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Top 10 SolidWorks

Do’s and Don’ts Stan Sweet

Custom Automation Manager 

TDS Automation

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CompanyProfile

Established in 1975 as General Machine Tool, acquiredTool, Die, and Custom Automation portion in 2003

Merged with Doerfer Engineering in 2004

Located in Waverly, Iowa with 185,000 Sq. Ft. Floor Space

Engineering & Manufacturing Of: –  Assembly Systems

 – Process Equipment

 – Material Handling Systems – Packaging Equipment

 – Tool & Die Systems

 – Metal Forming/Processing Lines

 – Weld Fixturing and Robotic Welding Systems

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Do The Simplest ThingThat Could Possibly Work

“If it is not useful or necessary, free yourself from imaginingthat you need to make it.

If it is useful and necessary, free yourself from imagining thatyou need to enhance it by adding what is not an integralpart of its usefulness or necessity.

 And finally: If it is both useful and necessary and you canrecognize and eliminate what is not essential, then goahead and make it as beautifully as you can.”

 – the rule of thumb for Shaker creations, from ShakerBuilt by PaulRochleau & June Sprigg

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You Aren't Gonna Need It

"Always implement things when you actually needthem, never when you just foresee that you needthem."

You save time, because you avoid designing thingsthat you turn out not to need.

Your design is better, because you avoid polluting itwith 'guesses' that turn out to be more or less

wrong but stick around anyway.” 

 –  An Extreme Programming tenant. www.c2.com

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Top 10 Do’s and Don'ts

Based on a comp.cad.solidworks newsgroupthread “What Are The "TOP 10 DON'T DO'S" of SolidWorks “in April 2002 by Jon Miller  

 – as compared to modeling, best practices, filemanagement, sketching, drawing, mating, relating, user grouping, you get the idea.....

 Avoiding PowerPoint Torment

 – Based on a Family Feud format

 – Interactive session

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-10-

-9-

-8-

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-5--4-

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Top 10 Do’s and Don'ts 

Don’t Delete When You Can Edit 

Don’t Duplicate File Names Do Use Templates

Don’t Use Default Settings 

Don’t Put Up With Slow Hardware 

Do Use a PDM System

Do Keep Learning

Maybe?

-1-

Do Capture Your Design IntentDo Use Lots of Subassemblies

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DoCapture Your Design Intent

Limit the scope of features

Define what is important

 – Function versus fabrication

Control the position of the origin

 – Primary planes for mating

 – Symmetry

 Annotate profuselyΩ 

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DoUse Lots of Subassemblies

Easier to collaborate

Increases performanceΩ 

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Don’t Delete When You Can Edit

Sketch Lines

Dimension Leaders

External References

MatesΩ 

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Don’t Duplicate File Names

SolidWorks uses the most convenient file.

PDM systems enforce unique namingΩ 

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DoUse Templates

Part, Drawing, Assembly

Part Libraries

Feature Palettes

Skeleton Parts

Layout Sketches

Ω 

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Don’t Use Default Settings

Default settings are sales tool

 – Big performance hit

Windows Defaults

SolidWorks DefaultsΩ 

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Don’t Put Up With Slow Hardware

Optimize for performance

Importance

 – Processor 

 – Memory

 – Graphics card

Ω 

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DoUse a PDM System

Collaboration

File Management

 – Stable filenames encourage in-context relations

 – No temporary copies required

Reuse

Focus

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DoUse a PDM System

“We where constantly overfilling work, renamingimproperly, breaking in-context relations,releasing wrong revisions, and re-inventing the

wheel due to difficulty in retrieving existing data.” 

“To summarize I do not know how we survivedwithout out it. It is the single most important andcost saving tool we have utilized.” 

Ω 

Mike DuBois3D Design LeadWright Industries

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DoKeep Learning

New features

Training, CSWP

User groups – Internal

 – External

Drawing standards manual comp.cad.solidworksΩ 

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Maybe?Contentious Items

 Avoid configurations, use separate files

Design tables

Configurations for hardware lengths

Sketch fillets versus fillet features

Subtractive versus Additive modeling

Be consistent within your organizationΩ 

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Top 10 SolidWorks

Do’s and Don’ts Stan Sweet

Custom Automation Manager 

TDS Automation

stan.sweet@tdsautomation.com

Thanks for attending!