It is of course a proof of concept at this point, but I am looking forward to the day that electrical design can be done in a virtual environment and gestures can be used to easily piece together a new design and document how it should be wired up.  Have a look at this video below to see some of the interaction take place.   Please share your comments or ideas with us to give some of our future students at Javelin some ideas to take the idea further.

In this situation:

1. Create a new vault view.
2. Log into this vault view as the EPDM “admin”
3. Do a search to determine which files are checked out by the user, that the local vault view is being re-created for.
4. Find the files in the vault and perform an undo check-out each file.
5. Once all files have been released, you can proceed to step 5 of “Safely Deleting and Recreating a Local Vault View”.

Note: These steps are bases on the assumption that the local files exist in some other location, such as a backup. If the local vault view is deleted and the files are not backed-up all local files will be lost.

• #1 Be happy. Being in a good mood increases productivity. Studies outlined on Voxeu.org conclude that happiness and productivity are directly correlated. In an experiment conducted by Daniel Sgroi, we can see that participants who were shown a 10 minute long comedy clip answered more questions correctly (10%) than the participants who were not shown a clip. The takeaway: maybe that ‘Funny Cats YouTube Clip‘  is not such a time waster after all. Doing little things to improve your mood can go a long way.

• #2 Eat right. Eating nutritious and high energy foods can replace caffeine and provide consistent, longer lasting energy. Start your day off right. Lay off the caffeine as it only gives you temporary energy and if it’s loaded with sugar, it is likely to make you hyper and ultimately crash. Instead, have a well balanced breakfast and bring these high energy foods to snack on. Good snacks to bring are: oatmeal, almonds, yogurt, popcorn and fruit.  Getting your fibre, protein and vitamins is a great way to boost your energy and maintain long term health.

• # 3 Get up. Leaving your desk can better your mood and increase energy. Eating lunch at your desk can be messy and hinder productivity.  You may think you accomplish a lot while eating spaghetti at your desk, but numerous studies show that you have more to gain by walking or talking during lunch. Human beings are naturally social creatures (hence the 5 social media tabs you currently have open), eating lunch while having a light hearted conversation can relieve stress. Exercise boosts your mood and as we’ve seen in the previous point, a better mood = increased productivity.

     The Myth: Multitasking Exists

The brain naturally focuses on concepts sequentially, one at a time. We are biologically incapable of processing attention-rich inputs simultaneously.

(John Medina, Brain Rules)

• Basically, humans are not made to multi-task. If we try and do so, the quality of our output will greatly suffer.  Trying to do things at once to save time will ultimately cost you more time. Instead, prioritize! According to Tucker Cummings, we should ‘bite the bullet’ and handle the big stuff first. It may be tempting to get the little ‘5 minute tasks’ out of the way but after all the little things are accomplished we rarely have the energy and drive to tackle a big project. Just get it over with!

• Please comment below and share some productivity wisdom! 

When you are walking, walk. When you are sitting, sit.

(Buddha)

Why can’t I delete/move a file or folder? What program is stopping me from deleting or moving a file ot folder?

The Process Explorer from Microsoft, amongst other things, will list the processes that are currently accessing
the file or folder.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

Once you launch Process Explorer click on Find.

Enter file or folder name you are trying to move/delete and click on Search. The applications that are accessing the file will be listed in
the Search Window.

Command Search

Start typing in the command and it will show live search results as you type.  Hit enter and it will launch right into that command.

If you are curious of where this command is located in the menus, click the glasses icon beside the command and it will pop up with arrows leading you through the menus.

And finally to make it that much faster, the key “w” has been assigned as the shortcut for quick access to the search.  Press “w”, start typing and hit enter to launch a command.  Notice that all other search commands can now have keyboard shortcuts as well.

The background information stored in a new drawing file is from two locations – drawing template and sheet format.

Sheet format stores the sheet size, scale, title block, etc.  Basically what you see in a new drawing file (no views inserted yet) is controlled by sheet format.  File name extension is “.SLDDRT”.

Drawing template includes drafting standards – font sizes, dimension, annotation styles, etc, AND a link to the sheet format (optional).  If there is no link, you will start with an empty sheet and you can choose a sheet format manually.  File name extension is “.DRWDOT”.

To create/modify sheet formats, users are encouraged to open the default files made by SolidWorks.  File -> New -> Drawing, under the “templates” tab.  This is a blank sheet.  You can pick any size to start in the next page.  To access the titleblock, right click on the drawing, and select “Edit Sheet Format”.  You will be able to pick the titleblock sketch now.  You can add company logo by inserting a picture, and add some notes, etc.  When you are done, right click on the drawing sheet and select “Edit Sheet”, this will bring you back to the regular drawing view.  You can save the sheet format file by going to File -> Save Sheet Format…  The save dialog will direct you to the default sheet format location, which can be changed under Tools -> Options -> System Options -> File Locations -> Sheet Formats – as shown below.

To create your own drawing templates, it is also recommended that the user starts with some existing drawing template with default sheet format (or your own sheet format).  It is easier to setup the template during the process of creating an actual drawing because you will see the dimension, annotation styles, etc when you have drawing views on the sheet.  All the options are located in Tools -> Options -> Document Properties – please see below.

Once you are done with the modification, you should save your actual drawing first, and then remove all drawing views because generally you won’t include any views in the template, though some users like to add the 3 standard views and maybe an ISO in the template, which will be empty in the template, but will populate when you use it to create a drawing from a model.  If you don’t want to have the template associated with a sheet format, you can expand the sheet in the design tree on the left hand side, and right click on “Sheet Format1″ to delete.  Next, go to File -> Save As…, and choose “Drawing Templates” as the type.  The default location can be changed under System Options -> File Locations -> Document Templates.

