Is there anywhere in Solidworks that will put a hole for a countersunk square neck bolt. I would think that the hole wizard feature would have this but I can’t seem to find it.
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cbergman
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cbergman
I am trying to straighten a piece of tubing by adding cuts and using the flex feature. Does anyone have any knowledge of how this feature works well enough to show this part straightened? I have been trying different ways with no success.
Attachment – 2010_4_1_16_16-
Ben
The flex feature is a bit of a ‘fluffy’ feature that does not work all that well. It is hard to constrain and work with but Ill have a kick at your model later today. One thing to keep in mind here is that it will not have a bend allowance built into the flattened shape. So make sure to keep this in mind when using the feature.
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Ben
Man that is a good one. I would avoid the flex at all costs here. One thing I have seen sucessfully done is to make a sheet metall strap bend it up and then add fillets. Ill do a model up and put it up in the next few minutes
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Ben
so to make a work around I created 2 configurations using the sheet metal feature to flatten the tube. I extruded a square boss, converted to a sheet metal feature and flattened it and filleted the corners. Made a new configuration with it bent up and filleted the corners and finally with both configurations used the shell feature to make it look like a tube again.
Very kludgy way of doing it but it gets the job done
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Ben
Lets try that with the attachment this time
Attachment – 2010_4_5_16_35 -
cbergman
Ben, thanks for looking into this. If you look at the model that I uploaded there is a thin cut in each bend. What I am trying to accomplish is the shape of the cut after the part is straightened. I want to keep this as one part and be able to bend it by hand. I need to send the information to our laser tube cutter. Any ideas?
Thanks, Casey
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Ben
Hummm that is a tough one… Let me think about this for a bit… To be honest I am not sure it can be done…
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cbergman
That is kind of where I am at on this. I figured my last try would be to see if anyone on here has any ideas. Thanks again!
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Ben
Sorry but I just cannot seem to think of a solution to this.
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cbergman
I am out of ideas here to. I am able to lay this out in 2D so I guess I will go that route. I was hoping I could keep all of this in Solidworks.
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cbergman
Does anyone have any suggestions on converting ProE to Solidworks? I am having some problems where several of the features error and all I end up with is a mess of surfaces that are not even close to the actual parts. Is there a better way to do this than than just opening them in Solidworks and letting the converter do it’s thing?
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Chris Serran
You can also try saving the ProE model as a step or parasolid and opening that in SolidWorks.
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cbergman
I do not have ProE to work with or that would be an option. I have the files from my customer and have to make changes to the models.
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CBL
Which Pro/E are you referring to … Wildfire or pre-Wildfire? And which version?
From the SW Help file;
“Versions 17 through 2001 of Pro/ENGINEER and Wildfire versions 1, 2, and 3 are supported. Import of assembly features is not supported.”
also;
“If all of the features in the file are not supported, you can choose to import the file as either a solid body or a surface model.”Are you able to post a sample file for testing on other computers?
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Ben
I am with chris on this one I would export from ProE to STEP or Parasolid and go from there
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cbergman
I do not have access to ProE to export these as a different file type. I am having a little luck converting these into solid bodies but I am going to have some work ahead of me to make the changes needed. I will see if my customer would mind if I publish a file for you guys to look at.
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cbergman
Here is a zip file with the ProE part file for one of the componants that I am dealing with. I need to be able to go in and remove the internal rib features and add fillets around the mounting bosses.Attachment – lower_main_bottom_armprt
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Chris Serran
I was able to convert the file and create a solid from it.
I suspect you’re trying to import the proe part with it’s features? That may be where you’re running into problems.
Attachment – lower_main_bottom_arm -
Chris Serran
I imported using Import geometry directly with Knitting and try to form solid model options selected.
You may have more luck with modifying a dumb solid than messing around with importing features from proe.
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cbergman
I think that this is going to be the best way to handle this. Do you have any input on how to remove the rib features out of this part?
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Chris Serran
I tried two ways:
1) Extrude cut using a sketch based on the side profile of the rib.
2) Offset the surfaces beside one of the ribs by a value of 0. Extend the surfaces a bit past the rib then use the split command (Insert->Features->Split). This will separate the rib from the rest of the solid body so you can delete it.#1 was extremely easier but #2 gave better results.
Maybe others have a better way but those are 2 ideas right off the top of my head.
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cbergman
Thanks for looking into this Chris! I was thinking the same thing but when I get around some of the more complex surfaces I run into problems. I will continue to work on this and see what I can do.
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cbergman
I am having problems getting Solidworks to print multiple files out of windows explorer. If I select multiple files and then right click the mouse and select print it will sometimes skip some of the files. I have tried this with Solidworks Viewer set as the default program and had the same results. Has anyone every seen this? I am trying to setup an automated print system to release work instructions to our production floor. This is causing me some headaches!
