(Source fastcodesign.com) Diving into a new set of tools can be intimidating. I’ll admit when I first started working with the SolidWorks Surfacing tools, I was apprehensive, but soon found that the tools are a lot simpler than they seem. The geometry that can be created using surfacing operations tends to be both more robust… Read more »
Posts By: Rohit Mitra
SolidWorks Sheet Metal: Custom Form Tools
Aside from geometry that overlaps, there are very few limitations to the form tools in SolidWorks Sheet Metal. With a few simple steps, you can create your own custom form tools and easily modify and update them. The video below, takes you through the process of making your own form tools:
Losing Your Marbles: Mating a Sphere to a Surface
There are certain shapes and surfaces that are difficult to mate in SolidWorks, without first adding a reference or two. For example, if you try mating a sphere to a non-planar surface, the only option that SolidWorks gives you is the lock mate. By creating an offset-surface and putting at a point at the center… Read more »
Photoview 360: No Need to be Camera Shy
You probably do it all the time; I know I do. You set up the perfect view, for a render, in Photoview 360 and create a render, only to have to make a small change to the model for a new render. You then go back and spend a few minutes trying to recreate the… Read more »
A Compressible Spring
While it is difficult to simulate the actual compression of a spring in SolidWorks, you can create multiple configurations to represent the different compression states of a spring. This will allow you to quickly switch back and forth between different lengths of a spring, and with a design table, you can easily create as many… Read more »
Getting Twisted: Driving a Helix by a Path
The Helix/Spiral tool in SolidWorks is limited to creating straight helices and spirals, so to create a helix along a curved path, you have to get a little creative. The twist along path option, in swept features, allows you to forego the use of the Helix tool and use a combination of a swept surface… Read more »