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SolidWorks 2012

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Advanced Part Modeling

Dassault Systmes SolidWorks Corporation

175 Wyman Street
Waltham, Massachusetts 02451 USA

Patent Notices

Copyright Notices for SolidWorks Standard,

Premium, Professional, and Education Products
Portions of this software 1986-2011 Siemens Product
Lifecycle Management Software Inc. All rights reserved.
This work contains the following software owned by
Siemens Industry Software Limited:
D-Cubed 2D DCM 2011. Siemens Industry
Software Limited. All Rights Reserved.
D-Cubed 3D DCM 2011. Siemens Industry
Software Limited. All Rights Reserved.
D-Cubed PGM 2011. Siemens Industry Software
Limited. All Rights Reserved.
D-Cubed CDM 2011. Siemens Industry Software
Limited. All Rights Reserved.
D-Cubed AEM 2011. Siemens Industry Software
Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Portions of this software 1998-2011 Geometric Ltd.
Portions of this software 1996-2011 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
Portions of this software incorporate PhysX by NVIDIA
2006-2010.
Portions of this software 2001-2011 Luxology, Inc. All
rights reserved, patents pending.
Portions of this software 2007-2011 DriveWorks Ltd.
Copyright 1984-2010 Adobe Systems Inc. and its licensors.
All rights reserved. Protected by U.S. Patents 5,929,866;
5,943,063; 6,289,364; 6,563,502; 6,639,593; 6,754,382;
patents pending.
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, the Adobe PDF logo,
Distiller and Reader are registered trademarks or trademarks
of Adobe Systems Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.
For more SolidWorks copyright information, see Help >
About SolidWorks.

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The information and the software discussed in this document

are subject to change without notice and are not
commitments by Dassault Systmes SolidWorks Corporation
(DS SolidWorks).
No material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronically or manually, for any purpose
without the express written permission of DS SolidWorks.
The software discussed in this document is furnished under a
license and may be used or copied only in accordance with
the terms of the license. All warranties given by DS
SolidWorks as to the software and documentation are set
forth in the license agreement, and nothing stated in, or
implied by, this document or its contents shall be considered
or deemed a modification or amendment of any terms,
including warranties, in the license agreement.

In the event that you receive a request from any agency of the
U.S. government to provide Software with rights beyond
those set forth above, you will notify DS SolidWorks of the
scope of the request and DS SolidWorks will have five (5)
business days to, in its sole discretion, accept or reject such
request. Contractor/Manufacturer: Dassault Systmes
SolidWorks Corporation, 175 Wyman Street, Waltham,
Massachusetts 02451 US.

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1995-2011, Dassault Systmes SolidWorks Corporation, a

Dassault Systmes S.A. company, 175 Wyman Street,
Waltham, MA 02451 USA. All rights reserved.

SolidWorks 3D mechanical CAD software is protected by

U.S. Patents 5,815,154; 6,219,049; 6,219,055; 6,611,725;
6,844,877; 6,898,560; 6,906,712; 7,079,990; 7,477,262;
7,558,705; 7,571,079; 7,590,497; 7,643,027; 7,672,822;
7,688,318; 7,694,238; 7,853,940 and foreign patents, (e.g.,
EP 1,116,190 and JP 3,517,643).

eDrawings software is protected by U.S. Patent 7,184,044;

U.S. Patent 7,502,027; and Canadian Patent 2,318,706.
U.S. and foreign patents pending.

Trademarks and Product Names for SolidWorks

Products and Services
SolidWorks, 3D PartStream.NET, 3D ContentCentral,
eDrawings, and the eDrawings logo are registered
trademarks and FeatureManager is a jointly owned registered
trademark of DS SolidWorks.
CircuitWorks, FloXpress, TolAnalyst, and XchangeWorks
are trademarks of DS SolidWorks.
FeatureWorks is a registered trademark of Geometric Ltd.
SolidWorks 2012, SolidWorks Enterprise PDM, SolidWorks
Workgroup PDM, SolidWorks Simulation, SolidWorks Flow
Simulation, eDrawings Professional, and SolidWorks
Sustainability are product names of DS SolidWorks.
Other brand or product names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders.

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COMMERCIAL COMPUTER SOFTWARE

PROPRIETARY
The Software is a commercial item as that term is defined
at 48 C.F.R. 2.101 (OCT 1995), consisting of commercial
computer software and commercial software
documentation as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. 12.212
(SEPT 1995) and is provided to the U.S. Government (a) for
acquisition by or on behalf of civilian agencies, consistent
with the policy set forth in 48 C.F.R. 12.212; or (b) for
acquisition by or on behalf of units 3 of the department of
Defense, consistent with the policies set forth in 48 C.F.R.
227.7202-1 (JUN 1995) and 227.7202-4 (JUN 1995).

Document Number: PMT1203-ENG

Copyright Notices for SolidWorks Simulation

Products
Portions of this software 2008 Solversoft Corporation.
PCGLSS 1992-2010 Computational Applications and
System Integration, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright Notices for Enterprise PDM Product
Outside In Viewer Technology, 1992-2010 Oracle
Portions of this software 1996-2011 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
Copyright Notices for eDrawings Products
Portions of this software 2000-2011 Tech Soft 3D.
Portions of this software 1995-1998 Jean-Loup Gailly and
Mark Adler.
Portions of this software 1998-2001 3Dconnexion.
Portions of this software 1998-2011 Open Design
Alliance. All rights reserved.
Portions of this software 1995-2010 Spatial Corporation.
This software is based in part on the work of the Independent
JPEG Group.

