Graphics Systems SolidNotes

Handling Uncertainty in Material Properties

In my last blog post, Two Men, Darts, and SolidWorks Simulation: Accuracy vs Aim, I related a story about two men to SolidWorks Simulation. I recommend reading it. This article will be the start of a series, with each article centering on the assumptions I alluded to in that article. With that being said let’s kick things off with a discussion of material properties!

Disclaimer: Do not let this series fool you, SolidWorks Simulation and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in general is a great tool for predicting product performance. For this series, we are specifically focusing on the uncertainties of the components going into the analysis for the purpose of making everyone who reads this article a better FEA Analyst.

First, there are two major concerns with material properties.

1. You can’t test all the material you will use. It isn’t economical and most times is destructive.  

2. Testing has some uncertainty in that the properties are usually extrapolated, not measured directly.

Example: To test the Modulus of Elasticity a known cross-section is taken, a known force applied and displacement measured. It can also be done the opposite way by applying a known displacement and measuring the force to get it there. Either way, by dividing the known stress by the strain calculated from the displacement you get the Modulus of Elasticity.

Let’s talk about the first concern. Material data can usually be provided from your material provider along with typical tolerances, something along the lines of +/- 5%. In the case of Modulus of Elasticity, if you were performing an analysis of a part you may want to try the upper and lower limit of that Modulus in order to make sure that regardless of where in the range the material it is, it won’t fail. That’s a good best practice to ensure your product will perform as expected.

Onto the second concern, there is not much for you to do here. Get as reliable material data as you can. If you get it from the manufacturer you are generally safe, but you may want to ask how it was tested to be sure.

SolidWorks Simulation is a powerful tool, but is a tool. If you do not verify the accuracy of what you’re putting in, it is hard to determine the accuracy of what is coming out.

SolidWorks and Dell Workstations

If you’re reading this blog, you’re likely a user of Dassault Systemes’ SolidWorks or Catia 3D CAD Modeling softwares. It’s also entirely likely that you’re running it on a Dell Precision workstation. You’ve also probably wondered if you’re getting the optimal performance from your computer for your application. Someday, you’ve vowed, you’re going to wade through the myriad of knowledge base articles, blogs, and forums, and do some experimentation.

Someday.

Well, do we at Graphics Systems have good news for you!

Last month, Dell announced the release of its Dell Precision Performance Optimizer. To quote from their blog:

“DPPO is built around three pillars: Automatic Performance Optimization, System Maintenance, and Tracking & Reporting….Once DPPO knows you are using SolidWorks, for example, it will change the system to the optimal configuration without you having to make these changes yourself. You select the profile for the application you are using, and DPPO takes it from there.”

 

Here is a video describing the utility:

And here is the DPPO download link.

 

We love to hear from our customers. If you’ve benefitted from this or any of our other tips, please let us know in the Comments section.

How to Make a Sheet Metal Edge Flange Perpendicular to a Face (Instead of Trying to Find the Angle)

When creating an edge flange, sometimes you might want the new flange to be perpendicular or parallel to a specific face or plane.

This is very beneficial if you have created lofted bends as your sheet metal part.

When you create your new edge flange feature, there is an option to select a face to make the newly created flange perpendicular or parallel to.

This must be a face, you cannot select a plane at this time. However, you can extrude a surface that resides on a plane (as another feature before creating your new flange) and use that as a selectable face. That is the blue face that is in the picture above.

Once the face is selected, you can tell SolidWorks to make the new flange perpendicular or parallel to that face.

This is much easier than trying to figure out what angle will make the new flange parallel with one of your primary planes.

 

SolidWorks ePDM Admin: How to Undo a Checkout

Every once in a while you may find yourself in a situation where you need access to modify certain files pronto and someone else has them checked out.  To make matters worse they’re unavailable (offsite) or even out of the country!  Here we’ll show you how to overcome that.  Let’s say you’re a user, say "Bob White" in the Training Vault who needs access to all the documents of the Hand Truck: "Axle.sldprt", "Brace.sldprt", and a few others.  Your boss tells you to take over the design because the deadline got pushed up and you log in to start working on them – which is when you find out that they are still checked out to Bob!



