Week 3 Getting Started with Solidworks

In this week's tutorial we were to familiarize ourselves with the various terminology used in solid modelling.The exercises for the week gave us an opportunity to start building solids from a given 2d drawing. It also gave us the understanding of how important it is to have our drawings and sketches fully defined, as this step can alter the properties of the part or solid.


Some of the terminology used in solid modelling include the following:


Vortex
Face
Edge
Axis
Plane
Origin
Mass Properties
Fully Defined/Under Defined
Feature
Sketch
Relations








To build our first solid we had to open a New Part in Solidworks. To start sketching you have to select a Plane that you will like to draw on first, and to remember it is best to start your Sketch from the Origin. Starting the Sketch from the Origin(x0,y0,z0) ensures we have a known reference starting point and all Relations can be defined. Adding Relations to entities( Lines, Points) helps control the sketch. Using Smart Dimension adds dimensions to the drawing.


Steps used to create this solid:


Sketch your 2d profile using the Line tool
Add Relations
Use Smart Dimension to add dimensions
Exit Sketch
Select Extrude Boss to turn sketch into a solid Feature by setting the thickness

NB: It is important that the drawing is Fully Defined( All Lines are Black). It ensures all the information to make this part is communicated, and ensures that no part of the drawing can be altered by accident being Under Defined( Blue lines).

 

Making small changes to dimensions and the thickness of the Feature alters the mass of the part. Refer back to the note of how important it is to have a Fully Defined sketch. To find out the mass of the part we select the Evaluate tab and select Mass Properties.

Apart of this weeks exercises we also learnt how to Edit Material to change the part's properties. Some parts were made of Plastic ABS to Aluminium 1060 Alloy which also alters the mass property of the part.

The last exercise introduced us to the Linear Sketch Pattern and Circular Sketch Pattern tool. This tool is handy if there are parts with repetitive features.