The watermark ‘SOLIDWORKS Educational License – Instructional Use Only’ appears on a printed SOLIDWORKS drawing that references a file created using educational license, or using a template from an educational installation. In the design tree of  such 3D models, beside file name, we see the icon that looks like a graduation hat.

As stated in the watermark, SOLIDWORKS educational licenses are to be used for teaching only and not for commercial purpose.  However, mix-ups happen and are usually detected after a drawing is printed.

When a file from educational version is open in SOLIDWORKS, a warning comes up:

Identifying such file visually or by opening assembly components can be difficult in large assemblies. SOLIDWORKS knowledge base solution S-040508 includes a macro that detects files created in educational version of SOLIDWORKS.

When a file from educational version is identified, the options for removing watermark include recreating the file or saving it in a different file format.  For example, an assembly can be saved as a part file; an assembly or a part file can be exported to a neutral file format.  This gets rid of the watermark, but also gets rid of the model design history.

Business-critical cases should be discussed with SOLIDWORKS VARs.

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With all of the information you need to show on your drawing sheets they get rather full and complicated.  You might want separate sheets with the Section and Detail views.  If you try creating a new sheet to add these views, you will notice that they are greyed out.  Section and Detail views require a parent view to reference.  Since this new sheet has no views, you cannot create these child views.

Section and Detail Views greyed out

One method is just to add a standard view, but place it off the page so it doesn’t get printed.  But this isn’t the best method as the View Label does not reference any view in the drawing sheets when printed.

Instead you can create a Section or Detail view on the original sheet, then drag and drop the view in the FeatureManager Design Tree onto another existing sheet.  Be sure the sheet that contains the Section or Detail views is active before dragging.

Drag Section View onto Existing Sheet in the Design Tree

Drag Detail View onto Existing Sheet in the Design Tree

Now you’ll have just the Section and Detail View on the second sheet that references the parent view on the first sheet.  If you have many sheets with various views, you can always find Parent View of the Section/Detail View by right-clicking on this view and select “Jump to Parent View” which will switch to the correct sheet and select the parent view.

Jump to Parent View Command

Here is a video demonstrating this workflow:

The post How to find Parent View of a Section or Detail View located on a different sheet in SOLIDWORKS [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

There are multiple ways of enabling or disabling your Add-Ins in SOLIDWORKS.

Method #1 – Tools Menu

If you’ve always been using the Tools > Add-Ins method, this is not the most efficient way as the Add-in option can get pushed out of reach with all the other options in the Tools menu.

Access SOLIDWORKS Add-ins from the Tools Menu

Method #2 – Options Flyout

One of the faster methods is to use the Options button flyout from the Menu bar (small down arrow beside the Options button).  This gives you quick access to the Add-Ins dialog.

Options Flyout Menu

Within the Add-Ins dialog, you have the option of making the Add-In active in the current session (the left column of checkboxes) and you can also select which Add-Ins to automatically enable when SOLIDWORKS launches (the right column of checkboxes).

Add-ins dialog

Warning about enabling all Add-ins

But before you enable all the Add-Ins under the Start Up column, be sure you always want to use the license required for this Add-In.  If you have a shared network license with different license types, you may not want to be using up your Professional or Premium license every time you open SOLIDWORKS.

Method #3 – From the CommandManager

Another method for quickly enabling or disabling Active Add-Ins is to turn on the “SOLIDWORKS Add-Ins” tab in the CommandManager.  Prior to SolidWorks 2015, this tab was named “Office Products”.  To turn on the tab, right-click on any tab in the CommandManager and select this option.  Now you can quickly go to the tab and enable or disable an Add-In.

SOLIDWORKS Add-ins CommandManager Tab

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On September 11th, 2015, Javelin and the Professional Engineers Ontario – Oakville Chapter are hosting the Slide Rule Classic Golf Tournament to help the New Oakville Hospital. Since I’m pretty terrible at golfing, I’ve decided that designing a golf club head with SOLIDWORKS will make it easier for me to hit the ball. This is the shape of the club’s head:

I never said I could design a good golf club!

Creating the Golf Club Head in SOLIDWORKS

So having a concept for a golf club head, I quickly went about creating it in SOLIDWORKS. Given the very organic shape of it, a Loft feature seemed like the best command to use. Since I wanted this to be hollow, I tried a few techniques.

