SolidWorks 2022 Intermediate: Features

Name: SolidWorks 2022 Intermediate: Features
Author: William Tenney

Explore basic modeling features in multibody parts.

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Course: On-Demand

Hi, my name is Will Tenny, and in this lesson we discuss extrude type features and how they're used to make multi-body parts. In this lesson, we are going to explore how to make a baby's bottle, like you would in a normal design and production team that you would be a part of. Usually it'll start with the engineering team or perhaps a project manager or product manager sharing a company CAD file or a company asset with you. In this case, this is the thread design that is used for all of the company's product lines, so that all the caps that they produce fit with all the bottles. And oftentimes this will be shared with you, and you can build or design around it. We've imported this as a part inside of our part file so that we can use this as our design reference. And moving forward, we've been able to begin using extrude features to build around it. So let's look at what those features were. First things first, as you can see I've got them grouped in this folder. As a reminder, you can do that by selecting two or more features, right-clicking, and selecting Add to New Folder, after that you can name the folder to stay organized. So when the part was first brought in, it looked like this. It had a thread, it had the shoulders of the bottle, the rest is left up to us. The next thing we did was we offset from that outer thread circle by about a sixteenth of an inch, and then we went ahead and extruded that with draft. And just as a reminder, those draft buttons occur at the end of each of the direction menus, direction one and direction two. And you usually want to set the drafts so that if you're extruding in two directions, they are parallel to one another. If I were to change the direction of one or the other, you can see how it creates a problem with draft. So these look like they're well aligned, let's leave that alone. Also, when we brought in this part for the first time, we had the choice of bringing in different aspects of the part with it. The number of bodies, the sketches, the planes, the equations, whatever we needed. And for this particular CAD asset, we chose to bring in the solid bodies, of course we need that. We chose to bring in the planes in case we need them. At the moment I have them all hidden, we can unhide them by selecting this Show button, this little eyeball here. We brought in the sketches because they give us some indication about how the thread was designed. They also have some names that help us to reference some design intent if we decide to apply that to future features. I think pitch will be an important one. Also wall thickness would also be important. We set our wall thickness for this particular part at one millimeter, just as a reference. So these are all good things to keep in mind. Especially with imported parts or shared CAD assets between members and a team. Once the boss extrude was complete, let's go ahead and isolate this feature so we can see more about it. We then shelled it, and we shelled it to the thickness that was shared with us in the imported part, which as I said before was one millimeter, which expressed in inches, is 0.03937. If we select a show preview, it shows us how that shelling is done, we click the green check mark, and the shell is complete. Thanks for listening. In the next lesson we discuss revolve and suite features and how they're used to make multi-body parts.

Intermediate Provider : William Tenney 6 Lessons · 36m in English

Course Description

In this module, you will learn how to leverage what you know about basic modeling features to create multibody parts ready for production. Each lesson will be another sequential step in building a complete product from start to finish. As you move through each lesson, you will revisit features like Extrude Boss/Base, Revolved Boss/Base, and Boundary Boss/Base to build independent bodies. These features also have the ability to fuse bodies together. You will learn when that is beneficial as well as why that may need to be avoided in cases where more bodies are needed to make the product design complete. From there, you will practice moving, copying, and mating parts in manners that transform the part file from a simple multibody part into something that looks and feels like a real product. Lastly, you learn how to use the Combine feature to join bodies to other bodies as well as subtract bodies from other bodies in order to discover the volume of the interior space of pieces and not just the pieces themselves. These bodies, once complete, can be separated and exported into different file types that are used for different fields of production and further design exploration.

What You'll Learn

Apply prior basic-modeling knowledge to build features within multibody parts
Use Extrude, Revolve, Sweep, Loft, and Boundary features to create independent bodies
Build and control guide curves to enhance Loft and Boundary Boss/Base features
Move, copy, and mate parts to transform a multibody part into a realistic product
Use the Combine feature to join and subtract bodies, including finding interior volumes
Separate completed bodies and export them into different file types for different uses

Key Takeaways

The module builds a complete product from start to finish, with each lesson as a sequential step.
Features such as Extrude Boss/Base, Revolved Boss/Base, and Boundary Boss/Base can build independent bodies and can also fuse bodies together.
The course explains when fusing bodies is beneficial and when it should be avoided because more bodies are needed to complete the design.
The Combine feature can join bodies together or subtract bodies to discover the volume of interior spaces, not just the pieces themselves.
Completed bodies can be separated and exported into different file types used for different fields of production and further design exploration.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this SolidWorks 2022 intermediate module cover?

It teaches how to leverage basic modeling features to create multibody parts ready for production, revisiting features like Extrude Boss/Base, Revolved Boss/Base, and Boundary Boss/Base to build independent bodies, then moving, copying, and mating parts and using the Combine feature to join or subtract bodies and find interior volumes.

Who is this course best suited for?

It is aimed at learners who already have knowledge of basic modeling features, since the module focuses on applying that previous knowledge to build features within multibody parts.

What skills will I gain from this course?

The course covers skills including Autodesk MotionBuilder, CADwork, Solid Modeling, SolidWorks (CAD), and SolidWorks Certification.

How is the course structured?

Each lesson is a sequential step in building a complete product from start to finish, covering Extrude Features; Revolve and Sweep Features; Loft and Boundary Features; Using Guide Curves to Enhance Lofts and Boundaries; Subsect and Intersect; and Exporting File Types for Different Uses.

Does the course teach how to work with imported files and export models?

Yes. It covers designing around imported part files or other modeling assets, and once a design is complete, separating bodies and exporting them in different file types for different uses.