Javelin / TriMech Author
Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE
SOLIDWORKS 2017 Assembly Visualization Sort Assembly Components by Open Time
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on November 23, 2016
A new capability to sort SOLIDWORKS components in the assembly tree by the time it takes to open the component file has been added to SOLIDWORKS 2017. The file size of a SOLIDWORKS part file may not be considered very important unless many of them are inserted in a…
SOLIDWORKS Sweep Profile Selection Enhanced to include Faces, Edges, & Curves
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on October 30, 2016
The SOLIDWORKS Sweep feature has been improving over the years; unlike Extrude the Sweep feature requires at least two sketches to be selected, namely the Profile and Path. In the past, from customer requests, DS SOLIDWORKS added the “Circular Profile” option to make the sweep with only one sketch…
SOLIDWORKS 2017 Options to Improve Performance in Large Assembly Mode
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on October 28, 2016
Working with large assemblies in 3D CAD software can be very challenging due to dealing with heavy file load. In SOLIDWORKS there are tricks to handle large assemblies such as loading in lightweight or using SpeedPak. Now in SOLIDWORKS 2017, you can reduce the number of rebuilds and other time-consuming operations….
SOLIDWORKS Rx now provides a Reliability Report & Reboot Check
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on October 14, 2016
The new SOLIDWORKS Rx Reliability Report provides more data to help you identify the cause of a SOLIDWORKS crash and verify prerequisites on your machine. Also, you can monitor graphic card driver updates, free hardware space, capture problems, etc. To access the tools in SOLIDWORKS Rx, from the Windows…
How to use SOLIDWORKS Surfaces as Reference Geometry for Mates
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on October 14, 2016
Dummy/reference surfaces can be utilized for various design situations in SOLIDWORKS. Due to the fact that the surfaces have no thickness and do not contribute to the weight or mass properties of the parts or assemblies. Surfaces are useful as reference geometry and can then be hidden…
SOLIDWORKS 2017 Pack and Go Improvements
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on September 30, 2016
If you need to transfer your part, assembly, or drawing files from one machine to another; or send them to someone else, Pack and Go comes in handy. The tool is especially useful if your files are scattered in different locations on your machine. You…
In SOLIDWORKS 2017, you can Mirror SOLIDWORKS Drawing View, including display model, relative to model, and predefined drawing views without having to create the mirror components. Projected and other derived views carry over the mirror state from their parent view. How to Mirror SOLIDWORKS Drawing Views To mirror…
SOLIDWORKS 2017 SpeedPak enhanced to now include reference geometry
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on September 21, 2016
In SOLIDWORKS 2017 you can now include reference geometry and curves in a SpeedPak. Sketches from any level of the assembly can be included in a SpeedPak. Previously, all top-level unabsorbed sketches were included in the SpeedPak. You had to suppress top-level sketches that you wanted to exclude,…
SOLIDWORKS 2017 Opening Large Assemblies
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on September 18, 2016
In SOLIDWORKS 2017, more functionality is now available while waiting for components to fully resolve when opening SOLIDWORKS large assemblies. This change is most noticeable in assemblies that take a long time to load. In addition to previous releases in which you could only pan, zoom, and rotate the model…
Customized SOLIDWORKS Section Views using Parallel to Screen Planes
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on August 29, 2016
The SOLIDWORKS Section View is a great tool to investigate the details of complicated parts and assemblies. For instance you can use the section view when: A Shell command is used with or without multi-thickness checked, A Hole wizard is used to make sure holes are aligned,…
How to manage SOLIDWORKS Drawing Note bullet/number spacing
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on August 25, 2016
We recently received questions about how to adjust the spacing between a SOLIDWORKS drawing note bullet or number and the associated text. The problem is shown in the following image. This becomes even more annoying if there is a very limited space to fit the notes in the drawing sheet. How…
Edit your SOLIDWORKS Title Block on the fly!
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on August 23, 2016
The best practice for populating a SOLIDWORKS title block is to have the fields linked to model custom properties. So when your part or assembly model is dropped into the drawing the title block will be populated automatically. But not everyone wants to work this way, so let’s assume…
How to protect your Intellectual Property when sharing SOLIDWORKS files
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on August 15, 2016
In most cases, neutral formats such as *.stp are used to hide the details of a design. The reason is that this format provides a dumb solid model without providing much information about how it was made. This capability and even more is possible with the…
How to use the Design Binder to attach related documents to your Parts and Assemblies
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on August 4, 2016
Did you know that you can attach related documents to your SOLIDWORKS model all in one file? Yes, that is true. Microsoft Word or PDF files can be attached to Design Binder folder which appears in the FeatureManager design tree. This folder allows you to include documents with related notes to both part and assembly…
My SOLIDWORKS model is missing? Check if the solid body is hidden!
By Mehdi Rezaei, CSWE on August 2, 2016
Is your SOLIDWORKS model missing? The part file exists but there is no model visible when you open the document? The features are listed but there is nothing in the graphic area? You probably can see a ghost outline of the model by moving your mouse pointer over…