Tutorials

One of, if not the, most important portions of a weldment to control is the corner. In production an error of cutting can create a nightmare for a welder. Not only will these errors look bad, but a welded corner is typically the first place to look when a failure of the part occurs. With […]

Start a free membership and get SOLIDWORKS tutorials & online training today. Although most of placing a weldment profile in the library was covered in an earlier post, I wanted to go through it on a separate post. There are a few key things to remember here. 1. Know where weldments are stored. If you’re

Extrudes and cuts and go a long ways to creating some cool parts, but they can not do everything. I have always known about the Helix tool in Solidworks (Insert>Curve>Helix) but recently a few things prompted me to realize the limitations of Helix’s. The first thing that happened was I had to create a model

As part of an earlier look at Parting line creation the option to automatically create a split line for all straddle faces was reviewed. However, it is not always certain that the software figures out where these things need to go and of course there are multiple ways to do everything. Split lines can be

When creating a mold, many times the base is already defined. Maybe the mold maker has one in stock, or there is an existing mold that a second cavity is being put in. To mold makers many times the geometry of a two parts starts to become a moot point. Two seemingly different parts can

So after reviewing the core and tooling split options, what happens when the resultant mold can not be created or machined easily. There are times when sectioning out a mold even more will make it easier to fabricate or more durable. For example, if molding a rough material that is known to wear away steel

It is a truth of the real world that not all systems or software is going to be compatible. Working out of Solidworks to design a mold in no way guarantees the part the mold is for will be made in the same software. Still, a solid model or even a surface model of the

After reviewing the basic steps of parting lines it’s easy to realize that not every part is so cut and dry. Sure for the sample CSWP mold tools exam the parts are easy to understand and surfaces are easy to define but what about on the real test? Or the real world? When looking at

Once a parting line has been selected for a part the next step is to create a parting surface. Luckily this step is very easy if don’t in the correct order (ie. if the parting line has been created). Click the parting surfaces tool and the feature manager will pop up and the parting line

The parting line of a molded component is the intersection of the part and 2 mold components. Typically this refers to the line where the two sides of the mold meet. On many parts this feature can be visible to the naked eye but in good part design attempts are made to hide the line