A new SolidWorks User Group for Barrie and surrounding area, named SWUG-Simcoe, has been created. It is
a voluntary group dedicated to building a network of SolidWorks users, while enhancing their skills and knowledge of the software.

The inaugural SWUG-Simcoe meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 8th 2012 from 4.30pm to 7.30pm
and will be held at the Holly Community Centre (TBD). Future meetings will be planned 4, 6 or even 12
times per year (you get to choose at the meeting) to bring very resourceful presentations and demonstrations
by professionals from a variety of industries.

The only requirement to attend these FREE SEMINARS is to have some basic knowledge of SolidWorks (or other CAD software). If you have any questions or issues, please bring them with you and get first hand support in finding a resolution. Many professional trades’ people will be attending and will be able to exchange their knowledge and expertise with yours.

Please note that this is a voluntary technical group meeting and NOT a marketing event; but networking and
sharing knowledge will be encouraged.

There will be a limited number of seats available so please register as soon as possible to avoid
disappointment. Remember registration and attendance is FREE … in fact you could leave with more than you
brought.

We are seeking sponsors to encourage participation by donating door prizes, gift certificates, gas cards etc. Please inform the Group Leaders (listed below) if you or your company are willing to participate as sponsors, or are just attending.

If you have suggestions or ideas to make this event even more interesting and successful, please contact: Michael Fernando or Kelvin Lamport.

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This needs to be done  so that the SolidNetWork License Manager can communicate with the SolidWorks Activation Center and be allowed to provide the new, updated licenses to the SolidWorks users who are connected using the network licensing system.

If the step is missed, for instance when updating to SolidWorks 2012, any client computers still using SolidWorks 2011 would be able to get their licenses and open SolidWorks 2011, but as soon as a user tried to open SolidWorks 2012 they would receive the message “Could not obtain a license for SolidWorks”.

To reactivate the SolidNetWork License Manager:

1.  Open the SolidNetWork License Manager on the computer acting as the license server.

2.  On the “Server Administration” tab click the “Modify…” button.

3.  In the “SolidWorks Product Activation” dialogue window, select “Activate/Reactivate a software license”

4.  Click “Next >” and then follow the rest of the on screen instructions to complete the reactivation procedure.

Once complete, all users will be able to access the latest SolidWorks network licenses.

When a geometry is imported into SolidWorks, a popup dialog appears and asks the user to run “Import Diagnostics”.

We will go ahead and run it to see what happens.

It appears that there are 22 faulty faces in the geometry (figure below).  Before we try to repair all errors, we can check where the locations of these errors are.  All the faulty faces seem to be located around the edge flanges on the 4 corners.

Now when we look closer, we will find that the flange faces are “coincident” (figure below) by using measure tool.  SolidWorks, or more accurately the ParaSolid kernel it’s built on, does not like “coincident” faces within a single body, that’s why they are treated as faulty faces.  However, there is really nothing wrong with these entities.  We can simply ignore these warnings.

Now the design tree still has warnings about faulty faces.  We can hide the warnings by going to “Options” -> “System Options” -> “Messages/Errors/Warnings”, and switch “Display FeatureManager tree” to “Never” or “All but top level”.  This is a NEW option introduced in SolidWorks 2012. You will not find it in previous versions. Please see figure below.  Some users prefer leaving these warnings visible, so it is based on your preference.

The next step is to transform the geometry into a real sheet metal part so it can be flatten.  To achieve this, we will utilize the “Insert Bends” command from the Sheet Metal command manager tab.  Notice that there is also “Convert to Sheet Metal” command.  We do not use this command in our case because this command is for when we take a solid “block” model, pick the outer faces to define a sheet metal part.  For more info on this command, please go to “Help” in SolidWorks and search for “Convert to Sheet Metal”.

When we are in the “Insert Bends” command, pick a fixed face to begin the sheet metal conversion process.  The bend radius only applies for bends with sharp angles.  In our geometry, all bends have round corners since it was an imported sheet metal part.

After the operation is completed, a good practice is to flatten it and see if everything is fine.  In our model, everything looks great.  If the bends are complex, for instance, edge flanges on curved edges or holes through the bend regions, or if the forming tool applied on the part has “sharp” bends, SW may see that as an error, or simply remove the feature from the geometry during the “Insert Bends” operation.

The next operation we will perform is to offset the ventilation hole (for a fan) by some distance.  The command we will utilize is called “Move Face” and found under the “Direct Editing” command manager tab (see below).  Pick the faces as indicated and an edge for direction.  A preview does not show up.  When I click on the check mark to finish, it will actually return with error.  What is going on here?

Remember earlier I mentioned that SolidWorks does not like “coincident” faces within a single body.  Our sheet metal geometry is still bent during the “Move Face” operation.  To resolve this, we can simply add an “Unfold” command to manually flatten specific bends.  In this case, I will just unfold all bends, and repeat the “Move Face” command.  This time, the preview shows up. Bingo! Clicking the green check mark will finish the command and apply the changes to the model.

Next, we will move the ventilation holes on another side (see below).  There are hundreds of faces to pick this time.  It is not efficient to add them one by one.  “Box selection” doesn’t seem to pick the hole faces when the orientation is “normal to” the flat.  The trick here is to use either the “Hidden Lines Visible (HLV)” or “Wireframe” display mode.  Once the view is toggled, box selection works very well.  This is an odd trick that is not well known. After all faces are selected, we notice that the flat face is also picked.  A good practice is to deselect it because we are not moving the flat face.  We are only moving the holes.

The “Move Face” command works great now!

If we plan to change the ventilation hole layout, shape, hole count, etc, it may be more efficient to “fill in” the original holes with a simple extrude and then insert a pattern feature as this will provide more control via the pattern parameters.

Hope this article proves useful to you!