Crystal Yazvac

CAPINC’s own Application Engineer and DriveWorks expert, Crystal Yazvac, has been working with DriveWorks for quite some time and has been gushing about the latest release: DriveWorks 10. With this newest release, Crystal’s been enjoying the change in where some tools have moved to. “I love that they moved the Drawing Rules to the Model Rules Task.  This means fewer clicks around to find the Drawing Rules!  And will speed up copying and pasting of rules.”

As most experts do, Crystal has some DriveWorks features that are her all time favorites. She really appreciates the amount of time it can save,  and the ease of use it requires. Crystal has done projects in the industry that used Master Excel Design Tables, as well as a project that used Custom Visual Basic Programming.  These projects took her years. With DriveWorks she can do the same project in a few months, if not weeks.

When asked what the most exciting thing Crystal has used DriveWorks for, she’ll tell you it’s learning new functions when helping out customers. “I loved being able to help out one of our customers with their DriveWorks Project last summer.  The fact that they are able to host a website (in this case internal to their company) which the sales side can use, and then let the AutoPilot computer do all the work is very exciting to me.” Crystal is one of CAPINC’s resident DriveWorks experts and continues to work with CAPINC customers and prospects.

Sketch blocks in SolidWorks can be very powerful. I will walk you through the process of creating a block and then inserting it into a new part. I will then show you how to designate whether the inserted block remains linked to the original block file so that it updates when the original final is changed. Finally I will discuss other uses of blocks that don’t necessarily contribute to a library of sketches, but can be just as beneficial.

You can access your sketch block tools by going to Tools > Blocks or by activating your Blocks menu. To do this, right click over the CommandManager at the top of your SolidWorks window, and chose the “Blocks” menu. There are several icons that this will place on your workspace. If you open a blank part file and look at this menu, the only available option is to insert a block. Most of the block tools you will use from the sketch environment.

1. To create a sketch block, first open a part and create a sketch. This does not necessarily need to be a blank part, you can create and capture a sketch block from a part that is partially or fully modeled.

2. The next step is to sketch the entities that you would like to be a part of the block. Again, if you’ve already captured this in a sketch, simply open that sketch for editing so that the individual entities are selectable.

3. At this point you can either chose to “Make Block”  or “Save Block”  . If you want to include all entities in the sketch in the block, you can use “Save Block”, which will save the entire sketch as a .SLDBLK file. You should chose to save this block somewhere you will remember in the future. By going to Tools > Options > System Options > File Locations, you can designate a location on your computer to automatically save and search for blocks.

4. If you choose to “Make Block” you can select certain entities to be part of the block and exclude others.

a. Using “Make Block” you also can create an insertion point. By dragging the blue insertion icon around, you can snap it to geometry in the block. Then when you insert this block in a new part, you can control where the block is placed based on this point.

b. Once you make a block, it will show up in your feature tree embedded inside the sketch you created. The sketch entities will also turn gray. This block is not yet available outside the part you are currently working in. You still need to Right click on this block in the feature tree and choose “Save Block”. This might seem like a longer process than simply choosing “Save Block”, as in step 3, however, as I eluded to earlier, there are more things that can be done with Blocks, in which making a block without saving it can be helpful.

5. Now that you’ve created and saved a block, it is very easy to use that block in a new part:

a. Simply open the part in which you’d like to insert the new block and go to Tools > Blocks > Insert Block or select the “Insert Block”  icon  from the Blocks menu.

b. At this point, if you haven’t already done so, you will be instructed to select a face or plane for the block to be placed on. A new sketch will be opened on that face/plane and the block will appear attached to your mouse (at the location of the insertion point if you have specified one).

c. Place the block wherever you’d like. You can place multiple in the same sketch.

6. If you click on any entity within the sketch you can see the block properties on the left side of the window. Within this property manager you can choose whether or not this block is linked to the original block file. The main benefit to linking your blocks is to ensure that the block will update in all parts where it is used. If you have “Link to File” unchecked, you can choose from here to edit the block or assign a new insertion point. If “Link to File” is checked, you do not see these options because the block can only be edited by opening the original .SLDBLK file.

