The following guide takes you through the process of cleanly installing SOLIDWORKS 2025.
Upgrading to SOLIDWORKS 2025? Read these FAQs first!
If you need to move a sketch in SOLIDWORKS, then you may find that it can be surprisingly tricky! But after you learn this tip, you'll never need to worry about moving a sketch again!
SOLIDWORKS 2025 is here! So it’s important to check in on your hardware and make sure it will serve you well and most importantly, that it can run SOLIDWORKS 2025 happily.
Want to download Visualize to make photorealistic renders? Follow this guide for accessing your Visualize serial number that comes bundled in with SolidWorks Professional and Premium.
Discover the three most important updates to SOLIDWORKS Electrical 2025.
Dassault Systemes plan to end support for SOLIDWORKS products on Windows 10 at the same time as Microsoft stops providing support for both users and software developers...
Part numbering is often approached by designers without necessarily considering the purpose of a part number within an organisation the wider supply chains.
Discover how to use the Connector Library Exchange tool to import & export connectors between different installations of SWOOD Design.
Discover the secret to programming robotic motion and how the Mate Controller helps you to create assemblies quickly in SOLIDWORKS.
SOLIDWORKS 2025 is nearly here, and with it comes a huge number of improvements that have been chosen directly from user feedback. Keep reading to discover our favourite features and learn how SOLIDWORKS 2025 will help accelerate your design process.
Discover how to predict potential failure points and optimise product designs to enhance durability and provide peace of mind to the consumer with this SOLIDWORKS Simulation tutorial.
Your web browser does not support iframes, which means that the video Going for Gold - Top Class Machining with SolidCAM and Industry Partners cannot play.Step 1: Setting Up the GROB G350 Machine ToolWhen multi-axis machining at high volume, a highly....
Learn how to add realism quickly in SOLIDWORKS Visualize with these 3 top tips!
Can SOLIDWORKS Motion help to improve your bowling accuracy?
Three students. One design. You decide who will be victorious.
SOLIDWORKS serial numbers can be found within the Help section of your SOLIDWORKS session and within your Windows Registry.
Discover the three key benefits SOLIDWORKS Composer and how they apply to businesses in any industry.
Discover the best neutral file formats to use when exporting files from SOLIDWORKS.
Discover the companies who are using SOLIDWORKS to benefit the Recycling & Waste Management industry.
Packaging design is a core component of the modern Easter Weekend. See how we hatched a plan to design and produce our own Easter egg using SOLIDWORKS.
As you look to reduce your time to market, SOLIDWORKS PDM frees up your resources by keeping processes ticking over in the background. Let’s break it down.
What are the best graphics cards settings for SOLIDWORKS? We’ll discuss how to improve performance and which cards you should buy in this article.
Discover how to find internal volumes in SOLIDWORKS in this short tutorial.
Discover the 10 main reasons why Startups are using SOLIDWORKS in 2024
Discover the companies who are designing with SOLIDWORKS across Wales.
Discover the new features of SOLIDWORKS data management and how upgrading to SOLIDWORKS 2024 will make your life easier while keeping your data secure.
Boost your SOLIDWORKS sketching speed with this helpful tip!
Learn how to add custom properties in SOLIDWORKS.
Discover the companies who are designing with SOLIDWORKS across Scotland.
Discover why SOLIDWORKS PDM Pro is the right data management package for you with 10 of the best features in SOLIDWORKS PDM Pro.
Discover how to get started with subdivision modelling by building images into your workflow in xShape and the 3D Sculptor role.
Discover 5 companies who are using SOLIDWORKS to create life-saving products.
Discover the latest enhancements to SOLIDWORKS Simulation and SOLIDWORKS Plastics for 2024.
Discover the latest enhancements to assembly modelling with SOLIDWORKS 2024!
Discover the brand new appearances coming to SOLIDWORKS Visualize 2024...
Learn how to create new components, add primitives, and manipulate basic forms with 3D Sculptor.
Discover who uses SOLIDWORKS Simulation for CFD and FEA analysis.
Discover what’s new in SOLIDWORKS 2024 for 2D technical drawings.
Discover the great new tools in SOLIDWORKS 2024 to empower fabricators and sheet metal designers.
Discover all the latest updates to SOLIDWORKS part modelling with SOLIDWORKS 2024.
What exactly is included in a SOLIDWORKS Educational Subscription? Let’s break it down.
Discover who uses SOLIDWORKS Visualize below, as we feature some of the companies that are harnessing the evolution in CAD rendering technology with SOLIDWORKS Visualize to stand out in crowded markets.
Learn what imported geometry is and how to repair it in SOLIDWORKS.
From concept to creation and beyond! Here's what you missed at the Manufacturing Showcase event in September 2023.
Whether you're new to DriveWorks or looking to enhance your skills, these tips will help you work more efficiently and effectively.
The quickest way to convert a solid body to a surface is to use the Delete Face command.
SOLIDWORKS PDM now provides administrators the option to customise the templates used for automatic notifications.
How does SOLIDWORKS use CPU cores and how many do we recommend?
Learn how to add decals in SOLIDWORKS quickly with this step-by-step tutorial.
SOLIDWORKS 2024 has arrived, which means there’s a whole load of new and exciting features for us to unpack. Here are the top 10 features in SOLIDWORKS 2024.
Across every industry, whatever their size, we are continually impressed and proud to support these innovators. Check out October's selection!
Learn how to create a golf ball in SOLIDWORKS to celebrate the return of the Ryder Cup!
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is widely used in the engineering and design industry, particularly in sectors such as aerospace, automotive, and manufacturing.
Regardless of how you work under pressure, make sure you reduce render times and maximise your productivity to meet your deadlines with SOLIDWORKS Visualize.
We’ve asked our expert data management consultants what tips they’d recommend to those users who want to unlock the secrets of SOLIDWORKS PDM.
Here are 5 ways to create realistic lighting in SOLIDWORKS Visualize.
How reliable is SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation for Thermal Analysis? The results will surprise you!
A registry reset will affect your menus, toolbars, custom shortcuts, and file locations, and set them back to the default SOLIDWORKS settings.
Traditional static images can only take you so far in showcasing the functionality and intricacies of your products…
Antobot’s colony of robot ants are on a mission to reshape the future of agriculture through the innovative combination of AI & practical technology.
Bodies in multibody parts can be converted into individual part files easily with the Save Bodies command in SOLIDWORKS.
SOLIDWORKS Visualize is a powerful rendering and visualisation software for professional Designers and Engineers. Learn more…
How reliable is SOLIDWORKS Simulation for FEA? The results will surprise you!
Let’s explore what bend allowances and K-Factors are, and show you how they apply in fabricating sheet metal with SOLIDWORKS.
Knowing how to convert surfaces to solid bodies is essential when designing in SOLIDWORKS, so let's show you how.
SOLIDWORKS Simulation can be used to calculate a wide range of studies using real-world physics in a virtual environment.
Knowing where the common commands are is a huge way of increasing your efficiency and productivity with SOLIDWORKS and as such is worth the time investment up front.
SOLIDWORKS toolbars are easily customisable and can be adjusted to suit your needs and workflows.
In the ever-evolving landscape of technological advancements, Extronics found themselves at crossroads of innovation and efficiency. Find out how DriveWorks design automation helps them navigate modern challenges.
SOLIDWORKS animations are a convenient and fast way to produce presentable video content. Here are the recommended settings you should use.
While we recommend using a Windows operating system, there are ways you can install and use SOLIDWORKS on MacOS.
Creating SOLIDWORKS templates is straightforward, but the key to a good template is how much time it saves.
