Jeff's Tool Shed » SolidWorks Tips

Learn SolidWorks, Win an iPad!

Jeff Mirisola — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 18:59:22 +0000

My good friend, Ben Eadie, has a new teaching website (usingsolidworks.com) and to help get things going, he’s giving away a 32GB iPad. Check out the video for all the pertinent info. Using SolidWorks Giveaway Like what you see? Go here to sign up.

SolidWorks Simulation

Jeff Mirisola — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:47:30 +0000

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. …

SolidWorks’ “Creating Animations” Self-Study Guide

Jeff Mirisola — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:56:55 +0000

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 …

Dynamic Mirror

Jeff Mirisola — Wed, 26 May 2010 19:18:54 +0000

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’ …

Toolbars: Yes or No?

Jeff Mirisola — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:28:56 +0000

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 …

SimulationXpress – You can do it!

Jeff Mirisola — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:44:33 +0000

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 …

Tips & Tricks, the sequel

Jeff Mirisola — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:00:09 +0000

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 …

PDMWorks for the solo user?

Jeff Mirisola — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:43:26 +0000

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 …

Just a bunch of random Tips & Tricks

Jeff Mirisola — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:52:05 +0000

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 …

SolidWorks Crashes & Slowdowns – The End

Jeff Mirisola — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:33:27 +0000

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 …