7. In the Parameters section of the Block properties manager you can scale or rotate the block. If you check the box that says “Lock Angle” the angular orientation of the block will be locked and cannot be adjusted unless the box is unchecked.

8. One more thing you can chose to do with a block once it has been created is explode the block . This will dissolved the block back into regular sketch entities. If you exploded a block that was linked to a .SLDBLK file, this will automatically break that link. If you explode a block that has been scaled, you will notice that all dimensions within that block are now scaled appropriately.

One more way blocks can be used in a very convenient manner is simply to lock a set of entities together temporarily for the purpose of moving them as a unit without worrying about these entities moving or shifting in respect to one another. This is a simple way to set up a 2-D schematic in SolidWorks.  You can also repeatedly insert these blocks that ARE NOT saved externally, as long as it is within the same part.

If you use “Make Block” to group sketch entities together, you may notice SolidWorks creates this block in the feature tree as Block1-1 for the first block, Block2-1 for the second, etc. You can rename these blocks, but they will maintain the “-1” at the end of the name. You can chose “Insert Block” and the blocks that already exist in that part are available to be inserted. Once you insert new versions of the same block you may notice the name of the new Block in the feature tree is the same as the original, but with a “-2” or “-3” following instead of “-1”. You can also link, scale, rotate and explode this block, just as you can with the externally saved .SLDBLK files.

At this point, we’ve discussed creating, saving, and inserting blocks. These are all the tools you need to build an arsenal of predefined sketches that can be re-used as many times as you’d like, without the need to hunt down the original part where the sketch existed. By exploding blocks you can then take advantage of the convenience of working from a normal sketch, without needing to build that sketch from scratch. Sketch blocks are available in the part, assembly and drawing environment, making them extremely flexible. I’ve hopefully shown you that from now on there is no need to repeat the same boring sketches over and over;  you could be spending less time sketching and more time on the more important aspects of your design.

File preview from www.thingiverse.com

To print this file we decided to use our Stratasys Fortus 250 system. With the blue ABS+ material, we aligned two models to print at the same time, making the total build time 11 hours and 35 minutes long. Below is a snapshot of the print job mid-build.

Partial Build of Pencil Holder

A quick set-it-and-forget-it job, the printer started late afternoon and the two pencil holders were ready for Mom the next day. With some support material to remove, we snapped off what we could and then soaked the rest off. Here’s the before and after with the support material.

Now all we need is some cool pens and a bow and this gift is ready for Mom’s desk!

Determine Your Solution Time

Before running the non-linear, time-dependent study, you can run a simple, Linear case to help frame the problem.  Set up a Modal Analysis. Use as many of the boundary conditions as you can from the final, non-linear impact study.  What you are looking for is the lowest natural response frequency of the structure.  Let’s say you discover the lowest mode for an assembly is 700Hz.  The period of one vibration would be 1/700 or .0014 sec.

When you run your study, you want know if the propagation of the impact energy through the structure is going to interact with any of the structure’s natural modes, so you need to run your impact study for AT LEAST one period – and I often like to plot over two or three full waves.   In my example, three periods of .0014 sec means the study should run for .0042 seconds.

Determine the Time-Step

In non-linear analysis, we compute the time-varying properties as a first-order explicit difference between time-steps, and we compute spatial gradients as a second-order implicit difference between adjacent mesh elements.  The importance of this is that, at any given time, an element can only ‘see’ and react to, the conditions in the elements that are its immediate neighbors – it will NOT see what is coming at it from 2 or 3 elements away.

If you want a shock wave from an impact to propagate accurately, then your analysis time-step must not be too large.  The wave will travel at the speed of sound through your material(s).  Once you know the speed of a sound wave, you can divide that speed into your (smallest) mesh element size – this will give you the period (time required) for the wave to travel across one mesh element.  Your Simulation time-step should be no bigger than that one-element-transit-time.

