CAD for Dummies

Getting your own 3D printer

2017-06-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

As technology gets more mature, 3D printing technology has become more common and start to penetrate to consumer market. As a tech geek, I would definitely want to add 3D printer to my latest ‘toy’ collection.

Among the most established manufacturers, MakerBot might be the most well-known. They have sleek product and probably is the first company that introduces 3D printing to consumer market. But it come at a hefty price tag. Their entry level printer costs USD 999, excluding shipping cost. This is well beyond my budget.

In the end, I decided to buy from alternative manufacturer from China called Tronxy, through Chinese retailer Taobao, for only US$ 275, inclusive of shipping cost. You could find which model I bought here. Downside is, it is a DIY type of printer which you need to assembly yourselves. While fully assembled version is available at additional $40, I decided to assemble it myself. It was kind of fun actually and I really enjoyed assembling it.

For the price you’re paying, do not expect it to come with nice safety enclosure. But who needs a safety device when you know what to expect? I’ve put together in table below the comparison between my Tronxy with MakerBot Replicator Mini+. You can see that it is pretty much comparable to the Replicator Mini+. While some specification might be questionable, I feel it is really worth the money.

Model	Tronxy P802M	MakerBot Replicator Mini+
Machine weight	9.5 kg	9.3 kg
Material supported	ABS, PLA, TPU	PLA
Filament size	1.75 mm	1.75 mm
Build size	22 X 22 X 23 cm	10.1 X 12.6 X 12.6 cm
Printing speed	100 mm/s	?
Nozzle diameter	0.4 mm	0.4 mm
Layer thickness	0.1-0.5 mm	0.1-0.4 mm
Power consumption	45 W	?
XY axis accuracy	0.05 in*	0.8 mm
Z axis accuracy	0.05 in*	0.8 mm
Auto levelling	Yes	No (Build plate is factory levelled)
LCD screen	Yes	No
Heated bed	Yes	No
Camera	No	Yes
Operating Sound	?	58.8 dBA RMS
Software Bundle	N/A. Open source software to be used.	MakerBot Print Software, MakerBot Mobile
Price	US$ 275	US$ 999

* The unit is not specified but it appears to be in inch.

SolidWorks - Draft

2016-01-24T05:22:00.000-08:00

The Draft function is used to create angle at certain face.This function is widely used on injection moulding parts. Parts fabricated by injection moulding parts would typically require certain draft angle to facilitate the removal of the parts from the mould.

Accessing the Function

The easiest way to access the function is through the Features ribbon.

Alternatively, it could be accessed through Insert > Features > Draft.

Accessing Draft feature

Draft Options

The Draft function is pretty straight forward as there is not many options to this feature. To create draft angle, first select the Normal Face (highlighted in pink on picture below). The Normal face is the surface perpendicular to the draft face. Next select the Surfaces to Draft (highlighted in blue on picture below).

Setting up Draft feature

Results will be shown as below.

After adding Draft angle

Note that during setting up the draft feature, there is small arrow pointing upward at the Normal face. This arrow indicates the 'pulling' direction, where the top face would become the smaller cross section area, and the lower face would become the bigger cross section area. Should this arrow is pointing downwards, the end result would looks like an inverted pyramid.

SolidWorks Tutorial - A Beginner Guide to SolidWorks

2015-04-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Dear reader,

We are proud to announce that we are launching our first premium SolidWorks tutorial. This tutorial is based on our own series of Lego Tutorial, but with greater in depth explanation. Instead of modelling those little piece of Lego, you will be modelling a more complex shape as you see on the left.

This tutorial consists of 5 chapters, where in every chapters different SolidWorks features is being introduced. A step by step explanation, complete with the screenshot, will guide you how to use each functions. Extrude, Revolve, Sweep, Loft, Mirror, are just a few of the functions that you will learn.

Priced at just US$15, you will get this 69-pages eBook in pdf format. This tutorial is a perfect investment to improve your SolidWorks skill.

So, what are you waiting for? Click on the "Buy Now" button to make the purchase. Or you could take a look at some of the preview below.

A Beginner Guide to SolidWorks - Preview

Season Greeting & Important Announcement!

2014-12-26T01:07:00.001-08:00

To all of our reader, we would like to wish all of you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Wish Santa bring you the gift of never ending happiness this Christmas!

On this Christmas season as well, we would like to announce that currently we are in the midst of preparing the first volume of our own SolidWorks tutorial. This tutorial will be a very useful guide for all of you who are new to SolidWorks and wanted to learn more about this software.

