Here is the Process to manually update Toolbox:

1. Make a copy of your existing 2011 (or older version) Toolbox (NOTE: the entire SolidWorks Data folder) for backup purposes. Then, you can run the upgrade on the original Toolbox dataset. Copy the 2011 SolidWorks Data folder to a designated folder on your Desktop.

2. Update the SWBrowser.mdb file using the UpdateBrowserData.exe utility:

Make sure to run this as an ADMINISTRATOR; right mouse button click on the executable and select to “Run as administrator”. ALSO, make sure that you have write access to this file (right mouste button click on the SWBrowser.mdb file, remove the read-only flag if present and click OK to apply the change).

Browse to the SolidWorks 2012 installation folder, typically “C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks”, and then to “Toolbox\data utilities” and run “UpdateBrowserData.exe”.

a. In the “Database to Update” field, specify <SolidWorks Data Folder>/lang/English/SWBrowser.mdb

b. Click “Update”.

c. Ensure that the update was successful by checking the UpdateBrowserDataErrors.txt file for any errors.

3. Replace your 2012 SolidWorks Data folder with your now updated, copied data folder from step 2 by pointing to it via Tools > Options > System Options > Hole Wizard/Toolbox. For the “Hole Wizard and Toolbox folder:”, click on the browse button and browse to the 2011 SolidWorks Data folder (make sure that the updated path pointing to the 2011 SolidWorks Data folder is retained).

4. Upgrade the Toolbox content:

- Browse to <SolidWorks 2012 installation folder, typically “C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks”, and run “sldtoolboxupdater.exe” as an administrator

- Click the “Process” button to begin the upgrade

(NOTE: if there is a standard that is missing and you wish to install it, you can click on the “SolidWorks/Toolbox installation media location…” button and browse to the installation media which contains all Toolbox content.)

5. Once the upgrade is complete, startup SolidWorks and ensure that the correct path for the updated Toolbox is specified in Tools > Options > System Options > Hole Wizard /Toolbox.

When upgrading a Toolbox that is being managed by Enterprise PDM, please refer to the 2012 SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Administration Guide, in Toolbox > Upgrading Toolbox Software > Upgrading to Manage Toolbox Entirely in the Vault.

Alternatively, you can simply replace the 2012 SolidWorks Data folder with the 2011 or older version SolidWorks Data folder (the one that needs to be upgraded) and run a repair of SolidWorks.

1. Copy the 2011 or older version SolidWorks Data folder to a designated folder on your Desktop. Make sure that the SolidWorks Data folder has read/write access (it may be necessary to remove the read-only attribute to this folder and subfolders).

2. Point to the 2011 or older version SolidWorks Data folder:

a. Launch SolidWorks 2012 and go to Tools > Options > System Options > Hole Wizard/Toolbox.

b. Under “Hole Wizard and Toolbox Folder:”, browse and select the 2011 or older version SolidWorks Data Folder.  An error will be received that Toolbox, “is not the expected version”, click OK

c. Repeat the previous step; the path is updated

d. Ensure that the updated path is retained

e. Click OK to close the System Options dialog box and then close SolidWorks

3. Run a repair of SolidWorks:

a. Start > Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features

b. Right mouse button click on the SolidWorks 2012 installation and select “Change”

c. In the Installation Manager, select “Repair the individual installation (on this computer)” and click Next

d. SolidWorks 2012 SP X.X will be selected; uncheck any other products and click “Repair”

Presenting 3D Printed Parts

At this point you have realized that owning a 3D printer will streamline your product development process, and provide additional benefits such as confidentiality, faster turnaround, and accelerated time to market.

You have also determined which technology is appropriate for your product, and selected the machine whose size and features best fit your needs and budget.

If you are planning to buy a printer for your personal use, or if you work for an organization that needs 3D printing, the purchase must have a rational and measurable justification. For an organization you will need to present the proposal to your management team. You should justify the need for a 3D Printer from both financial and technical aspects:

• Demonstrate that a 3D Printer will provide a financial benefit: by reducing the cost of the current product prototyping or testing methods. Your presentation must be strongly supported with actual numbers and measurable projections.
• The chosen technology can be easily supported by results: present an example printed part to your management team. Depending on your product needs, specific features in the printed part will match your main requirements e.g. high detail, product specific materials, production cost, speed, impact resistance, etc. Every technology has its own strengths, and they will be evident in the benchmark part.
• The benefits of in-house 3D Printing: such as confidentiality, faster time to market, and improvements in your product design process; which may not be 100% measurable, but must be highlighted and explained.