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Contents

Introduction

About This Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Course Design Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Using this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Laboratory Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A Note About Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
About the Training Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Conventions Used in this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Windows 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Use of Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Graphics and Graphics Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Color Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Hide/Show Tree Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

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Lesson 1
Sketching with Splines
Sketching Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Introducing: Spline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Anatomy of a Spline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Evaluating Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Sketching with Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Sketch Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Introducing: Sketch Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Exercise 1: Spline Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Exercise 2: Fun with Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Contents

SolidWorks 2012

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Lesson 2
Multibody Solids: How They Work
Multibody Solids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Creating a Multibody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Merge Result. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Multibody Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Introducing: Solid Bodies Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Feature Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Patterning Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Tool Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Introducing: Insert Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Entities to Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Introducing: Move/Copy Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Combining Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Introducing: Combine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Examples of Combined Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Exercise 3: Soda Bottle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Exercise 4: Positioning Inserted Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Exercise 5: Copying Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids
Common Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Indent Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Using Indent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Introducing: Delete Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Local Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Using Local Operations to Solve Filleting Problems . . . . . . . . . . 60
Modeling Negative Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Using Cut to Create Multibodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Saving Solid Bodies as Parts and Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Default Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Introducing: Insert into New Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Introducing: Save Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Creating an Assembly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Splitting a Part into Multibodies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Introducing: Split . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Saving the Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Creating an Assembly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Introducing: Create Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Using Split Part with Legacy Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Filling the Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Exercise 6: Combining a Multibody Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Exercise 7: Bridging a Multibody Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Exercise 8: Indent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Exercise 9: Modeling for Rapid Tooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

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Contents

Exercise 10: Split Part. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

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Lesson 4
Introduction to Sweeping
Sweeping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Sweep Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Case Study: Faux Raised Panel Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Sweep with Guide Curves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Case Study: Bottle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Sweep Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Sweep with Guide Curves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Showing Intermediate Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Exercise 11: Oval Foot Drawer Pull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Exercise 12: Tire Iron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Dome Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Introducing: Dome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Exercise 13: Build Your Own Bottle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Exercise 14: Hanger Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Introducing: SelectionManager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Exercise 15: Starship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Lesson 5
Working with Curves
Case Study: Modeling a Spring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Sweeping Along a 3D Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
3D Sketching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Using Reference Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Subset of Sketch Entities and Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Space Handle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Introducing: Helix and Spiral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Creating a 3D Curve from Orthogonal Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Introducing: Projected Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Introducing: Composite Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Introducing: Fit Spline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Applying the Label to the Bottle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Library Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
File Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Projecting a Sketch onto a Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Multi-thickness Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Modeling Threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Creating a Helix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Case Study: Creating a Curve Through a Set of Points . . . . . . . . . . 158
Entering Points On the Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Reading Data From a File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Editing the Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Sketch Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

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Introducing: Sketch Blocks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Equation Driven Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Introducing: Equation Driven Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
What do the Equations Mean? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Exercise 16: Worm Gear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Exercise 17: D-cell Flashlight Spring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Exercise 18: Water Bottle Cage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Exercise 19: 3D Sketching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Exercise 20: 3D Sketching with Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Exercise 21: Blower Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Splitting a Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Introducing: Split Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

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Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

Orientation and Twist Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Intermediate Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Follow Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Keep Normal Constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Controlling Twist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Control Twist with Guide Curves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Twist along Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Align with End Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Sweeping Along Model Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Propagate Along Tangent Edges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
What if the Edges Arent Tangent? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Sweeping a Tool Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Exercise 22: Makeup Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Exercise 23: Mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Lofting and Sweeping: Whats the Difference? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

How Lofting Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Basic Lofting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Stages in the Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Introducing: Loft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Merge Tangent Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Start and End Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Lofting Using a 3D Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Merging a Multibody with Loft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Using Derived and Copied Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Copying a Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Derived Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Introducing: Insert Derived Sketch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Creating a Derived Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Locating the Derived Sketch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Loft Viewing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

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Lesson 7
Lofts

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SolidWorks 2012

Contents

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Centerline Lofting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Preparation of the Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Sharing Sketches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Introducing: Split Entities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Cleaning Up a Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Introducing: Delete Face. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Introducing: Deviation Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Face Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Advanced Lofting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Planning a Modeling Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Layout Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Boundary Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Optional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Exercise 24: Funnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Exercise 25: Rocker Arm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Exercise 26: Boat Hull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Exercise 27: Light Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

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Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools
Advanced Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Keep Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Keep Edge and Keep Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Round Corners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Select Through Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Variable Radius Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Straight and Smooth Transitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Zero Radius Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Setback Fillets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Face Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Curvature Continuous Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Constant Width Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Hold Lines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Analyzing Geometry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
What is Curvature? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Introducing: Display Curvature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Show Curvature Combs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Introducing: Show Curvature Combs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Intersection Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Introducing: Intersection Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Show Minimum Radius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Show Inflection Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Continuity Explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Zebra Stripes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Introducing: Zebra Stripes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Boundary Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Curvature Continuous Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Contents

SolidWorks 2012

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Wrap Feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Introducing: Wrap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Deform Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Introducing: Deform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Point Deformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Curve to Curve Deformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Surface Push Deformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Introducing: Knit Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Why Select Faces and the Solid Body? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Move Face and Delete Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Introducing: Move Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Using 3D Sketch with the Hole Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Performance Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Performance Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Image Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Suppressing Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Interrupt Regeneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Exercise 28: Face Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Exercise 29: Variable Radius Fillet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Exercise 30: Hold Line Fillet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Exercise 31: Move Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Exercise 32: Delete Face. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Exercise 33: Hole Wizard and 3D Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

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Introduction

Introduction

SolidWorks 2012

The goal of this course is to teach you how to build multibody and
complex shape solid models using SolidWorks mechanical design
automation software. Most of the case studies and exercises in this
course are taken from industrial type applications, and the lessons
primarily center around working with solids. Surfacing functions are
covered in depth in the Surface Modeling course.

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About This
Course

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The tools for modeling complex shapes in the SolidWorks software are
quite robust and feature rich. During this course, we will cover many of
the commands and options in great detail. However, it is impractical to
cover every minute detail and still have the course be a reasonable
length. Therefore, the focus of this course is on the fundamental skills,
tools, and concepts central to successfully building multibody and
complex shape solid models. You should view the training course
manual as a supplement to, not a replacement for, the system
documentation and on-line help. Once you have developed a good
foundation in the skills covered in this course, you can refer to the online help for information on less frequently used command options.

Prerequisites

Students attending this course are expected to have the following:

I
I
I

Mechanical design experience.

Completed the course SolidWorks Essentials.
Experience with the Windows operating system.

This course is designed around a process-based (or task-based)

approach to training. Rather than focus on individual features and
functions, a process-based training course emphasizes the processes and
procedures you follow to complete a particular task. By utilizing case
studies to illustrate these processes, you learn the necessary commands,
options and menus in the context of completing a design task.

Course Length

The recommended minimum length of this course is two days.

Using this Book

This training manual is intended to be used in a classroom environment

under the guidance of an experienced SolidWorks instructor. It is not
intended to be a self-paced tutorial. The examples and case studies are
designed to be demonstrated live by the instructor.