Our Technical Support hotline is only open for our commercial customers with a valid SOLIDWORKS subscription, however, we do offer Technical Support to educational institutions.
As a designer, it is essential that you know how to create planes in SOLIDWORKS to enable you to model more complex geometry. Adding planes in SOLIDWORKS is achieved using the Plane wizard.
Many major suppliers and manufacturers host their CAD models on 3D Content Central as free downloads that you can use in your SOLIDWORKS models and designs.
Changing units in SOLIDWORKS is easy! Let’s show you how it’s done.
SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation can be used to analyse lift force induced by the observable fluid flow phenomenon known as the Magnus effect.
This tutorial guides you through modelling a tennis ball in SOLIDWORKS including some advanced modelling techniques.
By automating the design process, businesses can streamline workflows, boost productivity, and ensure consistency in product development.
Creating a sphere in SOLIDWORKS can be achieved using a single sketch and a single feature in less than 10 seconds.
Revolves are axis-symmetrical or turned forms, like straight pipes, spheres and basic water bottles. Here’s how you make a revolve in SOLIDWORKS.
Find out how the latest changes to SOLIDWORKS Subscriptions will affect you and your business. Here’s everything you need to know about the changes.
Every seat of SOLIDWORKS comes with a customisable material library. The Material Library contains the mechanical properties and default appearance of materials.
Simulation is a vital and complex engineering need. Fortunately, SOLIDWORKS makes it easy to test, correct mistakes and obtain accurate results.
Learn the best ways to create threads, considering whether you need the physical geometry or if you need only a visual representation.
As a Designer or Engineer, it is vital that you have a secure data management system to store and manage your documents and CAD files.
It’s easy to change the background colour in SOLIDWORKS. Follow this short tutorial to change your SOLIDWORKS background colour to white.
This simple trick will save you time and hassle. Let's show you how to make your SOLIDWORKS drawings even better.
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform contains applications and solutions for every aspect of your company, so you can manage everything from one place. Here are 6 reasons to use it.
Each year, SOLIDWORKS takes your requests and works to bring the extra capabilities you need to the software.
In SOLIDWORKS you can connect an external database, such as equipment stock, management database, to manufacturer catalogues. This lets you retrieve data from your database and associate it with the electrical project components.
Customisable SWOOD reports provide a comprehensive set of documentation for production including cutting lists, hardware lists, labels, and material summaries.
SOLIDWORKS has two different methods to help you recover from an unexpected crash or loss of data in the form of auto-recovery and back-up settings.
It’s one of the great mysteries of life – why is SOLIDWORKS crashing? Let’s explore how SOLIDWORKS crashes and how we can improve performance in SOLIDWORKS.
The SOLIDWORKS Electrical Draw tab contains vital tools for an Electrical Designer. Find out how to use the Draw Tab tools in this quick blog.
In SWOOD there are two main types of licence, the serial number for both types is 24 characters, for online licenses the serial starts with 3010 and for network licences it starts with 3020.
Dimensions in SOLIDWORKS sketches will usually turn a shade of yellow when they are missing at least one reference. We show you how to fix them.
How to find SOLIDWORKS Xpress product codes in 5 simple steps. Xpress tools come with every seat of SOLIDWORKS and can be unlocked using a product code.
A bill of materials can show a different value for wire length than the length of the wire. Learn why SOLIDWORKS does this by considering real world scenarios.
SOLIDWORKS Costing enables manufacturers to estimate costs of producing a product and provides a breakdown to allow easy identification of where any cost savings can be made.
Sometimes after performing an upgrade of SOLIDWORKS, diameter symbols no longer display properly and give a message instead. Here’s how to fix it.
Pack & Go should be used when sending SOLIDWORKS files to another person. Use this simple guide to help you safely send entire SOLIDWORKS projects.
Electrical Engineers need an easy way to access to technical details. Read this guide to creating and linking Data Sheets in SOLIDWORKS Electrical.
SOLIDWORKS helps us to find resultant forces through simulation studies. These virtual tests reduce the need for physical prototypes and give us an accurate answer.
SOLIDWORKS automatically adds foreshortened dimensions when the end of a dimension falls outside of a drawing view or interferes with other drawing elements.
This may be linked to how the drawing is saved or it can be related to how sheet metal parts are displayed in drawings, read on to find out how to fix it.
Learn how to change your SOLIDWORKS serial number in the SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager in 10 simple steps with this guide.
DriveWorks provides powerful design automation solutions that help to dramatically reduce design times and provide better experiences to customers. Alitex are a U.K. headquartered manufacturer of bespoke greenhouse structures. Since adopting DriveWor...
While space travel continues to be the next big race for tech giants and disruptors across the globe, start-up SuperSharp Limited is looking at how going into space can help us better understand and care for our planet.
TBA Protective Technologies Ltd. are a manufacturer of passive fire protection products. We took the opportunity to speak to them about how they use SOLIDWORKS.
All companies have an Engineering Change process, whether an informal “word of mouth” process or an established documented process. However, surprisingly few organisations have an effective change management process with many not realising the full b...
Ball and socket joints have a wide variety of uses in several applications because of the degrees of freedom they possess. For this reason, they are often created within SOLIDWORKS as part of assemblies, but sadly there is no dedicated mate type for ...
This weekend is the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and to celebrate the momentous occasion a new commemorative 50p has entered circulation. With only 1.3 million minted so far, these 50ps are currently some of the rarest around so we thought a virtual one ...
Ahead of World Environment Day this Sunday (5th of June), we wanted to showcase a few of our customers who have been inventing unique solutions to help combat this cycle, reduce our impact on the environment and create a healthier planet for the futu...
Learn how to add, manage, and control features between configurations with configuration tables and find out what’s new in SOLIDWORKS 2022.
When we think if Design and Technology classes back in our school days, many of us will remember building a bird box or designing a clock, using tools such as saws and files, however, only a handful of us may have experienced using CAD, if any at all...
There are two main ways you can purchase your SOLIDWORKS licences; Rental and Perpetual, allowing you to choose the best option for your business. We also offer an additional solution for start-ups and entrepreneurs.
CNC Code is at the heart of manufacturing, successful code drives machines to make flawless parts as quick as possible. In this blog we explore how CAM software facilitates the creation of this code and how using a digital twin of a CNC machine can h...
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM A DISASTER RECOVERYRestoring a Vault from Backup will revert the content of the Vault to the state it was in at the time that Backup was created. Based on the fact that the recovered Vault will only be as good as the last backup, ....
Everrati is an automotive agency that passionately redefines the most iconic cars and makes them relevant to the world today. While making a conscious effort to maintain the ‘soul’ and unique characteristics of modern classics, Everrati gives these c...
3D animations are a great way to display your designs, no matter what stage of the design process you are at and can provide companies of almost any industry with huge leverage in improving their operational efficiency. Animated marketing videos are ...
See SOLIDWORKS 2022 Live at the SAM Project Sunderland Solid Solutions are partnering with SAM Project to deliver a discovery session on funding and implementing World leading 3D CAD for your business. REGISTER Providers of SOLI....
These webinars will provide you with a great opportunity to see how the latest enhancements to the software can benefit your business, and discover how you can personally capitalise upon them. This is an opportunity to engage with the Customer Develo....
If you're looking to learn more about PDM Standard then you'll want to check out this video series from PDM expert Richard Farries. Each short video will explain a key topic and share some best practice advice to help you efficiently manage your CAD ...
GCSE student, Freddie Howells was named this year’s C2I Young Innovator of the Year for his ‘Fall Alert’ device that alerts a family member or carer when an elderly person falls over.
