Today, while running a simulation, I saw on Twitter that Roopinder Tara had put up a new blog post titled ‘Practicing FEA Without a License’. Naturally, I surfed on over because, well, the title described me. The gist of his post was that CAD jockeys shouldn’t be doing analysis, it should be left to PE’s. [...]
Aug
25
Aug
01
SolidWorks’ “Creating Animations” Self-Study Guide
Yeah, yeah, boring title, I know. I was pretty limited in my options here, y’know? I suppose I could have gone for some long, convoluted title, but why? I’m mean, when all is said and done, you’re here now aren’t ya? SolidWorks has put out a great self-study guide, but I’m a bit late to [...]
May
26
Dynamic Mirror
Do you know about the Dynamic Mirror tool in SolidWorks? No? Well, stick around and I’ll show you. The Dynamic Mirror tool is a sketch tool that allows you to dynamically mirror (duh) as you’re sketching. To use it, you first have to find it as it’s won’t be on your sketch toolbar, or ‘S’ [...]
May
12
Toolbars: Yes or No?
Warning: this is going to be another of my opinionated posts. I welcome any, and all, well thought out comments. However, should you make things personal, I’ll be forced to call for the immediate removal of all your body hair so that you end up looking like this (yes, it’s safe for work). You have [...]
Mar
12
SimulationXpress – You can do it!
By a show of hands, how many of you have tried SimulationXpress, or any of the ‘Xpress’ products available in SolidWorks? Sure, they’re meant to be like gateway drugs, tempting and teasing you into purchasing the full-blown product, but that doesn’t mean that they’re bad for you. SimulationXpress is a decent, first-pass, analysis tool. It’ll [...]
Dec
16
Tips & Tricks, the sequel
Back in June, I posted a quick SolidWorks T & T post that seemed to be well received, so I figured I’d post another one. ‘Ctrl’+8 will change view to Normal to. Hitting it again will flip to the opposite side. F5 turns your filter toolbar on/off. F6 clears enabled filters. To created geometry without [...]
Dec
15
PDMWorks for the solo user?
I’m the only SolidWorks user in the company and, up until now, haven’t been using PDMWorks. Part of the reason is I don’t trust our server. We’re a small company and the server’s stability worries me. Presently, I have everything on my computer, with a backup on an external hard drive. The only things I [...]
Jun
16
Just a bunch of random Tips & Tricks
I’ve been slammed at work lately, but knew that I should come up with some sort of a post. How about a bunch of random SolidWorks tips & tricks. Holding ‘Ctrl’ and dragging a part in an assembly will copy the part. This is true if you click on the part in the tree or [...]
Jun
09
SolidWorks Crashes & Slowdowns – The End
This is it, the final installment of this critically acclaimed mini-series on SolidWorks Crashes & Slowdowns. Ok, ok, fine, so it received more criticism than anything, but I liked it and that’s what really counts. What do you do when things have come to a grinding halt and you’ve tried all the tricks that you [...]
Jun
01
SolidWorks Crashes & Slowdowns – Part 5
In this week’s post, we’re going to talk a bit about how you go about creating, and working with, assemblies. Remember, these aren’t hard and fast rules, they’re more guidelines. As anyone who has used SolidWorks for any length of time knows, there are multiple ways to get from point A to point B. When [...]