SOLIDWORKS Large Assemblies
Fall is fast approaching, and you know what that means! Pumpkin spice lattes, turkey dinners, and weather that makes exercise about as appealing as waiting for your largest assembly to open. Luckily for us, keeping our file sizes under control is easy with the new SOLIDWORKS Silhouette Defeature options in 2019! What is the Defeature tool? Defeature is an invaluable tool for designers working with large assemblies or sensitive intellectual property. It allows users to derive simplified models from their existing designs, with interior geometry or complex features removed. This has allowed users to limit the information that is transmitted with a model, while also optimizing the size and performance requirements of parts in a top-level assembly. The new SOLIDWORKS Silhouette Defeature options improve the experience of using the tool to simplify designs for use in larger assemblies. Users are now able to simplify geometry based on their parts’ external…
Do you have an assembly with complex parts which has a high rebuild time? Maybe it’s a supplier assembly, or an assembly that you don’t want any components modified. Saving the assembly as a part can help to reduce file size, decrease load time, and ensure confidentiality for the component geometry if shared outside your company! We have been able to save an assembly as a part for quite some time, but now when we select File > Save As and choose Part as the file type there is a new option to preserve geometry references is the save as dialog as shown below: Once the option has been selected, and the assembly has been saved as a part, the components within the assembly will now have been converted to solid bodies as shown below: If the assembly is used as a sub assembly in another assembly you will notice the mates are…
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, and you could not select sketches in subassemblies. To make a SOLIDWORKS 2017 SpeedPak, right-click on a configuration and select Add SpeedPak from the shortcut menu as shown in the following image: Unlike previous versions in SOLIDWORKS 2017, an extra field is available in the PropertyManager to include sketches, reference geometry, and curves. The SpeedPak PropertyManager for both SOLIDWORKS 2016 and 2017 is shown in the following image. On the right, an axis and two sketches were selected to include in the SpeedPak while as shown on the left there is no field available in SOLIDWORKS 2016. The following image demonstrates the result of including reference geometry in the SpeedPak, they are now…
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 while waiting for components to fully resolve, now you can do the following: Navigate the FeatureManager design tree; Measure distances; Create cross sections; Hide and show components Indication of being Resolved In the SOLIDWORKS 2017 FeatureManager design tree, an eye icon will be visible beside components that are still being resolved. The icon disappears when the components are fully resolved. In the following images, the SOLIDWORKS interface while loading is compared between 2016 and 2017 versions: SOLIDWORKS 2017 Resources Access our resources page to get everything you need to learn what’s new in SOLIDWORKS 2017, including tech tips, demonstrations, and upcoming product webinars. What’s New Resources
Simulating Large Assemblies in SOLIDWORKS [WEBINAR]
Javelin’s Simulation Product Manager; Peter Kjellbotn, will be hosting a complimentary simulation webinar on Wednesday, September 7th so you can learn how to simulate SOLIDWORKS large assemblies. We understand this is peak vacation season across Canada, if you are not going to be at the office – don’t worry. If you register for the webinar(s) we will make sure you receive a link to the recording so you can keep up to date with the latest information any time.¸ In this webinar, we will take a look at the challenging topic of Large Assembly analysis. Large assemblies can be tricky to simulate, but with some tips and tricks for setup, you’ll be successful with your large simulations. Learn more about large assemblies in SOLIDWORKS [VIDEO]. Simplification – what to simplify, and how to simplify Setup techniques for large assemblies Meshing large assemblies Solving for large assemblies
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 you want to add a clearance hole through multiple components and you want the hole to line up. Rather than creating the same feature in all the components by opening up each one and adding the feature, it is faster and easier to add an Assembly Feature. With an Assembly Feature, you can create the feature at the assembly-level. Here are some of the features you can create: Extruded cut Revolved cut Holes (Hole Series, Hole Wizard, and Simple Hole) Swept cut Fillets Chamfers With these features, you also the option to display the feature at the assembly-level only (such would be the case if I…
When loading a SOLIDWORKS Large Assembly did it take so long that you were able to run to the coffee shop across the road and return to a still loading file? Slow load time for large assembly files in SOLIDWORKS is a common issue for users, but we can help with that…fill out the form below to watch our recorded webinar to learn the latest large assembly optimization techniques. Here are five good reasons why you should watch the recorded webinar: Learn how to simplify complex geometry fast, without losing visual details. Become more proficient in design reviews when presenting large assemblies. Visually locate and open component files faster. Manage assembly configurations more effectively. Protect intellectual property when sending files to customers and suppliers (give them only what they need). Customer Case Study: Reducing SOLIDWORKS Large Assembly Load Time from 20 Mins to 20 Secs! Like many users who face this issue, you may have found yourself implementing strategies that range from “googling” to posting on…
Is your SOLIDWORKS too slow when working with assemblies? If your answer is yes then this article may help you improve the performance of your machine when working with assemblies. “How do I stop SOLIDWORKS from crashing when I am working in assemblies?” This is one of the most frequent questions that we receive every day. I hope that I can answer that question with some tips and tricks in this article. Optimize your SOLIDWORKS Software setup: The best way to immediately impact large assembly performance is to setup SOLIDWORKS software correctly. Under the “Tools” menu select “Options” and under the “Performance” tab there are several options to improve performance for less powerful hardware: Turn off high quality transparency Decrease the level of detail for curvature generation as shown in the figure below Under “Assemblies” you will find the “Large assemblies” section. The first option defines how many components are required before SOLIDWORKS goes into…