and then extract the contents of thezip file to the library location you have established for your weldment profiles

FIGURE 31.6

A 3D sketch of a frame

Locating and orienting the profile

When you apply a profile to a path segment in a Structural Member feature, the profile must havesome relationship to the path segment The default point where the path “pierces” the profile is atthe sketch Origin To change the pierce point, you can click the Locate Profile button at the bottom

on the profile, including endpoints, sketch points, and virtual sharp points if they are present inthe sketch.

Profile sketches are generally surrounded by several sketch points, which may seem unnecessaryuntil you consider that you can use any of the points to position the profile The Settings panel atthe bottom of the Structural Member PropertyManager is shown in Figure 31.7, and displays aprofile sketch with the interface

FIGURE 31.7

Locating the profile

In addition to locating the profile sketch, you can also rotate the profile using the Angle field inthe Settings panel This rotates all of the bodies that are created by the Structural Member feature

at the same time In the example of the four-legged frame, if the legs are rectangular or circular,they can all be created in the same Structural Member feature because they are all rotated in thesame way However, if the legs were made from an asymmetrical shape such as an angle, then eachleg would need to be made using a separate Structural Member feature, with each leg rotateddifferently

Disjoint sketch segments

You can select disjoint sketch segments in a single Structural Member feature if they are parallel tothe first segment and use the same location and orientation For example, in Figure 31.6, noticethe four angled supports in the corners attaching to the legs Because they are parallel in pairs, allfour of these supports could not be made in a single Structural Member feature; however, theycould be made in two features or by one feature and a mirror Later in this section, when thosepath segments are actually used to place Structural Members, the additional requirement of using

an angle profile means that the profiles each need to be rotated differently from one another, andthus cannot be used in a single Structural Member feature Ultimately, the way to accomplish this is

by using one Structural Member feature and two Mirror features, thus mirroring the body that iscreated

Custom profiles

Most of the custom profiles that you will need may be simply new sizes of existing profiles Youcan easily create a custom profile by opening an existing profile, editing it, and saving it under adifferent name using the Save As command It is important to note that when creating a weldmentprofile, a sketch must be selected prior to initiating the Save As command Weldment profiles areLibrary Features, and use a *.sldlfp filename extension Each size must be saved as a separatelibrary feature in order to appear in the selection list While library features are configurable, theconfigurations are not selectable for weldment profiles

Other sources for custom profiles include 3D Content Central, which has a large number of tor-set aluminum extrusion profiles and the accessory hardware for those systems Toolbox also has

erec-a Structurerec-al Steel sketch genererec-ator, shown in Figure 31.8, which erec-allows you to genererec-ate most sterec-an-dard shapes If you have Toolbox installed on your system, then you can find this tool in theToolbox menu

stan-FIGURE 31.8

The Structural Steel sketch generator interface

As I have said throughout this book, weldment profiles are a great candidate for storing in yourspecial library folder, separate from the SolidWorks installation directory To establish this librarylocation, you can go to Tools ➪ Options ➪ File Locations ➪ Weldment Profiles Also keep inmind that if you share design duties with other users, then the library location should either beshared among users on a network, or the libraries should be copied to each user’s local library Youcan also share library data through a Product Data Management, or PDM, program

selections for pierce points Virtual sharps function well around filleted corners, as well as sketchpoints at the centroid of a shape.

In addition to sketch geometry, the library part files should also contain custom property tion about the structural shape, such as part number, supplier, material, and so on This informa-tion propagates to the Cut list

Corner treatment options

To access the toolbar with the Corner Treatment options, you can click the pink dot at the tion of the path segments Default corner treatment settings are made in the Structural MemberPropertyManager, but they may need to be adjusted individually

intersec-Two situations do not require corner treatments The first situation is when a line intersects another

line at some location other than an endpoint in the same Structural Member feature, for example, a

support meeting the main member in the middle In this situation, the member that ends in themiddle of the other member is trimmed to a butt joint The second situation is when an intersect-ing member is created by a later Structural Member feature This situation is dealt with by usingthe Trim/Extend function, which is described later in this chapter

You may encounter a situation where it seems like a good idea to create collinear sketch segments In a typical extrusion, the faces created from collinear lines are simply merged together as one However, in a weldment, this does not work when it is done in a single fea- ture In order to create Structural Members on collinear sketch lines, you must either extend one line

to encompass the length of both lines or do the work in two separate Structural Member features.