No

Course Design
Philosophy

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Laboratory
Exercises

Laboratory exercises give you the opportunity to apply and practice the
material covered during the lecture/demonstration portion of the
course. They are designed to represent typical design and modeling
situations while being modest enough to be completed during class
time. You should note that many students work at different paces.
Therefore, we have included more lab exercises than you can
reasonably expect to complete during the course. This ensures that even
the fastest student will not run out of exercises.

SolidWorks 2012

Introduction

The drawings and dimensions given in the lab exercises are not intended
to reflect any particular drafting standard. In fact, sometimes dimensions
are given in a fashion that would never be considered acceptable in
industry. The reason for this is the labs are designed to encourage you to
apply the information covered in class and to employ and reinforce
certain techniques in modeling. As a result, the drawings and dimensions
in the exercises are done in a way that compliments this objective.

About the
Training Files

A complete set of the various files used throughout this course can be
downloaded from the SolidWorks website, www.solidworks.com.
Click on the link for Support, then Training, then Training Files, then
SolidWorks Training Files. Select the link for the desired file set.
There may be more than one version of each file set available.

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Direct URL:

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A Note About
Dimensions

www.solidworks.com/trainingfilessolidworks

The files are supplied in signed, self-extracting executable packages.

The files are organized by lesson number. The Case Study folder
within each lesson contains the files your instructor uses while
presenting the lessons. The Exercises folder contains any files that are
required for doing the laboratory exercises.

Conventions Used
in this Book

This manual uses the following typographic conventions:

Convention

SolidWorks commands and options appear in

this style. For example, Features > Extruded
means click the Extruded Cut icon on
Cut
the Features tab of the CommandManager.

Typewriter

Feature names and file names appear in this

style. For example, Sketch1.

No

Bold Sans Serif

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17 Do this step

Windows 7

Meaning

Double lines precede and follow sections of

the procedures. This provides separation
between the steps of the procedure and large
blocks of explanatory text. The steps
themselves are numbered in sans serif bold.

The screen shots in this manual were made using the SolidWorks
software running on Windows 7.

SolidWorks 2012

Use of Color

The SolidWorks software user

interface makes extensive use
of color to highlight selected
geometry and to provide you
with visual feedback. This
greatly increases the
intuitiveness and ease of use of
the SolidWorks software. To
take maximum advantage of
this, the training manuals are
printed in full color.

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Introduction

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Also, in many cases, we have used additional color in the illustrations

to communicate concepts, identify features, and otherwise convey
important information. For example, we might show the result of an
operation in a different color, even though by default, the SolidWorks
software would not display the results in that way.

Graphics and
Graphics Cards

The SolidWorks software sets a new standard with best-in-class

graphics. The combination of a highly reflective material and the
realism of RealView Graphics is an effective tool for evaluating the
quality of advanced part models and surfaces.
RealView Graphics is hardware (graphics card) support of advanced

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shading in real time. For example, if you rotate a part, it retains its
rendered appearance throughout the rotation.

SolidWorks 2012

Color Schemes

Introduction

Out of the box, the SolidWorks software provides several predefined

color schemes that control, among other things, the colors used for
highlighted items, selected items, sketch relation symbols, and shaded
previews of features.

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We have not used the same color scheme for every case study and
exercise because some colors are more visible and clear than others
when used with different colored parts.

In addition, we have changed the viewport background to plain white

so that the illustrations reproduce better on white paper.

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As a result, because the color settings on your computer may be

different than the ones used by the authors of this book, the images you
see on your screen may not exactly match those in the book.

Hide/Show Tree
Items

Certain items in the top of the FeatureManager design tree are

automatically hidden if they are not used.
For this course it is helpful to have some of these folders always shown.
Click Tools, Options, System Options, FeatureManager.
Under Hide/show tree items, set the following to Show:

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Surface Bodies folder

Solid Bodies folder

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Introduction

SolidWorks 2012

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Lesson 1
Sketching with Splines

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Sketch with splines.

Insert a sketch picture.

Manipulate spline curvature using the spline handles.

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Lesson 1

SolidWorks 2012

Sketching with Splines

Sketching
Splines

A spline is a sketch element that interpolates its shape between points.

Splines are very useful for modeling free-form shapes that are smooth
and fair. [Fair is a term often used in boat building. A fair curve is
one that is as smooth as it can be as it follows the path it must take
around the hull of a boat; it is free of extraneous bumps or hollows.]

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Sketching with lines and arcs is fine for certain types of geometry, but
lines and arcs are not appropriate for smooth, blended shapes. Since
splines have continuously changing curvature, they cannot be
duplicated using lines and arcs.
Splines are used to sketch curves that
have continuously changing curvature.
Splines are defined by a series points
between which the SolidWorks software
uses equations to interpolate the curve
geometry. You can modify a spline by
adding or deleting points, moving the
points, dimensioning the points,
changing tangency or tangency
weighting at the points or adding
geometric relations. The spline can also be changed by modifying the
spline handles (arrows) that control the tangency of the curve at the
interpolant points or endpoints.

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Introducing: Spline

Where to Find It

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The Anatomy of a
Spline

CommandManager: Sketch > Spline

Menu: Tools, Sketch Entities, Spline

A spline in the SolidWorks software has several components and

controls. Understanding what controls and analytical tools are available
will help you get the most out of your splines.

Endpoints

Every spline has at least one

endpoint. A closed loop
spline has a single endpoint
where the ends are tangent
to one another. Open loop
splines have two endpoints.
An open loop spline can be
converted to a closed loop
spline by dragging one
endpoint onto another, but a
closed loop spline cannot be
made open except by
trimming.

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Spline Handle
Endpoint

Spline
Point

Control
Polygon
Closed Loop
Spline

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 1
Sketching with Splines
I

Spline points

Most splines use one or more interpolant spline points between the
endpoints. Spline points can be added (through the shortcut menu) or
deleted.
I

Spline handles

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Spline handles are used to change the direction and magnitude of the
tangency at a spline point or endpoint. Unless a handle is being used to
create tangency other than the default settings, they are not visible
unless the spline is selected.
Spline handles at interior spline points can be dragged asymmetrically
(handles on opposite sides of the point are independent), or by holding
the Alt key, the handles will behave symmetrically.