Surfacing Challenges

I started by using a Lofted Boss/Base. This created the solid as I would have expected, but I wanted to make a consistent wall thickness around this. My dimensions made up the inside, so I tried to apply a Shell feature with the option for Shell Outward. This failed to work, and all I got was an error message telling me that:

The shell operation failed to complete. One of the faces may offset into an adjacent face, a small face may need to be eliminated, or one of the faces may have a radius of curvature which is smaller than the shell thickness…

Needless to say, it didn’t work, and with the golf tournament a few weeks away, I don’t have a lot of time to figure out why.

Then, as you’ll see in the video, I try to create it using a Thin Feature without any more success.

Finally, I tried creating it using a Surface Loft. This worked nicely until I tried to thicken it. As you’ll see in the video below, I get an error message such as

Failed to offset or face could not be deleted

Solving the challenge with Offset Surface

So, although Thicken didn’t work, I was able to use Offset Surface in conjunction with a Split Line to narrow down where the problem was occurring. Sometimes, this method of dividing the faces can make it easier to perform the offset command. Even if it does not fix the issue, I am able to complete 90% of my offset, then perform other operations to manually fix up the region where the offset isn’t working.

Get more information about how to participate in the Slide Rule Classic Golf Tournament on September 11, 2015, in Hornby, Ontario. All proceeds for this event will go to the New Oakville Hospital Foundation. Hope to see you there!
Learn More

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In a SOLIDWORKS drawing that references multiple models, annotations sometimes get linked to the wrong part or assembly.  In the example shown below, the title block is linked to the top-level assembly that is displayed in the upper left corner as a reference, and not the shaft assembly that is shown in the foreground with a BOM and balloons.

Annotations linked to a wrong model

This mix-up can be easily corrected.  When annotations are linked to custom properties we can select the ‘model in view specified in sheet properties.’ option as shown below:

Model in view specified in sheet properties

In a drawing that references a single part or assembly, this works without any issues.

For Drawings that reference more than one Model

For a drawing that reference more than one model, annotations get linked to the incorrect model when the wrong view is specified in sheet properties.  Sheet settings are accessed by right-clicking on a blank space in the drawing and selecting ‘Properties.’  The drop down menu lists all views in the drawing.

Use custom properties value from the model shown in

Selecting the drawing view of the correct model updates the annotation links.  In the example shown, the title block no longer refers to the top-level assembly, but the shaft subassembly.

Annotations linked to the correct model

Video Demonstration

Watch the video demonstration to learn how to update drawing views:

The post How to update SOLIDWORKS Annotations linked to the wrong Model [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

For this golf themed tech tip I have designed a Mini-Putt Golf Course using both SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD and SOLIDWORKS Composer 2015.  First, I’ve created the 3D design of the mini-putt hole layout completely in SOLIDWORKS:

MiniPutt Hole

After creating the 3D model using SOLIDWORKS I then used SOLIDWORKS Composer to help improve the technical communication by creating high quality illustrations, photorealistic images, and even interactive animations without waiting for a physical prototype.

In this case a fly-through of the mini-putt hole was created as well as an interactive animation showing the golf ball’s projected path through the course.  Just for fun I also included the Happy Gilmore hockey stick putter I designed previously.

All of the parts and assemblies used in this animation were created using SOLIDWORKS.  Here we can see how quick and fun it can be to create 3D models using SOLIDWORKS as well as animations using SOLIDWORKS Composer.

The post Using SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD and Composer to Create the Ultimate Mini-Putt Golf Course! appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Online Training

I’m a big advocate of video based online training and having created a lot of this type of courseware over the years I’ve witnessed the benefits that this style of training provides to SOLIDWORKS users. But video based training is designed for a specific type of learner who primarily wants to learn at their own pace in short training sessions. If you are looking for this style of learning we offer MySolidWorks video based training, it provides introductory training and a source of reference for SOLIDWORKS features.