NOTE

Arc segments

When arc sketch segments are part of the selection for a Structural Member, a Merge Arc Segment

Bodies option displays after the selection box in the Selections panel This means that any tangent

arc segment will be joined to the entities to which it is tangent, but any non-tangent entities willcreate separate bodies

A tangent arc is illustrated in the curved leg brace shown in Figure 31.10, along with the MergeArc Segment Bodies option in the PropertyManager

FIGURE 31.10

A tangent arc segment used in a Structural Member feature

If the Merge Arc Segment Bodies option is not selected, then a separate body is created for arc ments The Merge Arc Segment Bodies option applies to the whole feature, and cannot be set selec-tively for individual arc segments within the selected sketch entities; it is either on for all or off forall If some arc segment bodies should be merged and others should not, then you should createseparate Structural Member features

seg-It is also a curious limitation that only one arc may be selected if the selected path segments aredisjoint For example, the two arcs for two J shapes that do not touch could not be selected in thesame Structural Member feature The obvious workaround is to create two separate StructuralMember features.

Patterning and symmetry

Bodies created by the Structural Member feature can be patterned and mirrored Remember that

there is a difference between patterning features and patterning bodies The Move/Copy Bodies

fea-ture is also appropriate for creating bodies to be used in the weldment, although the StructuralMember feature does not create them directly

I mention this to emphasize the point that sketching with symmetry is still important, although it

is far more difficult with 3D sketches than with conventional 2D sketches This is due to the lack

of the Symmetry constraint and the ability to mirror sketch entities in 3D I also mention thisbecause in larger weldments (or when using slower computers), performance may be an issue, andmirroring or patterning bodies is certainly a performance enhancement over building parametricfeatures

Configurations

When you start creating a weldment, SolidWorks automatically creates a derived configuration

Both configurations are named Default, but they have different descriptions The parent tion description is As Machined, and the derived, or indented, configuration description is AsWelded

configura-This arrangement holds true for any additional top-level configurations that you create in the part;they will all get the description As Machined and inherit an identically named derived configura-tion with the description As Welded These configurations are meant to help you create drawingswhere the raw weldment is distinguished from the weldment after it has been machined, ground,and drilled

Trim/Extend

In situations where you must create multiple Structural Member features, thus creating intersectingbodies, the interferences must be dealt with using the Trim/Extend feature An example of this isshown in Figure 31.11 The legs and braces shown are all being trimmed by a single face on thebottom side of the rectangular section of the frame, where the small arrow appears

Bodies may be trimmed by planar faces or other bodies Bodies may also be trimmed before theyare mirrored or patterned Although trimming with faces gives better speed results, it may not givethe same geometrical results

The Extend option enables either trimming or extending, as appropriate If the Extend option isnot selected, then trimming is the only action available

FIGURE 31.11

Using the Trim/Extend feature

Trim withplanar face

Body to

be trimmed

Using the End Cap feature

The end cap sits on the outside face of the member, and overlaps the thickness of the member bythe inverse of the Thickness Ratio that is applied in the Offset panel If the Use Thickness Ratiooption is turned off, then it functions as an offset from the outer faces of the member from which it

is created When this option is turned on, the thickness ratio can range from zero to one For avalue of zero, it is flush with the outer faces of the member, and for a value of one it is flush withthe inner faces of the member

weld-FIGURE 31.14

Using the Fillet Bead interface

Using Non-Structural Components

Non-structural components are frequently needed in weldments, and include items such as feet,plates, brackets, mounting pads, castings, and other items Simpler items that can be easily modeled

in place can be placed directly into the weldment part You can also insert parts into the weldmentusing the Insert Part feature, and move them into place by using dimensions or mates In general, ifany item is actually welded into the weldment, then you are recommended to place it in the weld-ment part; however, items that are bolted on should probably be placed into an assembly Of course,this probably depends more on your company’s documentation standards, part-numbering stan-dards, and assembly processes than on software capabilities