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Spline handles are composed of magnitude and

direction handles. The magnitude handle can be
dragged in a direction tangent to the spline, and
the direction handle can be dragged in a circle
around the point to which it is attached. By
dragging the dot at the end of the magnitude
handle, you can control both magnitude and
direction at the same time. Notice that the cursor
changes to indicate which control it is over.

Direction Handle
Magnitude Handle

Combination Handle

Control polygon

The control polygon is the series of dotted lines that go around the
spline. It can be used in place of handles. To manipulate the control
polygon, drag the control points.

Note

Moving the control polygon will move spline points but not
reparameterize the curve. Moving the spline handles does not move the
interpolant points but will reparameterize the spline.

Evaluating Splines

Right-click a spline and use the shortcut menu to display graphics that
will help you evaluate its shape.

Curvature comb

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The curvature comb displays graphically

the curvature of the spline at that point.
Mathematically, curvature is equal to the
inverse of the radius (c=1/r), so the larger
the curvature, the smaller the radius. This is
why curvature combs are longest at sharp
bends in a spline.

Curvature
Comb
Inflection
Point

Minimum
Radius

Inflection points

Spline curvature can also change in

direction. A curve that is convex in one area can be concave in a
different area. Through the right mouse button menu, markers can be
applied to the spline to show where the inflection changes.

Lesson 1

SolidWorks 2012

Sketching with Splines

I

Minimum radius

In several features such as fillets, offset, shell and thicken, an area of

small radius can cause the feature to fail. For this reason, it is important
when you create a spline to know its minimum radius.
Sketching with
Splines
I

Smoothest curves less is more

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Here are some general guidelines you may find useful for working with
splines:

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Use as few spline points as possible to

give the smoothest curve. Using many
spline points is usually only viable if they
are generated by a program or by Excel.
Manually tweaking points that are closely
spaced can lead to lumpy or uneven
splines.

Point density

You will need more spline points in areas

of higher curvature (smaller radius). A
long curving area will need relatively fewer points than a tightly curved
section.
All internal spline points are in
this tightly curved area

Control polygon

You can often get better control of the shape of a spline using the
control polygon (dotted lines with handles around the spline) in
conjunction with the tangency direction and magnitude handles.
Two-point splines

You can create twopoint splines. A twoTwo-point

point spline is just a
spline with
straight line until
tangency
tangency is applied to
the ends, in which case
Lines
it becomes a very
Two-point
useful and flexible
Spline
sketch tool,
particularly useful in
situations where a sweep profile must change convexity, which an arc
cannot do. Notice that this is much smoother than using a pair of
tangent arcs.

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10

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 1
Sketching with Splines
I

The polygon controls the shape of the spline

But it is the spline points and the handles together that control the shape
of the polygon.
You need a minimum of two points (the endpoints). That will give you
a spline that looks just like a straight line.

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To make a curved spline, you need three controls, either three points, or
two endpoints and a handle. Three controls gives you a polygon with
two sides (three vertices).
To make an S-shape, the polygon must cross the spline. That requires a
minimum of a 3-sided polygon. That means you need four controls.

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To make a W- or M-shape, you need five controls; some combination

of interpolant points and handles.
The table below shows three splines that are geometrically identical;
their polygons are identical. In each case, the sum of the number of
points and the number of handles being used are equal.
Number of Controls

Resulting Spline

Number of spline points = 4

Number of handles in use = 0
Total number of polygon control
points = 4 (three sides)

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Number of spline points = 3

Number of handles in use = 1
Total number of polygon control
points = 4 (three sides)

Number of spline points = 2

Number of handles in use = 2
Total number of polygon control
points = 4 (three sides)

Which should you use? None of these is better than the others. Your
choice depends on design intent, the modeling situation, and ease of
use. See Using relations on page 12.

11

Lesson 1

SolidWorks 2012

Sketching with Splines

I

Where you put the points matters

When sketching splines, place initial points near the min/max of the
humps (bottoms of valleys, peaks of hills). Then adjust their positions.
Refine the shape by dragging the points, the vertices of the control
polygon, and the handles.
I

Using relations

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One advantage of the spline handles over the polygon is you can add
relations and dimensions to the handles. You cannot do that with the
polygon vertices.

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There is another consideration

regarding spline handles,
relations, and the complexity of
the polygon, and hence the
mathematics of the curve: splines
are rarely used in isolation; they
usually have something like
tangent relations applied to their
ends. If you create the four-point
spline shown in the table on the previous page, then add tangent
relations to the ends, you will create two additional controls (the two
handles) which will increase the complexity of the polygon and thus
the mathematics of the curve.
In this situation, a better choice
would be to start with fewer
spline points, add the tangent
relations to the ends, and then
manipulate the resulting spline
handles to achieve the desired
shape.

Keep it simple

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12

Just because you can drag the

spline handles doesnt mean you
should. The spline shown at the
right is the same shape as the
ones in the table on the previous page. However, notice how much
more complex its polygon is. That is because all of the spline handles
were used, and putting a handle into use increases the number of
polygon sides.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 1
Sketching with Splines
I

Equal curvature

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For the smoothest connections between entities, splines support a

sketch relation called Equal Curvature. This means the spline will
start from the other entity with a matching curvature rather than making
an abrupt jump. This is most important when combining splines with
sketch elements other than straight lines. Here notice the difference in
the curvature combs between tangency and equal curvature elements.
Equal Curvature

Tangency

Show entity points

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Splines are easier to work with when the setting to

show sketch points is turned on. This is setting found
under Tools, Options, System Options, Sketch,
Display entity points in part/assembly sketches.
If this option is cleared, you must select the spline in
order to see endpoints or spline points.

Proportional splines

Proportional splines retain their shape when you drag

an endpoint; the entire spline resizes proportionally. To make a spline
into a proportional spline, select the spline and click the Proportional
option in the PropertyManager. To apply this, there must be no external
relations on the spline or spline points. However, after you make the
spline proportional, you can add relations to it.
Symmetrical splines

There are three ways to work with symmetrical splines.

