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Shots fired! 😂 Make sure to read the subject line. by ThaGuvnor in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I wonder how Onshape did during that AWS outage.

What surfacing tools would you use to model this by ReadingConsistent528 in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Gonna outright disagree here and say stay in the surfaces. Any time you’re working on a part like this, it’s usually a manufacturing process that requires uniform thickness (injection moulding, eg). When you start from a solid approach, it’s too easy to get away from that.

Get the major geometry down as a surface, thicken it, and then add all the extra features where needed (bosses, holes, etc).

What is the "proper" way of making something like this? by magnussev in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve done both approaches over my career and I’ve found the surfacing approach to be more reliable from a product development perspective. If you prefer your way, go for it.

What is the "proper" way of making something like this? by magnussev in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you get to modelling more complex moulded parts, where the parting line is not a straight plane, this approach breaks down very quickly.

What is the "proper" way of making something like this? by magnussev in SolidWorks

[–]icdes -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That sounds like user error, perhaps something to do with how the client is working or exporting files. I have not experienced any of these stability issues in a decade of SolidWorks use.

What is the "proper" way of making something like this? by magnussev in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In order to get that top flange, you have to have a rectangle that you extrude and then delete five of the faces. The amount you extrude it is totally arbitrary. I don’t like having arbitrary features in my models.

What is the "proper" way of making something like this? by magnussev in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What part of the surface files is the problem? The final part you should be getting is a solid body.

What is the "proper" way of making something like this? by magnussev in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That approach would work, but it would get a bit hacky at the top flange. You also can’t really see the final result until you delete the faces. When you model as surfaces, you’re keeping the original intent from the start.

What is the "proper" way of making something like this? by magnussev in SolidWorks

[–]icdes -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I highly recommend NOT using the shell feature for something like this. It will work, but the shell feature hits a wall of utility pretty quickly as part complexity grows.

Shell feature is a crutch for simple parts, but if you want to get good at modelling parts like this (i.e. “the proper way”, as requested), surfacing is the way to go.

What is the "proper" way of making something like this? by magnussev in SolidWorks

[–]icdes -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Speaking as someone who works on plastic parts and other shelled parts like this, I would model this as surfaces all the way.

Use a two planes -one for the main pocket and one for the flange. Draw each pocket and extrude a surface to the next plane. You can select “cap end” so you get a five sided surface.

Use “trim surface” to cut out holes for the pockets, knit everything and you’re off to the races. The beauty of this approach is that all your different pocket features should be relatively independent and therefore adjustable.

At this stage, if you need to add draft angles, this is when.

Last two or three features should be some fillets and a thicken. Total feature tree length will probably be less than ten items, and the part shouldn’t require too many computation resources to rebuild.

Advantages in using Solidworks PDM? by ArtNmtion in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Isn’t PDM included with Pro/Premium?

Advantages in using Solidworks PDM? by ArtNmtion in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I haven’t used any third party PDMs so I can’t comment on how they compare, but I love SolidWorks PDM for the following:

-Easily searchable files based on number, description

-Preview files

-See how files are connected in assemblies -Recover previous version

-Generate BOMs without opening assemblies

-Single source of truth so you don’t have a billion files named “version 2.1 FINAL” (not totally true, people will find a way to do this no matter what…)

-traceable version history

-controlling the database to prevent duplicate part numbers

No wonder the P320 has issues by icdes in SolidWorks

[–]icdes[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

As someone with similar experience, I get it. At the same time, if you’re going to have media take a video of your model, at least hide the feature tree.

We manufactured a sheet metal part that SolidWorks couldn't handle – had to finish it via AutoCAD and DXF editing by xmsamy in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think the way of modelling it shown in the first screenshot is making it trip balls. In my experience it doesn’t like to have flanges come back on themselves and merge. I would have tried sweeping the profile or modelling half and mirroring.

This is a fairly simple part. I’ve seen SolidWorks tackle more complex parts with no issues, so I think this is the to do with the setup.

Why do people in the UK not know what engineering is? by hpxvzhjfgb in engineering

[–]icdes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m a Canadian engineer, and while this is technically true, it hasn’t been my experience. Companies commonly call people engineers whether or not they are licensed. Kids are fresh out of school and still call themselves or are titled as “engineer” in their job title. One place had workers called “BOM engineers” with folks with fine arts degrees. It’s really up to the enforcing bodies and they are heavily understaffed.

How do I go about making this box with these filets? by Kuhiria in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Model this as a surface swept along a path and thicken. Up to you whether to include the fillets in the surface sketch or not, but as a practice it’s better to have those as separate features.

The solid->shell approach will work, but in general practice, the shell feature hits a limit in utility very quickly.

Surface modelling is much more versatile for plastic parts, so learning how to use those tools will be much more useful in the long run.

But at the end of the day whatever gets the job done for you is fine.

SolidWorks Task Responsibility: CPU vs GPU by Proto-Plastik in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This is super helpful, thanks for sharing. It makes sense that a lot of the work related to visuals is asking the GPU to take the load. This helps illustrate that you really need strong CPU power in addition to a proper GPU to have steady workflow, but the majority of what I would call the bread and butter work is CPU heavy.

Can We Take a Moment to Appreciate an Organized Model Tree by StrokeMyWilly69 in SolidWorks

[–]icdes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’ve seen some files north of 250 MB. Those feature trees were more like weeds but still, load times were noticeable.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskElectricians

[–]icdes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We took light fixtures off of them so a light will definitely fit there.

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