The tutorial will be based on our Lego Tutorial, with some modifications and update. Our initial Lego tutorial only teaches you the very basic function, which is Extrude Boss/Base and Assembly. The new tutorial would teach you how to use all SolidWorks basic functions, including Revolve, Loft, Sweep, as well as Pattern.

The tutorial tutorial would be released around mid of January 2015, so keep an eye on it! Please follow us to keep you updated!

How to Make Money from CAD software?

2014-11-21T04:31:00.000-08:00

Doing a 3D modelling could be a hobby for some people, like me. But some people might be wondering, how we could turn the hobby to opportunity to earn extra money?

Here is few example how we can capitalize your skill to earn side income:

1. Crowdsourcing Challenge on CAD community

Right now, there are quite a number of CAD community out there for CAD user to meet another enthusiast.

GrabCAD for example, is one of the oldest online CAD community that exists on the internet world. Just like Facebook, GrabCAD allow user to share their CAD model, like other people models, contribute rendering of other people model, and even answer Q&A in the forum.

Other companies could use these communities to crowdsoure for technology innovation or solution. One of the most famous example was when technology giant General Electric (GE) used this platform to crowdsource for their jet engine bracket design. The price for this challenge could reach up to US$8,000 if you take the first place home. That is quite a big amount of money for side income!

There is quite a couple more platform for CAD crowdsourcing. Desall and CGTrader is another example to add few names to the list. Looking at the trend now, Crowdsourcing is getting more and more popular. So expect for some new name appear in the market.

2. Selling your CAD model

This might sound a bit crazy at first. Who wants to buy your CAD model? As crazy as it sounds, there is actually a community that allow you to sell your CAD model.

CGTrader probably is the pioneer of this community. User could upload their CAD model and other people could download the model for a certain amount of money. This community continue to grow strong as the cost of 3D printing getting cheaper and cheaper. For example, a designer might be interested in designing iPhone cover. Other user found that the design is unique and is willing to pay certain money to get it printed.

3. Freelance job

If you are looking for something more mainstream, you could look for for freelance job. There is plenty of platform to search for freelance job. Odesk, freelancer, and Elance is just to name a view example. Getting one might be quite a challenge due to steep competition, so create your portfolio, and get ready for the interview!

Working with High Resolution Computer Screen

2014-11-15T17:56:00.000-08:00

Alright, recently I bought a new tablet laptop, which is the Lenovo Yoga Pro 2. It is not necessarily the fastest computer for CAD software, but I was looking for portability. Everything in this computer works perfectly fine. The solid state memory will take only 3 seconds to start up the computer, and it is pretty light-weight and slim for a laptop.

The display is marvelous, displaying up to 3200 x 1800 resolution, any video would appear flawless. But despite that, it is causing few problems.

Few software seems to be incompatible with the resolution, displaying a very very small view. This problem was very well explained by Scott Hanselman here. According to the Lenovo forum, this root cause of this issue is that the software installed to the computer does not have resolution adaptive programmed to it. And this exception also happened to CAD software as well.

While the small icon is still visible (thanks to the high screen resolution), it is almost un-clickable. You will need like 3 seconds just to adjust the location of your mouse cursor in order to click the right things. After 30 minutes of modelling, trust me, you have achieved nothing. Well, maybe something, but not much.

Snapshot of SolidWorks in high resolution screen. Notice how small the icons are..

Another snapshot. Compare the sketch icon besides the Front Plane at model tree. Tell me how to click this icon?

Looking at the current trend, I don't foresee that any CAD software would update their programming as high resolution device is not that very common. Furthermore, typical CAD software user would rather to install their software on desktop rather than on portable laptop.

To handle with this issue, what I did was to set the screen resolution to 1600 X 900, and activate the "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays", and then choose the 100% options. You will need to restart your computer in order for this changes to take place.

This option works like wonder not only for CAD software, but for other software that does not support resolution compatibility, for example Photoshop, AutoCAD, and Adobe After Effect. The high resolution is a little bit sacrificed with this option, and watching videos are not as pleasant as previously. And here's the million dollar question. Why would we're paying for device that can display good resolution when we're using only half of its capability? Its like buying a Lamborghini and use it only to buy groceries..

Set the screen resolution to 1600 x 900

And thick the "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays"

Getting Your Own CAD Software

2014-10-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

It is not a secret that CAD software license is expensive. I say expensive by means that unless you own a business that would benefit and earn profit by having CAD software, buying one for your own toy is not affordable.

For a quick glance, I listed few famous CAD software license price (price in USD).

