SolidWork 2013 - Drawing Circles And Arcs AND Their Related Option

DRAWING CIRCLES

In SolidWorks, there are two methods to draw circles.

The first method is by specifying the center point of a circle and then defining its radius.

The second method is drawing a circle by defining three points that lie on its periphery.

The tools for drawing a circle are grouped together in the Circle fly-out in the Sketch CommandManager.

Drawing Circles by Defining Their Center Points

CommandManager: Sketch > Circle flyout > Circle

SolidWorks menus: Tools > Sketch Entities > Circle

Toolbar: Sketch > Circle

When you invoke the Circle PropertyManager, the Circle button is chosen by default in the Circle Type rollout. This button is chosen to draw a circle by specifying its center.

Specify the center point of the circle and then move the cursor away from the point to defi ne its radius. The current radius of the circle

will be displayed above the circle cursor. This radius will change as you move the cursor. Click on the drawing area away from the center point to defi ne the radius. This radius can be modifi ed by using the Circle PropertyManager. Also, the coordinates of the center point of the circle can be modifi ed by using the Circle PropertyManager.

Drawing Circles by Defining Three Points

CommandManager: Sketch > Circle flyout > Perimeter Circle

SolidWorks menus: Tools > Sketch Entities > Perimeter Circle

Toolbar: Sketch > Circle flyout > Perimeter Circle

SolidWork 2013 - Sketching Enviroment And How to Sketch A Line and it's Different option

THE SKETCHING ENVIRONMENT

Most of the products designed by using SolidWorks are a combination of sketched, placed, and derived features. The placed and derived features are created without drawing a sketch, but the sketched features require a sketch to be drawn first. Generally, the base feature of any design is a sketched feature and is created using the sketch. Therefore, while creating any design, the first and foremost requirement is to draw a sketch for the base feature.

In general terms, a sketch is defined as the basic contour for a feature.

STARTING A NEW DOCUMENT IN SolidWorks 2013

To start a new document in SolidWorks 2013, select the New Document option from the Getting Started rollout of the SolidWorks Resources task pane; the New SolidWorks Document dialog box will be displayed. You can also invoke this dialog box by choosing

the New button from the Menu Bar.

UNDERSTANDING THE SKETCHING ENVIRONMENT

Whenever you start a new part document, by default, you are in the part modeling environment. But you need to start the design by fi rst creating the sketch of the base feature in the sketching environment. To invoke the sketching environment, choose the Sketch tab from the CommandManager. Next, choose the Sketch button from the Sketch CommandManager tab.

(OR)

In SolidWorks, when you are in the sketching environment, press the S key to invoke the shortcut bar that contains the tools for sketching.

When you choose the Sketch tool from the Sketch CommandManager tab, the Edit Sketch PropertyManager is displayed on the left in the drawing area and you are prompted to select the plane on which the sketch will be created.

Also, the three default planes (Front Plane, Right Plane, and Top Plane) are temporarily displayed on the screen.

You can select a plane to draw the sketch of the base feature depending on the requirement of the design. The selected plane will automatically be oriented normal to the view, so that you can easily create the sketch. Also, the CommandManager will display various sketching tools to draw the sketch.

DRAWING LINES

CommandManager: Sketch > Line

SolidWorks menus: Tools > Sketch Entities > Line

Toolbar: Sketch > Line

SolidWork 2013 - Important Terms And Hot Key For Better Use

IMPORTANT TERMS AND THEIR DEFINITIONS

Before you proceed further in SolidWorks, it is very important to understand the following terms as they have been widely used in the solidwork posts.

Feature-based Modeling

A feature is defi ned as the smallest building block that can be modifi ed individually. In SolidWorks, the solid models are created by integrating a number of these building blocks.

Parametric Modeling

The parametric nature of a software package is defi ned as its ability to use the standard properties or parameters in defi ning the shape and size of a geometry. The main function of this property is to drive the selected geometry to a new size or shape without considering its original dimensions.

Bidirectional Associativity

As mentioned earlier, SolidWorks has different modes such as Part, Assembly, and Drawing. There exists bidirectional associativity among all these modes. This associativity ensures that any modifi cation made in the model in any one of these modes of SolidWorks is automatically reflected in the other modes immediately.

SolidWork 2013 - Different Menus And ToolBar

MENU BAR AND SolidWorks MENUS

SolidWork 2013 - Introduction And How To Start It

Introduction to SolidWorks 2013

INTRODUCTION TO SolidWorks 2013

Welcome to the world of Computer Aided Designing (CAD) with SolidWorks. SolidWorks, developed by the SolidWorks Corporation, USA, is a feature-based, parametric solid-modeling mechanical design and automation software. SolidWorks is the first CAD package to use the Microsoft Windows graphic user interface. The use of the drag and drop (DD) functionality of Windows makes this CAD package extremely easy to learn.

The Windows graphic user interface makes it possible for the mechanical design engineers to innovate their ideas and implement them in the form of virtual prototypes or solid models, large assemblies, subassemblies, and detailing and drafting.

There are  number of software provided by the SolidWorks Corporation, which can be used as Add-Ins with SolidWorks. Some of the software that can be used on SolidWorks’s work platform are listed below:

SolidWorks Animator, PhotoWorks, FeatureWorks, COSMOS/Works, COSMOS/Motion, COSMOS/Flow, eDrawings, CAMWorks, Toolbox,  Mold Base, SolidWorks Piping.

As mentioned earlier, SolidWorks is a parametric, featu re-based, and easy-to-use mechanical design automation software. It enables you to convert the basic 2D sketch into a solid model by using simple but highly effective modeling tools. SolidWorks does not restrict you to 3D solid output, but it extends to the bidirectional associative generative drafting. It also enables you to create the virtual prototype of a sheet metal component and the fl at pattern of the component. This helps you in the complete process planning for designing and creating a press tool. SolidWorks helps you to extract the core and the cavity of a model that has to be molded or cast. With SolidWorks, you can also create complex parametric shapes in the form of surfaces.

Some of the important modes of SolidWorks are discussed below.