Easy SOLIDWORKS Cabinet Making Part 4

This is the last article to wrap up our easy SOLIDWORKS cabinet design series. There will be more in the future with more advanced workflows. In this article we are going to clean up our body properties with materials, descriptions and dimensions.

Currently our bodies folder is a mess and I’m uncertain what most of this is by the name. First step is to group like bodies together. This is done by selecting the Weldment tab and then clicking on the Weldment command. We still have 19 bodies they are now just grouped.

Cut List Creation

My first set of bodies are the side gables. Instead of the default name I will use the slow double-click method and rename them Gable R and Gable L. Currently my cut list is off too. Says they are brass and there are no dimensions. With a group selection of both parts, right-click > Material and Edit Material.

Create Bounding Box

Right-Clicking on the folder for the Gables I then choose Create Bounding Box. This will now add a length, width, thickness and volume with those combined into a description.

Cut List Properties

I will go through all the parts that need a material change and adjust them and same with the bounding box. I don’t do a bounding box for items like handles and the feet because those would be stock items.

Although my feet are maple in material I want them to be bronze colour for the appearance. Selecting all of them and changing the appearance to matte bronze is what I’m after.

Material Properties

Example of the cut list. Similar to a Bill Of Materials (BOM)

To complete this cabinet with drawers is a similar process to the first article. Create a box then separate the pieces with the Split tool. A shelf is just a body like the countertop in the third article.

This concludes the four part series for easy cabinet making. Subscribe for more articles in the future.