- SolidWorks: $12,000

- Autodesk Inventor: $8,000

- AutoCAD: $4,000

- Unigraphics: $30,000

- Pro/E Wildfire: $9,000

- CATIA: $15,000

Note that the above price is just for approximate. In fact most of the time, CAD software does not come as fixed price, instead you need to ask for quotation form the company. They will ask what kind of package you require and they will give quote you their price. Typically it is enough to burn a hole on your pocket.

Getting Your Own Free CAD Software

Now here's the thing. What if you want to have your own CAD software without burning your wallet? Well, there is few steps that you can do.

1. Download a freeware

As more people get their access to computer, more and more freeware has been developed. CAD software is also part of it. Currently, there are quite a number of CAD software is available online for you to download. For free. Just to name a few, CadStd, Draft It, and Google Sketchup is probably the most free CAD software you can find online.

Typically the freeware do not have the ability to perform 3D modelling. Draft It for example, has interface very similar to those of AutoCAD, but only allow for 2D drafting.

Few points to note, though it is available for free, definitely the premium product would offer you more features, flexibility, and more robust model. Good software will come with a price. And to top all of that, the freeware typically does not support Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM). So while some of it is able to do 3D modelling, it is just a model for your own viewing!

2. Autodesk student license

If you are still a student, good news! Because Autodesk is offering a student licensed software to students for free. You can download almost all software that Autodesk is offering using your student license. All you need to do is just register an account, verify your education institution, and you are all set. The only drawbacks you have are (1) Your license will expire once you graduate, and (2) all the drawing you created will be watermarked "PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT".

3. ~~Download from Chinese website.~~ Nah, just kidding. We do not recommend you to do that.

SolidWorks 2015

2014-10-04T01:43:00.001-07:00

Few weeks back, SolidWorks announce its latest version, the SolidWorks 2015. The tagline they put for the new version, "Improve your Every Day Productivity", gave me the impression that the new version could do 3D modelling easier and faster compared to their previous version.

I personally have not tried this new version yet, but looking at their promotional video, it seems that they have improved pretty much on the sketch mode. One drawback I realize for the previous version of SolidWorks is difficulties on creating 2D sketch, especially for the first feature. I would typically start of with creating dummy scale to approximate how big my sketch is. Other competitor, such as Autodesk Inventor, in their latest version of Inventor 2014 has come out with auto-scale feature which I think is a very useful function.

Another feature they mention on their promotional video is the ability to use table for pattern, which gives flexibility to customize your pattern. Even this is a great feature, I wouldn't call this a revolutionary things as other software such as Pro/E (which is called Creo now) already has this feature from quite some times ago, though it is not that easy to use!

On a personal view, I believe that the 2015 version will improve overall user experience without losing their main ace, the user friendliness. Contrary to earlier version, this version will also give option to more advance user to create their 3D model using more complex feature. If you are interested to participate to get the trial version, visit their main website and just express your interest!

SolidWorks - Radius/Diameter Dimension on Revolve

2014-06-21T00:54:00.002-07:00

This time I will share a simple tricks that can be useful when using Smart Dimension in SolidWorks for Revolve function.

Sometimes, we wanted to specify the diameter of a certain part, while on other occasion, we want to specify the radius. Even radius can be easily obtained from diameter, by dividing by 2, on certain dimension it can't be easily achieved. Using calculator might waste a little bit of your time.

The tricks below will show you how to convert diameter to radius without even doing a calculation.

To start off, you need to have a center line as a center of revolution.
Draw a profile that you want to revolve.
Using Smart Dimension, place a dimension between the center line and the sketch you want to give the dimension. Placing the dimension on the same side of the sketch would give you a radius (on the image below is on the right side of the center line).
To convert it to diameter, simply drag your mouse to the other side of the center line before you place the dimension.
That simple tricks would save you a little bit of time!

Giving radius or diameter on SolidWorks. Place dimension on the same side of the sketch to give radius, place it on the other side to give diameter.

SolidWorks - Customizing Your Own Keyboard Shortcut

2014-06-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

One good thing about SolidWorks is that it is very customizable. Users are able to assign or customize their own keyboard shortcut. With that, users can assign certain hot keys on their keyboard to their mostly used features. By default, SolidWorks have assigned certain hotkeys, for example "E" for extrude, "Enter" for last used commands, "Ctrl + N" for New File, etc.

Customizing your own keyboard shortcut can be done following these steps:
1. Launch SolidWorks and click New > Part. Search for the Options button on top, click the arrow besides the icon, and select Customize.
Note: The Customize would not appear immediately when you launch SolidWorks. You need to create part/assembly/drawing in order to access this function.