When adding a plate such as the footplate shown in Figure 31.15, the geometry is added using thestandard Extrude feature, except that the Merge option is turned off by default This ensures thatnon-structural components that are manually modeled, such as this part, are created as separatebodies, and not merged together with the existing structural items

FIGURE 31.15

A foot plate added to the weldment

It is recommended that similar elements of the weldment be grouped together For example, you can create the tubular members in a group, and the angle members in another group, as well as non-structural components, gussets, weld beads, and end caps in groups or folders of their own This can help to keep a busy part organized.

Using Sub-Weldments

From a modeling point of view, sub-weldments are generally used for either organizational or formance reasons to group together elements of a weldment or to break a larger weldment intomore manageable pieces This is in much the same way that subassemblies are created for the samepurposes within larger assemblies From a fabrication point of view, sub-weldments are also used

per-to break a large weldment inper-to pieces that can be transported or handled

To create a sub-weldment, you can select several bodies from the Cut list, and then select CreateSub-Weldment from the RMB menu (You can also select the bodies from the graphics window ifyou use the Select Bodies selection filter.) This creates a separate folder for the sub-weldment bod-ies You can then RMB click the sub-weldment folder and select Insert Into New Part

Using Cut Lists

The Cut list that is maintained in the model FeatureManager is simply a replacement for the SolidBodies folder It has most of the same functionality as the Solid Bodies folder, as well as a few addi-tional items The two symbols shown before the Cut Lists title show the folder symbol for thefolder when it requires an update (top) and after the update has been performed (bottom) Cut lists

NOTE

that reflect quantities of identical bodies Notice that the weld beads at the bottom of the list arenot in a folder.

con-FIGURE 31.17

The Cut List Custom Properties interface

Make Weld Bead

To exclude a feature in the FeatureManager from the Cut list, you can select Make Weld Bead fromthe feature’s RMB menu The next time the Cut list is updated, the members that were created bythat feature will be listed at the bottom of the Cut List folder with the weld beads You can set back

a feature to be included in the Cut list by selecting Make Non-Weld Bead from the feature’s RMBmenu and updating the Cut list again

Creating Weldment Drawings

Weldment drawings have a couple of special features that distinguish them from normal part ings The first is obviously the Cut list Like a BOM in an assembly, you can place the weldmentCut list on a drawing by selecting Insert ➪ Table ➪ Weldment Cut List Figure 31.18 shows asample Cut list on a drawing In this case, the blank rows represent non-structural components,being the foot plates and the gusset You can manually add data for these parts either directly intothe table or by adding it to the properties of the corresponding folder in the Cut list in the modeldocument

draw-FIGURE 31.18

A Cut list on a drawing

Also shown in Figure 31.18 is an auto-ballooned isometric view of the entire weldment Thisworks the same way that assembly auto-ballooning works, and it also corresponds to the Cut list inthe same way as the assembly corresponds to the BOM.