SOLIDWORKS offer two core PDM packages: PDM Standard and PDM Professional. The recent release of SOLIDWORKS Manage builds upon the functionality of SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional, but what's the real difference?
Dassault Systèmes has just released their February 3DEXPERIENCE Works release of browser-based design and engineering capabilities which include a range of new functionalities, user assistance and integrations. Let’s take a closer look at the enhance...
How your internal and external teams collaborate during product development will define whether your projects succeed or fail. Technology solutions such as PDM and PLM are there to help ensure each project succeeds by helping you align your product d...
Start-up company, ModBox, is pushing the boundaries of architecture and construction, making it possible for you to have a fold-out, fully kitted cocktail bar in your garden, a pop-up store that can be transported, and so much more...
One popular competition that runs every year at 3DEXPERIENCE world is model mania, where SOLIDWORKS users and application engineers from resellers around the globe, compete to prove that they are the fastest SOLIDWORKS modeller out there. This year o...
With SOLIDWORKS it's simple to calculate properties of your model such as mass, density and volume at any time. In this blog, and accompanying video tutorial, we'll show you how to view these values using the mass properties command and share some ti...
Solid Solutions have been helping the Imagination Factory to design, develop and deliver innovative products and projects using SOLIDWORKS. In addition to this, Solid Solutions have implemented SOLIDWORKS PDM to ensure version control and robust CAD ...
The new release of SOLIDWORKS Visualize brings a number of brilliant enhancements to performance, functionality, interface design and convenience. Below we've picked our top five and for each one we've created a one minute video to explain all about ...
With SOLIDWORKS 2022 you can add connection detailing to your structural members. Learn how to create and add structural connections to your SOLIDWORKS models quickly and easily.
Create your own laser cut Christmas decorations with SOLIDWORKS 2022. We had a go ourselves and look how they turned out!
Due to technical issues with our Model Mania platform we are extending our Model Mania competition. We have relaunched the test with a new challenge, read on for more details of the updated competition and learn how you can test your SOLIDWORKS model...
Capital Compactors and Balers are the leading suppliers of waste and recycling solutions in the UK, supporting different sectors throughout the waste industry such as retail, medical and nuclear. Capital Compactors have partnered with Solid Solutions...
Model Mania is back and even the prize is fast this year. Test your SOLIDWORKS modelling skills against the best in the UK and you could win a YawBoard or SpaceMouse Compact.
Thanks to the all-new Hybrid mesh modelling features in SOLIDWORKS 2022 you can now directly edit imported mesh bodies as if they were native parts that were designed in SOLIDWORKS. This means that features such as boss extrudes, cuts and fillets can...
Every seat of SOLIDWORKS comes with a large, customizable material library. The Material Library contains the definition of materials and includes its mechanical properties and default appearance. In this blog and accompanying video we'll explain how...
For our final challenge in our Rugby Lions series Solid Solutions and MECAD are competing to create the best renders of the brand new Rugby Lions Trophy. Check out our trophy showcase animation, created with SOLIDWORKS Visualize, along with our model...
As the Rugby Lions Series continues Solid Solutions and MECAD are continuing to compete off the pitch using SOLIDWORKS. Our second challenge was to create a Kicking Tee, a small yet key piece of equipment that is used almost every game. Various desig...
As the Rugby Lions South Africa tour continues we are launching into a series of CAD competitions between Solid Solutions and MECAD - South African SOLIDWORKS Reseller, battling it out in SOLIDWORKS, as our countries' teams are battling it out on the...
In our first webinar series since Design Rule Ltd. became part of the Solid Solutions Group, we welcome both Design Rule and Solid Solutions customers to this series of webinars focusing on the latest Simulation technology available. Every Wednesday ...
Despite the launch event being virtual this year we are still running the ever popular Model Mania competition. So, if you feel ready to test your SOLIDWORKS modelling skills against the best in the UK, this is the place for you!
SOLIDWORKS 2020 is nearly here and brings with it a whole host of new features and enhancements. If you're looking to find out what's new, then look no further.
As huge fans of the show we have been wanting to model something from it ever since the last episode aired. Check out this video to see how SOLIDWORKS could have been used to help design arguably the most impressive piece of engineering in Westeros -...
SOLIDWORKS is able to import and edit a large number of different CAD file formats, this webcast series aims to explain what you need to know to make this process as smooth and efficient as possible.
In this short 4 minute run down, Jamie will explain the key differences between SOLIDWORKS 2019 Standard, Professional and Premium, helping you determine whether an upgrade is right for your business and which one. For a more in depth look at the dif....
To improve the quality of our training and provide increased value to our customers, the Solid Solutions Training team have created a number of Online Training resources. We believe that our classroom courses are the best way to learn SOLIDWORKS and ...
For our third Christmas blog post this year – we have created a jingle bell. To create this jingle bell, knowledge of surface techniques is desirable, but not necessary as it is simple enough for you to follow along with the video tutorial. Features ...
So it is the final countdown to Christmas, we thought there wasn't a better way to celebrate Christmas, other than to share some of our favourite Christmas themed tutorials - a festive way to pick up some hints and tips. We hope you enjoy the next 12...
Using the new physics options inside SOLIDWORKS Visualize 2019 it is possible to set up a model of a car to drive along a pre-set path, or you can even take control directly using a keyboard or game controller.
Turn images into 3D geometry with brand new SOLIDWORKS 3D Textures Feature
Every year SOLIDWORKS adds hundreds of enhancements and innovations across their product portfolio, we have prepared a series of webcasts to highlight the best new enhancements.
Solidworks allows you to set appearances of your parts for your particular requirements, I will show you in this log how to set them as well as create your own custom appearances.You can open the appearances window by either clicking the ‘Edit Appear...
Have you ever wondered whilst using SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation - “How do I know where the minimum and maximum values are on my model?”If so, then you're in luck as this blog will explain how to easily find these extreme values.
Consumer Product Design Part 2Once design changes come through, testing and presenting themodel can help validation of the concept. Using simple simulation tools withinSOLIDWORKS itself, we can imitate loads, fixtures and materials to achieveplenty o....
Consumer Product Design Part 1The main aim of this webcast is to show how SOLIDWORKS toolscan aid the Product Design Process from initial design through to finalimplementation. Creation of quality concepts has never been easier with themasses of CAD ....
For the final part on this blog series Will explains the process of importing a DWG of a sheet metal flat pattern and bending it into it's finished state inside SOLIDWORKS.
Following on from part 1, Jordan will explain the functionality of the Insert Bend tool.
SolidSolutions has recently welcomed another 11 Technical Interns to the team, they are currently being put through a 12 week induction and as part of this they’ll be sharing some of what they’ve learned via this blog. This blog will cover the Conver...
Before we start covering the new features that SOLIDWORKS 2019 will bring, we figured that it would be best to make sure you're aware of some of the great new enhancements that have come from recent releases. Whether you're a new user or a seasoned p....
Before we start covering the new features that SOLIDWORKS 2019 will bring, we figured that it would be best to make sure you're aware of some of the great new enhancements that have come from recent releases. Whether you're a new user or a seasoned p....
Automatic feature recognition (AFR) is a powerful tool that picks up feature types and assigns them with strategies from the Tech DB. Interactive feature recognition (IFR) allows you to create your own 2.5 axis features one by one allowing complete c...
CUSTOMIZE THE LOOK OF SOLIDWORKS - Whilst the default SOLIDWORKS interface is completely functional it is possible to adjust it to suit your needs. The interface is highly customisable this webcast will cover how to adjust command positions, interfac...