Accessing Customize Function

2. On the Customize window, go to Keyboard tab. To change any hot keys, just click on the Shortcut(s) column, and press your own hotkeys. Note that you can input combinations of hotkeys, e.g. Ctrl + s, Alt + N, etc.

Customizing Keyboard Shortcut

3. Click OK to confirm.

SolidWorks Tutorial - Pen Cover

2014-05-30T20:16:00.001-07:00

This time round, the tutorial I made would be to model one part of a pen, which is its cover. The complete set of assembly however, can be downloaded from here.

I chose to make the tutorial only for one part as you can learn how to use several features in this tutorial.

Skill learned:

Revolved Boss/Base, Revolved Cut, Fillet, Sketch Relationship

Final Product:

Tutorial:

Open up SolidWorks > New > Parts.
On the Model Tree, right click on the Front Panel, and select Sketch.
Select the arrow besides line, and select Centerline. Draw a vertical line passing through the origin.
Select line, and draw a shape of object that looks like shown below.
Select Smart Dimension, and give the dimensions as shown below. Note that all dimensions against the Centerline are all for diameter, instead of radius. Read here for a note of how to give diameter instead of radius on revolve.
Click Insert > Boss/Base > Revolve. Or alternatively, click on the Features Ribbon, and select Revolved Boss/Base. You should see a preview as shown below. Click the green thick button (OK) to confirm.
Right click on Front Plane, and select Sketch.
Repeat step 3, draw a vertical Centerline passing through the origin. Draw 6 rectangular box as shown below.
Hold down Ctrl button, and select all 6 inner edge of the rectangle. On the left dialog box, select Colinear and Equal.
Give the dimension of the rectangular box as shown below. Note that the spacing of the box (1.5 mm) is the same for all.
Click Insert > Cut > Revolve. Or alternatively, click on the Features Ribbon and select Revolved Cut. A preview should appear. Select the green thick button (OK) to confirm.
On the Features Ribbon, select Fillet. On the left dialog box, adjust the radius to 1 mm, and select the edge shown below.
Add fillet on the edges of the revolved rectangle, adjust the radius to 0.1 mm and select all the edges as shown below. Note that you can select the surface (highlighted on the rightmost selection) instead of selecting the edges one by one. Read here for explanation of the selection.
Congratulation! You have completed your model!

SolidWorks - Zebra Stripes

2014-04-24T08:02:00.003-07:00

Zebra Stripes. Some of you might have come across to this function and was wondering what the purpose of this function is. For those who haven't seen it yet, you can access this function from Evaluate ribbon > Zebra Stripes.

The function of zebra stripes is to simulate the light inspection. This inspection is typically used to inspect the surface of a car. Light inspection is done by shining parallel lights unto the inspected surface. The reflection of the lights would form a contour on the surface, making any imperfections easily detected.

The Famous Light Inspection Photography on Aston Martin Bodywork
Source: Christopher Furlong, Getty Image

When the zebra stripes function is activated, a contour profile is shown on all surfaces of your model. Even this function might not be particularly useful for solid modelling, it is a very useful function to make good surface model.

Below is an example of using the zebra stripes function to identify your surface model.

Bad Model. Notice discontinuities of the stripes between top and bottom door panel.
Spiral or circular pattern indicate that the surface has dent/bulge

Good model. Notice how the stripe flow smoothly between the front and rear door panel.

Gallery - Nissan Fairlady 350Z in SolidWorks

2014-04-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

All right, this is the first car model that I created in SolidWorks using surface modelling. Wasn't really the best car to choose for the first time. Pretty complex shape and lots of curvature. I haven't really learnt how to create smooth surface modelling back then, so there's pretty much disconnected surface in this model. But overall, it was pretty satisfying after completing my first model :)

Enjoy!

Isometric view. See how much features is needed!

Front Bumper, head light and Tyre

Side View

Fornt View

SolidWorks - Creating Plane

2014-04-05T02:12:00.003-07:00

On the creation of new parts, by default the parts would have three default planes automatically created by SolidWorks, which are the Front Plane, Top Plane, and Right Plane.

If required, additional planes can be created by selecting Insert > Reference Geometry > Plane. Or it can be accessed directly from the Features ribbon.

To create plane in SolidWorks, users can specify up to three references to create the new plane. The reference can be either an existing plane, surfaces, edges, axis, or a point. A few example of commonly used reference is shown below.

1. Offset from existing plane

Only one reference is required. New plane that is created is parallel to the initially selected plane at specified distance. Commonly used for loft feature.