Disadvantages of Video Based Online Training

However there are many disadvantages to this style of online learning when compared to traditional classroom based training, here are just a few:

1. Not as comprehensive — sure the content is great but for a full training course a learner needs to view a lot of videos. What this means is learners often skip ahead with video based learning to speed up the process and typically miss out on important content
2. Not as effective — with no live instructor available to show you specific techniques and answer your questions it can be less effective. Plus Instructors are not as effective when they are recording training content without a live audience.
3. Not as motivational — video based training has less engagement and learners typically tend to get distracted. Also without a live instructor you are not driven to complete exercises and there is no reward for completion.
4. Requires more discipline — videos offer one way communication, this means that learners need to be dedicated to watching and listening without obtaining any feedback.
5. Not as enjoyable for learner or instructor — interaction and delivery from a live instructor is a much more enjoyable experience for everyone involved than the static delivery of pre-recorded content. One of the most effective methods of learning is through the interaction between a learner and an instructor.

SOLIDWORKS Online Training without the disadvantages

Our customers were looking for more in-depth online training while still retained the convenience that online training offers, but does not require them to spend all day learning like classroom training. This is where the idea for Javelin Online Live Training began. Watch the video below to learn more about online live training from our training manager, and hear what our customers have to say about their learning experience:

A Better Learning Experience

Javelin Online Live Training or JOLT for short is our method of delivering classroom based training directly to your desktop. We know that your time is valuable and leaving your workplace to take training is not always possible. So for just a few hours a day you can take LIVE SOLIDWORKS training over the web, giving you the benefits of classroom training with the convenience of online training, and overcoming those main disadvantages of video based training.

JOLT is delivered on a live interactive learning environment where you can ask questions, receive immediate answers from the instructor, and learn hands-on with SOLIDWORKS exercise files featured in the course. You receive a training manual and a headset before the course starts so you can follow along with the training and interact with the instructor.

I am in the process of taking an online surfacing course and like the ability to do that rather than travel to Javelin to take the course, additionally it will make it easier in the future to take additional training in this fashion.

— Randy Sutherland, MacGregors Group

Benefits of Online Live Training

Here are just a few of the benefits that JOLT provides for our customers:

• Training that reduces work day disruption — It’s convenient and allows for little disruption to your working day. JOLT courses are split up into 4 hours per day.
• Live instruction from certified trainers — Certified SOLIDWORKS Experts are able to pass on their experience and provide best practices and tips during line online courses.
• Live access to the Instructor — Get help by virtually raising your hand via the online training system, and privately chat with the instructor just like classroom based training.
• Hands-on practical training — You get plenty of time to try out the exercises and learn by using your SOLIDWORKS software.
• Receive a certificate when training is complete — Just like our classroom based training courses you will receive a certificate when you have completed a course.

Courses available

There is a wide variety of training courses available live over the web, including:

SOLIDWORKS CAD Training

Our SOLIDWORKS courses allow you to develop your skills with process based training. Start with the SOLIDWORKS Essentials course and move on to Part Modeling, Surfacing, and Advanced Assemblies, creating Drawings, and Animation. You can also take application specific courses including Sheet Metal,Weldments, and Routing courses. All the courses are hands-on and will allow you to learn how to use SolidWorks by carrying out common tasks.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation Training

We take the complexity out of learning how to apply SolidWorks Simulation to the design process. You will learn how to become more productive through comprehensive hands-on training. Courses cover the different modules available with simulation including SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional, SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation,SOLIDWORKS Simulation Dynamics, SOLIDWORKS Simulation Nonlinear and SOLIDWORKS Motion. Training is delivered by certified instructors with years of real world FEA and CFD design experience.

SOLIDWORKS Electrical Training

Learn how to use the intelligent system design tools available with SOLIDWORKS Electrical 2D and SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D, including a comprehensive parts database, and real-time integration of your 2D schematics and 3D models. Courses are delivered by SolidWorks Electrical specialists with real life electrical experience.

GD&T Training

Designed to help understand and interpret the fundamentals of GD&T. It is based on the ASME Y14.5 – 2009 standard. Formally the ASME Y14.5M – 1994 standard. Our fundamentals course is a valuable tool for any individual who has to create or interpret engineering drawings; for product and gauge designers; CMM operators and quality assurance personnel.

Get Started with JOLT

If you are interested in taking a Javelin Online Live Training course for SOLIDWORKS then please review our online schedule.

Download our Training Price List

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Greetings fellow SOLIDWORKS users!

Perhaps you work for a company that makes use of SOLIDWORKS custom properties. Of course you use them, they’re terrific for populating your BOM automatically and can be used for a whole host of other purposes. However, the custom properties that you use at your company are very special — one might almost say…custom.

