Hello Internet Traveler, If you’re in the market for information on the CSWE (Certified SolidWorks Expert Exam), you’re probably finding that it’s a bit sparse out there. SolidWorks is purposefully tight-lipped on what to expect on this exam, going as far as not even creating a simple sample exam for it. Their reasoning being, you’re… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Surfacing
My Two Favorite Tools in SOLIDWORKS
Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of work with some plastic parts. The parts that I’ve been creating use the Master Model approach. Now this has both upsides and downsides. The technique allows for avoiding the some of the pitfalls of assembly design, such as a complex reference structure. Because everything lives in one part,… Read more »
SOLIDWORKS Surfacing: Fixing a Hole Wizard Countersink
The Hole Wizard, in SOLIDWORKS, places countersinks and other holes flat to a point on a surface. Anything that is above this plane will be left alone, so for geometry that isn’t flat, you may be left with an overhang. The video below will show you a few methods on quickly remedying this problem.
SolidWorks Surfacing: Skipping Modeling Steps using the Intersect Tool
In SolidWorks 2013, the intersect tool was introduced. It’s core function is to allow easy creation and modification of solid bodies. For example, you can turn a set of surfaces into a solid without having to trim them first. You can also add to an existing solid with an intersecting surface. This means that you… Read more »
SolidWorks Quick Tip: Creating Blends Between Bodies and Surfaces
If you’ve ever scene a carbon bike frame up close, you’ll notice that the blends at each joint are fairly complex, at least from a solid modeling perspective. Trying to use the fillet tool for geometry like this is just going to leave you feeling frustrated and confused. By using the boundary surface tool and… Read more »
Don’t be a Degenerate, Boundary Surface is for Four Sided Surfaces
The surface above represents a degenerate surface, which “occurs when one or more sides of the parametric quadrilateral surface used for meshing collapse to a singularity.” Source: Ansys Workbench In SolidWorks this happens when trying to apply a boundary surface to a boundary that is not four sided. The result is that SolidWorks forces the curvature into the… Read more »