Plane created at 50 mm away from the Top Plane

2. Plane at an angle from existing surface

Two references are required, one is a plane or a surface and another is an axis or an edge. The axis/edge selected would be the intersection of the two planes.

Plane at 30 degree angle from the selected surface

3. Plane that pass through three points

Three references points/vertex are required. The plane created will pass through all the three points.

Plane passing through all three selected vertex

SolidWorks - Fillet and Chamfer

2013-11-16T20:12:00.002-08:00

Fillet

Fillet is used to create a rounded profile on an edge. The edge can be an external of internal profile of a part. SolidWorks fillet function gives a wide flexibility from simple fillet (constant radius) up to an advanced options. However, most of the time user would only use constant radius fillet.

Edge before fillet (left) and after fillet (right)

The function can be accessed by clicking Insert > Features > Fillet/Round, or you can just simply click Fillet icon on the Features ribbon.

The important parameter that user need to know on the function is mainly the fillet radius size and the geometry selection. Two type of geometry can be selected on fillet function, which can be either edge or surface. When edge is selected, the selected edge would be replaced with a rounded profile with the specified radius. When a surface is selected, SolidWorks would automatically select all edges that forms the surface. See the difference in the two images below.

Fillet with edge as selected geometry

Fillet with surface as selected geometry

Chamfer

Chamfer works almost the same as fillet, only that it creates a bevel on the edge instead of rounded profile.

The feature can be accessed by clicking Insert > Features > Chamfer, or by clicking the small drop down arrow below the fillet button on Features Ribbon to reveal the shortcut.

SolidWorks allow user to determine the chamfer size using two method: angle distance, and distance distance.

On angle distance method, user determine the distance of the bevel and the angle of the bevel. By default, the default angle would be set to 45 degree. User can input the bevel angle between 0 to 90 degree. On distance distance method, user is prompted to enter the distance of the two edges of the chamfer.

The geometry selection on chamfer is exactly the same as on fillet, which can be either edges or any face. The edge that form the face would be automatically selected when surface is selected as the input geometry.

Tutorial - Nut Modelling

2013-11-03T04:05:00.004-08:00

Tutorial: Modelling standard metric nut. The dimension shown in this tutorial would follow standard dimension for size M3 nut. For any other size of nut, please refer here.

Feature used: Extrude boss/base, Extrude cut, Revolve, Chamfer.

1. Open up SolidWorks and click New > Part

2. On the Family Tree, right click on the Top Plane and select sketch.

3. On the Sketch ribbon, select the Polygon button. On the Polygon option, enter 6 on the Number of Sides field.

4. Sketch a hexagon and give enter the dimension using Smart Dimension such that you obtain a sketch as shown below.

5. Extrude boss/base the sketch with the Mid-Plane end condition, extrusion depth of 2.4. You would get something like shown below.

6. Select the top surface of the nut, right click and select sketch.

7. Sketch a circle with the same center as the hexagon and using smart dimension, give the diameter as shown below.

8. Perform Extrude Cut with Through All end condition. Your model is shaping up!

9. On the Family Tree, select the Front Plane > right click > Sketch
10. Draw a vertical center line at the center of the coordinate and sketch that looks like below.

11. Perform Revolve Cut with the vertical center line as your center of rotation.
12. Select Chamfer, and select the two edges of the center hole. Put 0.3 on the chamfer size.

13 And your model is done! Congratulation!

SolidWorks - Loft

2013-10-20T05:16:00.005-07:00

Loft is another function other than sweep that requires at least two sketches. To get an idea how a loft function differs from other function, see here.

Loft function is very useful especially if you want to control the shapes of the two end faces. The main difference between sweep and loft is that:

Sweep: is defined by the path and cross sectional area. The shape of the cross section area is uniform all along the path.
Loft: is defined by the shape of the cross section area at the end of the solids. The path in between the two ends can be defined by user but by default it would be automatically fitted by the software.

In SolidWorks, a typical loft operation would follow this step:
1. Draw a sketch on a plane.

First sketch

2. Create a reference plane and draw the second sketch.

Second sketch on a plane offset of the first plane

3. If needed, additional sketch can be created on another reference plane. The third sketch and onwards is not mandatory. At minimum, loft function requires two closed-loop sketch.

Third sketch is defined

4. Draw the "Guide curve" for the loft operation. This step is not mandatory, only if user requires the profile to follow defined path.

Guide curve is added

5. Perform the loft operation.

Resulting solid when the guide curve is used

Resulting solid when the guide curve is not used

New Project - Mitsubishi Lancer

2013-10-06T04:33:00.003-07:00

Recently I'm starting to do another 3D model of a car shell, this time round is Mitsubishi Lancer. No particular reason why I decided to do this car model. As for now, the work is still in progress, struggling to find free time to finish it off.

