Helix
We all know what knurling is, right? The most common use for knurling is to add grip to an otherwise slippery part. Using this is done on a lathe, turned with special bits or tooling. Now, how do we get knurling on a SOLIDWORKS part?…
For years, the ability to create a realistic thread in SolidWorks was something of artistic fantasy; a way to demonstrate your proficiency in SolidWorks. The rebuild times on a small assembly would be long enough to get a warm beverage, and on larger assemblies it…
How would a CSWE design a marble roller coaster? (Part 1 of many) [VIDEO]
A marble roller coaster should be easy to assembly and use as little material as possible. If it can be made with very little material then it can be 3D printed at very low cost. When designing these parts I will consider how they will…
When using SOLIDWORKS Routing, a simple way to have a coil of tubing for strain relief or packaging reasons, is to create the helix outside of the 3D Route sketch and then use convert entities to copy the helix into the Route sketch. The basic steps…
If you want to create a spiral / helical sheet metal model, using the sweep feature + insert bends will not do the job. You will need to use two different size helix / spiral paths: Then, convert these curves to 3D sketch entities: Now, use…
How to create a SOLIDWORKS rolled component that can be flattened
A recent customer query had us considering a number of different methods to create a roll of material. After a number of attempts using various methods, the following suggestion was to create a SOLIDWORKS rolled component using the sheet metal functionality, this technique came from technical sales manager…
It is possible to create a helical solid in SOLIDWORKS which, rather than extending linearly, actually follows a helical (or other) path. This is actually done using the Sweep command using a twist along the sweep path. The end result can vary quite dramatically, but can potentially…