Shortcuts are hugely beneficial when it comes to modelling more efficiently. By taking the time to learn and customise shortcuts you can cut down on the time it takes to carry out virtually any task in SOLIDWORKS. This webcast will aim to cover the m...
So you’ve mastered sketching, you have learnt how to create a variety of features from these sketches, including revolves and extrudes, but now you would like to speed up your modelling and reduce your design time further.
Applications Engineer Jake Gosling presents 'SOLIDWORKS Tips & Tricks - Sketching'.
Application Engineer Jake Gosling presents 'SOLIDWORKS Basics - Sketching'.
Discover the top 10 enhancements in SOLIDWORKS 2018.View the Video here
After SolidWorks has been installed, these tips are useful to ensure it all runs smoothly.
Calling all engineers! Use your design skills to create a case in SOLIDWORKS for the revolutionary new Mako Slingshot jetboard and you could win a jet-powered surfboard of your very own.
How accurate is SOLIDWORKS Simulation? Elite Applications Engineer Chris Boyles investigates.
Apple are slightly late to Augmented Reality, we have been using AR on Apple and Android devices since 2012
Discover how ECAD and MCAD design teams can go beyond the time-consuming, manual, error prone processes of communicating with file-based IDF/STEP data.
Elite Applications Engineer Wayne Marshall explains PDM Standard Database Backups And Maintenance
Applications Engineer Oliver Smith presents 'Whats New Routing 2017'.
Applications Engineer Oliver Smith presents 'PCB Connector Overview'.
Technical Manager Andy Fulcher demonstrates how Power Surfacing can be used to build automotive surfaces. Additionally, Andy has demonstrated this within a four part series of webcasts entitled 'Power Surfacing for Automotive Applications'.
Part 4: Final of four short webcasts from Andy Fulcher, featuring one of our partner products 'Power Surfacing'. In particular this webcast will be looking at Automotive Applications using Scan Data.
Part 3: Three of four short webcasts from Andy Fulcher, featuring one of our partner products 'Power Surfacing'. In particular this webcast will be looking at Automotive Applications Renders & Images.
Part 2: Two of four short webcasts from Andy Fulcher, featuring one of our partner products 'Power Surfacing'. In particular this webcast will be looking at Automotive Applications, Free Form Design.
Part 1: First in the series of four short webcasts from Andy Fulcher, featuring one of our partner products 'Power Surfacing'. In particular this webcast will be looking at Automotive Applications.
Elite Applications Engineer Patrick Musgrave takes us through SWPCB Pattern Creation.
How to make an assembly cutaway in SOLIDWORKS then present and interact with it using SOLIDWORKS Composer.
Application Engineer Kyle Craig takes us through his Routing Setup, Pipeline Product Designers Guide.This blog video is aimed towards those who design pipeline equipment such as shut off valves, various control valves, check valves, pressure release ...
In this webcast we will look at the new ways we can render out animations and look at some top tips for you to make your animations stand out.
In order to reward the members of our team who achieved ‘Elite’ status and in particular recognise those who achieved this milestone in 2016 Solid Solutions celebrated by visiting our customer ‘Motion Simulation Ltd’ at the Motion Simulation Room in ...
Our customer Russell Poppe, Director of Technology at JJS Manufacturing takes us through the reasons EMS providers need CAD software, in a special guest blog post.
Applications Engineer, Chris Boyles experiments with SOLIDWORKS Frequency Simulation.
Applications Engineer Chris Boyles shows us how SOLIDWORKS can calculate velocity changes and pressure losses in piping.
Elite Applications Engineers, Olly Smith & Patrick Musgrave gain new SOLIDWORKS qualification by successfully designing new PCB design from scratch!
Applications engineer Chris Green explores converging fillets in SolidWorks in his latest blog post.
With all the joys and excitement, we often forget the hard work and long hours that go into the delivery of our Christmas gifts. With the help of SOLIDWORKS motion analysis, (available with SOLIDWORKS Premium) we can simulate the production line of S...
Now the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio is over, we can reflect on the strength and determination athletes require to compete and be the best in the world. Using SOLIDWORKS Simulation we'll take a look at how an Olympic barbell is loaded for world record...
Yesterday was a big day for achievements by our extremely talented technical team here at Solid Solutions.5 of our team were awarded the coveted Elite Applications Engineer status which is in recognition of exceptional SOLIDWORKS skills.
Importing DXF's - particularly ones of stylized images can be a pain - how can this be handled?
We are very pleased to announce a significant and positive change for Solid Solutions, your SolidWorks reseller. With effect from 23 March 2016 we have secured an £8m investment from BGF (Business Growth Fund) to support the continued growth of our c...
The SOLIDWORKS interface has undergone a major overhaul in the 2016 version. Find out what has changed and the latest updates following feedback from the SOLIDWORKS user community.
Sometimes it may be necessary to engrave text on a diametric face which is a simple enough procedure: Create a plane tangential to the diametric face, create some text constrained to a construction line and use the wrap feature. However what happens ...
There are many CAD and CAM packages out there, however there are many disadvantages of having separate software for CAD and CAM. Some CAM packages require an export from Solidworks into another format the CAM will understand.
Configurations are normally used to create similar components with different sizes but can also be used to create a manufacturing lifecycle process. This blog is going to run through the process on how this could be achieved.
In solidworks we have a toolbox library, materials library and appearances library, one library we don't have is a annotations library. This can easily be rectified allowing you to create an extensive catalogue of frequently used annotations, notes, ...
In an assembly, it can be quite useful to have different parts shown in different colours. Whether that be to differentiate between parts, to display final colour or to indicate whether a part has been purchased or not.This is easy in an assembly, bu...
When sketching, on occasion you may want to add an angle dimension and use a horizontal or vertical sketch line to reference from, but what do you do if none are nearby? In SolidWorks 2015 you now have the ability to dimension between a line and an i...
3D printing is a topic that’s in the forefront every designer and engineers mind nowadays. The ever increasing array of technologies and cost effective solutions available on the market, mean that the option to use prototyping equipment to prove a de...
Using the IronMan helmet as a fun example we explore how complex shapes can be developed and the differences between solid & surface modelling techniques.
You can select multiple annotations in a drawing and group them so they move together when you drag them. Ungroup annotations so they move independently.
In the graphics area, you can press Tab and Shift + Tab to hide and show components of an assembly. This becomes very helpful when you have many small components getting in your way like the model shown below.
The status bar at the bottom of the SolidWorks window provides information related to the function you are currently performing.
If you use the same command over and over again, then this quick tip is one for you. The last ten unique commands are available in a command history. The most recent command is at the top of the list.
SOLIDWORKS has a powerful and well established toolset for creating complex shapes and surfaces. Learn how to use some of the core features for creating complex geometry such as lofts, sweeps and the solid/ surface boundary tools.
A great feature added back in SolidWorks 2013 was the ability to use Luxology native appearances for PhotoView 360. This enables SolidWorks users to make use of the huge range of additional appearances in Luxology’s online library.
In PhotoView 360, you can define a region of the SOLIDWORKS graphics area for rendering. Using this render region, you can limit the rendering in the integrated preview, the preview window, or the final rendering to the area of the render region. Thi...
When getting started with PhotoView 360, setting your render options can seem like a bewildering task. Here are a few tips and explanations to get you started.
Last week there was a cosmic conjunction in my thinking! The partial solar eclipse in the UK coincided with my son needing help with his "Gravitational Field Theory". Could SOLIDWORKS help me understand both?