What’s more, if you check the presence note by hovering your mouse over Bob’s name,


and clicking on the presence note ( ), you find he’s on vacation and won’t be back for nearly a week!

 
How do you get in to modify those files now???

The answer?  Admin: Undo Checkout!

Contact your admin who can log into the vault as the "EPDM Administrator" aka "Admin" and perform an undo check out.  Now if you can login as Bob then you could undo checkout the files yourself, but chances are you can’t reach him if you’re still anxiously reading this.  Only the Admin can undo checkout someone else’s files.  Once logged in as Admin:



you can browse to the files, highlight them all and and from the right click menu pick "undo checkout".



Make sure to click the "Undo check out" boxes or nothing will happen.



You’ll get a message for each file asking you if you are sure, simply say yes to each one and you’re done!

 

 

 

A New Feature I Love: Favorites Folder

 

Example of a long feature tree

If you've ever built a part or an assembly with a long feature tree, you can understand that sometimes that feature tree can be a little difficult to work with.  There isn't really a whole lot that you can do about it, nor is there much the software can do:  large assembly files have a lot of components and complex parts require many features.  Even when you take advantage of subassemblies or folders, you can still end up with a big feature tree that might be a challenge to navigate.

 

Navigating a large feature tree can be a bigger challenge when you have to navigate it while in the PropertyManager for a feature.  You can imagine a scenario where you have to add multiple mates to a single datum plane that is buried deep in your feature tree, and you have to keep digging through the feature tree to find it.  Look at the screen shot to the right, and try to picture yourself digging around for a reference that's embedded in two levels of sub-assemblies.

There is a feature, new to SolidWorks 2013, that is an easy solution to help you find these items easier called the Favorites Folder.  This keeps your favorite features and components in a handy folder at the very top of your Feature Tree, which makes them easy to find and reference later on.

 

 

One of my favorite things about this is how easy it is to find and use.  You can add any sketch, feature or reference geometry to the folder simply by selecting it in your feature tree with your Right Mouse Button and selecting "Add to Favorites".  This will allow you to readily access your favorite references at the top of your feature tree.

 

 

By default, the Favorites Folder is set to show automatically when necessary, just like the Solid Bodies and Surface Bodies folder.  Also, like the Solid and Surface Bodies folders, you can control its visibility through the Hide/Show Tree Items option in your system settings.  Once you have the feature added to your Favorites Folder, it's easy to find atop your Feature Tree instead of having to scroll through.  This also makes it easy to access when you want to edit the feature.

Keeping Older SolidWorks Releases in Peak Performance

Many SolidWorks users, for various reasons, stay with an older version of SolidWorks. Some SolidWorks users keep more than one version of SolidWorks to accommodate customers and partners.

To keep your older SolidWorks at its peak performance consider updating to the final Service Pack for that edition.

As an example: SolidWorks 2012 has issued the final Service pack – SP5. Service Pack 5 is going to address all the issues considered for SolidWorks 2012 (any other issues or enhancements would be for a future version)

Typically the final service pack is the most stable of the versions.

One important thing about older versions of SolidWorks and downloads is You MUST be on Subscription. With subscription you can log into the customer portal at:

http://www.solidworks.com/default.htm

and then from the download menu choose the version or service pack you wish to download.

Some customers choose not to renew subscription at some point.

Keep in mind access and rights to Service packs ends with the subscription date.

You are only allowed service packs and versions that have been released during your active subscription. Subsequent updated are not available past the end your subscription date.

Also consider saving a copy of the final version in a safe place for the future.

 

See SolidWorks Help at:

http://help.solidworks.com/2012/English/SolidWorks/install_guide/HID_STATE_DOWNLOAD_OPTIONS.htm

Go the the section of:

Download only. You can download once and then share downloaded files with multiple computers.

SolidWorks Installation Manager does not run an installation after the download completes.

Typically, you would specify this option if you are downloading the files to configure an installation file set to share among multiple computers.

If you specify this option, you are then asked to choose between two sets of files to download:

• Files for THIS computer: The download will contain only those files that are missing from the installation file set currently on this computer.

