GoEngineer Blog

It doesn't matter if you're new to SOLIDWORKS or a power user - errors can happen. In this quick tip, learn about a handy tool to have in your toolbox that can save the day when validating and checking your parts for geometry errors. 

 

 

Have you ever seen the SOLIDWORKS zer-thickness error that reads, Unable to create this feature because it would result in zero-thickness geometry? It probably caused your heart rate to spike, and you think, oh no, I hope I saved my file so I can close without saving, re-open, then do the same thing and get the same result. Let’s look at the cause of this error and some solutions.

 

“Work hard at hardly working, work smarter not harder.” We’ve all heard these phrases, but do we do this? Are there any settings that allow us to do this in SOLIDWORKS? You bet there is, and a couple of the ones I recommend in this blog allow users to input sketch entity values and automatically add the dimensions to that entity.  

 

The first step to being successful is identifying a solution to a problem, I learned that on Shark Tank. In this case, my problem was that I had a bunch of race medallions laying around that I wanted to display. So, I fired up SOLIDWORKS, made a model, collaborated with my colleague Jeff Lendermon on the final design of a medallion hanger. Here is how it all happened.

We decided to focus on a blade style putter design hitting a ten-foot putt. Why ten feet? Statistically, the average golfer will have 8 putts from the 9-11 to foot window in a round of golf. So, let’s say you shoot 90 and you want to shoot lower scores. You make all eight of the putts mentioned and your score drops from 90 to 82. The other thing we factored in is that as the putt length decreased, that golfers tried to hold the face of the putter square to the target line of the putt.

In one of my recent SOLIDWORKS training classes, a student asked, “Can I use an Excel file to create a 3D sketch that can be then swept?” The answer is yes, and I decided to show him and the entire class the cool feature in SOLIDWORKS called Curve Through XYZ Points. The feature allows you to make some amazing parts that might otherwise cost you many hours of consternation.

Are you starting to notice that when rendering a file or when rotating an assembly in SOLIDWORKS that the image becomes pixelated or hangs up? It could be a couple of things … but let’s see if we can narrow down the cause by doing some analysis on the graphics card.

The sun is out, and you can see a half day in your future. First, we’ve got a design review, so with coffee in hand, you sit down at your computer and go to start SOLIDWORKS — OMG! It won’t load. It’s hung up! What do you do? Relax. Using the following steps, we are going to have you up and running in no time flat.

In this SOLIDWORKS tutorial, we are tasked with making an enclosure where we have formed areas on the vertical edge of the encloser, and there needs to be a clearance hole for the mounting hardware. To accomplish this, we need to make the form, create a form folder in our Design Library, save the feature in our form folder, and then accurately place the form onto the enclosure. Let’s get started.