Take a look at this document to find out more information about SOLIDWORKS Student Access and Educational Versions.Are you a student who wants to explore an easy to use CAD package for use in university/college projects? Or are you an academic tutor ....
Take a look at this technical document on troubleshooting common problems with the SOLIDWORKS Journal File and Auto-Recover errors.This technical document covers;- Some basic functions of the journal file, it's location and the data it records- Commo....
Take a look at this technical document to understand the fundamental approaches of Sheet Metal design in SOLIDWORKS. This document covers;- A brief introduction to sheet metal- Characteristics and assumptions- Modelling approaches and streamlining de....
Temporary axis are those created implicitly by cones & cylinders within the model.
A virtual sharp creates a sketch point at the virtual intersection point of two sketch entities.
If you are designing a tank or product that has a cavity and you want to know the exact fluid volume (or mass) then here's how.
Hole Tables - This blog posts explains what to do if SolidWorks is picking up the hole from the Geometry not the thread detail.
Normal to 2 faces command gives the user greater control over the orientation of their model.
How you set up the Profile sketch is often the cause of problems with Swept Boss features or Swept Cut features.
Discover how to quickly and accurately cost your components using SOLIDWORKS Costing. Available in SOLIDWORKS Professional, SOLIDWORKS Costing is easy to use and comes with standard manufacturing templates which are customisable to your specific need...
Reduce the time required to build complex 3D models of real-world items, such as sculpted objects and anatomical items by using ScanTo3D which is available in SOLIDWORKS Premium. Scanned data such as point clouds or mesh can be imported, parsed, mani...
An easy way to monitor stress values in critical areas of your model.
Well the World Cup is over, so as we are probably all trying to fill the 6 week gap until the start of the new domestic season- here's a blog with football at heart. In this post we look at finding where we have openings in surface models- and the re....
There are several ways to create cut-away views of assembly’s for use on a drawing in SOLIDWORKS. One method of doing this is to create a cut feature at an assembly level, also known as an ‘Assembly Cut’.
SOLIDWORKS Mould Tool functionality gets the attention in this months ‘Beyond Training’ webcast. Learn a selection of Tips and Tricks that complement the certified SOLIDWORKS Mould Tools training course.
Discover how SOLIDWORKS Inspection could help you streamline the creation of First Article Inspection documents. Learn how to leverage your existing 2D legacy data regardless of whether your drawings are SOLIDWORKS, PDF’s or TIFF files.
Do you ever need to create Inspection Reports from customer drawings or directly from SOLIDWORKS?
Ever wanted to convert entities on all edges - not just the boundary?
Flags?Really?Well, many of our customers build boats, some design toys...Plus Freeform is a command that can be used to modify solids or surfaces
Want to create a free form cut out in a 3D surface? The little known 'Spline on Surface' is a great tool for this. Here is how to create an egg with the top chopped off - ready for the soldiers!
Discover a little known tip to help you clearly show internal components of an assembly through the outer level components using SOLIDWORKS Composer...
One common question on photo-rendering is when you haveclear objects why may you get dark spots? The answer is down to the fact thatin real life light bends as many times as it needs to pass through atransparent object. However in rendering we have t....
Ever wondered how to “foreshorten” a dimension in a drawing?
In this week’s blog I’m going to show how to use acombination of simple commands to create this seemingly complex component. The part will start with a simple sphere, a groove will be thencut using a path that was created using a helix an....
Covered on the Assembly Modelling course, the ReplaceComponent tool allows components with different file names to be swapped in andout without causing mate errors or the need to re-make areas of an assembly.Mates are re attached automatically, or if....
eDrawingsThere are a number of tools within SOLIDWORKS to speed up theprocess of communicating designs quickly and effectively to your customers. Oneof the most popular ways is through a free program called eDrawings. One of the major benefits w....
Master modelling is the technique employed by many designers that work with external customer data. It allows the user to import a part into another part document. With an inserted part, new geometry can then be referenced to the inserted part ensuri....
Custom properties are used throughout SOLIDWORKS- they are simply text based information that helps further describe and add information about a document - they are sometimes known as metadata.When created, properties can be used extensively througho....
How can you easily create 36 planes at 10 degrees around a central axis?
SOLIDWORKS offers integratedWeldment Structure design tools at all levels of the product. Through the‘SOLIDWORKS Content’ section of the design library, profiles for most types of structuralmember can be downloaded. The ‘Unistrut&rs....
Last week during training I had a question asking how to work out the internal volume of a model, and taking this a bit further, how to calculate the volume of a fluid. To answer the query I showed a recent addition to the SOLIDWORKS feature set, the...
Animations: Save As .avi recommended settingsI've had a number of calls on the support desk asking for help when saving their animations out as .avi files. The comments range from the animation appe....
Being on the support desk exposes you to many ways of applying different techniques in SOLIDWORKS. While making changes between configurations, a customer was finding that mates were sometimes over defining the assembly, or that too many parts w....
The multibody part environment is a huge strength of SOLIDWORKS- the diverse range of features we provide in the part mode, means that you can gain fully detailed designs without having to even explore the assembly mode- there may be examples where y....
This week SolidCAM UK have been demonstrating the power of iMachining technology on Stand 5242 at the NEC, Birmingham for the MACH2014 Exhibition. They have been overwhelmed by the response they have received from delegates visiting them. On Thu....
Anyone that has used the Weldment command "Structural Member" will know that you can set it to give you mitred corners - here we will look at a situation where we have three lines meeting up at the one corner of a 3D sketch. If anyone hasn't seen it ...
Training at SolidSolutions also offers the attendees a chance to ask the instructor other questions about the software not related to actual course, we call this the SolidSolutions Surgery…Pre or Post course time is allocated to all kinds of q...
SOLIDWORKS PhotoView 360 2014 adds some new non photorealistic options for your output. The first thing that springs to mind for me is to communicate concept designs. Rather than dusting off the marker pens you can create a quick concept image ....
If you're new to SOLIDWORKS, or even if you are not, you are always learning about new features and functions that hopefully make your life easier and products even better. The more commands you use, the tougher it is to keep track of them, and the b....
During one of my recent training courses, one of the delegates asked about surface modelling. I thought it could be easily digestable by relating it to an everyday common item, so I thought- why not a Rubber Duck! Initially this type of shape ca....
Zoom to Selection Time for little tip I showed in an Advanced Assembly training course last week that attendee’s seem to like; the little know ‘Zoom to Selection’ toolIt’s a great way to target your view in the graphical ....
One of the most important things to do when you have just bought SOLIDWORKS, is set up your own templates.Here we will look at a Part template, later on we will look at Drawing templates. Start by opening up a new Part file:- Then go ....
Congratulations to the latest members of our team to become Elite Application engineers, reaching the pinnacle of SOLIDWORKS certification success. Over the last year Steven, Simon, Kevin, Jon and Alan have all acheived SOLIDWORKS El....
The Curve Driven Pattern is a powerful feature in parts, and now in SolidWorks 2014, assemblies. It allows you to repeat and array features, bodies or parts along a 2D or 3D curve direction, maintaining equal spacing as you go.
Model Mania @ SOLIDWORKS World 2014 – San DiegoAfter a great week at SOLIDWORKS World in San Diego, I’m now reflecting on how the technical content shown can impact positively our customers business, I hope to add a series of short blogs ....
Last week I wanted to go through my settings and customise them. I hadn’t done this in a while and didn’t feel like my current set up was working for me. You can get to the customise menu by right clicking the command manager, going....
As a highpoint in any SOLIDWORKS reseller’s year SOLIDWORKS World is an event Solid Solutions look forward to with eager anticipation and SOLIDWORKS World 2014 most certainly did not disappoint. Following a packed 72 hours spent learning w....