Weldment drawings can also include views of individual bodies You can do this by making aRelative view, selecting both faces from the same body, and then using the PropertyManager of theRelative view in the window of the solid model to control whether the view shows the entire part

or just selected bodies The Relative View PropertyManager is shown in Figure 31.19

FIGURE 31.19

The Relative View PropertyManager

To access the Relative View PropertyManager interface, follow these steps:

1. Click the Relative View button on the Drawings toolbar or select Insert ➪ Drawing View ➪ Relative To Model

2. RMB click a blank space on the drawing sheet and select Insert From File Browse to thepart file

3. Identify the faces to be shown in the particular orientations, and specify whether theentire part or the selected bodies should be shown in the view

Tutorial: Working with Weldments

This tutorial guides you through building a section of a tubular truss support You can create manydifferent types of weldments, from simple small gauge frames to large architectural designs such asthis one This tutorial also helps you to navigate successfully through some 3D sketch functionalityfor creating fully defined sketches

Follow these steps to learn about working with weldments:

1. Open a new part If you have Toolbox, then activate it by selecting Tools ➪ Add-Ins ➪SolidWorks Toolbox If you do not have Toolbox, then simply draw two concentric circles

on the Front plane of a new part The circles should have diameters of 10.02 inches and10.75 inches Alternatively, you can copy the library feature from the CD-ROM forChapter 31 to the location specified at the end of step 5

2. If you have Toolbox, then select Toolbox ➪ Structural Steel

3. Select ANSI Inch, P Pipe, P10 This profile has an inside diameter of 10.02 inches and anoutside diameter of 10.75 inches Click the Create button, and then click Done

4. Use Custom Properties to add any properties that you would like to have automaticallyadded to the Cut list

5. Remembering the technique from Chapter 18 on library features, first close any opensketches, then select the sketch from the FeatureManager, and then save the part as aLibrary Feature Part file to a path such as D:\Library\Weldment Profiles\Custom\Pipe\P-Pipe10in.SLDLFP

The Custom folder (located in the first level under the Weldment Profiles) will be nized as the Standard, similar to ANSI or ISO The next folder down, Pipe, will be recog- nized as the Type, and the name of the file will be recognized as the Size, in the same way as shown

recog-in Figure 31.6.

6. Go to Tools ➪ Options ➪ File Locations ➪ Weldment Profiles, and add your lation directory location to the list of folders Alternatively, you can remove the ProgramFiles location from the list, and copy the files from that location to your own librarylocation

non-instal-7. Open another new part, and open a new 3D sketch in the part Press the Tab key untilthe space handle (large red Origin) indicates the ZX or Top plane

8. Draw a rectangle around the Origin, and draw a construction line from the midpoint

of one line across to the midpoint of the opposite line Then assign a Midpoint relationbetween the Origin and the new construction line The sketch should now look likeFigure 31.20 Apply an Equal relation to two adjacent sides of the rectangle, and dimen-sion any of the lines as 120 inches

NOTE

FIGURE 31.20

A centered rectangle in a 3D sketch

9. Select one of the lines of the rectangle, Ctrl-select the Top plane, and assign an OnSurfacesketch relation

10. Activate the Line sketch tool and press Tab until the cursor indicates the XY plane

11. Draw a line from one corner of the square down, trying to avoid any automatic relationssuch as coincident relations to other points and any AlongX, Y, or Z relations Connectthe other three corners of the square with the free endpoint of the new line, as shown inFigure 31.21

FIGURE 31.21

Adding lines

12. Rotate the view slightly Notice that the first line that you drew in step 10 and one otherline are on a plane Drag a selection box around the point where the four lines converge,and assign an Equal relation to all of the lines This makes the shape into an upside-downpyramid shape.

13. Drag the point Notice that it moves up and down, although it seems a little erratic Place

a dimension between the point and the part Origin Notice that the sketch becomesoverdefined and turns red and yellow Theoretically, this combination should work, butfor some reason SolidWorks does not accept it

14. Using the Display/Delete Relations tool, delete all of the Equal relations that you justadded to the part (it may be faster to use Undo or Ctrl+Z)

15. Draw a vertical construction line from the part Origin to the point where the four linesmeet, and assign this line an AlongY relation Notice that the point drags much moresmoothly This is a good reason for using simpler relation schemes when possible Thefour equal relations in this case that had to be solved simultaneously are now replaced

by a single relation that is easier to solve when you drag the sketch Apply a dimension

of 80 inches to the new construction line

16. Draw a new line from the point where the four lines come together AlongX in the positive

X direction Dimension this new line as 120 inches The sketch should now look likeFigure 31.22

FIGURE 31.22

The sketch after step 16

17. Exit the sketch Click the Structural Member toolbar button on the Weldments toolbar Inthe Standard drop-down list in the Structural Member PropertyManager, select Custom.