1. One way is to sketch a spline and mirror it. This is the easiest way,
but because it creates two separate splines, geometry created from
the mirrored spline will have edges on the model face
corresponding to the endpoints of the splines.
2. The second method is more involved, but
gives better results. It involves building a set
of horizontal or vertical construction lines,
and making them symmetric about another
construction line corresponding to the line of
symmetry. This can be very time intensive for
complex splines.
3. A third method which combines the benefits
of the previous two is to use the first
technique with the mirrored spline, and then
use Fit Spline to combine the two into a single spline. As usual
with Fit Spline, make sure that the final spline matches the shape
closely enough for your needs.

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13

Lesson 1

SolidWorks 2012

Sketching with Splines

I

Fully defined sketches

It is common practice to leave splines under defined. Fully defined

splines require two dimensions or fixed sketch relations for each spline
point. Making changes becomes far more difficult. If you must fully
define the spline, use the Fully Define Sketch tool to automatically
add dimensions to under defined points.

Sketch Picture

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A Sketch Picture is a picture which has been inserted into a 2D sketch.

Sketch pictures are often used for reference to trace around when
modeling a part. Sketch pictures can be set up in multiple planes,
simulating drawing views in the 3D model.

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When choosing a picture to use as a sketch picture, it is best to select

high resolution, high contrast images. Tracing over a crisp edge is
easier than a fuzzy edge. The ideal image would be a black and white
(no colors or gray scale) line drawing.

Sketch pictures can be hidden in two different ways. First, you can hide
the sketch the picture is in. Second, you can suppress the image
independently of the sketch itself.

Introducing:
Sketch Picture

An image file of the format .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .tif, or .wmf can
be inserted into a sketch as a sketch picture. (Certain types of
compression may cause tif or gif images to be unusable by
SolidWorks.) The image can be seen from both sides, but cannot be
seen through solid geometry. Transparency can be set for the image
background. The image can be resized or moved by dragging or via the
PropertyManager. Images can also be mirrored or rotated.

Where to Find It

Menu: Tools, Sketch Tools, Sketch Picture

The best way to learn how to sketch with splines is to trace something.

New part.

Open a new part using the Part_MM template.

New sketch.

No

Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane.

Do

Name the sketch Picture.

14

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 1
Sketching with Splines

Sketch picture.
Click Sketch Picture.

In the Case Study folder for this lesson select the

file Fleur-de-lis.jpg and click Open.

Resize the picture.

Do

No

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Make sure Lock aspect

ratio is checked and scale
the image by setting the
Height to 200mm.

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The picture comes in with its (0, 0) coordinate at

the sketch origin and an initial size of 1 pixel per
1mm, and locked aspect ratio. Since this is a high
resolution image, the picture comes in very large.
Note that the Width is over 1400 millimeters.

15

Lesson 1

SolidWorks 2012

Sketching with Splines

Position the picture.

To take advantage of the symmetry of the picture

we want to center the picture on the origin.

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Click OK.

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Set the Origin X Position to -90.625mm and the

Origin Y Position to -100mm.

Centerline.

Do

No

Sketch a vertical centerline

through the origin.

16

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 1
Sketching with Splines

Check the alignment of the picture.

The image is a bit too far to the right

of the centerline. We cannot to move
the centerline since it passes through
the origin. Therefore, we have to
tweak the position of the picture.
8

Move the picture.

Double-click the picture to open the

Sketch Picture PropertyManager.

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Change the Origin X Position to

-91.125mm.

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Zoom in on where the centerline

intersects the tip of the image.

Click OK. Exit the sketch.

New sketch.

Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane.

You can sketch the splines in the same sketch as the picture, but best
practice is to use a separate sketch.

10 Sketch a spline.
Click Spline .

Sketch a spline over the first portion of the image.

Make sure that the end of the spline is coincident
with the centerline.

Use as few controls as possible. Four points, three

points and a handle, or two points and two handles
are sufficient for this shape. We will use three points
and a handle.

No

11 Adjust the spline.

Adjust the polygon and the spline handle to

make the spline conform to the image.

Do

Tips

I
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Zoom in as necessary to get a good view

of the spline and the image.
You may have to move the middle
spline point.
Drag the combination handle to change
both the direction and the length of the
tangent at the same time.

17

Lesson 1

SolidWorks 2012

Sketching with Splines

12 Continue sketching splines.

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Sketch additional splines, one for each segment of the image. Most of
the segments can be sketched with two-point splines.

13 Last segment.

Do

No

Before sketching the last

segment, sketch a
horizontal centerline
coincident to the vertical
centerline. After you
sketch the two-point
spline, add a Tangent relation between the spline and the horizontal
centerline. This ensures that the spline will be tangent to its copy when
you mirror it.

14 Copy the centerline.

Use Convert Entities to copy the vertical centerline from the Sketch
Picture sketch into the active sketch. This is the mirror axis.

18

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 1
Sketching with Splines

15 Mirror.
Use Select Chain to select the splines.

Click Mirror Entities

and use the vertical centerline as the mirror
axis to mirror the splines.
.

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Right-click the Sketch Picture sketch and click Hide

16 Exit, save, and close.

Exit the sketch.

Hide the Sketch Picture sketch.

No

Save and close the part.

Do

Review

The following table summarizes and

reviews the steps and techniques to
follow when sketching splines. It is
illustrated using the example of an
acoustic guitar body.

19

Lesson 1

SolidWorks 2012

Sketching with Splines

2. Place the spline points at the hills and valleys of the

curve, that is, at the locations of convex and concave
curvature.

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3. Add any necessary tangency conditions to the ends of the

curve. In this case we added Vertical relations to the two
end handles.

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1. Use as simple a spline as possible. This usually means

keeping the number of interpolant spline points to a
minimum.

4. Fine tune the positions of the spline points by dragging

the points themselves, or dragging the polygon vertices.
If you can get the shape you need this way, great.
Otherwise, you will need to adjust the spline handles.

No

5. Orient the angle of the spline handles so the tangency

flows around the curve properly. As you do this, you may
need to refine the positions of the splines interpolant
points.

Do

6. If necessary, adjust the length or magnitude of the spline

handles. When adjusting the length, first adjust them
symmetrically by holding the Alt key as you drag. Then,
if necessary, adjust them asymmetrically.
7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 as necessary to achieve the
shape you desire.

