Good day Steemians, I hope everyone’s having a blast! Today, I will be sharing something from my newly found journey. I have been gone from the platform for some time because I have been accepted to work in a company here in my place (a freeloader no more! Hurrah!). The company’s great and all but what I love the most about my new job is, it’s like I’m not working, in fact it’s more like studying than working, I learn things you can only learn if you enroll into some specific courses. One of these learning materials is using Solidworks, it's a CAD software where you can do plenty of things CAD related. So, to make the long story short, I am paid(salary) while learning (like a student, isn’t that neat!?). So, without further ado, lets get this Solidworks tutorial started (though I’m not giving a proper tutorial, I am merely sharing what I learn all at the same time).

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What is Solidworks?

Solidworks mechanical design automation software is a feature-based, parametric solid modeling design tool which takes advantage of the easy to learn Windows graphical user interface. So, if you're familiar with Windows and you can read and understand what you just read, you'll have no trouble learning how to use Solidworks. You can create fully associative 3D models with or without constraints while utilizing automatic or user defined relations to capture design intent. In other words, it's just like most CAD softwares used in making models. What's special about Solidworks? We'll talk about that in the succeeding articles that I will publish in the coming days, so stay tuned.

Definition of terms.

Here we will discuss the italicized terms used to describe Solidworks and some other add-ons.

Feature-based

Just as an assembly is made up of a number if individual piece parts, a Solidworks model is also made up of individual constituent elements. These elements are called features.

When you work with Solidworks software, you work with intelligent, easy to understand geometric features such as bosses, ribs, fillets, chamfers, and drafts. As the features are created they are applied directly to the work piece.

Features can be classified in to two, these are sketched and applied.

•Sketched Features

Based upon a 2D sketch. Generally that sketch is transformed into a solid by extrusion, rotation, sweeping or lofting.

•Applied Features

Created directly on the solid model. Fillets and chamfers are examples of this type of feature.

The Solidworks software graphically shows you the feature-based structure of your model in a special window called the FeatureManager design tree. The FeatureManager design tree not only shows you the sequence in which the features were created, it gives you easy access to all underlying associated information.

Parametric

The dimensions and relations used to create a feature are captured and stored in the model. This not only enables you to capture your design intent, it also enables you to quickly and easily make changes to the model.

•Driving Dimensions

These are the dimensions used when creating a feature. They include the dimensions associated with the sketch geometry, as well as those associated with the feature itself. A simple example of this would be a feature like a cylindrical boss. The diameter of the boss is controlled by the diameter of the sketched circle. The height of the boss is controlled by the depth to which that circle was extruded when the feature was made.

•Relations

These include such information as parallelism, tangency, and concentricity. Historically, these type of information has been communicated on drawings via feature control symbols. By capturing this in the sketch, Solidworks enables you to fully capture your design intent up front, in the model.

Solid Modeling

A solid model is the most complete types of geometric model used in CAD systems. It contains all the wire frame and surface geometry necessary to fully describe the edges and faces of the model. In addition to the geometric information, it has the information called topology that relates the geometry together. An example of topology would be which faces (surfaces) meet at which edge (curve). This intelligence makes operations such as easy as selecting ad edge and specifying a radius.

Fully Associative

A Solidworks model is fully associative to the drawings and assembles that reference it. Changes to the model are automatically reflected in the associated drawings and assemblies. Likewise, you can make changes in the context of the drawing or assembly and know that those changes will be reflected back in the model.

Constraints

Geometric relationships such as parallel, perpendicular, horizontal, vertical concentric, and coincident are just some of the constraints supported in Solidworks. In addition, equations can be used to establish mathematical relationships among parameters. By using constraints and equations, you can guarantee that design concept such as through holes or equal radii captured and maintained.

Design Intent

The final italicized term is design intent. This one's a broad topic and worthy of it's own section so I'll tackle that in the continuation on this tutorial-ish post.

Well those are the Definitions used to describe Solidworks , let us continue with the little add-ons.

File References

Solidworks creates files that are compound documents that contain elements from other files. Files references are created by linking files rather than duplicating information in multiple files (more file spaces FTW! More por.. errr... important files can be saved!!).

Referenced files do not have to be stored with the document that references them. In most prectical applications, the referenced documents are stored in multiple locations on the computer or network. Solidworks provides several tools to determine the references that exist and their location.

Opening Files

Solidworks is a RAM-resident CAD system. Whenever a files is opened, it is copied from it's storage location to the computer's Random Access Memory or simply RAM. All changes to the files are made to the copy in RAM and only written back to the original files during Save operation.

A little trivia for dummies, though I doubt someone would need this, it's still worth mentioning. Who knows, someone might actually need it!

Computer Memory

To better understand where files are stored and which copy of the file we are working on, it is important to differentiate between the two main types of computer memory.

Random Access Memory

Random Access Memory or RAM is the volatile memory of the computer. This memory only stores information when the computer is operating. When the computer is turned OFF or in case of a power failure, any information in the RAM is lost. (So always save your file to save your time!)

Fixed Memory aka "Hard Drive"

Fixed memory is the non-volatile memory. this includes computer hard disk drives, flash drives and CD/DVD drives. Fixed memory holds its information even when the computer is not running or turned OFF.

That's it folks, I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial-ish post about Solidworks, in the following articles, we will be continuing our journey into this awesome software for building models and plans. Thank you for reading, follow me @jamesanity06 and stay tuned for more Solidworks tutorial-ish.

© @jamesanity06, 2018

Damo nga Salamat! Maraming Salamat po! Thank you Very Much!

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