Having been frequently disappointed by the lack of chocolate in often overpriced Easter eggs, the Solid Chocolate Company recently set themselves the challenge of creating a truly solid chocolate egg. After a series of in-house trials it soon b....
A simple yet powerful feature introduced on the SOLIDWORKS Essentials Course is the shell feature. This allows you to remove faces of a part and apply a uniform wall thickness within it, particularly useful for injection moulded product. By....
Guy Martin and the 112 mph Push BikeSince I am fascinated by this type of crazy stunt and was involved a few years ago in a similarly crazy project to propel a lawnmower at 100 mph (watch this space!), I couldn't resist checking out the fluid flows f....
Hydroplaning, the act of riding a non-buoyant craft across water, requires complex physics, thrust and lift in order to keep the bike skimming the water’s surface; thanks to their amphibious vehicle expertise marine engineers, Graham Davis and ....
Dynamiq Engineering Ltd, were tasked by the production company to develop a suite of modifications to Dave Jenkin’s racing truck to create the largest possible slipstream, hence eliminating the aerodynamic drag that Guy Martin would have to ove....
SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation can be used to create transient studies where the fluid boundary conditions vary with time. This means that inlet and outlet parameters such as velocity, pressure or temperature can vary over a defined time period. An ....
What may have started off as a small family venture is turning into something quite phenomenal, Elite Balustrade Systems, a balcony and balustrade sales and fabrication company (and Solid Solutions customer), have grown from a local business in the s....
The SOLIDWORKS 2014 discs now have content for multiproducts on them as standard! New additions to the installation manager include SOLIDWORKS Electrical and SOLIDWORKS Composer, so there is no need to download these separately any more! Simply tick ....
Christmas is getting close and the pressure to produce the turkey and stuffing whilst getting those little pigs in blankets on the table before the Queen’s speech is mounting and for those with lots of family coming over it’s a certainty ....
With the Christmas season well and truly upon us a seasonal SOLIDWORKS blog seems to be the only possible topic for today’s entry. As the social media pages get the festive touch from our graphics department we have been particularly impressed ....
SOLIDWORKS Plastics is able to calculate and illustrate the phenomenon of ‘Jetting’ within injection moulded parts. ‘Jetting’ occurs when there is a large amount of empty space in the mould cavity at, or close to, the injectio....
You may have seen warnings during the last couple of SOLIDWORKS versions about the support for Windows XP and Windows Vista ceasing, so it may come as a shock when attempting to install on a Windows 7 computer that you are hit with the following erro....
As the new year approaches, I wanted to make you aware of some of the great resources Solid Solutions offer for new users and experienced users a like. Webcast WednesdayThis initiative has been going for around 4 years and we have had huge succe....
Mold design is relatively simple in SOLIDWORKS with the use of Surface Modelling and Mold Tool commands. These are just two advance courses we train customers in using core functionality of the Software but the workflow and extensions beyond this are....
The SOLIDWORKS user base is growing at a massive rate- there are over 2.5million users worldwide, and off the back of this the developers, resellers and customers alike are creating a vast amount of online content for you to tap into. You may already....
Using the swept cut feature, we have the ability to use a second body to represent the tool generating the cut. For this to work our tool-body has to be a revolved feature using analytical geometry (i.e. lines and arcs), make sure the merge resu....
Using Delete Face as a cutting toolToday’s little tip is the use of the “Delete Face” as a cutting tool, to save you the time and effort sketching and creating features to remove the model geometryLet me explain below:As you can see....
Which is better for SOLIDWORKS: a Windows 7 Basic theme or an Aero Theme? For my blog post this week I wanted to highlight the importance of not only checking that you are running a supported graphics card driver as you upgrade to the last ....
Chances are that if you have attended one of the SOLIDWORKS Training Courses you will have been encouraged to rename your Sketches and Features either through a slow double click or hitting the F2 key. However what if you need to undo this ....
In my opinion, it is always best practice to model about the model origin and to make use of symmetry whenever possible. Dynamic Mirror Entities: The easiest and fastest way to create symmetric elements in a sketch is to use the Dynamic Mir....
At Solid Solutions we love hearing about interesting and unusual uses for SOLIDWORKS and this could potentially be our favourite yet. Warning: this is utterly adorable. When we heard about Dudley the Duck in the office yesterday afternoon ....
Do you have any ideas for a new function or a tweak to an existing one? Every year SOLIDWORKS ask for ideas which are then narrowed down by voting later in the year to the Top Ten. You can contribute here All ideas must be submi....
Rapid Sketch- you may have seen it, but perhaps haven't clicked it. It is one of the last icons on the Sketch toolbar when part modelling, and has been there for a couple of years.
Hi I have just fixed a long-standing problem for a customer using the Knowledge Base. The customer was not aware that he could have fixed the problem himself - if he just searched it via his Customer Portal. The Knowledge Base is a fabulous....
In recent years SOLIDWORKS have released their eDrawings viewer product on Apple iOS Devices and this year at SOLIDWORKS World 2013 they unveiled not only that eDrawings would also be released for Andriod but that a new enhancement was to b....
During training this week I came across something that a number of my students were unaware of…it’s often these little things that can speed up your day to day work within SOLIDWORKS SOLIDWORKS gives the user the ability to open par....
“I think most users will find something in [SOLIDWORKS 2014] that either makes their daily working practices more efficient or allows them to be more productive.” SOLIDWORKS 2014 has been recently reviewed by Digital 3D, an independe....
Buoyancy Calculation in SOLIDWORKS I have added this blog as it might prove useful to anyone who wants to work out how far beneath the water surface an assy will float. This came up in a training course with our customer Manuplas of Plymo....
The standard line font used in drawings is black lines with constant line weight- this can sometimes mean that being able to differentiate between parts within an assembly drawing can be a little tricky. There are ways around this.
Whilst we don't want to spoil our up and coming 2014 launch events, there is one enhancement in particular that seems to be creating a bit of a buzz in the SOLIDWORKS Community. SOLIDWORKS 2014 now comes equipped with the Replace Sketch Entities ....
Trim/Extend Feature and Weldment Cut Lists A reminder of one of the main features of the Weldments area of SOLIDWORKS; the Trim/Extent tool. Having started off with a part containing two weldment tubes and a horizontal Boss-Extr....
When importing large STL files in to SOLIDWORKS you may come across this error. This is due to a polygon limit on the SOLIDWORKS STL import utility. Files with more than 20000 polygons cannot be imported as a surface or solid, and only a g....
The Property Tab Builder, introduced in SOLIDWORKS 2009 makes the input of custom properties easier than ever. Properties are used to add data to SOLIDWORKS files to populate drawing borders and Bills of Materials tables, but can also be used as a se....
Have you ever seen this thing appear next to your cursor?
This is a really useful gem that is hardly noticed or used - but can come in very handy, especially for anyone doing an animation or Motion study. Suppose you want to illustrate a movement of an assy - some sort of mechanism. Obviously you wil....
SOLIDWORKS have always been a leader when it comes to multibody modelling- since its introduction in SOLIDWORKS 2003 developers have continued to strive and improve the way that we can work with them- so much so that multibody modelling rivals assemb....
Implementing a new CAD system not only requires the financial commitment to buy the software, but also a time and resource allocation to get the system off the ground. You want to be using the new software productively as soon as possible, but there ....
As the next Bank Holiday on our calendars is Christmas (am I allowed to say that yet!!) I thought I would just mention about up and coming training courses that we have for the rest of the year. I plan to put together the 2014 schedules in the coming....
