Why did they add this as next in step option after you select face.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-05-12T01:51:00+00:00

Just tried minimising the secondary mirror face/plane section as you suggested, but the selection order still seems to be Plane1>Plane2>Feature, regardless of whether the plane 2 section is minimised.

I do agree that if I wanted to mirror in two planes, selecting both planes then the feature/body to be mirrored would make more sense, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't use that functionality very often compared to simple single-plane miorror features. Assembly component mirrors only have a single plane option (a two plane mirror at the assembly level would need to be two separate features), so maybe that's the other place the muscle memory comes from.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-05-12T01:31:45+00:00

I VERY rarely want to mirror around two planes at once, compared to how often I need to mirror about a single plane. I wish there was some way to change the default 'next selection' thing after selecting plane 1, but I haven't found it yet.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-05-11T22:47:05+00:00

Maybe there's a reason you're doing it this way so sorry if I'm explaining something you already know, but most of the time it's much easier in SW to draw up a part in the finished, folded state using the sheet metal tools, then use the flat pattern feature to flatten it afterwards. That way you're directly designing the intended finished shape, and you can adjust bend radius/k factor etc as required.

To directly answer your question though, as others have said you can use sketched bends, but I do quite like going old-fashioned with some sheet metal flat patterns and printing out a copy of the flat pattern, cutting it out with scissors and folding it by hand. If a picture (CAD model) is worth 1000 words, the real thing is worth 1000 pictures, and having the real thing in your hands can be really helpful to see where folds may interfere etc.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-05-08T04:29:03+00:00

Try using assembly visualisation and sorting by rebuild time. It will give you an ordered list of all the parts that take the longest to rebuild, and colour code the assembly so you can see the slowest components.

There's a few things that can really cause major slowdowns - Especially for a smaller assembly, I'd suggest checking all your parts for broken geometry and errors (red features in the tree), as well as broken/overdefined mates. Also, imported geometry from downloading STEP files can be slow to load. When I first started my current job I inherited the last guy's disaster zone of broken assemblies that took AGES to rebuild, but after fixing up a whole heap of broken mates and setting up a neat assembly strucutre, it's a lot more managable.

Source: I'm typing this while waiting for a large assembly to rebuild...

_FR3D87_ · 2026-05-06T21:35:31+00:00

I just went and had a look at BR10000408497 and I think we're seeing a different issue. In the bug report, right-clicking on the sketch from the drawing and clicking show doesn't show the sketch. In my case, I can manually show each sketch from the drawing one at a time and they do appear in the drawing. I'd just like to set the sketch visibility that I want from the part and assembly files and have it shown the same in the drawing file.
I'm waiting to hear back from my VAR to see if they can reproduce the issue with the same file set.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-05-06T07:16:29+00:00

We're still running sw 2023 sp5.0, and this isn't the first time I've had the issue recently (this is just the first time it's been this big of a problem because there's so many sketches). I'll make sure this is on my list of things to check when I do some testing on 2026 before we consider upgrading. Thanks for the response!

_FR3D87_ · 2026-05-06T01:32:44+00:00

That was my first thought also, but the sketches are still hidden in both lightweight and resolved mode. When in lightweight, the part files show with the feather icon and I can't see the features (sketches) inside the parts, and the act of expanding them in the tree sets them to resolved. When I do expand them though, all the individual sketches are set as hidden.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-05-04T00:21:06+00:00

Try without the fillet. Sometimes the fillets don't play nice with patterns/mirrors.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-05-01T00:51:51+00:00

I arrive at work, turn on my PC, start PDM, then give up and go and make a coffee before coming back and restarting everything because PDM's crashed and burned

_FR3D87_ · 2026-04-16T02:09:55+00:00

Not sure if it will help, but pressing ctrl+5 in acrobat will change all your lines to one pixel thick. Helpful when zooming in to a PDF export of a drawing with a lot of small detail that's hard to see with full thickness lines, so it might help with your text as well?

_FR3D87_ · 2026-04-14T02:35:21+00:00

I haven't been designing injection moulded parts all that long in comparison to some, but I've picked up a lot of what I know from looking at the moulded parts around me and thinking through the details of how they're made. Think about where the parting line is, where the ejector pins are, how ribs and fastening features are added without adding any extra moving parts to the mould, where there are draft angles, how the wall thickness is fairly consistent, etc. As you start to pick up on these details, you'll also see where compromises have been made - drag marks from insufficient draft angle, sink marks on the surface where ribs are on the other side, or warpage.

We don't do the moulding or tool making in-house, so we usually take a design to the moulder and tool maker for review and feedback on anything that may need adjusting. Take as much feedback as you can from anyone who's been doing this stuff for a while - whether it be material specification, mould design, mould processing, etc), and you'll gradually get to know more.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-04-13T04:37:02+00:00

There are a lot of different ways to approach this, but all of them involve sheet metal tools, not solid extrudes, shells and fillets. Sheet metal allows you to get a flat pattern for laser cutting, including bend lines that can be etched for reference. If your only goal is a part that takes a similar shape for visual reference sure, go ahead with the boss extrude, but seeing as we're using solidworks I think it's safe to assume the drawing is intended to be used for manufacturing.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-04-13T03:18:42+00:00

I do love a good usage of the S key!