This should be a smaller download because it contains:

• Only files for products selected on the Product Selection page
• Only the prerequisite files that are required for your computer but not yet installed

However, if you try to use this downloaded file set on another computer to perform an installation, some files could be missing (because the installation file set on the other computer might be different from this one). You can use these download files to install on another computer, but when the installation runs you may have to download additional files to complete the installation file set on that computer.

• Files to share with ANY computer: The download will contain the complete installation file set that can be used to install this version on any computer.

This will be the larger download because it contains the complete file set that you can use to install this version of any product on any computer.

If you specified a limited set of products to download, this option ignores that specification and downloads all products contained in the product release.

The download will contain all files required to create an administrative image, not just those files required to perform an individual installation.

 

 

Below is a list of release dates for SolidWorks versions and Service packs. With this you can ensure that you have the most current Service pack available that you are entitled to. (Solution ID: S-038801)

 

2013
SP2	1/30/2013
SP1	12/5/2012
SP0	10/9/2012
2012
SP5	10/25/2012
SP4	6/18/2012
SP3	4/9/2012
SP2	1/27/2012
SP1	11/17/2011
SP0	10/3/2011
2011
SP5	10/10/2011
SP4	6/17/2011
SP3	3/23/2011
SP2	1/17/2011
SP1	12/2/2010
SP0	10/18/2010
2010
SP5	12/9/2010
SP4	6/22/2010
SP3.1	5/11/2010
SP2.1	1/26/2010
SP2	1/11/2010
SP1	12/7/2009
SP0	10/19/2009
2009
SP5	11/23/2009
SP4	6/30/2009
SP3	3/25/2009
SP2.1	2/10/2009
SP2	1/14/2009
SP1	11/13/2008
SP0	9/17/2008
2008
SP5	10/23/2008
SP4	6/18/2008
SP3.1	3/10/2008
SP3	2/20/2008
SP2.1	1/29/2008
SP2	1/14/2008
SP1	11/27/2007
SP0	9/13/2007
2007
SP5	10/30/2007
SP4	5/31/2007
SP3	2/14/2007
SP2.2	12/21/2006
SP2.1	12/4/2006
SP2	11/9/2006
SP1.1	10/17/2006
SP1	9/26/2006
SP0	7/26/2006
2006
SP5.1	11/??/2006
SP5	8/31/2006
SP4.1	4/19/2006
SP4	4/3/2006
SP3.4	2/23/2006
SP3.3	2/15/2006
SP3.1	1/16/2006
SP3	1/3/2006
SP2.1	12/8/2005
SP2	11/16/2005
SP1	10/15/2005
SP0	8/1/2005
2005
SP5	9/14/2005
SP4	7/11/2005
SP3.1	5/31/2005
SP3	4/12/2005
SP2	3/21/2005
SP1	2/14/2005
SP0.1	10/28/2004
SP0	8/26/2004
2004
SP5	12/13/2004
SP4.2	9/21/2004
SP4.1	7/20/2004
SP4	6/21/2004
SP3	3/17/2004
SP2.1	1/26/2004
SP2	1/6/2004
SP1	11/6/2003
SP0	9/8/2003
2003
SP5.1	11/25/2003
SP5	10/6/2003
SP4.1	9/15/2003
SP4	7/14/2003
SP3.1	5/15/2003
SP3	4/24/2003
SP2.1	3/12/2003
SP2	3/4/2003
SP1.1	2/4/2003
SP1	1/9/2003
SP0	10/28/2003
2001+
SP6	11/11/2002
SP5.1	9/25/2002
SP5	9/19/2002
SP4.1	8/12/2002
SP4	7/22/2002
SP3	5/20/2002
SP2	3/14/2002
SP1.2	1/29/2002
SP1.1	1/24/2002
SP1	1/21/2002
SP0	12/11/2001

Two Handy Assembly Mouse Shortcuts

This month I have a couple of quick shortcuts to share when working with assemblies. I used these in my SolidWorks Assembly Modeling class last week and everyone in the class wanted to know how I did things so quick, so I figured it would make a good blog post.