Anyway, see the image below for the gradual progression of the model. Enjoy!

Supposedly is the real car!

Starting off with the blueprint.

I always start from the side door

And progressing towards the front of the car

The roof start to form

And front hood

More details added!

Rear windshield formed

And the front bumper..

Well, this is what I've done so far. Things getting more challenging here! Hopefully I can finish it soon :)

Keyshot - CAD Rendering Software

2013-09-20T05:03:00.000-07:00

Some of the CAD software come with build in rendering tool. SolidWorks is pretty famous for its build-in rendering tool as the result produced is considered very good with wide selection of material library.

However, there are some software that is designed to be dedicated only for rendering. Recently I tried one of them. The software name is Keyshot.

Compatible for both Windows 32-bit and 62-bit, this software allow you to have 14 days of trial. Download the trial here if you're interested.

For first time user, this software is relatively easy to use. The material library provided is considered pretty wide and it allow you to "custom" made your own material. Assigning material and appearance can be done as easy as using drag-and drop thingy.

Even though Keyshot is an independent software company and is not tied in with any CAD software system, it is capable to import most of the popular CAD files. Assembly file can also be imported directly to Keyshot without losing its relationship. Just click the import button, and you will see your assembly almost instantly.

Despite all the good things about it, by not linked to any CAD software means that the relationship defined in the assembly is also not important. This can become pretty troublesome especially when you need to do rendering of two identical assembly with different instances as you can not modify your assembly in Keyshot. You would need to import it two times and assign the same material twice. That's double the work.

In conclusion, this software has pro and cons. If you need to do rendering on the same assembly with different arrangement/instances, this software might not be suitable for you. However, overall this software can produce decently presentable result and is very user friendly and easy to use.

Some renderings that I've done using Keyshot:

Tutorial - Lego (2)

2013-05-03T06:35:00.001-07:00

This tutorial is a continuation of the previous tutorial here. If you haven't completed the first part, it is advisable to complete the first part before doing this part.

In this part, now we're going to assemble few pieces of the Lego together to make some shape. After the completion of this tutorial, you can build your own 3D Lego!

1. Click File => New, and select Assembly.

2. The default setting for SolidWorks would automatically run the "Insert Components" feature. You can see it on the left side bar. Click on the "Browse" button, and locate the Lego piece you made in Part 1 of this tutorial. If you haven't closed it yet, it should appear on the "Open Documents" window above the "Browse" button.

3. Now you should see your Lego piece displayed on the display window. Left click to confirm the placement of the piece. Now to insert another piece, click the "Insert Components" button located at the "Assembly" ribbon.

4. Same thing as step 3, left click anywhere to confirm the placement of your second Lego piece. You should see something like shown below.

5. After having two pieces together, now its time to arrange the placement of the pieces. Click on the "Mate" button located at the "Assembly" ribbon. You should see the Mate tab on the left side of the screen.

6. On the Mate tab on the left, select "Coincident" from the Standard Mates, and select the side of the first Lego pieces (Shown blue in figure below).

7. Now select the same side of the second piece. A pop-up box should appear after selecting the two surfaces. Click on the green thick button on the pop-up box.

8. Do the same thing as above, click Coincident, but now select the bottom surface of the the piece.

9. Then select the bottom surface of the second piece. Click the green thick on the pop-up box.

10. Same again, apply Coincident Mate (or some people call Constrain) on the two surfaces of the piece shown below. Click OK (green thick button) after that. Now your Lego piece should be arranged nicely, adjacent to each other. By now you should understand how to apply a simple Coincident mate according to your design intent.

11. Repeat step 3 and 4 to insert another piece of Lego.

12. Click on the Mate button. Now on the left side tab, click on the Concentric mate, and select the two cylindrical surface as shown below.

13. Now give Coincident mate on the side surface of the piece as shown below.

14. Finally, give Coincident constrain on the top surface of the previous piece and the bottom surface of the third piece. Click OK to finalize the Mate.

15. Now you have completed the first series of tutorial to build a simple Lego assembly. You can have an experiment yourself to build a more complex Lego assembly :)

Tutorial - Lego (1)

2013-04-15T06:55:00.001-07:00

For those who are totally new to SolidWorks, this tutorial might help you to learn to do your first model. What you need is just a little bit of effort to do follow every steps carefully.

This is going to be a 2-series tutorial, where in the first post you'll make the lego piece (part) and at the second part of the tutorial you'll assemble the lego pieces together (assembly).