Let’s say your company always uses four custom properties on your BOM: “Description,” “PartNo,” “Supplier,” and “Material.” However, when you download an air cylinder off of a supplier’s webpage, they do not have the same custom properties. You could populate these manually, but that would be time consuming — especially since you know that they will need all 4 properties, without typos. Did you know you can copy and paste a list of custom properties?

Custom Properties dialog: select the row “1” then hold shift and select row “4”

The Copy & Paste Process

1. First access the custom properties from File > Properties
2. Then, select the list of custom properties from a source file by selecting the row header (where it says “1” on the left), then hold down the Shift key and select the last row (“4” in the example above). You can also use Ctrl+select to select specific properties, just as you would in Windows Explorer or the SOLIDWORKS feature tree, or many other programs.
3. Then give it the old Ctrl+C to copy it.
4. You can then exit the dialog window
5. Open the new file and access the custom properties dialog and
6. Paste the properties (Ctrl+V) into the dialog. Tada! All your custom properties now appear in the new file.

True, they are populated with the same values, some of which may need to be manually changed, but this is far, far, faster than having to recreate the properties manually.

The Custom Properties Tab Builder is another great way to add custom properties in this manner. You can refer to this blog article for more information about that.

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SOLIDWORKS models are generated as rigid bodies so animations cannot take into account flexibility of movement.  To accurately calculate and animate deformation based on the material properties, a SOLIDWORKS Simulation study should be created and the deformation plot can be animated.

Use In-context References

However you may wish to generate a simple animation showing moving components including a spring extending or compressing.  As animations control the positions of components, not their size dimensions, you can animate spring motion with SOLIDWORKS by connecting the spring model to other moving components using in-context references.

In-context Reference

Control spring length with a Sweep

In order to control the length of the spring, the easiest method is to create a Sweep feature with the Path sketch as a straight line for the overall height.  Then in the Twist options of the Sweep feature, you can specify “Twist Along Path” and indicate how many turns or coils are needed.

Sweep feature to generate spring

With this Path sketch linked in-context to another moving component, you can control the position of the moving component to have the spring rebuild its size and appear to compress or extend.

Spring Animation

Video demonstration

Here is a video demonstrating the setup and final results of the animation.

Interested in learning more?

You can attend our two day SOLIDWORKS Motion training course either in-person in a classroom near you or live online.

The post How to Animate Spring Motion with SOLIDWORKS [VIDEO] appeared first on SOLIDWORKS Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Greetings, fellow SOLIDWORKS user!

A neat trick that not many users are aware of is the ability to suppress a sketch relation. While this may not seem like the type of thing that needs to be done very often, it’s very useful when it is needed. When suppressing sketch relations, use the following technique:

1. Go to Display/Delete Relations (on the Sketch tab of the Command Manager)
2. Select the sketch relation from the list on the left
3. Check the box to suppress it
4. Choose which configurations you want it suppressed in (This configuration/All configurations/Specify configurations)

It’s as easy as that. Here’s a screenshot showing you everything you need to know:

Suppressing SOLIDWORKS Sketch Relations Steps

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When a SOLIDWORKS assembly file will not save the first workaround is to try and save the assembly with a new name, to a different folder, or to a local drive.  If that doesn’t work then here are two other options for you to consider trying.

Note that pattern and mirror features cannot be included in these steps in the versions prior to SOLIDWORKS 2016; they would need to be recreated.

Option #1: Form a New Subassembly

Selecting assembly components, right-click and select the option ‘Form New Subassembly.’  Once the new subassembly is created, try saving it externally.

Form New Subassembly and Save Assembly in External File (RMB = Right-mouse Button)

Option #2: Make Assembly from Part/Assembly and Dissolve Subassembly

From the File menu, select Make Assembly from Part/Assembly.  SOLIDWORKS creates a new assembly with the original assembly as a component.  In the new assembly, right-click on the subassembly component and select the option ‘Dissolve Subassembly.’  The result should be a replica of the original assembly that may not report an error when saving.

Make New Assembly and Dissolve

Learn more about Assembly Management

Attend our 2-day Assembly Modeling training course either online or in a training facility near you.