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gol10dr
Use SolidWorks task scheduler
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cbergman
The problem that I have with Task Scheduler is that the program that I have that outputs the file paths from our MRP software is basically doing the same process as selecting multiple files from windows explorer and then right click, print. This is all automated and runs in the background. If I use Task Scheduler then I will have to go in and select all of the files needed. I am trying to make this as simple as possible.
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cbergman
Mirror component
When using the mirror componants command in an assembly there is a check box to include mates. Everytime I use this none of the mates come with it. All it ends up doing is giving me multiple instances of the part that are unmated. Why aren’t the mates coming with the parts?
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Ben
I have never ever had this work for me. I think it is a function that SolidWorks corp has not been able to get to work right
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cbergman
I am sending this to my VAR to see what they can tell me. Thanks
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bhughesnles
The copy mates in an assembly mirror components only refers to sub assemblies that are being copied. Those mates can be copied because the parts are being mirrored. When one is mirroring components in an assembly there is no way for SolidWorks to ‘guess’ how you would like your mates mirrored.
I do agree that there should be better documentation about the feature and should support mirroring of assembly mates where those mates are to assembly reference geometry and not to assembly components.
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CBL
cbergman … Sign up for the SW2010 Beta testing. Even if you don’t do any testing you will have access to the Beta forums, and be able to download the What’s New document … which has some interesting bits.
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cbergman
Has anyone written a macro to switch between having write access and read only when working in a multi user environment? I have a hotkey setup to do this but now you can’t set this up because of a bug in Solidworks. Short of everyone using my keyboard shortcuts I am not able to set this up on another computer. Any input here?
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gol10dr
Not sure writing a macro to toggle a right click menu makes sense. Can you share more about what you need to do?
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cbergman
What I would like to see is a macro to toggle between write access and read only to set a hotkey up for the macro. We work using the multi user environment and every part and assembly that we work with has to be changed from read only before we change anything. I find it time consuming to go to the file drop down menu to change this. I know that I can right click this in the assembly but what if I already have the part open. I acutally have a hotkey to preform this on my computer and the only reason that I have it is because I set this up years ago when you could. Solidworks has since told me that it is a know glitch that you can’t setup hotkeys to any of the collaboration menu items. I hope this explains what I am doing a little better.
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cbergman
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to save out Solidworks assemblies to send out to customers? I am looking at saving them to a part file and then format as needed. The problem is that the file size is getting very large on some of these. Any suggestions would be great here!
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admin
Are you trying to keep some things away from the customer like the guts of a gearbox but want them to be able to use your mounting pattern?
I would start with stripping down the assembly to the bare minimum that the customer needs as far as 3d information. Next do like you said save this stripped down version as a part. Then use a zip utility like what is built into Windows, winzip, 7zip, winrar… there are a ton of compression utilities out there.
One other thing to note is that there is new pack and go functionality in the file menu to take a assembly bring it into one place and zip it up. I believe this works with parts as well.
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cbergman
I am trying to have a simplified model. I have tried as you said to suppress all of the things that I don’t want to include and save it out. The problem is that some of these files are still pretty large (30MB). I was just seeing if anyone had a way to make these smaller without a ton of work.
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admin
Ok, I will have to do some research (By research I mean for anyone watching to chime in) There were some utilities I remember that would strip out useless info from a solidworks file I cannot remember what it was called, it would help in sometimes 60% reduction in file size. Wait! it was called unfragment …. google… google…. google… got it! At Lennys site there is a section on unfragment. Lenny’s Web Page
Once you do that then zip and see what you get.
Also for large files I use Drop.io a free upload download site that is free up to 100mb files, you can password protect and it can be completely anonymous with added things like you get a fax number with the drop, you can make a webcast based off the files in the drop etc etc I highly recomend you check it out. Great service. But I digress you put the file there and send a link to the customer or on your webpage for people to download….
Hope that helps
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brian
You can drag the end of part (EOP) marker up under the Origin and save and that should reduce the file size dramatically. This effectively reduces the file to its “DNA”. You will need to inform your customer that they will have to move it back down to rebuild the geometry. (I would be sure to test that everything rebuilds correctly before sending.)
This should be a good solution for you, depending on the number of very large files you have.
As Ben mentioned there are utilities for reducing file sizes, but I don’t know how useful they are now. SolidWorks supposedly changed the file structure a few versions or so back to remove a lot of the Windows shadow data that was bloating the files. It probably wouldn’t hurt to try them to see…
The utility I used to use was called EcoSqueeze (http://www.ecocom.com/eng/EcoSqueeze/ecosqueeze01.htm) and I always got pretty good results with that. Haven’t used it since SW2006 or so.
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gol10dr
When you save as a part you can save as surfaces which will bring the file size way down. What are the parties that you are sharing the data with need off the solidmodel. If they are doing machining then sometimes shops would rather have the solid but it depends. If it is simply to be able to email them then services like Ben mentioned are great alternatives.
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cbergman
Good information everyone! I guess I should have explained that I am trying to setup a way to save any of our models out to email or have downloaded off the web. I am sure that I will need several file types to offer and just want a starting point for them so they are all the same.
