Solidworks 2013 Bible

Introduction

SolidWorks is an immense topic, especially if you are new to the software. There is much to know and much to write about. Although I have made every effort to be complete in this book, I'm sure there are some niche topics that have gone untreated. The 2013 edition has been consolidated from two volumes into one, which led to some choices about content. In this edition, we rely more on video introductions for each chapter to demonstrate some of the basic concepts. You can find those video introductions on this book's website at www.wiley.com/go/solidworks2013.

This book is primarily meant as an encyclopedic desk reference for SolidWorks Standard users who want a more thorough understanding of the software and process than can be found in other available documentation. As such, it is not necessarily intended to be a guide for beginners, although it has elements of that. Nor is it necessarily intended as a classroom guide, but I have seen people use it for that as well.

To keep the size of the book down, I have tried to avoid topics found only in SolidWorks Professional or Premium, although some discussion of these topics was in places unavoidable.

Although the book does point out limitations, bugs, and conceptual errors in the software, in every case this is meant to give the reader a more thorough understanding of the software and how it is applied in the context of everyday design or engineering practice.

The overall goal of this book is not to fill your head with facts, but to help you think like the software, so you can use the tool as an intuitive extension of your own process. As your modeling projects get more complex, you'll need to have more troubleshooting and workaround skills available to you. Along with best practice recommendations, these are the most compelling reasons to study this book.

Thank you for your interest.

About This Book

You'll find enough information here that the book can grow with your SolidWorks needs. I have written tutorials for most of the chapters with newer users in mind, because for them, it is most helpful to see how things are done in SolidWorks step by step. The longer narrative examples give more in-depth information about features and functions, as well as the results of various settings and options.

This book includes many details that come from practical usage and is focused on the needs of professional users, not on student learners. My approach is to teach concepts rather than button pushes.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into six parts.

Part I: Introducing SolidWorks Basics

This part explores basic concepts and terminology used in SolidWorks. You need to read this section if you are new to the software and especially if you are new to 3D modeling or parametric history-based design.

Part II: Building Intelligence into Your Parts

This part takes a deeper look at creating parametric relations to automate changes.

Part III: Working with Assemblies

This part examines the tools available to users within SolidWorks assemblies. Assemblies enable you to put parts together in different ways. You can create motion and animations, check for interference and clearance, and look at the data in many different ways.

Part IV: Creating Drawings

This part goes through the tools and techniques for creating drawings from your SolidWorks parts and assemblies. Drawings are the industry standard way of communicating designs, inspection requirements, and manufacturing processes.

Part V: Using Advanced and Specialized Techniques

This part examines several types of advanced techniques, such as surface modeling and multi-body modeling. This is information you won't find in other SolidWorks books, explained here by someone who uses the functionality daily.

Appendixes

The appendixes in this book contain information that was not appropriate in the main body of the text, such as the contents of the download material and other sources of help.

Icons Used in This Book

This book uses a set of icons to point out certain details in the text. Although they are relatively self-explanatory, here's what each of these icons indicates:

Caution

Caution icons warn you of potential problems before you make a mistake.

Cross reference icons point out where you can find additional information about a topic elsewhere in the book.

New Feature

The New Feature icon highlights features and functions that are new to SolidWorks 2013.

Note

Notes highlight useful information that you should take into consideration or an important point that requires special attention.

On the Website

This icon points you toward related material on the book's website.

Tip

Tips provide you with additional advice that makes the software quicker or easier to use.

Video

This icon points you toward related videos on the book's website.

The SolidWorks 2013 Bible is unique in its use of these two icons:

Best Practice

Best practice icons point out recommended settings or techniques that are safe in most situations.

Performance

Performance icons elaborate on how certain settings, features, or techniques affect rebuild speed or file size.

These icons point out and describe techniques and settings that are either recommended or not recommended for specific reasons. Best Practice is usually considered to be very conservative usage, where the stability of the parametrics and performance (a euphemism for rebuild speed) are the ultimate goals. These two aspects of SolidWorks models are usually weighed against modeling speed (how long it takes you to create the model).

You should take Best Practice and Performance recommendations seriously, but you should treat them as guidelines rather than as rules. When it comes right down to it, the only hard and fast rule about SolidWorks is that there are no hard and fast rules. In fact, I believe that the only reason to have rules in the first place is so that you know when you can break them. Parametric stability and modeling speed are not always the ultimate goals and are often overridden when work-around techniques are used simply to accomplish a geometric goal.

Because not everyone models with the same goals in mind, a single set of rules can never apply for everyone. You must take the best practice suggestions and apply them to your situation using your own judgment.

My point of view while writing this book has been that of someone who is actually using the software, not of someone trying to sell ideas, nor of someone trying to make the software look good, or even that of an academic trying to make a beautiful argument. I try to approach the software objectively as a tool, recognizing that complex tools are good at some things and not so good at others. Both kinds of information (good and not-so-good) are useful to the reader. Pointing out negatives in this context should not be construed as criticizing the SolidWorks software, but rather as preparing the reader for real-world use of the software. Any tool this complex is going to have imperfections. I hope that some of my enthusiasm for the software also shows through and is to some extent contagious.

Terminology

An important concept referred to frequently in SolidWorks is design intent. As a practical matter, I use the phrase design for change to further distinguish design intent from other design goals.

The reader needs to be familiar with some special terminology before continuing. In many cases, I use a SolidWorks vernacular or slang when the official terminology is either not descriptive enough or, as is sometimes the case, has multiple meanings. For example, the word shortcut has multiple meanings in the SolidWorks interface. It is used to describe right mouse button menus as well as hotkeys. As a result, I have chosen not to use the word shortcut and instead substitute the words RMB and hotkey.

I frequently use RMB to refer to right mouse button menus or other data that you access by clicking the right mouse button on an item. The word tree refers to the list of features in the FeatureManager.

Differences are frequently found between the names of features on toolbars and the names in the tool tips, menus, or PropertyManager titles. In these cases, the differences are usually minor, and either name may be used.

Most functions in SolidWorks can work with either the object-action or the action-object scenarios. These are also called preselect and select, respectively. The Fillet feature shows no difference between using preselection and selection, although for some fillet options such as face fillet, preselect is not enabled. Most features allow preselection, and some functions, such as inserting a design table, require preselection. Although you cannot identify a single rule that covers all situations, most functions accept both.

If I could impart only a single thought to all readers of this book, it would be that with a little curiosity and some imagination, you can begin to access the power of SolidWorks for geometry creation and virtual product prototyping. You should start with the assumption that there's a way to do what you are...