In the Type drop-down list, select Pipe In the Size drop-down list, select P-Pipe10in

This is the name that corresponds to the way the library feature part was saved in step 5

18. In the Path Segments selection box, select the original four sides of the rectangle In theSettings panel, make sure that the Apply Corner Treatment option is turned on and thatthe End Miter icon is selected This is shown in Figure 31.23

FIGURE 31.23

The sketch and the Structural Member PropertyManager after step 18

19. Expand the Structural Member feature Notice that the four bodies are listed under it

Expand the Cut List folder The bodies should also be listed there

20. Open the 10-inch pipe library feature that you created at the beginning of this tutorial

Edit the two dimensions to subtract 2 inches from each dimension, and add a customproperty description called “Support Leg.” Use the Save As command to save the libraryfeature to the same location as the original, but with the filename P-Pipe8in.SLDLFP

21. Initiate another Structural Member feature, this time selecting the 8-inch size of pipefrom the Custom folder In the Path Segments selection box, select two of the angled linesthat go to opposite corners

Remember that three intersecting Structural Members cannot be created with a single feature To create material on all four lines, you need two Structural Member features.

22. Make a second Structural Member feature with the other pair of angled lines The modelshould now look like Figure 31.24

NOTE

FIGURE 31.24

The model after step 22

23. Apply another Structural Member feature to the 10-foot (120-inch) section, again usingthe 10-inch-diameter pipe Notice that this member is not long enough to cut throughthe peak of the pyramid

24. Edit the 3D sketch and draw a 12-inch extension to the original line past the peak of thepyramid Use an additional line rather than extending the existing one Exit the sketch

25. Edit the Structural Member feature to add the new line

You will have to turn off the Apply Corner Treatment option to get this technique to work If this option is on, then SolidWorks tries to miter or otherwise create a corner treatment between the bodies, which fails when the parts are parallel.

26. The four angled members need to be trimmed on both ends because they extend to theends of the sketch entities rather than stopping at intersecting members Initiate theTrim/Extend feature Select the four angled members in the Bodies To Be Trimmed selec-tion box Select the four members created by the original rectangle as the TrimmingBoundary, and make sure that the option is set to Bodies (as opposed to Planar Face), asshown in Figure 31.25 Accept the feature when you are done

27. Create another Trim/Extend feature This time, trim off the point end of the four angledmembers, using the 10-inch horizontal pipe and the small segment as the trimmingboundary

28. Half of the support structure has been modeled to this point You can create the rest of it

by mirroring the existing bodies Create a Mirror feature, using the free end of the foot-long member as the mirror plane, and selecting all of the bodies in the Bodies ToMirror selection box Do not use the Merge Solids option, as you will need to do thismanually Click OK to accept the feature when it is set up properly The PropertyManagerfor the Mirror feature is shown in Figure 31.26

10-NOTE

An easy way to select all of the bodies is to use the flyout FeatureManager, select the first body in the list, and Shift-select the last body.