20

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 1
Spline Practice

Exercise 1:
Spline Practice

In this exercise you will use splines to

trace a sketch pictures of the four
playing card suit symbols: spades,
hearts, diamonds, and clubs.
I
I

Sketching Splines on page 8.

Sketch Picture on page 14.

Units: millimeters
Procedure

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This lab reinforces the following skills:

Open a new part using the Part_MM template.

1

New sketch.

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Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane. Name the sketch
Picture.

Sketch picture.

Click Sketch Picture.

Browse to the Exercises folder of this lesson. Select the file

Card Suit Symbols.bmp and click Open.

Scale and position.

Make sure Lock aspect ratio is checked.

Scale and position the image as desired. You can use the
PropertyManager or you can drag and resize the image in the graphics
window.

Exit the picture sketch and open a new sketch.

Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane.

Trace.

Do

No

Trace the sketch picture using

splines and other sketch entities as
necessary. Take advantage of
symmetry by mirroring where
appropriate.

Exit, save, and close.

Exit the sketch.

Hide the Picture sketch.
Save and close the part.

21

Exercise 2

SolidWorks 2012

Fun with Splines

Exercise 2:
Fun with
Splines

In this exercise you will use splines to

trace a sketch picture of your choosing.
This lab reinforces the following skills:
I
I

Sketching Splines on page 8.

Sketch Picture on page 14.

Open a new part using the Part_MM template.

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Procedure

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Units: millimeters

New sketch.

Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane. Name the sketch
Picture.

Sketch picture.
Click Sketch Picture.

Browse to the Zodiac Signs folder in the Exercises folder of this

lesson. Select one of the 12 zodiac symbols and click Open.

Taurus

Gemini

Cancer

April 20-May 20

May 21-June 21

June 22-July 22

No

Aries

March 21-April 19

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio

August 23-September 22

September 23-October 23

October 23-November 21

Do

Leo

July 23-August 22

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

November 22-December 21

December 22-January 19

January 20-February 18

February 19-March 20

22

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 2
Fun with Splines

Transparency.

All of the images have a black background. Make the background

transparent.
In the Sketch Picture PropertyManager, under Transparency, click
User defined.
, sample the black background.

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With the eyedropper cursor

Set Matching tolerance to 0.00 and Transparency to 1.00.

4

Scale and position.

Make sure Lock aspect ratio is checked.

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Scale and position the image as desired. You can use the
PropertyManager or you can drag and resize the image in the graphics
window.

If the image has symmetrical elements in it, Gemini for example, you
should sketch a centerline through the origin and use that as an aid in
sizing and positioning the image.
With an arbitrary shape like such as Virgo, there is no compelling
reason to position the image in any particular spot relative to the origin.

5
6

Exit the picture sketch and open a new sketch.

Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane.
Trace.

Trace the sketch picture using splines and other sketch entities as
necessary.

Exit, save, and close.

Exit the sketch.

Hide the Picture sketch.

Do

No

Save and close the part.

23

Exercise 2

SolidWorks 2012

Do

No

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Fun with Splines

24

ibu
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Lesson 2
Multibody Solids:
How They Work

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Create multibody solids using a variety of techniques.

Pattern solid bodies.

Combine solid bodies.

Modify a multibody cut using feature scope.

Do

No

25

Lesson 2

SolidWorks 2012

Multibody Solids: How They Work

Multibody solids occur when there is more than one continuous solid in
a single part file. Often times, multibody techniques are useful for
designing parts that require specific distance separation of features.
These bodies can be accessed and modified separately and later merged
into a single solid.

Creating a
Multibody

Multibody solids are created in several ways. The following commands

have the option of creating multiple solid bodies from a single feature:
I
I
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Extruded bosses and cuts (including thin features)

Revolved bosses and cuts (including thin features)
Swept bosses and cuts (including thin features)
Lofted cuts
Thickened cuts
Cavities

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Multibody
Solids

Merge Result

The most direct way to create a multibody solid is by clearing the

Merge result check box for specific boss and cut features.

Do

No

However, this option does not appear for the first feature.

26

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 2
Multibody Solids: How They Work

Multibody
Techniques

In this case study we will examine several different techniques of

working in a multibody environment.
1

New part.

Create a semi cylinder as the first

feature using the Right reference
plane as the sketch plane.

Create a multibody.

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Create a cylinder as shown, also on the

Right reference plane.

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Open a new part using the

Part_MM template.

When boss features are created without

intersecting the first feature, they are
saved as multiple bodies. The Merge
result check box remains checked by
default, and the bodies will merge if
they intersect as a result of a later
change.

Note

Introducing:
Solid Bodies
Folder

The Solid Bodies folder holds all solid bodies in the part. Each solid
body may be hidden from the folder. The names are taken from the last
feature added to that body.

Where to Find It

FeatureManager design tree: Expand the

Solid Bodies folder.

No

Do

Note

Explore the Solid Bodies folder.

The second cylinder causes the creation of another

solid body. In the FeatureManager, expand the Solid
Bodies folder to view these features.
If the part contains one solid, the folder will contain a single feature.

27

Lesson 2

SolidWorks 2012

Multibody Solids: How They Work

Create a third solid body.

Open a new sketch on the Front reference

plane and sketch a parallelogram as shown.

Tip

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Clear the Merge result check box.

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Extrude the sketch as a boss using the end

condition Through All in both directions.

The color scheme is defined so the edges of solid bodies are black.
Notice there are no edges displayed where the third body intersects the
other two. This is a visual clue that the bodies are not merged.

Sketch.

Create the sketch as shown on the Right

reference plane.

The body created in step 4 has been hidden for

illustration purposes.

Do

No

Note

28

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 2
Multibody Solids: How They Work

Through All cut.

Click Extruded Cut

Reverse the direction and set the end

condition to Through All.
7

Click Detailed Preview .

Under Options, click Show only new
or modified bodies.

Clear the Highlight new or modified

faces check box.

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Click Flip side to cut.

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Examine the preview. It shows that the

feature will cut the third body to the
correct shape, but it will also cut the first
two bodies.
Do not click OK yet.

Feature Scope

Turn off Detailed Preview.

The Feature Scope allows you to select which bodies are affected by a
feature. The Feature Scope option exists in the following tools:
I
I
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Extrude
Revolve
Sweep
Loft
Cut with Surface
Thicken

Set the feature scope.

