Quick tips & tricks>> Keyboard's shortcut

Do you know you can use shortcut key when desiging with SolidWorks? Example, G if for magnifying glass, F for Zoom to Fit.

Do you know you can customize your SolidWorks with your own shortcut key? To customize your favourite shortcut, go to tools> customize> keyboard. Pick your features & select your key.

But I'm wondering, how can I remember which feature go with which alphabet? To help you on that, I have a tricks. All you need is a colour printer, scissor, double side tape, transparent tape & ...

ALL THE SOLIDWORKS FEATURES' ICON ~ (you may use mine)

5 simple steps to allow you design better products in shorter time:-

Step 1: copy all the icon and then print it out with colour.

Step 2: Apply transparent tape on top of the icons.

Step 3: Apply double side tape at the back of the icons.

Step 4: Cut the icon that you plan to stick to your keyboard.

Step 5: At last, stick it to your keyboard button!

Isn't it simple? Now you know where to find your shortcut key when designing your creative idea to share with us. Happy trying! :)

~sew~

Can you model this>> Sport Rim

I saw a good tutorial about techniques to model automotive sport rim last weekend, so i created my own version of tutorial on modeling an automotive sport rim and share with you. :-)

Throughout the process of modeling we will only use some simple features which are revolve, cut revolve, cut extrude and circular pattern. Yes, just 4 simple features with some sketches, you can create your own custom design wheel, probably one for your own car.

To start off, open a new part file with MM unit and create a new sketch on front plane. Draw the basic shape of the rim profile as below (dimension it and make sure you draw a centerline that cut across the origin in y axis.)

Then add fillets to sharp corners, you can choose the radius you prefer but in this tutorial, i use R10 and R25 respectively. (please see the diagram below for better understanding)

This sketch will be the profile of your rims, revolve the rim profile for 360 degree to create this first feature. Pick the centerline of sketch as the center of revolve.

In order the modeling the spoke pattern, here i create a sketch at right plane and draw a cutting profile that look like diagram below. Here i'd planned to create a 7 spokes rim, so the angle that i use is pretty odd (51.43 degree), you can manipulate the angle to control the number of spokes that you wish to create for this project.

Use cut extrude to remove the material to reveal the spokes of rim. By then, you should have something looks like this. :-)

For every sport rim, it must have some nuts holes to tight it to drive shaft (i guess only.....). Some car have 4 nuts holes, some have 5 holes (especially for bigger capacity car.....)

I'd sketched the nut hole profile with dimension on Front plane and use cut revolve feature to remove the additional material.

Next step, we will create a circular pattern to create the rest of the spoke and nut holes. All you have to do here is to select the number instances for spokes and nut holes.

Here i choose 7 for spokes and 5 for nut holes and the end result looks like this.

Last but not least, the rim itself....

Start a sketch on Front plane again, create a sketch as below......(i am too lazy to write down detail in words....so i think 1 pictures can saves a thousand words.....)

Revolve 360 degree........and That's it.....

As usual, i will use Photoview 360 to render this rim....

Actually,this rim might looks like a ordinary rim that we have in our local market and nothing so special about this rim. But my main intention is not to create a tutorial about how to model a sport rim. What really interest me is to see how you can create your own designed rim after reading mine in this blog.

Here again, i took the initiative to design another type of rim that looks total different from the first one. But the approach is the almost same.....this is a deviation of the first design!!

.

If you have time to create your own rim (i'm sure you have time since it only takes about 15 mins to complete this tutorial.... :-), please share with us. you can send your rim to felicia@cadcam.com.my and she will help you in publishing your design.

.

I am looking forward to see some great designs from you.

.

.

.

~ah lau~

Indonesia SolidWorks Community

Today i would like to share with every member about “Indonesia SolidWorks Community” -solidworksindonesia.blogspot.com, the community share different type of information, design, Tips and tricks, etc.

Recently I saw a good sharing on “3D sketching”. It Was Wonderful!!

The community come out some design in Perfume bottle, as what i say in my pass posting NO DESIGN=NO PRODUCT. And Now SolidWorks are well recognize in very corner of the world.

Let’s visit to http://solidworksindonesia.blogspot.com/

NO DESIGN = NO PRODUCT

Thanks for everyone who share your design with Malaysia’s SolidWorks Community. Your design and your innovativeness make our live more exciting. Since we kick off “Design your dream product”, there are various types of products being design by our engineer. We have jewellery, Vase, Perfume bottler, Car wheel, Bowl,……..

That’s what I means NO DESIGN = NO PRODUCT.

Since SolidWorks being introduced, it has position and well recommend by its powerful tools & features that make designer live getting BETTER and INNOVATIVE.

Today I have a new design from my friend, X-Men. He targets his design in furniture industry! He had design a “DNA Table” - funny table name right, this is call innovative! HAHAH.....

Well done design!