1. Open up SolidWorks on your computer. After it loaded, a screen like below should be seen.

2. Click File => New => Parts. A display as shown below should be seen. Note on the model tree (left tab), a default front, top, and right plane and the origin is automatically created.

3. Right click on the "Top Plane", and choose sketch (on the left side of the glasses logo). By doing this, you're going to create a 2D sketch on the top plane.

4. After doing step no. 3, you will notice that the ribbon on top is now automatically set to "Sketch" ribbon. Press spacebar, and select "Normal To". Notice that now the top plane is now aligned to your computer screen. Choose the rectangular icon from the ribbon, and draw arbitrary rectangular as shown below.

5. Now click on "Smart Dimension" from the sketch ribbon. Click on the top line on the left followed by line on the right, and enter 24 mm for the value. This step is used to give dimension to the sketches. Give all dimension to all the lines so that it look like what is shown in figure below. Note that all the line has turned from blue to black color.

6. After completing the sketch, now its time to extrude the sketch. Click insert => Boss/base => Extrude (Alternatively, you can click on Features tab and click Boss Extrude). Notice that Boss extrude tab now appears on the left side of the screen. Select Blind on the drop down menu of Direction 1, and enter the value of 10 mm. See image below for reference. After all these have been done, click on the green thick button (lets call it OK button) to confirm the feature. Now you have a solid block =)

7. Now click on the top surface of the solid (shown in blue in image below), right click on it, and select Sketch.

8. Press space bar, and choose Normal to, such that that surface is now facing you. Draw two circle, randomly, like shown below. Left click on the left circle. While holding ctrl button, left click on the right circle. On the left tab (Properties), select equal.

Note: Holding the ctrl button allows you to do multiple selection.
By adding equal relations on the two circles, now they will have same radius.

9. Now select the center of the left circle.

10. While holding ctrl button on your keyboard, select the center of the right circle. On the left tab (Properties), select Horizontal. Observe that now the two circle is aligned horizontally.

11. On Sketch Ribbon, click on Smart Dimension and give dimension to the circle as shown below. Notice after giving all these dimensions, the circle color should change from blue to black.

12. Same like previously, now we need to extrude the circle (See step 6 if you forget how to extrude). On the left tab, Select Blond and extrude for 5 mm. Click the OK button to confirm. The shape of the LEGO piece started to form.

13. Now select the bottom face (shown in blue in image below). Right click and select "sketch".

14. Draw a random rectangular and using the "Smart Dimension", give a dimension as shown in picture below.

15. Now select Insert => Cut => Extrude. On the Cut Extrude tab on the left side, select blind with a distance of 9 mm.

16. You should see the result as something like shown below.

Now, select the inner surface as shown below in blue, right click, and select Sketch.

17. Same step as previously, draw four circles (two of them to be concentric to each other), and give dimensions as shown below. Note that I started to skip few details as you should have done previously.

18. Click Insert => Boss/base => Extrude. On the Boss Extrude tab on the left side, select "Up To Surface" for direction 1, and select the pink surface shown in image below as the reference surface.

19. Now select the surface as shown below in blue, right click, and select sketch.

20. Draw a random rectangle and give dimension as shown in image below.

21. Draw two circles, concentric to the circle we extruded previously like shown below (shown in blue color). Alternative method is to use "Convert Entities", and select the outer edge of the circles.

22. Now from the Sketch ribbon, select "Trim Entities", and select "Power Trim" from the Trim option tab on the left side. Left click on the mouse, hold, and drag the cursor through the unwanted part of the sketch as shown in image below.

Note: This step, how to use Trim, is a very important step. Make sure you understand how to use the Trim tool.

23. Likewise, do the same thing on the unwanted part of the sketch on the right side.

24. Using the same technique as step 18, perform an Boss Extrude, Up To Surface, and the pink surface shown below as the reference surface.

25. Now do the same thing, sketch two vertical rectangles and using Smart Dimension, complete the sketch as shown below.

26. Using Trim tool, trim away unwanted sketch like shown in image below.

27. Similarly, perform Up To Surface Boss Extrude until the bottom surface of the Lego piece. If you follow all the steps correctly, you should have a rough shape of a Lego piece like shown below. Now what is left is just some finishing to make it look more realistic =)

28. Click Insert => Features => Chamfer. On the Chamfer options box on the left side, enter 1 mm for the chamfer distance and the angle to be 45 degree (default is set at 45 deg), and select all four outer corners of the Lego piece. Click OK to finalize the feature.