Expand the Feature Scope group box.

Do

No

Clear the Auto-select check box.

29

Lesson 2

SolidWorks 2012

Multibody Solids: How They Work

10 Select body.

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Select the third body that was created

in step 4 and click OK.

11 Results.

The cut feature only affects the selected

body.

Notice that the cut feature did not merge

the three bodies.

Each type of pattern feature can be used to create instances of solid

bodies. The Bodies to Pattern field is used to identify which body or
bodies will be patterned.

No

Patterning
Bodies

The Bodies to Pattern field exists in the following pattern tools:

I

Do

30

I
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Linear
Circular
Mirror
Table Driven
Sketch Driven
Curve Driven

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 2
Multibody Solids: How They Work

12 Mirror body.
Insert a Mirror pattern using the Right reference plane.

Select Cut-Extrude1 as the Bodies to Mirror.

Note

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Keep Merge solids cleared. Click OK.

There is no point selecting Merge solids because that only merges the
results of the mirror operation with the body being mirrored. Since the
mirrored copy and its parent dont touch each other, they cannot be
merged. The other two bodies are not part of the mirror operation, thus
they are not affected by it.

13 Create a bridge.

Create a sketch on the Front reference

plane using the edges of the two angled
bodies.
Extrude the sketch 8mm using the
Midplane end condition.

No

Click Merge result.

Do

The Solid Bodies folder now displays

only one solid, Boss-Extrude4.

Merge Result

Features, such as fillets, using the edges formed by merged solid

bodies, will fail if Merge result is unchecked in a later operation.
The following rebuild error will appear:
Fillet1: Multiple bodies not supported for this feature.

31

Lesson 2

SolidWorks 2012

Multibody Solids: How They Work

The tool body technique is used to add or remove model volume using
specialized tool parts.

Introducing:
Insert Part

You can use the Insert Part command to add one or more solid bodies
into the active part, placing the origin of the inserted part on that of the
active part. The inserted parts are then oriented using the Locate Part
dialog.

Entities to
Transfer

When you insert a part you have the option of transferring with it any
combination of the following:

Solid bodies
Axes
Cosmetic threads
Unabsorbed sketches
Coordinate systems
Hole Wizard data

Menu: Insert, Part

I
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I

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Surface Bodies
Planes
Absorbed sketches
Custom properties
Model dimensions

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Tool Body

Where to Find It

14 Insert a part.
Click Insert, Part. Browse to
the Case Study folder of this

lesson and select the part

Mounting Lug.

The part being inserted is

simply a standard part file.

Under Transfer, select Solid

bodies at a minimum.

For this example, also select

Planes and Model
dimensions.

No

Transferring other items is

optional.

Do

Make sure Locate part with

Move/Copy feature is
checked.

32

Click in the graphics area to locate the part and click OK.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 2
Multibody Solids: How They Work

15 Results.
The Locate Part PropertyManager appears and an
instance of the Mounting Lug is added to the

active part.

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You can locate the part using mates (constraints),

similar to the way components are mated in an
assembly, or by specifying translation and/or
rotation with respect to the X, Y, and Z axes.

Introducing:
Move/Copy Bodies

Use Move/Copy Bodies to orient solid bodies within a part. Bodies

can moved be using two different methods:

Note

No

1. Mates, similar to the way components are mated in an assembly

2. Specifying translation and/or rotation with respect to the X, Y, and
Z axes.

Do

Where to Find It

The Locate Part PropertyManager is the same as the Move/Copy

Bodies PropertyManager.
I

Menu: Insert, Features, Move/Copy

This example illustrates using mates to locate the solid body. For an
example using explicit translation, see Exercise 3: Soda Bottle on
page 39. The Translate/Rotate and Constraints buttons toggle
between the explicit translation and rotation method and the mate
method respectively.

33

Lesson 2

SolidWorks 2012

Multibody Solids: How They Work

16 Select the planes.

Select the Front PlaneMounting Tab and the

Right reference plane of

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the host part.

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Verify that you are on the

Mate Settings page of
the PropertyManager.

17 Mate the body.

The system selects Coincident as the default

mate type. In cases when this is not what you
want, select a different type.

Do

No

Verify the orientation of the Mounting Lug. If it

is incorrect, as in the picture above, change the
Mate Alignment to match the picture below.

Click Add to apply the mate.

For more information about mates, see the SolidWorks Essentials
training manual.

34

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 2
Multibody Solids: How They Work

18 Additional mate.
Add a Coincident mate between the
bottom faces of the Mounting Lug and

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the host part.

19 Additional mate.
Add a Distance mate
between the Front plane of
the host part and the Right
Plane-Mounting Lug.

Set the Distance to 38mm

and click Add.

Click OK.

This completes positioning

the lug.

20 Examine the feature.

Expand the Mounting Lug

feature listing.

No

The reference planes are listed

in the Planes folder.

Do

The feature representing the

Locate Part command is
listed as a child of the
Mounting Lug.

Note

If you selected other items to transfer, such as axes or sketches, when

you inserted the part (see Entities to Transfer on page 32), they would
be in their own corresponding folders.
21 Explore the solid bodies.

A second solid body is listed in the folder.

35

Lesson 2

SolidWorks 2012

Multibody Solids: How They Work

22 Mirror body.
Insert a Mirror pattern using the Front

reference plane.

Keep Merge solids cleared.

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Click OK.

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Select Mounting Lug as the Bodies to

Mirror.

Combining
Bodies

The Combine command is used to combine the volumes of multiple

solid bodies into a single body by adding, subtracting or intersecting.

Introducing:
Combine

The Combine command has three options:

Add

The Add option uses the Bodies to Combine list to merge the bodies
into a single solid by adding all volumes. This operation is also known
as a union in other systems.

Subtract
The Subtract option uses the Main Body and Bodies to Combine list

to merge the bodies into a single solid by subtracting the bodies to

combine from the main body.

Common
The Common option uses the Bodies to Combine list to merge the

bodies into a single solid by finding the volume that is common to all.
This operation is also known as a intersection in other systems.
Menu: Insert, Features, Combine

Tip

The Solid Bodies filter

No

Where to Find It

is useful when selecting solid bodies.

Do

23 Combine the solid bodies.

Click Combine.

36

Use the Add option for Operation Type.