Time Step <=  Mesh Size /   C

What is the speed of sound through your solid materials?  For long, slender structures, this is an easy function of the elastic spring stiffness, (that is E, the Young’s Modulus), and the material density, ρ.

Speed of Sound =  C  =  (E / ρ)^1/2

You have to compute this speed for each different material in your assembly, and then find the smallest mesh element size in that material, to determine that material’s time step.  Usually you will find your minimum time-step required for the problem is driven by your stiffest material.

Let’s assume in my example that my assembly is mostly steel, with some other softer, (slower-speed) materials.  The speed of sound through the Solidworks “Plain Carbon” steel is going to be, at the very least;

C = ( 2.1e11 N/m² /  7800 kg/m³  ) ^1/2    =   5188 m/s.

If your objects are not long and slender, then the speed of sound usually increases somewhat due to energy storage via poisson’s effect.  The more-conservative way to compute the speed of sound will then be;

Speed of Sound =  C  =  (  E(1-v)  /  (1+v)(1-2v) ρ   )^1/2

Where ‘v’ is the Poisson’s Ratio.  Again, using our Plain Carbon Steel, this would be

C = ( 2.1e11 N/m² (1-.28) /  (1+.28) (1-.56) 7800 kg/m³  ) ^1/2    =   5866 m/s.

If our example problem is assumed to have a smallest mesh size in the steel of 5.0mm, then the largest time-step we should contemplates would be

Step =  .005 m / 5866 m/s  =   0.85 e-6 seconds,

This is a very small time-step, but fortunately our example structure was rather stiff and have a lowest-natural-mode period of .0014 sec, so our drop-test will have to run for about 1650 iterations, for each full-wave response we wish to plot of the first natural mode.  So, yes, drop-test and impact studies are time-consuming!  And, they could eat a lot of space on your hard-drive.  That is why it is also CRUCIAL in such cases that you do not take the default behavior under “Results Options”, to keep a copy of all post-processing results at each time-step.

That’s all there is to it!

STL Orientation

The models shown below each have their optimal build orientation, what features would have been important to you: Smooth surface finish? Optimal strength? Fastest build time?

The orange impellor to the left is a favorite to build at a trade show, built standing erect as shown in a Dimension or Fortus FDM printer. The model snaps off the build tray, ready to use once complete and it has not required the use of support material what so ever. When built standing you get all of the best attributes all while not requiring any support material. With FDM printers your models can be built with up to 45 degree angles not consuming support material equals lower material cost for your model with optimal build speed.

The enclosures are two part models with each component built side by side delivering a fast model with acceptable surface finish. If the models were built standing erect you would have the smoothest surface finish though the amount of support material and time to build would likely be prohibitive.

The motorcycle shock is a multiple part component that was post assembled, each built with their intended use taken into effect.  The spring built standing upright (the spring does actually function) for strength, the post inside built vertically for both speed and strength. Think of a hammer handle, the grain runs the length of the handle delivering the greatest strength, the same with FDM.  The end caps were built in the fastest orientation, the models ultimate intention was form and fit not surface finish “show and tell”.

The white chain (yes, it functions) was built as shows and simply went into it’s cleaning tank dissolving the support material emerging ready to use.

Model Interior

Unique to Stratasys FDM printers you do have the ability to choose the interior of your models – solid verses sparse fill. Sparse fill is a honeycomb effect that greatly decreases the amount of material consumed, as well as the time to print the model.  Even at the entry level of printers you are using ABSplus material that has thermoplastic like properties so for the likely  majority of your models you will have more than the needed strength even with the lightest sparse fill.

With the Fortus 250 / 360 / 400 / 900 line of printers you are using Insight Job Processing and Management software which broadens the scope of model building. Do not simply define the model interior, mix your model,  build in sparse and select only the areas that would benefit from solid fill (High stress and / or areas to be drilled).