The post What to try when a SOLIDWORKS Assembly File will NOT Save appeared first on SOLIDWORKS Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

SOLIDWORKS has a good amount of standard hatch patterns that you can use in your drawings. But there are some occasions that you may need to customize some of those standard hatch patterns or even make your own one. Now the question is…how do you modify or create hatch patterns?

SOLIDWORKS Hatch Pattern

SOLIDWORKS Hatch Pattern File Location

To answer that question we have to know where the standard hatch patterns come from in the first place. A file exists within the installation directory for the version of SOLIDWORKS you are using (C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks\Lang\English) called “sldwks.ptn” which is where the information for the available standard hatch patterns is stored and read from.

Modifying a SOLIDWORKS Hatch Pattern

Now if you open this file with notepad, it provides instruction in the header of the file on how to create your own custom hatch patterns. For example instead of selecting a standard hatch pattern and changing its angle each time, you can edit your “sldwks.ptn” file and copy and paste the standard hatch pattern and then change the angle of that. From now on you have access to your custom hatch pattern in the drop-down box within your “Area Hatch/Fill” command. It is advised that you take a copy of the original and keep it untouched, just in case the modifications cause any issues.

SOLIDWORKS Hatch Pattern File

Creating a New Pattern

What if you want to make a new pattern from the scratch? Well designing hatch patterns is not as easy as editing an existing one. So it is going to take a while if you want to make some extra complex patterns yourself. But if you don’t have the time don’t worry. You can always find and download ready to use patterns from internet. I found the following website which had a number of AutoCAD.PTN files available for free to download: http://www.cadhatch.com/#/autocad-wood-hatch-patterns/4555347745

You can then just open the file in notepad and copy the contents into the SOLIDWORKS .PTN file.

NOTE: However, there are a couple of things to remember. Each cross hatch has a number, and SOLIDWORKS has reserved the first 500, so any custom cross hatch you add must start like so *:501:<Name> where “501” being the unique number and “Name” being the name you want to appear in the drop-down list. The entry also needs to start with an asterisk.

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This is the second article from the “What’s Really New in SOLIDWORKS 2016” series, where we continue to extensively test the new functionality introduced in the latest version of SOLIDWORKS.

For the first time in 10 years, SOLIDWORKS added a new relation to the sketch environment and it is really good. It is so useful that for many people this could be the main reason for upgrading to SOLIDWORKS 2016!!!

The new relation (Equal Curve Length) was sorely needed and complements the old Equal relation. The old relation is not very consistent: when applied to 2 lines, the lengths are equal, but when applied to 2 arcs, the diameters are equal.

The new relation establishes the equal length between curves like lines, arcs and splines. At this time it does not work for conics, including ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas. Also, does not work for applying equal length relations between arcs and edges.

Unfortunately, for legacy reasons we now have to live with two relations with similar names, but different functions, dependent on the type of entity they are applied to.

If this would have been the first release of SOLIDWORKS, I imagine that the Equal Length relation would apply to both arcs and lines and would mean exactly that – equal length. Then, there would be a second relation that would apply to arcs and could be called Equal Radius. This way there would be no confusion about the functionality of the 2 relations.

Currently we have the old Equal relation that means something for arcs and something totally different for lines. Moreover, the new Equal Length Curve relation applies to arcs, splines in all situations and only partial to lines. For example, I can apply the new relation to a line and an arc, or a line and a spline but not to two lines. Actually, the moment you have more than one line in your selection (let’s say two lines and one arc), the new relation is no longer available.

While that could be confusing for users that are just moving to 2016, I welcome the new relation. It was sorely needed and am sure its functionality will be further enhanced in future releases. As it is today, it could be a great time saver in consumer goods design, machine design, furniture design, architecture and for setting up motion studies.

One more time, SOlLIDWORKS proved that it listens to its users (this was generated from an ER and an idea submitted to the SOLIDWORKS WORLD Top10 in the past two years by Javelin’s AEs on behalf of Javelin’s Customers).

I will give SOLIDWORKS an 8 out of 10 mark at this time.

Watch the tutorial video to see how well it performs:

Learn more about SOLIDWORKS 2016

To learn other SOLIDWORKS 2016 what’s new tip and tricks you should watch a recording of our recent launch event broadcast.

The post SOLIDWORKS 2016 New “Equal Curve Length” Sketch Relation [TUTORIAL] appeared first on SOLIDWORKS Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

This is the third article from the “What’s Really New in SOLIDWORKS 2016” series, where we continue to extensively test the new functionality introduced by the latest version of SOLIDWORKS.

