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

Lines are one of the basic sketching entities available in SolidWorks. In general terms, a line is defi ned as the shortest distance between two points.

To draw a line in the sketching environment of SolidWorks, invoke the Line tool from the Sketch CommandManager; the Insert Line PropertyManager will be displayed. You can also invoke the Line tool by pressing the "L" key.

The Message rollout of the Insert Line PropertyManager informs you to edit the settings of the next line or sketch a new line. The options in this PropertyManager can be used to set the orientation and other sketching options to draw a line. All these options are discussed below.

Orientation Rollout

The Orientation rollout is used to define the orientation of the line to be drawn.

By default, the As sketched radio button is selected, so you can draw the line in any orientation.

If you need to draw only horizontal lines, select the Horizontal radio button. On selecting this radio button, the Parameters rollout will be displayed and you can specify the length of the line in the Length spinner provided in this rollout.  After specifying the parameters, choose the start point and the endpoint in succession to create the horizontal line. Choose OK twice to exit the Line tool.

Similarly, to draw a vertical line, select the Vertical radio button, specify the parameters in the Parameters rollout, and then choose the start point and the endpoint in succession.

The Angle radio button is selected to draw lines at a specifi ed angle. When you select this radio button, the Parameters rollout will be displayed, where you can set the values of the length of the line and the angle or the orientation of the line.

Options Rollout

Select the For construction check box available in this rollout to draw a construction line.

To draw an line of infinite length, select the Infinite length check box.

 On selecting the As sketched radio button in the Orientation rollout, you can draw lines by using two methods.

The first method is to draw continuous lines and the second method is to draw individual lines. Both these methods are discussed next.

Drawing Continuous Lines

This is the default method of drawing lines.

In this method, you have to specify the start point and the endpoint of the line using the left mouse button. As soon as you specify the start point of the line, the Line Properties PropertyManager will be displayed. The options in the Line Properties PropertyManager will not be available at this stage. After specifying the start point, move the cursor away from it and specify the endpoint of the line using the left mouse button. A line will be drawn between the two points.

You will also notice that the line has filled squares at the two ends. The line will be displayed in light blue color because it is still selected. Move the cursor away from the endpoint of the line and you will notice that another line is attached to the cursor. The start point of this line is the endpoint of the last line and the length of this line can be increased or decreased by moving the cursor. This line is called a rubber-band line as this line stretches like a rubber-band when you move the cursor. The point that you specify next on the screen will be taken as the endpoint of the new line and a line will be drawn such that the endpoint of the first line is taken as the start point of the new line and the point you specify is taken as the endpoint of the new line. Now, a new rubber-band line is displayed starting from the endpoint of the last line. This is a continuous process and you can draw a chain of as many continuous lines as needed by specifying the points on the screen using the left mouse button.

You can exit the process of drawing continuous line by pressing the ESC key, or by double-clicking on the screen, or by invoking the Select tool from the Menu Bar. You can also right-click to display the shortcut menu and choose the End chain or Select option to exit the Line tool.

When you terminate the process of drawing a line by double-clicking on the screen or by choosing End chain from the shortcut menu, the current chain ends but the Line tool still remains active. As a result, you can draw other lines. However to exit the Line tool, you can choose Select from the shortcut menu.

Drawing Individual Lines

This is the second method of drawing lines. This method is used to draw individual lines in which the start point of the new line will not necessarily be the endpoint of the previous line.

To draw individual lines, you need to press and hold the left mouse button to specify the start point, and then drag the cursor without releasing the mouse button. Once you have dragged the cursor to the endpoint, release the left mouse button; a line will be drawn between the two points.

To make the sketching process easy in SolidWorks, you are provided with the PropertyManager. The PropertyManager is a table that will be displayed on the left of the screen as soon as you select the first point of any sketched entity. The PropertyManager has all parameters related to the sketched entity such as the start point, endpoint, angle, length, and so on.

Drawing Tangent or Normal Arcs Using the Line Tool

SolidWorks allows you to draw tangent or normal arcs originating from the endpoint of the line while drawing continuous lines.

To draw such arcs, draw a line by specifying the start point and the endpoint. Move the cursor away from the endpoint of the last line to display the rubber-band line.

Now, when you move the cursor back to the endpoint of the last line, the arc mode will be invoked. The angle and the radius of the arc will be displayed above the arc cursor. You can also invoke the arc mode by right-clicking and choosing Switch to arc from the shortcut menu or pressing the A key on the keyboard.

To draw a tangent arc, invoke the arc mode by moving the cursor back to the endpoint of the last line. Now, move the cursor through a small distance along the tangent direction of the line; a dotted line will be drawn. Next, move the cursor in the direction in which the arc should be drawn. You will notice that a tangent arc is drawn. Specify the endpoint of the tangent arc using the left mouse button.

To draw a normal arc, invoke the arc mode. Next, move the cursor through a small distance in the direction normal to the line and then move it in the direction of the endpoint of the arc; the normal arc will be drawn. As soon as the endpoint of the tangent or the normal arc is defi ned, the line mode will be invoked again. You can continue drawing lines using the line mode or move the cursor back to the endpoint of the arc to invoke the arc mode.

If the arc mode is invoked by mistake while drawing lines, you can cancel the arc mode and invoke the line mode again by pressing the "A" key. Alternatively, you can right-click and choose Switch to Line from the shortcut menu or move the cursor back to the endpoint and press the left mouse button to invoke the line mode.

Drawing Construction Lines or Centerlines

CommandManager: Sketch > Line flyout > Centerline

SolidWorks menus: Tools > Sketch Entities > Centerline

Toolbar: Sketch > Line flyout > Centerline

The construction lines or the centerlines are the ones that are drawn only for the aid of sketching.

 You can draw a construction line similar to the sketched line by using the Centerline tool. You will notice that when you draw a construction line, the For construction check box in the Options rollout of the Line Properties PropertyManager is selected. You can also draw a construction line using the Line tool. To do so, invoke the Insert Line PropertyManager by choosing the Line tool, select the For construction check box in the Options rollout, and draw the line.

Drawing the Lines of Infinite Length

SolidWorks allows you to draw lines of infi nite length. Note that these lines can be drawn only if the Line or Centerline tool is invoked. To draw lines of infi nite length, invoke the Insert Line PropertyManager and then select the Infi nite length check box available in the Options rollout of this PropertyManager. Next, specify two points in the drawing area; a line of infi nite length will be drawn.

To convert the solid infi nite length line to a construction infi nite length line, you need to select the For construction check box in the Options rollout of the Line Properties PropertyManager. You can also set the angle value for infi nite lines in the Angle spinner available in the Parameters rollout of this PropertyManager.

When you select a line, a pop-up toolbar will be displayed. Choose the Construction Geometry option from this toolbar to convert the line into a construction line.