29. Using the same setting, insert another chamfer at all four inner corner of the piece.

30. Click OK to finalize and create the chamfer. Now your Lego piece should look something shown below. You're almost reaching the end =)

31. Insert chamfer again, but this time enter 0.30 mm for the chamfer distance, leave the angle at default 45 degree. Select the top and bottom edges of the Lego piece (shown in dotted blue line in image below). Click OK to proceed.

32. Now you have reached the end of the first tutorial part. Your Lego piece should look like the real Lego piece as shown below. Congratulation on your completion!

Continue to the second part of the tutorial here.

SolidWorks - Assembly

2013-03-22T05:43:00.004-07:00

An assembly is a combination of parts or another assemblies together. You can read the basic of assembly here.

Insert Components

As the name said, the "Insert Components" is used to place parts or other assemblies in the assembly. When you first start your assembly, SolidWorks would automatically execute this function to prompt you to insert a component. To place your desired component, simply click on the Browse button to locate the file you wish to insert inside.

You can see how the scree would look like when you start an assembly. Note that now you have "Assembly" ribbon on top. To access this function again in future, simply click on the "Insert Components" function on the Assembly ribbon or from the drop down menu, click Insert => Component => Existing Part/Assembly.

Mate

Mate is used to define the location and how each parts relate to each other. Mate can be accessed easily from the Assembly ribbon or from the drop down menu, click Insert => Mate.

In SolidWorks, the mate is divided into three categories, Standard Mate, Advanced Mate, and Mechanical Mate. For most application , Standard Mate would be sufficient to fully defined an assembly. Advanced Mate and Mechanical Mate is used more for doing simulation.

Moving Components

To move components (parts or assembly) in the assembly, you can simply left click on the component and drag it to where you want to move. To rotate the component, change it to right click and drag it along.

For more precise movement, you can use the "Move Component" function that can be accessed from the Assembly ribbon or from drop down menu, click Tools => Component => Move for moving component; or Tools => Component => Rotate, for more precise rotation.

When you have mate between components, the relationship between the two components defined by the mate would still be maintained when you move the components. This capabilities is not available in all CAD system that makes SolidWorks one of the best software for quick design as it is very good at simulating how each components relate when it is moving relative to each other.

SolidWorkds - Sweep

2013-02-20T04:52:00.000-08:00

Sweep is a common feature in most of the CAD software to produce a solid. As mentioned before (see here), to make the sweep feature, you would need a "sweep profile" and a "sweep path". In SolidWorks, the sweep path need not coincide the sweep profile.

Compared to other CAD software, SolidWorks sweep feature offers a lot additional options.

Options

The first options on the feature shown is very useful for creating twisting solid. For demonstration, you could see the picture below. The shown solid is created by choosing "Twist Along Path" for 3 turns.

Guide Curves

Guide curve function allows you to have the sweeping profile to follow the guide curve in addition to following the sweeping path. User can select more than one guide curves to create complex solids.

Start/End Tangency

The Start/End tangency allow you to have the starting or ending profile of the swept solid to be tangential to either the sweeping path or another specified directional vector.

Thin Feature

Same like extrude and revolve, sweep function also allow user to have thin-feature option to make a hollow solid.

Gallery - Range Rover Classic

2013-01-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

The Range Rover Classic is the second car I model after the Nissan 370Z Fairlady. Compared to my first car model, I feel that this is a much better model. Having much more details, all the surfaces are smooth, no abrupt transition between adjacent surfaces. Took me around a month to complete (averaging two hours per day).

The main assembly itself consists of:

The body shell (including all the doors and windows)
Wheel (the tire and the rim)
Headlights and fog-lights.

Not a very realistic assembly tree (I need much more powerful computer to make realistic assembly tree!), but nonetheless, it looks quite a like the real thing though =)

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UPDATE

Further project, I would like to make the assembly looks more real, Probably to separate the side mirror with the body shell assembly so that I can have it folded =)

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The full assembly - shown with the guide curves and sketches.

Head light, fog light, and front grill.

The wheel - one part that I think really look alike the actual one.

Front air intake

Side mirror - Still in one piece with the body shell.

Gallery - Watch

2012-12-28T20:24:00.002-08:00

This model was amongst my first few models when I was learning CAD modeling. Was done using SolidWorks, All the components are created by Extrude and Revolve function only.

The biggest challenge of this model is that the chain that is not exactly flat, but at some certain radius. Nevertheless, it could be done using a simple revolve cut.

If you are interested to download the raw files, you can download it here.

The hook - not that easy to model a fully functioning hook

Overall Assembly

One of the most difficult section to model back then.

The other end

Back-side of the chain