I always tell my students that the most productive way to use SOLIDWORKS is to pre-select entities and then apply commands from the in-context toolbars. This can easily double the productivity of the average user. SOLIDWORKS 2016 enhances the consistency of this workflow by allowing users to apply dimensions to pre-selected entities.

This might seem like just a tiny change in the SOLIDWORKS User Interface functionality, but it makes so much sense and increases the consistency of the user’s workflow to such a degree that it will be welcomed by all power-users. It will change the way I use dimensions in SOLIDWORKS!!!

As you will see in this video, the new technique integrates very well the pre-select + use of in-context toolbars workflow. I love it!

The functionality is almost flawless. I found only one situation where the order of selection is important, but otherwise it is close to perfection.

I will give SOLIDWORKS a 9.5 out of 10 mark for this great enhancement!

Learn more about SOLIDWORKS 2016

To learn other what’s new tip and tricks like the SOLIDWORKS 2016 Dimensioning Pre-Selected Entities you should watch a recording of our recent launch event broadcast.

The post SOLIDWORKS 2016 Dimensioning Pre-Selected Entities [TUTORIAL] appeared first on SOLIDWORKS Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

If you are in the pool design industry and you manufacture pool liners and covers there is a good chance you have heard of or are using PoolWorks.   If you haven’t heard of PoolWorks then today is your lucky day, PoolWorks is innovative pool design software created by Javelin for the rapid creation of pool liners and covers at a fraction of the time of traditional methods.   PoolWorks utilizes the simple, easy to use toolset of SOLIDWORKS combined with industry leading surface flattening technology from ExactFlat to get an accurate and tight fitting liner or cover everytime.

How does PoolWorks help you to create complex Custom Pools?

While PoolWorks has always been able to create and flatten any pool geometry, no matter how complex, I would like to take some time to go over a great new enhancement to the PoolWorks software, the Template Administrator, which allows you to create your own highly complex pool liners and save them as templates for quick and easy re-use and creation.

The Template Administrator

Here we have a Figure 8 Pool with a Safety Ledge, let’s see how we can use the new Template Administrator to save it as a Template.

Figure 8 Pool with Safety Ledge

First we need to start with a Dig Print or Perimeter Sketch of the pool, these can be sketched in SOLIDWORKS or can be dragged and dropped from your Custom Design Library in SOLIDWORKS

Dig Print for Figure 8 Pool

The next step is to create all the Pool geometry, this may seem like a long process but the average time is around 3 – 4 minutes. When we are finished with the Geometry creation we can navigate to the PoolWorks tab , in SOLIDWORKS, and click the Template Administrator button,

Turning Pool Geometry into a Template

Once the Template Administrator opens you will be prompted to name your pool and start adding driving dimensions that will control your template. You do this by clicking the dimensions that you want to be driving and clicking on the Add Selected Dimension, the software will then prompt you to name the dimension and add it to your template list. You can add Template Dimensions for the Pool and the Hopper as well.

Note : to view dimensions in the model window simply double click on the feature, in the feature tree, to which the dimension is attached

Add Driving Dimensions to your Template

With the Template Administrator you also have the ability to customize the image that is shown when it comes time to add dimensions to the template. Simply click on the image holder, above your selected template dimensions, and the image will be opened in paint. You can edit the image to your liking and save it for use with the template, this is useful for indicating which dimensions are driving which part of your pool model. You can edit an image for both Pool dimension displays as well as Hopper dimension displays.

Edit Display Image

Creating a new Pool design with a template

You are now ready to use the template with PoolWorks, we can now start a new pool and select Use Template.

Create a new Pool

We can then navigate to the project tab and enter our Project Number, Select our project scope and enter or import out Custom Properties.

Enter Project Information

When we proceed to the Pool Data tab we see a brand new folder structure where we can select our new custom template

New Template Folder Structure

Once our Template is selected we can enter all the measurements using our guide image that we customized during the template setup.

Enter values for our Custom Template

All that is left now is to set our shrink factor and press Create Pool

Create the Custom Pool

The custom pool is then created in seconds and is ready for flattening.

