8 Common questions [and answers] about SOLIDWORKS Inspection

SOLIDWORKS Inspection streamlines the creation of documents with balloon callouts and specifications by leveraging existing 2D legacy data regardless of file type—SOLIDWORKS files, PDFs, or TIFFs—and automating a manual and tedious process. Measured inspection values can be entered directly, either manually or automatically, using a digital measuring instrument. SOLIDWORKS Inspection helps designers and quality inspectors virtually eliminate errors, improve time-to-market, and ensure parts are within specifications for improved quality and optimized fit and function.

Below is a list of 8 common questions about SOLIDWORKS Inspection.

CAN SOLIDWORKS INSPECTION BE USED AS A STANDALONE SOFTWARE?

A: Yes. Inspection can be used only as a standalone software and does not require SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD. However, the standalone software only works with image based files (tif, PDFs).

CAN SOLIDWORKS INSPECTION GENERATE .PDF FAI REPORTS WITH THE INSPECTION DATA COLOR CODED?

A: Absolutely. You can generate a ballooned PDF of the drawings color coded based on the inspection results. You can also generate an FAI report as an Excel spreadsheet with all the results (color coded) and save this Excel report as a PDF directly within Excel.

WILL THE SOFTWARE COMMUNICATE WITH MITOYO GEOPACK

A: We can import CMM results from MCosmos so SOLIDWORKS Inspection should be able to import results from Geopak just fine. There might be some setup to do with the template.

HOW DOES THE SOFTWARE HANDLE DRAWING REV CHANGES? IF DIMS ARE ADDED, OR PREVIOUS BALLOONED DIMS ARE DELETED, DOES IT SHOW ERRORS?

A: If you are in the add-in, then it’s easy and the software can tell what was added and what was removed. The user can either accept all the changes OR manually decide what to accept/refuse.

If you are working on a PDF then the software can’t tell automatically. However, SOLIDWORKS Inspection includes a nifty drawing compare tool that allows you to quickly compare two PDFs and see what changes. Then, it’s either for the quality inspector to make the changes.

IS THE BALLOONED DRAWING CREATED INSIDE OF THE DRAWING FILE OR IS IT SAVED AS A SEPARATE INSPECTION FILE THAT CAN ONLY BE OPENED IN SOLIDWORKS?

A: If you are working on a SOLIDWORKS drawing, then all the information is saved inside the SOLIDWORKS drawing but you can export a PDF with all the balloons. This PDF can be open on any computer with Adobe Reader. If you wish to open the SOLIDWORKS Drawing, you will need SOLIDWORKS. Usually people create a Ballooned PDF and Excel reports that they send or print for the quality inspector.

ASIDE FROM CCM & DIGITAL CALIPER, WHAT TYPE OF MEASUREMENT EQUIPMENT OUTPUT IS REQUIRED FOR DIRECT INPUT?

A: As long as your measurement equipment software can export the result to a neutral file format – such as *.txt – you can set up the CMM import options to read things like the nominal value, tolerance, results, etc

WHAT CMM OUTPUT FORMATS ARE SUPPORTED (I.E .SAT)?

A: SOLIDWORKS Inspection supports results from the following CMM software: Calypso, Camio, Faro, Geomeasure, MCosmos, OpenDMIS, PS-DMIS, Virtual DMIS, CMM Manager.

WHEN IMPORTING FROM CMM HOW DOES THE DATA MATCH TO THE INSPECTION ITEMS?

A: When starting the auto-assign process you can ask the software to match the information based on the item number. You can also ask the software to match exactly things like the tolerance, nominal value etc… Finally, you can do it completely manually. Please note that in any case, you only have to do this once.

Learn more about Inspection

Inspection documents can help your company significantly improve its manufacturing processes, reduce scrap, cut time-to-market, and improve product quality and reliability. Because the software is easy to use, integrated with SOLIDWORKS CAD, and available as a standalone application to work with your existing CAD system, you can easily deploy it, train your quality department, and start to optimize your inspection and quality processes.

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