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admin
I have found that for mechanical stuff that STL or IGES are the most universally compatible file formats (My opinion but no supporting facts) Try saving the models out as that format after what Lou said making surfaces out of the model and it will likely be the best bang for the buck
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gol10dr
If you are sending out for machining, STL is probably not the best but STEP or Parasolid are probably the best. IGES (or I Guess) can have some issue with other programs due to different builds of the translator so repairing of models seems more common among IGES.
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admin
Gahh when I wrote STL I meant STEP…
Lou is right thanks Lou -
cbergman
I will try this and see what I can come up with. Thanks everyone for your inputs!
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cbergman
I am designing several parts for casting. Does anyone know where I can go to learn more about the draft feature and split line? The help files aren’t very good on this. I am trying to add the parting line and draft to my part for the patterns.
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JeffM
You could check to see if there’s any videos on YouTube. Also, check out SolidProfessor.com. It’ll cost you a couple of bucks, but may be worth it.
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grantmi1
I really like the igetit site for learning also.
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dave spencer
Sounds like a video Ben could do….
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admin
Any chance you could provide a model of the part to be molded and blanks of your mold halfs or mold sections? This is a topic that can be looked at in many different ways depending on the parts being made…
Ben
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cbergman
I am attaching my part as modeled. The trouble that I am running into is that I need a parting line on the bottom of the bosses that extrude from the front of the part. I then need to draft each direction from the parting line. Anyone have any ideas on this?
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admin
I will have a look at this tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.
Dave I will put together a cast for this soon.
Ben
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cbergman
Has anyone seen issues with design tables in SW2008? I am running into a couple problems here. Sometimes when I close a design table it won’t let me reopen it until I close and reopen SW. It tells me that another instance of the design table is open. The other is the time that it takes to open them in excel. I am having some of these take around 3 mins. to open up. Any ideas?
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cbergman
Has anyone came up with a good way to rename a configuration in a part or assembly when you have it open in a drawing or another assembly? Our standard parts are configurated and named so when I copy one to make a new part I would like it to go back to a default.
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MarkKaiser
I don’t think there is a way to do this with a drawing or assembly open referencing a part. There is a topic on it on the Top Ten Enhancement request page for SW World currently, you may want to go vote for it if you haven’t already.
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cbergman
I have seen this one the enhancement list and voted for it. Thank you for the input.
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sldprt
If you’re copied part has a configuration name, and that name is referencing a drawing. Try closing everything other then the part. Rename the configuration, close and save the part. Then open the drawing. I am pretty sure SolidWorks internally does not use the configuration named by the user if it is missing. It should update to the new configuration name, save the drawing.
If this is not the case, Change the configuration to something other than default and the one you want to change. Delete the default configuration, and then copy the configuration you want to rename. Rename the copied configuration to Default. Switch back to the drawing. Right click on each drawing view, select properties properties, and change the configuration to Default. I am sure they will update fine, fingers crossed. Then go back to the part and delete the old configuration name.
I would say that if you are creating new parts from old parts. Look into using custom properties to control documents. Configurations are for versions of the same part, best done with design tables.Cheers,
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cbergman
I understand how to rename the configurations when the part is the only thing that I have open. I like to work with the full assembly model open in order to see all of my parts. The only way that I have found to do this is to open the parts and sub-assebmlies by with the full assembly closed. This is a litte time consuming and our network folders are very large so finding the files is sometimes tedious. Now that we have went to 64 bit systems we no longer have the ablity to search our network drives with anything besides windows explorer.
I should explain the new parts a little, we are a custom manufacturer and the new parts are one time custom part. We have decided that we do not want these included with our standard files. Some of these variations are far from standard.
Thanks all for the incite -
admin
Have you tried using the SolidWorks explorer? It will allow you to look at all the parts and change names on the fly….
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MarkKaiser
SW explorer still won’t do this while the part and drawing are open, correct? I believe that’s the end result being looked for.
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cbergman
Since we are using a multi-user environment solidworks explorer will work if the files are open read-only. However, am I the only one that thinks that Solidworks Explorer took a major turn for the worse in 2007? It takes so long to do anything with it. I would guess that the were-used function takes about 45 minutes per part and I am limiting were it is looking. The other problem with this approach it that you can’t change the config description which auto fills with the config name.
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CBL
45 minutes??? Mine takes about 5 seconds, but I severely limit the search folders.
Have your search folders been indexed?
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cbergman
Desktop search hasn’t came up with a 64 bit version that will index network drives. All it will index is my C: drive.
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MarkKaiser
Same here, don’t ask SW explorer to search a network.
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CBL is discussing. 
cbergman and 
Chris Serran, 
dave spencer, and 2 others are discussing. 
MarkKaiser, 
CBL 4:47 pm on August 10, 2010 Permalink
HW does not have that style hole. You will have to create it with regular SW features.