29. Start the Combine feature (Insert ➪ Feature ➪ Combine), and set it to Add Select thetwo 10-foot sections and the two smaller 1-foot sections to combine them into a singlecontinuous body Click OK to accept the feature Also hide the 3D sketch

30. Right-click the Cut List folder, and select Update Figure 31.27 shows before and afterimages of the Cut List folder

FIGURE 31.27

The Cut List folder in step 30

31. RMB click the folder for the large cross member and select Properties Change theDescription field to read Support Pod Members

32. Use the Create Drawing From Part/Assembly button on the Standard toolbar to make adrawing Place Front, Bottom, and isometric views, and then press the Esc key to quitplacing views

33. Select one of the views and then select Insert ➪ Table ➪ Weldment Cut List When thePropertyManager displays, select the options that you want and click OK Then place thetable

34. Click inside the Bottom view, and from the Annotations toolbar, click Auto-Balloon Thefinished drawing looks like Figure 31.28

NOTE

FIGURE 31.28

The finished drawing

Relative views are difficult to create with round pipe rather than rectangular tube, although starting with 2007, planes can be used as references for relative views.

Summary

Weldments are based on either a single 3D frame sketch or a set of 2D sketches, usually denotingthe centerlines or edges of the various structural elements This creates a special type of part in thesame way that the Sheet Metal commands create a special type of part Structural profiles areplaced on the frame sketch to propagate and create individual bodies for the separate pieces of theweldment Custom profiles are easily created as library features, and you can add custom proper-ties to the library features, and the custom properties then propagate to the Cut lists

NOTE

Macros can be an important source of productivity enhancements

that are not offered directly by SolidWorks software Being able tocreate your own macros can make you more valuable at your place

of work Macros can do anything from centering a rectangle on the Origin, to

setting all face colors back to the part color, to changing the decimal places

of a selected dimension, to creating a spline from an equation You do not

have to be a programmer to follow the information in this chapter However,

you should have a general understanding of Visual Basic

Visual Basic is a common programming language Visual Basic for

Applications, or VBA, is included in SolidWorks in the same way that it is

included in Word and Excel If you have programming skills with these other

common applications, then those skills are largely transferable to working

with SolidWorks macros

Application Programming Interface, or API, refers to the available

SolidWorks functions that can be called programmatically (numbered in the

hundreds) from VB, VBA, VB.NET, C++, C# (c sharp), or macro files that

have the filename extension of *.swp or *.swb

The *.swb filename extension type is a legacy macro You can edit and save these files into the newer SWP format, or you can run them as they are Also keep in mind that *.swp is the filename extension that is

used by the Windows Swap file.

This chapter is a quick overview of how to create simple macros, and how to

connect them to hotkeys and custom toolbar buttons It guides you through

the creation of an intermediate-level macro to show some of the capabilities

that are available to combine with Excel and SolidWorks at the same time

NOTE

IN THIS CHAPTER

Recording macros Creating a macro with a user form

Finding macro help

Creating and Using Macros

This chapter is not a comprehensive how-to guide for API programming That would be a book

unto itself However, the end of this chapter does offer some useful resources for help with macros

Recording Macros

Everything has to start somewhere, and macros start from one of three places:

n As a completely new macro

n From another copied and edited macro

n From a recorded macro

Recorded macros do not always do everything that you want them to do, but they usually offer agood starting place and direction When recording a macro, SolidWorks lists the SolidWorks APIcommands that are used to create the action that is being recorded The macro recorder does notalways capture all of the actions, and it does not always record the latest versions of the functions,but again, it is a starting place

Recording a rectangle-sketching macro

Before getting started, you need to become acquainted with the Macro toolbar This is shown inFigure 32.1

FIGURE 32.1

The Macro toolbar

The first macro in this chapter is a simple one that is used frequently: sketching a rectangle andcentering it on the Origin When you start to make a new macro, you have to think about whereyou want it to start and finish What exactly do you want to automate? Do you want the macro to

always create a rectangle on the Front plane, or just on a selected plane? Does it always center on

the Origin or on a selected point?

The macro in this example needs to do the following:

n Create a rectangle on a selected plane

n Center the rectangle on the part Origin

This means that the selection of the sketch plane needs to be either not recorded or edited outafterward Because this section discusses recording rather than editing, the macro will be recordedwithout the reference.

