SOLIDWORKS LESSON 1

INTRODUCTION TO SOLIDWORKS

Solidworks

It is a mechanical design automation application that lets designers quickly sketch out ideas, experiment with features and dimensions, and produce models and detailed drawings

Part

Is a component in an assembly and it can be presented in 2D in a drawing. Examples of parts are bolt, pin, plate and so on.

SLDPRT

What is the extension filename of Part in SOLIDWORKS

Assembly

A document in which parts, features, and other assemblies (subassemblies) are mated together.

SLDASM

What is the extension filename for assembly in SOLIDWORKS

Parts and Subassemblies

They exist in documents separate from the assembly

Drawing

A 2D representation of a 3D part or assembly.

SLDDRW

What is the extension file name for a SOLIDWORKS drawing

Manager Pane (left side) and Canvas or Graphics Area (Right side)

What are the two panels of Solidworks

Manager Pane

It is located on the left side panel.

Canvas or Graphics Area

an empty area on the right panel wherein you can create and manipulate a part, assembly, or drawing.

3 Axes

It represent the three dimensions ( X,Y,Z)

Search command

it is located on the top most right corner of the window used to easily find tools around the window

Command Manager

Shows the related tools for each Tab. each document type, such as part, assembly, or drawing has different tabs defined for its tasks.

Features tab or Features toolbar

It provides tool for creating models and features

Sketch Tab

It is used for drawing

Menu Bar

It is present at the topmost portion of the SolidWorks user interphase which consist of the quick access tools.

Context Toolbar

appears when you select items in the graphics area or Feature Manager Design tree. This are available for parts, assemblies and sketches.

Head Up View Toolbar

It is present at the top-center corner of the drawing window. This toolbar contains all the tools required for adjusting the different view orientation and visual styles of any components such as zoom, pan, zoom plane and section view.

Section View

Allows you to see different sections of your drawing.

Status bar

Is located at the bottom of the SolidWorks window providing information related to the function you are performing such as sketch status, coordinate information, commonly used measurement unit etc.

Fully Defined

Means that the drawing is not missing any part and are all present in the canvas.

Under Defined

It is when the drawing is missing some parts and there is a need to add some additional relations.

Over Defined

The relation of your drawing is over the expected components it should contain.

Fully Defined, Under Defined and Over Defined

Three Different types of Sketch Status

Coordinate Information

It is the X,Y, and Z of the drawing or sketch.

Sketch Status, Coordinate Information and Measurement Units

What does the status bar contain

Feature Manager Design Tree

Display the outline/structure of the part, assembly, or drawing. You can select items here to edit the underlying sketch, edit the feature, and suppress and unsuppressed the features or component

Property Manager

Provides settings for many functions such as sketches, fillets, features, and assembly mates.

Configuration Manager

It helps to create, select and view multiple configurations of parts and assemblies in a single document.

Shortcut Bars

It is customizable and let you create your own sets of commands for part, assembly, drawing and sketch mode. To access the bars, you press a user-defined keyboard shortcut, by default, the S key.

vertex

Point at which two or more lines or edges intersect.

Edge

location where two or more faces intersect and are joined together.

Origin

Appears as two blue arrows and represents the (0,0) coordinate of the model. When a sketch is active, it usually appears red and represents the (0.0) coordinate of the sketch. You can add dimensions and relations to the model origin, but not the sketch origin

Plane

Is a flat construction geometry. You can use this for adding a 2D sketch, section view of a model, or a neutral in a draft Feature.

Face

Boundaries that help define the shape of a model or a surface. It is a selectable area (planar or nonplanar) of a model or surface. For example, a rectangular solid has six faces.

Axis

Straight line used to create model geometry, features, or patterns. You can create this in different ways, including intersecting two planes.

Handles

used to drag and set parameters dynamically without leaving the graphics area.

Previews

With most features, the graphics area displays a preview of the feature you want to create. This are displayed with features such as base or boss extrudes, cut extrudes, sweeps, lofts, patterns and surfaces.