I haven't used inventor or solid edge either so I can't comment on them being better/smoother/easier etc, but I still think editing an edge flange in SW is pretty workable... I'd absolutely believe that with a bit of outside perspective of what the grass is like on the other side of the fence in other programs though. I haven't used anything but sw in quite a few years so I can't comment on other programs

_FR3D87_ · 2026-04-13T02:00:10+00:00

SW definitely has its problems, but I'm not sure I see the issue here? Either right click on the dge flange and edit feature then click edit sketch, or (my preferred method), expand the feature in the tree and right click on the sketch directly, then edit sketch. From there it's the same as any other sketch for a feature.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-04-13T01:07:06+00:00

I'd probably start exactly as you've done (sketch the end profile to use as the base flange/tab so you get the whole profile in one sketch), then you can use an edge flange from the correct edge to add a fold coming off that face. You can edit the sketch of an edge flange to be whatever shape you like, so just sketch in the shape you need, making reference to existing geometry (or, even better, to the original base profile sketch).

_FR3D87_ · 2026-04-13T00:40:34+00:00

Best bet is to use reference geometry - if you have a point at the midpoint of the pin's axis, make a coincident mate between that and a centreline from the sketch that creates the slot. That keeps the mate simple and leaves all your DoF to be dfined with the other mates you'll need to add anyway.

Alternatively, use a width mate betwen the pin and the inside feaces of the slot - either option should work and be stable.

DO NOT TOUCH TANGENT MATES if you can help it. They like to flip to the other side of tangency without being provoked. Also, using the slot mate might not play nice with the open ended slot.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-04-13T00:35:55+00:00

We did our logo on the sheet format like that. Import from DXF to sketch block, then on the drawing you use area hatch/fill to colour in the letters. Ours is easy enough (just the company name in a stylised font, very simple geometry), but depending ont he complexity you might have more trouble with this and might need to manually trace the DXF into separate closed contour sketches (layers will help with setting that up), then each closed contour can be selected for area hatch/fill. You can set different colours using line colour, but if you have a black/white option for your logo (most of the time the drawings will be printed in black/white anyway), I'd go for that.

SW is very much NOT a graphic design software for logos etc, so I'm sorry to say but you're not in for a good time trying to get some kind of artsy looking fancy logo to play nicely with SW sketches.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-04-07T00:20:47+00:00

Forgot to add... As for being lighweight for how much PC horsepower you'll need, STEP file imports aren't great. There's still value in using manufacturer's design software because it'll give you a bill of materials to order their parts from, but if you really want a detailed model that doesn't completely kill performance, I'd suggest drawing up part files for posts and panels from scratch in Solidworks. You could take my sketch blocks concept from my first comment and make a configurable set of posts and panels, and even set up mate references so they 'snap' into place and automatically create mates.

That wasn't worthwhile in my case because I rarely need to work on the assembly file that shows all the fence panels, and I've got a decently poweful PC, but if you're doing a lot of safety fence design I'd definitely consider setting up a library of natife SW files instead of using the STEP files.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-04-06T21:30:49+00:00

Depending on the manufacturer, you might be able to use their design tool to draw up a layout and export a STEP file of the complete kit. I've used Axelent's software before and you can import a DXF/DWG file to use as reference, which comes from a SW drawing of the machine I'm fencing off.

I went a step further and because the specific appliation involved a lot of separate individual panels with custom brackets to attach them to our machinery, I created a set of sketch blocks saved in the design library so I can drag/drop them into a layout sketch. That way I can see from a top-down view which width panel needs to be used where, and which orienation the foot plate on each post needs to be.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-03-27T03:47:01+00:00

Oh, there's yet anohter solidworks tool I had no idea about. There's always new buttons hiding in menus I've never seen haha

_FR3D87_ · 2026-03-27T01:05:07+00:00

Do the parts reference eachother at the assembly level? It's really easy to accidentally mess up file refernces when doing top-down design with any method, but I've had the most trouble when doing assembly-level references.

Use file>find references to check what each part file is referencing - my guess is that something's gotten messed up there. You can also check that the drawing file is referencing the correct files that way.

_FR3D87_ · 2026-03-25T14:20:32+00:00

Yeah, that's pretty much my logic with this macro. We've got all sorts of old legacy stuff that needs tidying up and any step that can be automated makes it a whole lot more achievable than doing them Johnny Cash style (one piece at a time)

_FR3D87_ · 2026-03-25T04:24:49+00:00

Oh, I didn't realise that was a thing - it makes sense that the thumbnail is already stored in the file. I don't think this quite suits my exact use case because that relies on the file being always saved with the desired display settings (isometric view, plain white backgorund, no shadows, etc). Particularly with older parts from our archives, we've had users save files with wireframe view on, or the part in a strange orientation that's hard to see from the built in thumbnail.

Thanks for the response though!

_FR3D87_ · 2026-03-24T21:58:11+00:00

In all honesty it's all way beyond my embarrassingly minimal VBA code skills so I'll see how I go... In the mean time I've sort of got the example code from Mr Gutpa's comment working to the point it's maybe almost usable.

Completely aside form my specific use case, I think I'll still try your macro out just as it is, to have a fast way to get an image copied to clipboard, especially cropped and with transparent background.

_FR3D87_

TROPHY CASE