Custom Template Created Pool

Learn more about PoolWorks

The new PoolWorks Template Administrator makes complex pool design easy and drastically reduces the time from design to the cutting table.  If you would like to learn more about Poolworks, get pricing, or request a demonstration please visit our PoolWorks site.

The post Make any Complex Pool Design Simple using the New PoolWorks Template Administrator appeared first on SOLIDWORKS Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Okay, sketching lines may not seem like a particularly advanced trick, but there are a few subtle things you can do while sketching a line that can change the behaviour. You are probably already aware that you can create a single line using the click & drag method or multiple lines using the click-click method. Both are described in this blog article if you are not already familiar with it. Something that is less well known is that if you are sketching something, you can use the Ctrl or Shift keys to change how SOLIDWORKS handles this.

For instance, this is a screenshot of me drawing a regular line:

Drawing a horizontal line

Nothing particularly special about that method. You will notice that it displays the length and angle of the line, as well as a yellow Horizontal sketch relation, indicating that if I place the other end of my line here, it will get a sketch relation.

Automatic Relations System Option

However, what if I don’t want that sketch relation to be automatically added. Sure, I can adjust my system settings (Tools > Options, under System Options, Sketch, pick Relations/Snaps from the list and uncheck Automatic Relations), but I’ve already started my line and do not wish to be interrupted.

System Options Automatic Relations

Sketching with Ctrl key

Of course, since I don’t want to go through all that just for this one line, and have to change it back again afterwards; I’m going to use a trick: Hold down the Ctrl key when selecting the second point of the line. Result: No automatic sketch relation. So simple and quick. Go ahead and try it yourself right now and see how easy it is!

Drawing a horizontal line while holding Ctrl

Now generally when there’s a quick trick like this involving Ctrl, Shift, or Alt, there’s another quick trick for the other keys. For the time being (SOLIDWORKS 2016 SP1), it is unclear what, if anything, Alt is supposed to do (likely reserved for some future functionality, so think up some enhancement requests and send them in to SOLIDWORKS).

Sketching with Shift key

As for Shift, if we hold it down while sketching lines, it tends to snap to the grid. The Grid settings can be found in the Document Properties (under Grid/Snap) and for mine, it is set as 100mm for Major Grid Spacing, and 10 minor-lines per major, meaning it should snap every 10mm. Behold:

Drawing a horizontal line while holding Shift

Keep in mind that this doesn’t apply to every kind of sketch relation or dimension (unless I have automatic dimensioning turned on), so it will not define my sketch, but it makes it easier to sketch things to an exact length.

You can also use these methods for other sketch entities. Shift works for Lines, Rectangles (just not Corner or Centre rectangles) Circles, Slots (the centreline of the slot, anyways), and Polygons. Ctrl works for anything that would make a sketch relation.

It is also worth pointing out that you can use Ctrl while dragging in order to drag, say, a line’s endpoint onto another line does not apply a sketch relation, provided that you don’t press Ctrl until you are already dragging the endpoint.

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Perhaps there are times when you want to add a watermark to your SOLIDWORKS Drawing. Let’s say you want to have a “CONFIDENTIAL” stamp on your drawing. When you add a note to your drawing view you may notice that the note covers the drawing lines and dimensions as shown in the figure below:

Note covering drawing

To overcome this problem and display an annotation note behind the elements in your drawing sheet you have to add the note to the sheet format instead. So right click on the drawing and select “Edit Sheet Format” and then insert your note. At this point while your note is still selected you can see under the “Text Format” section of the property manager there is an option called “Behind sheet”. This option instructs SOLIDWORKS to display the annotation note behind drawing objects.

Behind Sheet Note Option

Check the box and then right-click on the drawing sheet again and this time select “Edit sheet”. Now you can see that SOLIDWORKS has moved the note behind your view and as a result it is no longer covering the lines and dimensions in your view:

Text is behind elements and annotations

Learn more about Drawings

To learn more tips and tricks when working with drawings you should attend our SOLIDWORKS Drawings course either online or in a classroom near you.

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Some time ago, I wrote a blog article about how to create a library feature. In it, you will notice that when I create a new part, before I do anything else, I save it as a Library Feature Part. At the time (SolidWorks 2013, I believe), it was necessary to save first, otherwise SOLIDWORKS would delete all the features and I would have to start again. Thankfully, this behaviour was changed (in SOLIDWORKS 2015, I believe), and currently asks you whether or not you want the features deleted with the following message:

“This library feature part may contain features that are not related to selected features. Do you want to create a simplified library feature part that does not include unrelated features? Please note that this may cause rebuild errors in this library feature part.”

