Activate to Automate with DriveWorksXpress Inside SOLIDWORKS

Did you know that there is a free, entry-level design automation included in every seat of SOLIDWORKS? Learn how and why you should activate your DriveWorksXpress add-in and start automating your designs.

Why activate DriveWorksXpress?

If you already have a SOLIDWORKS license, why not take advantage of the automation capabilities of DriveWorksXpress?

Quickly generate new versions of your SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies and drawings:

• One Time Setup – Set up once and run again and again. No need for complex macros, design tables or configurations.
• Save Time & Innovate More – Automate repetitive SOLIDWORKS tasks and free up time to focus on product innovation and development.
• Eliminate Errors – DriveWorksXpress uses rules to eliminate errors and expensive, time-consuming design changes.
• Upscale to DriveWorks Solo or DriveWorks Pro anytime.

Watch the video below to learn more

Now that you know why you should activate DriveWorksXpress, let’s dive into some of the tools you can use to start automating.

Automate SOLIDWORKS

Easily capture and control the parameters you manually change in your SOLIDWORKS models and assemblies in DriveWorksXpress.

DriveWorksXpress Automation

With DriveWorksXpress, you can control dimensions, features, custom properties and switch configurations automatically through rules. Use the powerful automation engine to not only drive models, but also update drawings. You can add and update captured parameters easily directly from SOLIDWORKS. Below are some of the key technologies used by DriveWorksXpress to make automation easy!

Input Forms

You can create input forms to enter product requirements and add validation to controls to ensure inputs are always suitable.

DriveWorksXpress Form

DriveWorksXpress forms let you control the information entered. You can use the built-in form tool to show requirements and add validation to inputs ensuring anyone knows what information can be added. Even better, any information that does not meet the input requirements is “blocked” meaning you can’t have wrong information specified! Not only do the forms provide feedback for numerical data, but you can also add text boxes, numeric text boxes, drop-down lists, spin buttons and check boxes for different methods of capturing and driving data. Default values can be set to suggest initial inputs.

Rules Builder

You can build rules to link input controls with captured parameters using the intelligent DriveWorks Rules Builder.

DriveWorksXpress Rules

The DriveWorksXpress rules builder is a great tool for any engineer. The rules builder allows you to define your design knowledge using mathematical formulas and logical statements. Don’t worry if you’re not a programming wizard, the rules builder was built with the typical engineer in mind. It uses standard Excel functions to create engineering logic. The rules builder also lets you use intelligent file naming methods to build a library of components. Since DriveWorksXpress is based on your rules, you’ll save time, reduce repetitive tasks and minimize errors and costly mistakes.

If you have SOLIDWORKS, you already have DriveWorksXpress. You just need to activate it, free inside the SOLIDWORKS tools menu. Configuring and automating your designs with DriveWorksXpress is so simple, it can be done in just four steps:

1. Set up your project to capture your design knowledge.
2. Fill out your input form.
3. Create new SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD parts, assemblies and drawings automatically.
4. Fill out your form to configure, again and again, re-using your valuable design knowledge.

As DriveWorksXpress is based on your rules, you’ll save time, reduce repetitive tasks and minimize errors and costly mistakes.

How to Activate DriveWorksXpress in SOLIDWORKS

Follow these easy steps below to activate DriveWorksXpress inside SOLIDWORKS and start automating your designs:

1. Start SOLIDWORKS
2. Go to Tools, Xpress Products, and select DriveWorksXpress

Start DriveWorksXpress

3. Click on the link for My.SolidWorks.com/xpress to get your free activation code for DriveWorksXpress.

Enable DriveWorksXpress

4. Copy the DriveWorksXpress activation code from MySolidWorks (note you may need to log in to MySolidWorks using your SOLIDWORKS ID credentials)

DriveWorksXpress Activation

5. Go back to SOLIDWORKS, paste the activation code into the product code box, and click OK.
6. Start automating – try out the DriveWorksXpress Tutorials!

DriveWorks Products

Learn more about the three DriveWorks products available from Javelin:

DriveWorksXpress

Entry level design automation included in every license of SOLIDWORKS®

DriveWorksXpress is easy to use design automation tool that allows you to quickly and accurately create multiple variations of your SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies and drawings.

If you offer many different product options or every customer order is bespoke, DriveWorksXpress can help you capture your design rules, recreate variations of existing designs, reduce repetitive tasks, save time, and improve product quality.

Key benefits:

• Capture and re-use your design knowledge
• Incorporate design rules to minimize errors and the cost of mistakes
• Automate repetitive tasks to reduce design time when specifying new variants
• Liberate design engineers from repetitive tasks to concentrate on new and special designs

DriveWorks Solo

The quick and easy way to create and preview custom products inside SOLIDWORKS®

DriveWorks Solo is the easy-to-use design automation solution that allows design engineers and product designers to quickly and easily create and configure custom products inside SOLIDWORKS. With DriveWorks Solo you can reduce the cost of custom designs, respond quickly to sales inquiries, reduce repetitive tasks, and enhance product quality.

From one simple input form, DriveWorks Solo can quickly generate 3D models, 2D drawings, a bill of materials, sales quote, cover letter and more, automatically.

A DriveWorks Solo design automation project is easy to set up, easy to manage, and easy to use. You can set up a project once, and run it as many times as you like, fill out the form, and quickly generate multiple new versions of your designs along with any manufacturing or sales documentation.

Here’s how:

• Capture the dimensions, features and components you want to drive in SOLIDWORKS
• Create dynamic, data-driven forms to input the values that drive your design
• Build design rules to drive your models using the values entered on the form
• Run the project again and again to create custom manufacturing files and quotes

Key benefits:

• Capture and re-use your design knowledge
• Incorporate design rules to reduce errors and rework, and improve product quality
• Automate repetitive tasks to reduce design time
• Free up design engineers to focus on improving product quality and designing new products
• Create sales proposals quickly, win more business, and increase profit margins

DriveWorks Pro

The easy to use online product configurator for desktop, mobile and tablet.

The ability to configure, price and quote (CPQ) easily has become essential for manufacturing companies of all sizes, in all industries. Customized products are becoming the norm. Transform the way you do business by closing the gap between initial sales inquiry and manufactured product with DriveWorks Pro for SOLIDWORKS.

If you have sales reps or dealers that work remotely, then you should consider a CPQ Online Configurator that presents a web-based interface. The configurator can also be launched from within a Customer Resource Management (CRM) system like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics.

Key benefits:

• Meet the increasing demand for custom products to gain a competitive edge.
• Generate quotes in record time.
• Reduce the cost of custom designs.
• As an online tool you will allow anyone to access the product configurator
• Present your configurable products in a web browser as 3D interactive models rather than static 2D images.

Try the online product configurator for free!

Contact us for more information or to speak with one of our technical experts.