Last November, I posted a tip on how to more easily mate components using an Alt-Drag technique.  A reader had a question about it, so I thought I would create a video demonstrating it.  I hope it helps.  (Tip: switch to full screen or view in HD on Vimeo)

This is my first attempt at video in quite a while, and I was impressed with the results!  Sorry about the audio, but I don’t think it’s too bad.

Like it/hate it?  Let me know what you think in the comments!

How do you recreate an identical sketch on another face/plane? Convert edges is fine if you want to project a sketch to a parallel face or plane, but what if the face in question is not parallel? You could copy a sketch and then mess around with linking all the dimensions, but what if you want the sketch in a different orientation? Enter the Derived Sketch command.

The Derived Sketch is a cool tool; it creates a copy of a sketch that is tied back to the original. After deriving a sketch, it’s only a matter of orienting and positioning it in its new location.

Take the leg brace weldment shown above for example. A Derived Sketch will allow you to keep your design intent by ensuring that the two end flange plates are always the same shape and size. Let’s look at how it works.

First, you create one of the plates as you normally would:

Then, you select the original sketch and the face or plane you wish to position the new sketch on and choose Insert|Derived Sketch:

Now it’s just a matter of orienting and positioning the new sketch.  Any changes to the original sketch will be reflected in this sketch as well.

To finish things off and make sure that the full design intent is there, you can link the thicknesses of each plate:

So there you have it!  A couple of things to note is that you cannot add any additional geometry to the Derived Sketch, and in this example I had trouble getting some of the constraints to work out like I wanted. Also, any new geometry added to the original sketch will be propagated to the Derived Sketch.

In the image to the left, a square cutout was added to the lower base bracket, and you can see that it was propagated to the upper bracket.

Do you have any special tips or tricks you use to make working with SolidWorks faster or easier? Email them to us at tips@cadfanatic.com and it may be featured on a future CADFanatic’s Tips & Tricks Tuesday!

Ah, the pretty RGB colors! I usually use the triad in the bottom left corner of the SolidWorks model view as a reference to keep myself oriented in my model.  But did you know that in SolidWorks 2009 you can use it to change your view of the model?  Clicking each triad arrow will give you a view normal to the respective arrow, and another click on the same arrow flips the view normally.

I.e., click on the Z arrow, and you are instantly transported to the Front (X-Y) view.  Clicking it again will flip your model 180° to the Back view.

It’s an easy and quick way to manipulate the model to the standard views (and it may make more sense to some than the Front, Back, etc. descriptions on the Standard Views toolbar; I know of several folks who have trouble making the connection between the icons/descriptions and the model orientation.)  So try it out.  YMMV, but maybe it will help you become a little more productive.

Do you have any special tips or tricks you use to make working with SolidWorks faster or easier? Email them to us at tips@cadfanatic.com and it may be featured on a future CADFanatic’s Tips & Tricks Tuesday!

Do you work with widescreen monitors?  Dual monitors?  Have a laptop that is sometimes connected to an external widescreen monitor?  SolidWorks 2009 introduces a Workspace command to help arrange your Workspace for multiple setups.  The command has settings for Default, Widescreen, or Dual Monitor.

The different options have alternate settings for positions of certain task panes, such as the PropertyManager.  Unfortunately, users are currently unable to save their own customized Workspace; therefore this command is fairly limited right now.  But the framework is there now and hopefully this is a precursor to functionality that will be introduced in the future.

Do you have any special tips or tricks you use to make working with SolidWorks faster or easier?  Email them to us at tips@cadfanatic.com and it may be featured on a future CADFanatic’s Tips & Tricks Tuesday!

Do you make use of SolidWorks Display States?  They really make it easier to work with large assemblies (or even small ones) by allowing you to set the visibilty of parts.  For example, you could create a Display State in an assembly showing two mating components, and then easily recall that display state without having to go back and hide a bunch of parts, or find the components and use Isolate.

You can manually create a Display State or create one while in the Isolate command (just press the blue disk icon).  Display States honor Display Modes too, so that you can create and image with some parts shown with hidden lines removed, for instance.

Another use I have found for Display States are for creating images for presentations, web, or manuals.  Used in combination with a custom view, you can be sure that you always get the same components in the same orientation as a design progresses.

If you don’t use Design Views, you should check them out!  They can really increase your productivity.

Do you have any special tips or tricks you use to make working with SolidWorks faster or easier?  Email them to us at tips@cadfanatic.com and it may be featured on a future CADFanatic’s Tips & Tricks Tuesday!