When you are able to present the benefits, supported by numbers, plus facts and convincing reasons, the purchase of your 3D printer will be a no brainer.

Stay tuned for the next chapter: Benchmarking. Don’t buy before you try.

Fig. 1: Rebuild Error when Offsetting or Thickening Surfaces

Most likely there are some faces that will disapear or will go through other faces during the offset. The actual challenge is pinpointing these faces and eliminating them from the selection. You do not have time for trial and error, especially when you want to offset a zilion of faces at once.

I feel your pain. I wish that SolidWorks would offer us the option to create a partial offset of all the faces that can accept the operation, or at least to highlight the faces that could not be offseted, so we can remove them ourselves. It is too bad that no such troubleshooting tool has been included in the Offset or Thicken Surface commands.

Fortunately, the Shell command has such a debugging tool. You can use the Shell Outward and, not only you will get a nice explanation of why the shell  fails, but you can highlight the faces that are creating all the problems (see fig. 2 and fig. 3).

Fig. 2: The "why"

Fig. 3. Pinpointing the faces that refuse to offset

Even limited, this procedure can save you a lot of time. Of course, the workflow can be improved a lot and, for that, do yourself a favor and vote on these 2 Enhancement Requests via your Customer Portal:

SPR 523436: Thicken and Surface Offset features should have same failure diagnosis analysis as found in Shell feature

SPR 625706: If an offset surface command fails allow user to skip the failed instances and still create the offset surface for the remaining surfaces (faces)

3DVIA Composer - DSS logo on ground

To change the image to one of your own, go to: File -> Properties -> Default Document Properties -> Viewport. Just below the Ground checkbox there is an area where you can change the texture path. If you want to remove the symbol, you un-check the Ground option.

Viewport Settings - change ground settings here

]]> http://www.javelin-tech.com/blog/2012/05/composer-ground/feed/ 0 http://www.javelin-tech.com/blog/2012/05/sw-database-missing/ http://www.javelin-tech.com/blog/2012/05/sw-database-missing/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 19:06:26 +0000 Scott Durksen, CSWE http://www.javelin-tech.com/blog/?p=3253 Have you ever seen these messages before when launching SolidWorks?

Not to worry!  This only means that the Hole Wizard/Toolbox functionality has failed to find an important database file, SWBrowser.mdb.  The fix is simple.  Open your SolidWorks options under Tools > Options and select “Hole Wizard/Toolbox” from the System Options tab.

The path specified under the “Hole Wizard and Toolbox folder” must contain the folders \lang\english and the english folder must contain the file SWBrowser.mdb.  With a default installation of SolidWorks, you would set the options to point to C:\SolidWorks Data, and the MDB file would be located under C:\SolidWorks Data\lang\english\SWBrowser.mdb.

So if you have the error messages, browse to the folder specified in your Toolbox options and see if there is indeed the \lang\english\SWBrowser.mdb file.  And make sure you have full permissions to get there!  If needed, change the Toolbox path above by clicking the “…” button.

If you cannot locate the SWBrowser.mdb file or you’re still having issues, try a repair of SolidWorks: http://www.javelin-tech.com/blog/2011/07/repairing-sw/

• Run the command
• Drag the command’s icon to any toolbar of their choosing
• Find the Icon or Menu Item for that command

Things get even better when using the Shortcut Bar (by default the “S” shortcut key). Just press S and continue to type the command you are looking for. You will find out that the Command Search field is activated and is filled as you type.

Watch this short video for a quick demo of this functionality:

Objet Braingear model printed in a single print job! No assembly was required.

In any assembly that involves mechanical interaction between components, defining the right tolerances according to the model material and the manufacturing process is a key factor for success. Designing a part for rapid prototyping is not an exception.