Support Fill

The last step is selecting the support fill: Surround, Basic, Smart or Sparse.  Almost all models work great with Basic support using as a base line amount of support material. Surround is limited to very tall thin models that benefit from a cocoon almost completely surrounding the model (rare use). Sparse simply minimizes the amount of support material making models with basic geometry print their fastest. Smart is meant to minimize support material except for where it is absolutely needed.

Our customers rarely give these choices a second thought after owning their printer for a few short weeks on average, it really becomes second nature.

You will need to know the following Simulation parameter information found online in the SolidWorks Help website:

• Parameters Dialog Box
• Linking a Simulation (or Motion) Feature to a Parameter
• Linking a Simulation Feature to a Parameter (Second Workflow)

How to create a Design Study

Creating your Design Table from your existing study:

Sensors? Add them in SolidWorks:

Linking parameters to material properties (repeat as needed):

Selecting the constraints your study uses:

Table view prior to run:

Results view, post run. You will notice scenario failures in red:

Constraints details (REF):

I recently attended an open house at Braintree Press.  The night was well attended and there was a lot of interest in their new 3D printer.  The attendees were from the reprographic (2D Printing) business so they have seen a lot of change over their careers.  I was astounded to see how interested they were all in learning about this new technology.  But after thinking about it, as an industry, these people have gone through massive changes and they are still standing.  The people who were there were the ones who adopted the new technology so of course they are interested in another printing technology.

When you look at your business, how well does your company adapt to new technology?

3D printing may feel like a fad.  It has been getting a lot of media attention in the last 12 months, but it has been around long enough that some of the original patents are expiring.  3D Printing is a tool for companies; it is not the only tool and it doesn’t replace all of your other tools, but it is changing the pace of business.  Designs iterations are taking hours and days versus weeks and months.  If your company is taking months to get a product to market, where will your company be in a couple of years compared to companies that are getting it done in weeks?

Will your company own the road or will it be the road kill?

Example #1: Default Search Path

If you want to set the default value for a particular field, first you must confirm the variable being used. In this example, we want to set the default search directory.

Then in the menu select Card -> Default Values…

In the Default Values… pop-up click on <Click here to add variable…>

Scroll down and select the variable.

Add the path you want to be the default value. This could be a sub folder, or the root [C:\MyVault] of the vault.

Click OK, and save the data card.

Example #2: Checkboxes

To change the default settings for the checkboxes, use the value of “1” for checked, and “0” for unchecked.

Conclusion

Customizable Search Card fields: Yet another cool feature available in Enterprise PDM.

SolidWorks Electrical

Collaboration is at the core of the SolidWorks Electrical value proposition. By enabling teams of multiple electrical and mechanical designers to work on the same project simultaneously, we ensure that everyone is working on “live” up-to-date project data using the same shared, customizable libraries of components to build their designs. These component libraries can be optionally tied to the customer’s ERP/MRP system, enabling full project planning with critical data, such as the manufacturer, supplier, cost, delivery lead time, and more. Every license of SolidWorks Electrical ships with integration to EPDM, so users have a ready-to-use means to control data access, workflows and file security for all participants in the product’s life cycle.

Product Features

SolidWorks Electrical provides the following three applications:

1. SolidWorks Electrical – a 2D schematic design tool for electrical system architecture and planning that:

• Simplifies electrical design with a dynamic, context-sensitive user interface, providing the ability to quickly turn concepts into detailed designs

• Identifies problems immediately with real-time error detection which prevents costly scrap and rework

• Allows for easier and more accurate creation of schematics with a library of more than 500,000 standard electrical parts

• Enables multiple people to work on the same project at the same time

2. SolidWorks Electrical 3D – an add-in to SolidWorks CAD application that connects SolidWorks Electrical 2D systems-level schematics to 3D models designed with SolidWorks. It includes:

• Real-time, bi-directional updates between 2D and 3D to synchronize electro-mechanical designs so that consistency is maintained throughout development

• The integration of the 2D schematic with the 3D model to help standardize designs and unify BOMs to reduce mistakes and delays

• Placement of the electrical system and cables/wires in the 3D model to enable planning of specific locations and paths for consistent product manufacturing

3. SolidWorks Electrical Professional – includes the functionality of both SolidWorks Electrical and SolidWorks Electrical 3D in a single application for users working in both 2D and 3D areas of electrical development.