Displayed in SOLIDWORKS via this warning message pop-up window:

SOLIDWORKS Library Feature Warning

Wow. That’s quite the novel. It’s been my experience that very few users will be inclined to read a message that long. To simplify, it should say

“Do you want to delete all features?” or “Do you want to create a part that does not include features?”

Here is what the message should look like in SOLIDWORKS:

Fictitious SOLIDWORKS message

Okay, that’s an oversimplification of what it is asking, but if you want a quick answer, chances are it is No. You can always delete the unrelated features later on. So why is it asking this? What does it consider to be an unrelated feature? It would be a simple answer if you could right-click on a feature and choose “Add to Library,” but that function isn’t available until you’ve saved it to a library feature part.

One way you can do this faster is by selecting the features in your feature tree before you save the part. When you do this, it will automatically set those features to Library Features and everything will fall into place. You will still keep the non-library features, but they will not have the little “L” indicating that they are library features. More importantly, you do not get the dialogue question asking you if you want to delete your features. Everything falls into place nicely with this method.

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If you’ve ever created a derived part in SOLIDWORKS before, then you may have come across this dialog window:

Derived Part units dialog

Not an error message

It seems like an error message, but in fact, there is nothing wrong. SOLIDWORKS is just letting you know that your default template (specified in Tools > Options, then under the System Options tab, select Default Templates from the list on the left) has different units than the document that you are using as a source.

For example, if I have a multibody inch part open and I want to use the Save Bodies command (I describe it in this blog article) to make different parts for each body, and my default template is PART-MM (which has mm as default units), then I will receive the dialog message from SOLIDWORKS:

• If I say YES, then the newly created part will use inches.
• If I say NO, then it will be converted to mm.

Note there is also a checkbox for “Don’t show again,” which while I don’t normally recommend using, works well in this case since I will always want to do the same thing every time I run this command.

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Repair SOLIDWORKS

You are likely familiar with the process to repair an installation of SOLIDWORKS, but it is not immediately clear what is happening in the background during this repair. So I’m going to answer the question: “What happens when you repair SOLIDWORKS?”

Repair SOLIDWORKS command

Well, essentially what happens in the background is that it runs the command MSIEXEC.EXE, which is a Microsoft Windows Installer. There are a few options that are set that are specific to repairs. For instance, the command line options would read as follows (don’t run this command, by the way):

msiexec /fpecms solidworks.msi

Of course, there are some follow-up questions. Firstly, where is “solidworks.msi”? What is “fpecms”? And why shouldn’t I run that command from the command prompt?

solidworks.msi file location

The file solidworks.msi can be found in the “swwi\data” folder of your installation files. This is why it is important that you have these files when repairing your SOLIDWORKS installation. You will also know that if you run a repair from the Control Panel (as you should do), it does not ask you for a location. Windows will search in the same location that the installation files were when you installed.

• If you installed from a DVD, then insert the DVD.
• If you installed from a network location, you need to be connected to the network and the installation files need to still exist in that location.
• Same thing if you installed from a local fileset. The path must be the same.

fpecms meaning

So what about the fpecms? Each letter is an option for the msiexec command. They have the following meaning:

f Enables the other options
p Reinstalls only if a file is missing.
e Reinstalls if a file is missing or an equal or older version is installed.
c Reinstalls if a file is missing or the stored checksum does not match the calculated value.
m Rewrites all required computer-specific registry entries.
s Overwrites all existing shortcuts. (this isn't your SOLIDWORKS shortcuts, by the way)

So Windows essentially goes through everything that should be there in your SOLIDWORKS install directory and registry, and overwrites it if it finds something wrong.

So now you have one all-enthralling question: why not run this command from the command prompt?

Well, firstly, there is no real advantage of running it. The repair process takes at least as long to complete when run from the command prompt as from the Control Panel. At the end of the repair process, if you use the command prompt, it will reboot your computer without asking. It will also not ask you which products you want repaired. Finally, it is susceptible to typos if you go through the command prompt and you can accidentally uninstall the program or corrupt your installation.  So don’t run the command from the command prompt, just use the Control Panel!

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