There are two methods of prototyping assemblies with an Objet 3D printer – either print individual components to be assembled later, or print the whole assembly in one single print job. The method you choose will depend on the type of assembly you require…

Individual components for subsequent assembly: use this method for the following circumstances:

1. If you don’t have a multi material printer (such as an Objet Connex), and need to use different materials due to mechanical properties or colour specifications.
2. When, due to the complexity of the assembly, the support removal is a challenging process (intricate channels or hard to reach inner gaps).

A tolerance of 0.3 mm (12 thou) between touching surfaces will let you assemble the components once they are finished and allow the parts to move and interact freely.

3D printing the assembly in one transaction: this is the preferred method if you don’t need to use different materials / colours in a moving model and assembly is not required; this method is also a time saver.

You will need to allow a 0.3 mm (12 thou) tolerance between touching surfaces to allow the support material to fill the gaps between parts and prevent the moving components to be bonded together.

Take a look at the example, this was created in a single print job without the need for assembly and the individual gears move as required!

That being said, I always disliked one particular area where the software was trying to be helpful, but actually created more work for me – and that is the parasitic point placed automatically by the Hole Wizard.

Up to SolidWorks 2011, when you selected the surface where the holes were to be placed, SolidWorks created automatically a point inside your sketch (fig. 1).

Fig. 1.: SolidWorks 2011 Parasitic Point

This was, at best, a waste of time for the user (since he/she had to either delete that point or interrupt his/her workflow to constrain it) and at worst a cause for very costly mistakes; when that point remained in the sketch unnoticed, causing the final part to have an extra hole in it.

Fortunately, another area where SolidWorks is the best at, is listening to its users. One of us created this Enhancement Request: “SPR 545275: Turn off the automatic sketch point in hole wizard” and the nice people from SolidWorks implemented it in the 2012 release.

This is what we see in the 2012 Hole Wizard “Positions” (fig. 2).

Fig. 2: No more parasitic points in SolidWorks 2012

If you are concerned that the face where the holes will be created is not highlighted anymore, just move your cursor over the graphic area and you will get a dynamic feedback about the next hole position (fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Dynamic feedback in SolidWorks 2012

The steps below detail how to move an activation based, meaning SolidWorks 2010 or newer, SolidNetWork License service to a new computer.
 
 
 

-On the new server-

1.  Using the SolidWorks installation files, available either from the installation DVD or through the Downloads and Updates section of the SolidWorks Customer Portal, install the SolidNetWork License Manager.

 2.  If a firewall is active on the server, ensure that TCP/IP ports 25734 and 25735 to the firewall exception list.

Do not activate the new License Manager yet.

-On the user workstations-

3.  Go to Start > All Programs > SolidWorks <year> > SolidWorks Tools > SolidNetWork License Manager.  On the “Server List” tab click “Add…” and enter the new server name and port number using the format: 25734@newserver.  Click “Yes” on the message indicating that the license server is not reachable, this will add the new server to the list.  Repeat this procedure on all workstations.

-On the old server-

4.  On the server that will no longer be used for SolidWorks licensing, launch the SolidNetWork License Manager program as described in step 3, and on the “Server Administration” tab, click “Modify…”.  In the “SolidWorks Product Activation” window that opens, select “Transfer a software license” and click “Next >”.  Once the process is complete the old server is disabled and you can now activate the new server.

-On the new server-

5.  On the new server (it’s best to do this physically at the server if you can; this article explains why “How to avoid downtime when upgrading!“ ), launch the SolidNetWork License Manager program and on the “Server Administration” tab, click “Modify…”  Within the “SolidWorks Product Activation” window, select “Activate/Reactivate a software license”.  Once the process is complete, the workstations should see the new server and draw their licenses from it.

-On the user workstations-

6.  Finally, remove the old server from the “Server List” in the SolidNetWork License Manager on each user workstation.

In SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Administration, right-click on a User or Group and select “Settings“.

 From the right menu pane of Settings select “Menus“.

 From the “Destination Menu” pull-down, select the menu you would like to customize.

Highlight the “Available commands” you would like to add and click on the plus sign.

To remove a command highlight it in the “Destination Menu” and click on the minus sign.

Commands can be reordered using the up and down arrow keys.