To prepare for recording the macro, you need to turn off PhotoWorks if it is turned on Macrosrecord some PhotoWorks settings, which are not needed unless you are doing something that isspecific to PhotoWorks You can turn it off at Tools ➪ Add-Ins ➪ PhotoWorks

Also, when recording a macro, be careful not to make a lot of extra mouse-clicks or keyboardstrokes These may record unnecessary data to the macro, which requires additional editing

Recording the macro

To record the macro, follow these steps:

1. Open a new part and select a plane

2. Click the Record Macro button on the Macro toolbar

3. Open a sketch on the selected plane and sketch the rectangle around the Origin

4. Sketch a construction line either from corner to corner or from midpoint to oppositemidpoint

5. Select the construction line and the Origin, and assign a sketch relation of Midpoint

6. Apply a dimension to a horizontal line and accept the default dimension

7. Apply a dimension to a vertical line and accept the default dimension

8. Click the Stop Macro button on the Macro toolbar, and save the macro with a name such

‘****************************************************************

****

Dim swApp As ObjectDim Part As ObjectDim SelMgr As ObjectDim boolstatus As BooleanDim longstatus As Long, longwarnings As LongDim Feature As Object

Sub main()Set swApp = Application.SldWorks

Set Part = swApp.ActiveDocSet SelMgr = Part.SelectionManager

Part.SketchRectangle -0.04490775510204, 0.02713176870748, 0, _0.06081258503401, -0.02806734693878, 0, 1

Part.ClearSelection2 TruePart.CreateLine2(-0.04490775510204, -4.677891156463E-04, 0, _0.06081258503401, -4.677891156463E-04, 0).ConstructionGeometry =True

Part.SetPickModePart.ClearSelection2 Trueboolstatus = Part.Extension.SelectByID2(“Point1@Origin”, _

“EXTSKETCHPOINT”, 0, 0, 0, False, 0, Nothing, 0)boolstatus = Part.Extension.SelectByID2(“Line5”, “SKETCHSEGMENT”,_ 0.007328696145125, -6.237188208617E-04, 0, True, 0, Nothing, 0)Part.SketchAddConstraints “sgATMIDDLE”

Part.ClearSelection2 Trueboolstatus = Part.Extension.SelectByID2(“Line1”, “SKETCHSEGMENT”,_ 0.009355782312925, 0.02759955782313, 0, False, 0, Nothing, 0)Dim Annotation As Object

Set Annotation = Part.AddDimension2(0.0057694, 0.039918, 0)Part.ClearSelection2 True

Part.Parameter(“D1@Sketch6”).SystemValue = 0.0898155boolstatus = Part.Extension.SelectByID2(“Line4”, “SKETCHSEGMENT”,_ 0.04490775510204, 0.009667641723356, 0, False, 0, Nothing, 0)Set Annotation = Part.AddDimension2(0.0661142, 0.0057694, 0)Part.ClearSelection2 True

boolstatus =Part.Extension.SelectByID2(“D1@Sketch6@Part2.SLDPRT”, _

“DIMENSION”, 0, 0, 0, False, 0, Nothing, 0)Part.Parameter(“D2@Sketch6”).SystemValue = 0.0551991Part.ClearSelection2 True

End Sub

Understanding what was recorded

A few pieces of macro syntax and terminology need to be covered first, especially for those who arenot familiar with programming, or who need a refresher

A single quote in front of a line of text is a way to comment out a line, which means that anything after

the single quote is not processed, but may be used for reference, explanation, or troubleshooting

A space followed by an underscore at the end of a line means that the line is continued to the nextline You do not see this in the recorded macro, but it is used here because the lines are too longfor the page and must therefore wrap

At the beginning of the macro, the line with the file path between two rows of asterisks is onlyadded to make a record of who created the macro and when they did so The name is taken fromthe user’s Windows login name It is common practice to leave this information in the macro, and