Integration with SolidWorks 3D CAD and EPDM

The schematic design is fully integrated with the 3D functions in SolidWorks, allowing change to be initiated from either side of the design process: As the electrical designers specify components in their schematics, the mechanical designer will see those components inside their SolidWorks Feature Manager. This allows the mechanical designer to place the component directly in the 3D assembly. Once the components are in the SolidWorks assembly, wires and cables can be routed and the proper lengths will be instantly passed back to the reporting engine of SolidWorks Electrical. Conversely, if the mechanical designer has to insert an electrical component into the assembly, such as a motor or sensor, the electrical designer working in SolidWorks Electrical will immediately see the component in their feature manager, and will be able to provide the proper wiring for this component. Typically the wiring will provide power and control, as well as any protection circuits for the device.

Every license of SolidWorks Electrical ships with a ready-to-use integration to EPDM (Contributor license required), providing security for all electrical project data as well as complete participation for electrical users into the customers established workflows.

By having this level of integration, we can offer the following advantages to users:

• Single Electrical/Mechanical BOM – This eliminates a significant cause of inconsistencies between electrical and mechanical designs, and therefore helps companies develop products faster and with fewer errors.

• Electrical panel layouts – Designers can place components in the 3D panel

• Mountings and enclosures – Mechanical designers can place components like motors and sensors directly in their SolidWorks assemblies and test for interference, design proper enclosures or mounting brackets to reduce the possibility of manufacturing errors.

•  Accurate routing and wire lengths – Designers can easily specify wire and cable routing throughout the panel and the entire assembly. SolidWorks will calculate these paths and instantly pass the wire lengths back into the reporting engine in SolidWorks Electrical.

• 3D Documentation – using 3D Via Composer with the fully wired panel layouts, users can more easily create accurate, high quality documentation for assemblers, service technicians and customers. Because of the associative link between 3D Via Composer and SolidWorks, users can develop documentation in parallel with the mechanical design, rather than waiting until the design is complete to get started.

• “Downstream” applications – With an accurate 3D models we can be aware of the center of gravity of our assembly, analyze parts for performance under operating conditions, such as vibration, loading, thermal conditions and more. By doing this customers can optimize their designs for real-world performance before ever building a physical prototype.

Borrow one!

Just think of a SolidWorks Network License (SNL) as a book from the library.  You can read that book at the library all you want.  But, if you want to take it home, you have to go through some steps to borrow it.

Here is how you go about it:

1. Make sure you are currently connected to your office network.
2. Go to Start ->All Programs -> SolidWorks -> SolidWorks Tools -> SolidNetWork License Manager
3. Click the “License Borrowing” tab
4. Highlight the Product you want to borrow
5. Adjust the “Borrow Until” date (Maximum of 30 Days).
6. Hit the “Borrow” button.  Notice that when you borrow a Premium or Professional package it will automatically borrow a Standard license.  This is due to the fact that the Premium/Professional is made up of “add-ons” and need the Standard as a base.
7. Test your borrowed license by removing your computer from the network and opening SolidWorks.  No errors mean you are good to go!

If you need to return the license before the “Borrow Until” date just repeat the same steps but hit the “Return” Button instead.

A few things to remember when borrowing a license:

1. When you borrow a license there will be one less license for everyone else at the company to use while it is gone.
2. All licenses must be returned before your IT person can upgrade the SolidWorks License Administrator software.
3. Only borrow the SolidWorks package that you need.  For example, if you are not going to be using anything listed in ToolsàAdd-ins, you would only need to borrow a SolidWorks Standard license.