01_080139 ffirs.qxp 3/26/07 3:14 PM Page iii SolidWorks 2007 Bible Matt Lombard www.it-ebooks.info ® 01_080139 ffirs.qxp 3/26/07 3:14 PM Page ii www.it-ebooks.info 01_080139 ffirs.qxp 3/26/07 3:14 PM Page i SolidWorks 2007 Bible ® www.it-ebooks.info 01_080139 ffirs.qxp 3/26/07 3:14 PM Page ii www.it-ebooks.info 01_080139 ffirs.qxp 3/26/07 3:14 PM Page iii SolidWorks 2007 Bible Matt Lombard www.it-ebooks.info ® 01_080139 ffirs.qxp 3/26/07 3:14 PM Page iv SolidWorks® 2007 Bible Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-0-470-08013-9 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600 Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S at (800) 762-2974, outside the U.S at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002 Library of Congress Control Number: 2007924101 Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission SolidWorks is a registered trademark of SolidWorks Corporation All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books www.it-ebooks.info 01_080139 ffirs.qxp 3/26/07 3:14 PM Page v About the Author Matt Lombard holds a mechanical engineering degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York Matt has worked as a design and manufacturing engineer in the medical and microelectronics industries Currently, through his company Dezignstuff, he works mainly as a consumer product modeling consultant and technical writer Before becoming an engineer, Matt went to music school for two years and performed with the Navy band for four years He still plays in local community groups for fun Having grown up in the Adirondack Mountains of northeastern New York, he now calls the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia home www.it-ebooks.info 01_080139 ffirs.qxp 3/26/07 3:14 PM Page vi This work is dedicated to my grandparents, Earl “Boots” Woods and Mildred “Mid” Woods, who taught me that the value of hard work goes beyond the numbers on a paycheck Credits Acquisitions Editor Jenny Watson Project Coordinator Lynsey Osborn Project Editor Martin V Minner Graphics and Production Specialists Stacie Brooks Denny Hager Jennifer Mayberry Barbara Moore Heather Pope Technical Editor Richard Doyle Copy Editor Marylouise Wiack Quality Control Technicians Laura Albert Brian Walls Editorial Manager Robyn Siesky Proofreading Aptara Business Manager Amy Knies Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Richard Swadley Vice President and Publisher Barry Pruett Indexing Aptara Cover Design Michael Trent Cover Illustration Joyce Haughey www.it-ebooks.info 02_080139 ftoc.qxp 3/26/07 3:17 PM Page vii Preface xxiii Acknowledgments xxvii Part I: SolidWorks Basics Chapter 1: Getting Familiar with SolidWorks Understanding Feature-Based Modeling Understanding History-Based Modeling Sketching with Parametrics Understanding Design Intent 14 Editing Design Intent 15 View, Sketch Relations 15 Display/Delete Relations 15 Suppressed Sketch Relations 16 Working with Associativity 16 Summary 16 Chapter 2: Navigating the SolidWorks Interface 19 Identifying Elements of the SolidWorks Interface 20 Toolbars 21 Menus 46 Cursors 50 FeatureManager and PropertyManager windows 51 Task pane 53 Status bar 54 2D Command Line Emulator 55 Making the Interface Work for You 56 Customizing colors 56 Customization strategies 56 Working with multiple-document windows 61 Tutorial: Getting to Know the Interface 63 Tutorial goals 64 Copy the existing settings 64 Set all interface items to their default settings 65 Customizing the CommandManager 66 Customizing menus 68 vii www.it-ebooks.info 02_080139 ftoc.qxp 3/26/07 3:17 PM Page viii Contents Change interface colors 69 Adding hotkeys 70 Combining macros with hotkeys 71 Summary 71 Chapter 3: Getting Started with SolidWorks 73 Tools for Beginners 73 SolidWorks license agreement 74 Welcome to SolidWorks 74 Quick Tips 75 Online documentation 77 Hardcopy documentation 78 Identifying SolidWorks Documents 79 Document types 79 Saving your setup 80 Templates 81 Opening Existing Documents 85 Opening a document 86 Understanding file references 87 Using Visualization Tools 89 Changing the view 89 Using color and optical properties 100 Tutorial: Creating a Part Template 102 Tutorial: Visualization Techniques 105 Summary 109 Chapter 4: Working with Sketches 111 Opening a Sketch 112 Identifying Sketch Entities 113 The Sketch toolbar 113 The Dimensions/Relations toolbar 132 Inferencing in Sketch 135 Exploring Sketch Settings 137 Using Sketch Blocks 138 Tutorial: Learning to Use Sketch Relations 140 Tutorial: Using Blocks and Belts 143 Summary 145 Chapter 5: Creating Simple Parts, Assemblies, and Drawings 147 Asking the Right Questions 147 Is the part symmetrical? 148 What are the primary or functional features? 148 In what ways is the part likely to change? 148 What is the manufacturing method? 149 Will there be secondary operations? 149 Will there be other versions? 150 viii www.it-ebooks.info ... 3:14 PM Page i SolidWorks 2007 Bible ® www.it-ebooks.info 01_080139 ffirs.qxp 3/26/07 3:14 PM Page ii www.it-ebooks.info 01_080139 ffirs.qxp 3/26/07 3:14 PM Page iii SolidWorks 2007 Bible Matt Lombard... 3/26/07 3:18 PM Page xxiii W elcome to the SolidWorks 2007 Bible This book has been written as a desk reference for beginning and intermediate SolidWorks users SolidWorks is such an immense software... ffirs.qxp 3/26/07 3:14 PM Page iv SolidWorks 2007 Bible Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc.,