What is it? Most users will be aware that the Toolbox included in SOLIDWORKS Professional allows for user to quickly add bolts and connections to assemblies, with automatic sizing and mating applied, however the Toolbox also includes some additi....
Generally speaking, when you want to model a part with rounded edges, it is best to use the Fillet command on the Features menu - you can then edit/suppress/delete the fillet feature on the design tree.Many people do use the Sketch Fillet command tho...
Found a nifty tool within SOLIDWORKS, buried in the background... The Live Section plane tool is accessed within a part document under Insert> Feature> Reference Geometry> Live Section Planes, this tools lets you dynamically sectio....
Switch to Exploded View A short and basic tip to save time setting up exploded views multiple times: Exploded views are stored within the configurations tab, double-click the highlighted tab as shown below to activate the exploded view and ....
In context or Top Down modelling is a very powerful technique for bespoke/ one off assemblies that may change due to customer demands, The main principle is that parts are designed or edited in the assembly environment to benefit from the surrounding....
Hi, Another SOLIDWORKS Essentials course completed this week, great to meet our new customers and some new faces from existing customers. Everyone progressed extremely well and found the training and extra SSM Surgery support extremely usef....
You may have recieved a .swb file from a supplier catalogue or a download from their website, but how can you then open and use this in SOLIDWORKS? A .swb file extention is actually a Macro so all you need to do once you have downloaded the file....
Dynamic Mirror - A really quick tip for instantly creating symmetry within a sketch in SOLIDWORKS. 1. Draw a centreline, ideally going through the origin 2. Within the active sketch, select Tools > Sketch Tools > Dynamic Mirror&....
Just a quick note that following requests from customers to support Android devices, the eDrawings application for android was released yesterday and its a bit of a bargain in my opinion! A mere £1.28 will allow you to better collaborate ....
As well as all of the great stuff we are doing at Solid Solutions with our online blog posts and the interactive Solid Solutions TV website, SOLIDWORKS themselves have created a brand new online portal giving customers access to all the SOLIDWORKS Re....
The weldment features inside of SOLIDWORKS are very popular amongst our customer base, making the creation of fabrications far more efficient. For those who haven't tried them, weldments enable a profile sketch to be swept along a path,....
The Helix and Spiral tool can be cleverly used to generate 3D curves which can be then used as a sweep path. Ideal for creating springs!The tool will create your desired helix or spiral based on an initial circle sketch and definition values e.g. Pit...
SOLIDWORKS 2014 Beta testing is well underway, it would be great to start blogging about the new features and enhancements but unfortunately we're currently bound by a Non Disclosure Agreement, along with all the other Beta testers....
Converting Parts to Sheet Metal During the sheet metal course that is part of my training, I was introduced to the “Convert to sheet metal” feature. The tool can quickly be used to convert a block part into a component th....
“Smart fasteners” is a really useful time saving tool, allowing you to automatically insert toolbox fasteners such as bolts and screws into an assembly providing there is a standard hole. The tool uses both ANSI inch and metric alongside ...
The Contour Select feature is a great addition to a number of commands to allow you to choose distinct regions of a multiple contour sketch (i.e. one with many overlapping shapes). A great application for using this is floor layouts, where in one sin....
Brompton Bikes a long time customer of Solid Solutions and SOLIDWORKS have featured on the BBC website.Will Butler-Adams, Bromton Bikes Managing Director explains how being considered stupid as a student helped drive his determination to be susseful ....
Anyone out there still using Windows Vista? It's easy for us to assume that everyone is running the latest and greatest but i want to make sure anyone still using Vista has time to change. To run SOLIDWORKS 2014 when it is released this autu....
Have you ever seen this icon next to your mouse cursor? It can turn out to be the cause of a lot of frustration as SOLIDWORKS seemingly "locks up" when this icon appears preventing you from selecting parts of you model on screen. The reaso....
I must acknowledge the help of my colleague Graham Stephenson with this tip. I was in a Sheetmetal training class with a customer who uses lofted bends a lot in his sheetmetal products - chutes and hoppers for the food industry. We created a s....
I was working on a model for a customer today and found it very annoying having to swap back and forth between two model windows. One solution might be to get a second monitor and span SOLIDWORKS across it. Great, but i'm not working at my o....
Fully Define Sketch is a command that is rarely used as it doesn’t appear as standard on the Sketch Toolbar and needs to be manually added. You will need to add it to your Sketch toolbar but it’s a worthy addition. Why n....
For those of you who weren't aware SOLIDWORKS 2013 made it much easier to select the view you require either via the shortcut of hitting the space bar on the keyboard or from the menu icons. I picked up a tip today that i think makes it more user....
This blog post is to coincide with the ‘Direct Editing’ Webcast and Tips & Tricks on our Solidsolutions.tv. I hope for those that attended the webcast and for those that have/will watch it, that you did see one or two new tools (or us....
One of the most common questions I get asked during a training course is “what other things do I do in my role as a SOLIDWORKS Applications Engineer?” Therefore, I thought it may be nice to share with you one of my recent site visit....
Hi If you follow our blogs you will know that at SSM we are very proud of the fact that we have more 'Elite' Application Engineers than any other reseller - worldwide! In fact, to date, we not only top the worldwide league table, we ha....
If you have ever had the need to create additional sketch planes:- Then I'm pretty sure that you will have run into situations where "Horizontal" and "Vertical" relations in your new sketch are not how you would....
One of our customers who manufacture boring machines recently asked me whether they can add Gun Drilled Holes (which have a unique “W” profile at the end of the drilled bore) into the Hole Wizard because they use them all the time. The....
The zoom to fit command (hotkey "F") is a great way of showing the whole part, assembly or drawing so it fills the screen. However in an assembly it can give you unexpected results making the assembly seemingly disappear. This is actually b....
I’m always on the lookout for interesting tips and tricks to pass on to our customers and this is a lovely one that will save valuable time and therefore cost. I picked this one up recently….. There is a function available to users of ....
Is the SOLIDWORKS Rx tool not opening? I came across an interesting issue that seems to crop up now and again whilst working on the Support line, which is the problem with the SOLIDWORKS Rx tool not opening, not doing anything, ....
Combine Multiple Custom Properties into one PropertyThe below image demonstrates how I have combined the "Evaluated Value" from the "Material" and "Weight" property into the "Combination" property field and sep....
Get Certified in SOLIDWORKS SOLIDWORKS Certifications are an excellent way to test your competence and depth of knowledge of SOLIDWORKS. With a range of certifications aimed at beginners through to advanced user, there’s an ....
Expanding and Collapsing all Components in the SolidWorks Model TreeWith the new 2013 functionality of producing a new flat view for parts,
Use a Solid State Drive! No I’m not kidding, Solid State Drives (SSD) improve many aspects of a PC’s performance from windows start up and responsiveness to intensive applications like SOLIDWORKS when compared with traditional spinning ha....
SOLIDWORKS 2013 has a new option to allow intelligent dimensioning of sketches automatically. It basically allows you to sketch as normal, but if you know the size of the sketch entity you are adding, you can type in what size it should be. If you do....
The SOLIDWORKS certification program is well established worldwide. Arguably the most popular is the CSWP (Certified SOLIDWORKS Professional). Worldwide there are 27000 certified users, but just 850 in the UK, 28 of those are Solid Solutions employee....
If you're interested in efficiency with SOLIDWORKS, check out the new Dell Precision M6700!! Running a performance test in Flow Simulation compared against a Dell Precision M6500, the M6700 gives around double the speed!The tests were car....
