Javelin / TriMech Author
Jim Peltier, CSWE
See what I did there? I used Character Map to get a backwards R, then used symmetric letters to make the word MIRROR appear to be mirrored! What a complex process for such a simple trick. Thankfully, in SOLIDWORKS, the process can be delightfully simple….
SOLIDWORKS Quick Trick: Propagate Feature to Assembly Parts
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on March 28, 2016
Many times in SOLIDWORKS, it makes sense to create features at the assembly level. Sometimes this can be due to a Top-Down approach to assembly modeling, sometimes you’ve taken a bottom-up approach and you want to make an exception for a single feature. Let’s say…
Often times, in SOLIDWORKS, we will need to apply multiple mates of a similar type in an assembly. There is an option called SOLIDWORKS Multiple Mate Mode that can accomplish this. This process works with all kinds of mates, but it’s easily demonstrated here with…
How to Increase System Performance using SOLIDWORKS Decals
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on February 5, 2016
If you are designing something in SOLIDWORKS that has moving components, electrical or heat sources, or any other type of hazard, it’s a pretty good idea to apply a warning label to your design to warn users of the dangers they may face (lest you…
What Happens When You Repair SOLIDWORKS?
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on January 29, 2016
You are likely familiar with the process to repair an installation of SOLIDWORKS, but it is not immediately clear what is happening in the background during this repair. So I’m going to answer the question: “What happens when you repair SOLIDWORKS?” Repair SOLIDWORKS command Well,…
If you’ve ever created a derived part in SOLIDWORKS before, then you may have come across this dialog window: Not an error message It seems like an error message, but in fact, there is nothing wrong. SOLIDWORKS is just letting you know that your default template (specified…
Some time ago, I wrote a blog article about how to create a library feature. In it, you will notice that when I create a new part, before I do anything else, I save it as a Library Feature Part. At the time (SolidWorks 2013,…
SOLIDWORKS Quick Trick: Sketching Lines using Ctrl and Shift
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on January 7, 2016
Okay, sketching lines may not seem like a particularly advanced trick, but there are a few subtle things you can do while sketching a line that can change the behaviour. You are probably already aware that you can create a single line using the click…
Suppressing SOLIDWORKS Sketch Relations
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on October 11, 2015
Greetings, fellow SOLIDWORKS user! A neat trick that not many users are aware of is the ability to suppress a sketch relation. While this may not seem like the type of thing that needs to be done very often, it’s very useful when it is…
How to Copy & Paste SOLIDWORKS Custom Properties between documents
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on October 5, 2015
Greetings fellow SOLIDWORKS users! Perhaps you work for a company that makes use of SOLIDWORKS custom properties. Of course you use them; they’re terrific for populating your BOM automatically and can be used for a whole host of other purposes. However, the custom properties that…
Solving SOLIDWORKS surfacing challenges when designing a Golf Club head [VIDEO]
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on August 4, 2015
Since I’m pretty terrible at golfing, I’ve decided that designing a golf club head with SOLIDWORKS will make it easier for me to hit the ball. This is the shape of the club’s head: Creating the Golf Club Head in SOLIDWORKS So having a concept for…
Creating a Cutout in a Sheet Metal Part for a Pipe Intersecting at an Angle [VIDEO]
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on July 14, 2015
If you’ve ever dealt with a panel that has a pipe intersecting it at an angle, you’ve probably been faced with the awkward situation of having to create a cutout for it. It’s not going to be a circular cutout (unless the angle is 90°)….
DriveWorks Responsive Design with DWFormContainerWidth [VIDEO]
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on May 12, 2015
This year, I had the pleasure of experiencing DriveWorks World (in Chicago). It’s an exciting event held annually in mid-March with DriveWorks users from around the world. The first few days of the event gave me a chance to re-learn some things about the DriveWorks SOLIDWORKS add-in,…
eDrawings 2015 vs. eDrawings 2014
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on March 31, 2015
When I first used eDrawings for the iPad a couple years ago, I found myself in a completely different environment than I was used to seeing from eDrawings. This was largely due to the fact that a tablet and a PC have different ways of…
Why are my SOLIDWORKS Bend Lines not being displayed?
By Jim Peltier, CSWE on March 27, 2015
A common question we receive on the support desk is “where are my SOLIDWORKS bend lines?” or “why are my SOLIDWORKS bend lines not shown?” This can happen for a variety of reasons which I will explain in this video: Displaying SOLIDWORKS Bend Lines The…