Can you model this >>Staple

First of all, a big thanks to those who attended our booth (no. 3410). As you know (who came to our booth), we had prepare something for you to kill time and rest; after a hard walk in PWTC.

For those who had tried, hope you enjoy the fun; those who haven try and want to try, why not challenge yourself now? Simple just follow the step-by-step (or your own method) and finish it in less than 10 mins! Give a try and drop your fastest time under comments. Winner gets... no prize (hehe)

Be hold, the staple!

Raw image without rendering but still looks good if the hardware equip with a piece of tested & certified graphic card. Of course you need not to re-draw the whole staple. All you need to do is just model this simply part;

Easy right? Scroll down (for the instruction )when you are ready. READY? GET SET? GO!

DS SolidWorks Surpasses One Million Licenses

Further to SEW blog on one million SolidWorks licenses sold, today I would like to share with everyone on the an article from SolidWorks Corporation on “DS SolidWorks Surpasses One Million Licenses” .

It is article about OGIO International, Inc. bought license number one million for aluminum design engineer Sean Peterson, who is working on OGIO’s new line of motocross racing accessories. Lets go through below detail on how the founder Michael Pratt develop his in-house design department and further expend his business.

Below article by DS SolidWorks Corporation

CONCORD, Mass., USA, April 30, 2009 – Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. (DS SolidWorks) today announced that a cutting-edge athletic equipment company has bought the one millionth license of its 3D CAD software. In the 14 years between this landmark and DS SolidWorks’ first sale to a robotic arm designer, thousands of innovative products have been developed with SolidWorks® software.

Utah-based OGIO International, Inc. bought license number one million for aluminum design engineer Sean Peterson, who is working on OGIO’s new line of motocross racing accessories. Peterson will use SolidWorks software to design products such as ramps, stands, and hardware for motocross bikes. OGIO is famous for designing creative and edgy athletic bags with innovative features like the zipper-less ball pocket on its golf bags. The company’s designers use SolidWorks software to model injection-molded plastic pieces such as carrying handles, wheels, and golf bag frames.

OGIO has been a SolidWorks customer for four years. From its founding by Michael Pratt in 1987 until about five years ago, OGIO’s design staff relied on manufacturing partners to help them create the 3D models needed to produce injection molds for parts. The company brought CAD in-house so its designers didn’t have to rely on a third party’s interpretation of a sketch to produce a 3D model. SolidWorks enables OGIO’s designers to freely experiment with new ideas without the constraints of working with an outside vendor.

“SolidWorks allows our designers to innovate freely and quickly,” Pratt said. “We want them using their imaginations, trying out all kinds of solutions and innovative ideas that can turn into winning products. SolidWorks is the right software for that. It’s powerful but easy to use, so our designers can concentrate on being creative instead of constantly figuring out the software. In today’s super-fast-paced competitive environment, we need to give our designers tools like these to realize our ideas better and faster, because it’s all about who has the best product right now.”

Creativity like OGIO’s is indeed the hallmark of the products designers and engineers have conceived with SolidWorks software – everything from medical instruments, to children’s toys, to windmills, to solar cells, to components of NASA’s Mars rover. Jon Hirschtick founded the company in 1993 to provide Windows-based 3D CAD software that offered sophisticated features and functionality in a reasonably priced, easy-to-use format. Dr. William Townsend’s then-new company, Barrett Technology Inc., was SolidWorks’ first customer. Fourteen years later, Barrett’s WAM™ robotic arm is now in every major university and has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most advanced robot, while SolidWorks has become the world’s most widely used 3D CAD software.

“We are excited to reach the million mark and very grateful for each customer that has trusted SolidWorks software to help drive his or her organization’s success,” said SolidWorks CEO Jeff Ray. “Because of this responsibility, we’re constantly working to make SolidWorks products worthy of customers’ loyalty by supporting their creative visions. As companies such as OGIO push the boundaries of products, we are using their input to push boundaries of 3D computer-aided design. This milestone is really only the beginning. The future holds some very exciting possibilities.”

sold 1 millions worldwide

Yes, SATU JUTA! 1 million licenses sold worldwide. Congratulation to those who be part of the million license's owner. Thank you for your support. Terima Kasih! Don't upset, it's okay if you can't be part of it, just get a license now and be part of the 2 million license owner worldwide or million license owner in Malaysia.


This milestone is really only the beginning, and the future holds some very exciting possibilities. As a reward, click above image for some games for you to understand/know more about SolidWorks milestone and history.

Click me for the official press release

~sew~

SolidWorks PhotoView 360

Hey Guys! I have discovered a website where you can download free Material and Environment presets to your PhotoView 360!

Here's the add: http://www.luxology.com/pv360/

After you have downloaded the zip file, unzip it and just paste the material and environment files to the below location:

For environment file: copy all the files inside the folder and paste to C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\PhotoView 360\resrc\presets\environments

For material file: Copy the entire folder and paste in to C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\PhotoView 360\resrc\presets\materials

Post By : Charlie