Each day we wait for Assembly files to open across the network. These assemblies may contain a number of standard parts that will never change. So, why not use the "Feature Freeze" tool to lock features from rebuilding and cut down on openi....
When creating an equation in a drawing general table, is it possible to define the number of decimal places of the cell? For example, making 1/3 (0.33333333) appear as 0.33.Yes, it is possible to set the decimal places in a cell. Use the "{}&quo....
Have you ever needed to select parts in an assembly based on a pre-defined criteria such as weight, material, component status or any other custom property? If so, this can be done very easily by using the “Advanced Select” tool in the as....
Every struggled to get some good material data from the internet when trying generate accurate simulation models?I found a great page in the SOLIDWORKS help files which has a few websites I didn’t even know about! See below…Metals (gener....
Global variables are a useful tool for allowing quick changes to key dimensions within a model. This technique is useful when situations require speed modelling, whether this is during SOLIDWORKS exams or to quickly produce variations of a design for....
As promised...Charlie Jessey
Here are a few keyboard shortcuts and mouse clicks to help you save time when modelling.More to come!Charlie Jessey
I recently visited a customer who asked me to create an enhancement request with SOLIDWORKS for the ability to create Isometric Section Views in drawings, however this functionality already exists!To be honest the option is a little hidden away, so h....
If you’re running Professional or Premium then you may not be aware of a utility called the SOLIDWORKS Design Checker. This tool authenticates various design elements against a pre-defined criterion. To enable this first ensure you have the SOL....
I have found this useful on several occasions when I have wanted to make the file size of a SOLIDWORKS part smaller - especially if I want to email it and I am tight to a limit.The method is dead simple - simply create a feature that encloses al....
SOLIDWORKS offers the opportunity to import external 3D file types such as STEP and IGES files, but the lack of features in the FeatureManager tree means editing these models can be difficult and time consuming. The FeatureWorks add-in is available t....
For SOLIDWORKS Premium customers in particular, the SOLIDWORKS Content area contains a vast amount of downloadable content to compliment the Routing and CircuitWorks add ins. From the right hand side of the screen, access the Design Library. In here ....
The SOLIDWORKS FeatureManager Tree is the heart of any model or assembly. It is the recipe for how a part or assembly has been built from start to finish. In SOLIDWORKS 2012 we saw the introduction of the SOLIDWORKS Part Reviewer (available via Tools....
Graham Harris from Blatchford Products explains how SOLIDWORKS Simulation helped them design a state of the art carbon fibre leg for Stuart Hughes, a torch bearer for the London Olympics.What does an Oscar Pistorius-style blade feel like?www.bla....
“SOLIDWORKS 2012 is the last release that will run on Windows XP.” “SOLIDWORKS 2013 will NOT INSTALL on computers using Windows XP.” SOLIDWORKS 2013 is not supporting the Windows XP Operating System and therefore an upgrade is....
You know the one about waiting for a bus - then 2 come along? Well after posting a blog earlier this week that we had 2 more Elite Application Engineers at SSM, I can now report that another 2 have come along!!!Congratulations to John Bean and Richar....
Congratulations to Craig Hudson and Dave Ashford, two of our technical team who have just been awarded the exclusive 'Elite Application Engineer' status by SOLIDWORKS.This is achieved by proving a high level of technical expertise across the full ran....
In SOLIDWORKS 2012 (specifically SP1.0) you may have seen a new add in appear in the list (Tools > Add Ins). The SOLIDWORKS Part Reviewer is designed to help you understand the methodology adopted for a SOLIDWORKS Part. The Reviewer allows you to ....
Dassault Systems today announced the launch of the long awaited and much anticipated eDrawings App! This new App is only available for the iPad and costs £1.49. View, share, and collaborate from anywhere with this easy-to-use, email-enabled sof....
SOLIDWORKS has always had a fantastic certification program, designed to test the most proficient of users' skills. In recent years SOLIDWORKS has revamped its Certification Program to allow users to specialise in key areas of the software.The most p....
Each release SOLIDWORKS adds hundreds of new enhancements. Most of these (over 85%) are those requested by the customer base. In preparation for the SOLIDWORKS World event next month in San Diego, ideas have been proposed to the SOLIDWORKS developers....
How symmetrical is your part? If you knew, then you could work on the smallest segment and mirror the body after you've made your changes for easy part modifications. Or for Simulation, you could work with that segment alone to speed up an ....
I was teaching the SOLIDWORKS Motion course recently and was surprised by a comment made by a trainee. He said he had not appreciated beforehand how sophisticated Motion was as a tool for solving engineering problems. Other trainees agreed. It seems ....
If you missed our launch events across the country, this Wednesday there will be a live Webcast going through the highlights of the 20th release of SOLIDWORKS. To register for this webcast, go to http://www.solidsolutions.co.uk/solidworks-Training/We....
Have you reserved your seat to see SOLIDWORKS 2012?The two midlands events at the Heritage Motor Museum, were attended by over 250 of Solid Solutions' customers# As well as seeing all of the new features in SOLIDWORKS 2012, many e....
I took a call on the helpdesk last week from a Customer reporting that SOLIDWORKS was often slow to start first thing in the morning. A little investigation found this neat little trick to stop SOLIDWORKS from checking (via the internet) for updates ....
Our 2012 training schedules are currently being uploaded to our website. We are aiming to run more courses than ever next year to ensure you have the best opportunity to attend training as locally as possible. Continue to check our training....
What's New SW2012 - Command SearchThere are some nice new additions for 2012, one of my favourites is the command search. In 2012, from the SOLIDWORKS search bar dropdown, you can select a new option to utilise this tool. If you type in the name of a....
I’ve just supported my first WPDM 2012 server install and found that it now asks for the SW serial number and it then asks you to generate a unique code before it will installChris WadleyApplications EngineerSolid Solutions Management
SOLIDWORKS 2012 is now available to download from the SOLIDWORKS Customer portal (http://customerportal.SOLIDWORKS.com)Want to see what's new? Register for a Solid Solutions Launch Event by clicking the banner above or if you can't wait unt....
The Solid Solutions SOLIDWORKS 2012 launch events are just over a month away, but I'm sure that is too long to wait for many keen SolidWorkers out there! So, if you want to take a look at some of the new functionality why not take a look at the SOLID....
Unlike our usual customer only Webcasts, this one is open to anyone. So feel free to register through this link and join us next Wednesday.Look forward to presenting it to you,Oliver Duncan - Presales ManagerSolid Solutions Management
SOLIDWORKS have just released a brand new self study training manual focused on best practice advice for Large Assembly Design. The manual brings all the advice together including file management, system options and settings and modelling techniques ....
Registration for the SOLIDWORKS 2012 Launch events are now open!Here at Solid Solutions, we are proud to announce registration for the SOLIDWORKS 2012 Launch events is now open. This year we are pulling out all the stops to make the events for the 20....
As more and more SOLIDWORKS products are developed to meet the design world's needs, have you ever thought, can't someone just give me an overview of what it's all about, in, say, 10 minutes?We thought so, so I did just that:Enjoy,Oliver Duncan - Eli....
I wonder how many of us have not really understood bend allowance, bend deduction and K factor options when bending sheetmetal. Of course we could read the SOLIDWORKS Help files but much easier if there is somebody with a nice voice to talk you throu....
Whilst prepping for a Webcast (Best Practice...Weldments) I remembered a couple of neat tricks for changing the orientation of the coordinate system whilst in a 3D Sketch...Method 1Use the TAB key whilst editing a 3DSketch Method 2Rotate the model th....