Javelin / TriMech Author
Jim Peltier, CSWE
Using SOLIDWORKS Planes to create a DriveWorks Model
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on October 11, 2016
Often times people will ask for a “best practice” when modeling in SOLIDWORKS something that is intended to be used in DriveWorks. While there are several good ones, such as renaming dimensions and features, I would have to say that one of my favorite suggestions…
How to Combine SOLIDWORKS Hole Callouts – Part 1
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on October 10, 2016
I had an interesting question from a customer the other week: They wanted to know how to combine multiple SOLIDWORKS hole callouts. I created a simple example on my system using two different Hole Wizard features: An M6 counterbore with an M8 tapped thread inside it….
Long-time users of SOLIDWORKS and long-time followers of our blog are no doubt aware that you can configure SOLIDWORKS Dimensions, Features, Custom Properties, and Components in a handy table. However, another advantage with this function is you can also configure SOLIDWORKS material. NOTE: To show the appropriate…
The Impact of SOLIDWORKS Image Quality on File Size
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on September 27, 2016
One of the many interesting things I’ve learned at Javelin is the effect that the SOLIDWORKS Image Quality setting has on file size. I had always assumed that it would have an impact on overall performance; but I never would have thought it would have such…
The SOLIDWORKS Shortcut Bar Part II: Old Habits Die Hard
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on September 5, 2016
Recently I wrote an article about how to use the Shortcut Bar in SOLIDWORKS to reduce the distance your mouse has to travel. Basically, you can press the <S key> at any time in SOLIDWORKS and get a context-specific menu appear right beside your mouse…
The SOLIDWORKS Shortcut Bar (S-Key) will help to keep your commands close
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on September 1, 2016
In your office, do you keep things nearby where they are to be used, or far away? Do you keep the coffee mugs in the meeting room and the coffee machine in the break room? Do you store your frequently used things in a place…
Changing SOLIDWORKS Dimensions to reflect changing design intent
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on August 17, 2016
Okay, so you’ve spent some time designing a part and then you go to make a change and realize that your Design Intent has changed. Changing design intent involves changing SOLIDWORKS dimensions. Let me give you an example: So in the above example, I thought…
SOLIDWORKS Design Challenge: Build a Cupcake Stand
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on August 12, 2016
Recently I got married, during the planning stages my fiancee and I were looking for ways (often subtle) to incorporate elements of our lives into the details of our wedding. As such, I tried to find a way to integrate SOLIDWORKS into our wedding. I could…
How to Copy and Paste SOLIDWORKS Features
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on August 1, 2016
Let’s say you’ve created a feature in SOLIDWORKS that you really like. If you really like something, you want more of it, so rather than re-creating it, we are going to copy and paste it. Copying SOLIDWORKS features is as easy as copying text in…
Importing SOLIDWORKS files into SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on May 2, 2016
As a follow-up to my recent blog article about how to export from SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer to SOLIDWORKS, I’m now going to show you how to take the process the other way (i.e: importing a file from SOLIDWORKS into Industrial Designer). As great as Industrial…
How to Open a File in SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on April 8, 2016
Welcome to another very basic tutorial of how to use SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer. Today, I’m going to be discussing how to open a file. It might seem pretty obvious until you start looking for the Open icon only to discover that there isn’t one! That’s…
Beer Glove Modeling Challenge Part 2: using SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on April 7, 2016
In part 1 of my [epic] modeling challenge I modeled a hand using SOLIDWORKS in 90 minutes so that I could design a beer glove. It… could have gone better had I allowed myself more time. However, I was excited to use SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer to…
Beer Glove Modeling Challenge Part 1: using SOLIDWORKS
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on April 6, 2016
I recently had the honour of attending SOLIDWORKS WORLD (2016) in Dallas, Texas. I’d like to share with you three memories involving a modeling challenge that I had when I was there. SOLIDWORKS Designed Bra The first one I’d like to share is during one of…
How to Export from SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer to SOLIDWORKS
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on April 5, 2016
I recently experienced SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer (SWID) at SOLIDWORKS World 2016 and needless to say I was excited. When I returned to the Javelin office afterwards, I knew I had to get my hands on this product. Sure enough, I did and as exciting as…
SOLIDWORKS Quick Trick: Show Feature Dimensions for the entire part
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on April 1, 2016
In SOLIDWORKS, it has always been very easy to show the dimensions for a feature: just double-click on the feature and presto: all the dimensions for that feature are shown. This makes it fantastically easy to edit dimensions without having to edit the sketch or…