Top 10 SolidWorks Dos and Donts

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Top 10 SolidWorks Dos and Donts

• Stan Sweet
• Custom Automation Manager
• TDS Automation

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Company Profile

• Established in 1975 as General Machine Tool,
  acquired Tool, Die, and Custom Automation portion
  in 2003
• Merged with Doerfer Engineering in 2004
• Located in Waverly, Iowa with 185,000 Sq. Ft.
  Floor Space
• Engineering Manufacturing Of
• Assembly Systems
• Process Equipment
• Material Handling Systems
• Packaging Equipment
• Tool Die Systems
• Metal Forming/Processing Lines
• Weld Fixturing and Robotic Welding Systems

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Do The Simplest Thing That Could Possibly Work

• If it is not useful or necessary, free yourself
  from imagining that you need to make it.
• If it is useful and necessary, free yourself from
  imagining that you need to enhance it by adding
  what is not an integral part of its usefulness or
  necessity.
• And finally If it is both useful and necessary
  and you can recognize and eliminate what is not
  essential, then go ahead and make it as
  beautifully as you can.
• the rule of thumb for Shaker creations, from
  ShakerBuilt by Paul Rochleau June Sprigg

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You Aren't Gonna Need It

• "Always implement things when you actually need
  them, never when you just foresee that you need
  them."
• You save time, because you avoid designing things
  that you turn out not to need.
• Your design is better, because you avoid
  polluting it with 'guesses' that turn out to be
  more or less wrong but stick around anyway.
• An Extreme Programming tenant. www.c2.com

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Top 10 Dos and Don'ts

• Based on a comp.cad.solidworks newsgroup thread
  What Are The "TOP 10 DON'T DO'S" of SolidWorks
  in April 2002 by Jon Miller
• as compared to modeling, best practices, file
  management, sketching, drawing, mating, relating,
  user grouping, you get the idea.....
• Avoiding PowerPoint Torment
• Based on a Family Feud format
• Interactive session

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Top 10 Dos and Don'ts
Do Capture Your Design Intent
-1-
-2-
Do Use Lots of Subassemblies
-3-
Dont Delete When You Can Edit
-4-
Dont Duplicate File Names
-5-
Do Use Templates
-6-
Dont Use Default Settings
-7-
Dont Put Up With Slow Hardware
-8-
Do Use a PDM System
-9-
Do Keep Learning
-10-
Maybe?

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DoCapture Your Design Intent

• Limit the scope of features
• Define what is important
• Function versus fabrication
• Control the position of the origin
• Primary planes for mating
• Symmetry
• Annotate profusely
• O

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DoUse Lots of Subassemblies

• Easier to collaborate
• Increases performance
• O

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DontDelete When You Can Edit

• Sketch Lines
• Dimension Leaders
• External References
• Mates
• O

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DontDuplicate File Names

• SolidWorks uses the most convenient file.
• PDM systems enforce unique naming
• O

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DoUse Templates

• Part, Drawing, Assembly
• Part Libraries
• Feature Palettes
• Skeleton Parts
• Layout Sketches
• O

12
DontUse Default Settings

• Default settings are sales tool
• Big performance hit
• Windows Defaults
• SolidWorks Defaults
• O

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DontPut Up With Slow Hardware

• Optimize for performance
• Importance
• Processor
• Memory
• Graphics card
• O

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DoUse a PDM System

• Collaboration
• File Management
• Stable filenames encourage in-context relations
• No temporary copies required
• Reuse
• Focus

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DoUse a PDM System

• We where constantly overfilling work, renaming
  improperly, breaking in-context relations,
  releasing wrong revisions, and re-inventing the
  wheel due to difficulty in retrieving existing
  data.
• To summarize I do not know how we survived
  without out it. It is the single most important
  and cost saving tool we have utilized.
• O

Mike DuBois 3D Design Lead Wright Industries
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DoKeep Learning

• New features
• Training, CSWP
• User groups
• Internal
• External
• Drawing standards manual
• comp.cad.solidworks
• O

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Maybe?Contentious Items

• Avoid configurations, use separate files
• Design tables
• Configurations for hardware lengths
• Sketch fillets versus fillet features
• Subtractive versus Additive modeling
• Be consistent within your organization
• O

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Top 10 SolidWorks Dos and Donts
Thanks for attending!

• Stan Sweet
• Custom Automation Manager
• TDS Automation
• stan.sweet_at_tdsautomation.com

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Slide Title Text Treatment Arial 28 pt Bold

• First level bullet text, 28 pt, Arial
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• Second level bullet size 24pt Arial
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Color Scheme
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