Shortcut number one: hold down the <CTRL> key as you drag a part in an assembly and SolidWorks will make a new instance (“copy”) on the fly. A great way to get another instance of a part without having to find it with Insert Part or from some folder or part window.

Shortcut number two: drag an underdefined component with the right mouse button instead of the left and you’ll rotate the part instead of moving it.

I’ve created a short video showing these shortcuts in action. If you like these, let me know in the comments area and maybe I’ll have a couple more next month!

  

On Design and The Tools Of Our Trade

Every once in a while in this space, I like to depart from the usual technical tips and tricks and think back to not the tool but the reasons for its use. We need to learn the tools of our trade, certainly, but we must also continually learn and refine our craft. We are, after all, designers. SolidWorks is the mechanism by which we translate our ideas into reality. As designers, we are taught to think outside the box. To look at the world a little differently. To see solutions where there were none before. Speaking for myself, I know I have sought and received inspiration from the work of others…perhaps you recall my article in these very pages on a longtime favorite of mine, Brooks Stevens.

Aside from others’ designs, I also enjoy reading their thoughts and perspectives on Design Thinking itself. This month, I thought I would leave you with a couple simply elegant quotations from those I respect and admire:

“Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context — a chair in the room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city.”

--- Eliel Saarinen

“It’s art if it can’t be explained. It’s fashion if no one asks for an explanation. It’s design if it doesn’t need explanation.”

--- Wouter Stokkel

 Who are your biggest inspirations, in your work?

 

What's the Story with License Ordering?

If you're a CAD Admin and have network SolidWorks licenses at your company then this is for you. You may have noticed when working with the SolidNetWork License Manager that there is a tab called "License Order". Most people don't pay much attention to this because it doesn't come into play unless you have SolidWorks Simulation licenses. The reason is, all other features in SolidWorks are their own add ins so the license manager determines what package of SolidWorks (standard, pro, or premium) is used based on what addins are turned on. Simulation, however, is just one addin but there are three different versions of SolidWorks simulation; SolidWorks Simulation, Simulation Professional, and Simulation Premium.  The "License Order" tab is how SolidWorks determines what version of simulation is pulled when a user turns on the "Simulation" addin in SolidWorks. So for example say your company owns a SolidWorks Premium ( which includes the basic Simulation package), Simulation Professional, and Simulation Premium network licenses. If you go under the License Order tab in the license manager you'll see these three licenses listed.  The order from top to bottom is the order that SolidWorks will pull each of the licenses when the Simulation Addin is turned on within SolidWorks. So if the licenses were listed with Simulation Professional First, then the first person to turn on the Simulation addin would get the pro license and so on and so forth.

Now say you have a particular user that always uses Simulation Premium and you want that user to always pull the Simulation Premium license. Well, you may or may not know that there is also a client version of the SolidNetWork license manager on each of the user's machines. You can find that by going to Start, All Programs, SolidWorks <version>, SolidWorks Tools, SolidNetWork License Manger. On this individual user's machine, you could set Simulation Premium to be the first license in the list and then whenever that user tries to pull a Simulation license it first tries to get a premium license instead of trying to get the professional license based on the license order set on the server license manager. The best way to think of it may be like a global variable versus a local variable. The ordering on the server applies to all users unless the ordering on their individual machine is changed; then at that point the user machine takes priority. 

Hopefully for those of you that have multiple simulation network licenses, this gives you some direction on how to best manage those licenses.

 

SolidWorks Tutorial: How to Get Colored Crosshatch in Section View

There have been times when I wanted to show a section view with the crosshatch in a different color than the default black. Here is what the default view looks like.

Here are the steps to get a different color for the crosshatch.

• Create a new layer and give it the color, line style, and line thickness you want.

• Select the default crosshatched area on the section view.
• In the Area Hatch/Fill Property Manager, uncheck the “Material crosshatch” checkbox.

• Then select “None” as the option for type and select “OK” (green checkmark).

• Select the area (or areas) that you want to have crosshatched.
• Go to the Insert dropdown menu and select “Annotations > Area Hatch/Fill”.
• Here is where you can select what style of Hatch you want to have on the area.
• Then select the newly created layer (color layer).

• This is what your colored drawing view will look like.