Select all three bodies from the Solid Bodies
folder for Bodies to Combine.
Click OK.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 2
Multibody Solids: How They Work

Examples of
Combined Solids

The following table displays the results from various combining

techniques available.
Add
Body1

Body3
Body2

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Result

Subtract

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Body1

Result

Body2

Common - 2 Bodies Intersecting

Body1

Result

Body2

Common - 3 Bodies Intersecting

No

Body2

Body1

Do

Result

Body3

37

Lesson 2

SolidWorks 2012

Multibody Solids: How They Work

24 Add features.

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Add holes and cuts.

25 Add fillets and rounds.

Finish the part with 1.5mm radius fillets

and rounds.

Do

No

26 Save and close the part.

38

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 3
Soda Bottle

Exercise 3:
Soda Bottle

In this exercise you will model a 20oz. (591ml) soda bottle. Since these
bottles are filled and handled by automated equipment, the bottom of
the bottle and the neck are standard parts. Your task is to design the
area in between. It is this portion of the bottle that gives it its look and
feel, and establishes the branding for the soft drink company.
Multibody Solids on page 26.

Insert Part on page 32.

Move/Copy Bodies on page 33.

Sketching with Splines on page 10.

Combining Bodies on page 36.

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This lab reinforces the following skills:

Units: inches or centimeters, your choice.

Procedure

Note

Decide whether you want to build the part using English or metric
units. Then open a new part using the appropriate template and name it
Soda Bottle.
The illustrations in this exercise have the material PET, transparency of
0.2, and the color green applied.

Insert part.

Click Insert, Part.

Browse to the Exercises folder of this

lesson and select the part Bottle Bottom.

This part was created from a neutral

format file.

Under Transfer, select Solid bodies at a

minimum.

Clear Locate part with Move/Copy feature.

No

Click OK.

Insert part.

Do

Browse to the Exercises folder of this

lesson and select the part Bottle Neck.

Select Locate part with Move/Copy

feature.
Click OK.

39

Exercise 3

SolidWorks 2012

Soda Bottle

Locate part.

This part was built with the top of the neck at

the origin.

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Click OK.

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When the Locate Part PropertyManager

appears, translate the part 8.75 (22.2cm) in the
positive Y direction.

Sketch.

Open a sketch on the Front plane.

Using a combination of splines and other sketch

geometry, sketch the profile of the bottle. The shape
is up to you. Be as conservative or outlandish as you
wish.

You will need a centerline because this is going to be

a revolved, thin feature.

Do

No

Pay attention to how the splines connect to the

bottom and neck of the bottle. The ends should be
coincident with both the face and the silhouette edge
of the bodies. You may also want to apply tangency.

40

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 3
Soda Bottle

Create a revolved thin boss feature.

Set the Thickness to 0.012 (0.03cm) and verify

that the thickness is being applied to the inside of the

bottle.
Make sure Merge result is checked.

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Explore the Solid Bodies folder.

There should be only one solid body in the folder. If
there are more, check your sketch and the thin feature
for errors.

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Check the volume.

Open a sketch on the Top reference plane and

sketch a rectangle large enough to completely
enclose the bottle. The exact dimensions do not
matter.
Extrude the rectangle as a boss.

Set the Distance to 7.5 (19.0cm).

Clear the Merge result check box.

Combine.
Click Combine

No

Do

Use the Subtract option for Operation Type.

Select the extruded boss for the Main Body and the bottle
for the Bodies to Combine.
Click OK.

41

Exercise 3

SolidWorks 2012

Soda Bottle

Bodies to keep.

Subtracting the bottle from

the extruded block divides
the block into two solid
bodies. The system prompts
you, asking which of the
bodies you want to keep.

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Since you are interested in

the volume of the bottle, keep
that and discard the outside.

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10 Mass properties.
Click Evaluate > Mass Properties

If you are working in English units, the volume should be 36 cubic

inches.
In metric units, the volume should be 591 cubic centimeters.
If the volume is incorrect, edit the sketch of the revolved feature and
adjust the shape of the spline.

11 Suppress.

When you are satisfied with the shape and the volume of the bottle,
suppress the Boss-Extrude1 and Combine1 features.

Do

No

12 Save and close the part.

42

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 4
Positioning Inserted Parts

Exercise 4:
Positioning
Inserted Parts

Create this part by following the

steps as shown.

Insert Part on page 32.

Move/Copy Bodies on page 33.

Procedure

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Units: millimeters

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This lab reinforces the following

skills:

Existing part.

Open the part named Base.

Insert part.

Insert the part Lug and position it as shown.

Second body.

Add another instance of the Lug.

You can repeat Insert, Part or make a copy of

the existing instance of the Lug using Move/
Copy Body, whichever you prefer.

Do

No

Tip

43

Exercise 4

SolidWorks 2012

Positioning Inserted Parts

Continue.

Combine bodies and add fillets.

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Create two more copies of the Lug,

positioned as shown.

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Combine all the solid bodies into one. Add 8mm and 2mm fillets as
shown.

Modify sketch.
Open the Lug part and change the 45mm
dimension to 60mm.

Propagate change.

Do

No

Return to the main part.

44

Save and close the part.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 5
Copying Bodies

Exercise 5:
Copying Bodies

Create this part by following the

steps as shown.

Insert Part on page 32.

Move/Copy Bodies on page 33

Patterning Bodies on page 30.

Units: millimeters

Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it Mbody4.

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Procedure

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This lab reinforces the following

skills:

Insert parts.

Insert and position parts 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B as shown.

Add patterns.

Do

No

Pattern the solid bodies as shown.

45

Exercise 5

SolidWorks 2012

Copying Bodies

Connect
bodies.

Pattern bridge
with 3 instances.

Create plate.

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Create a bridge
that connects the
bodies without
merging.

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Sketch on the Top reference plane to create the Plate feature.

Extrude the feature 6mm and click Merge result.

Add fillets and rounds.
Finish part with 3mm radius fillets and rounds.

Do

No

46

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 5
Copying Bodies

Modify referenced part.

Right-click the feature 2B and choose
Edit in Context.

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Change the depth of the extrusion to 58mm.

Propagate change.

No

Return to the main part.

Save and close the part.

Do

47

Exercise 5

SolidWorks 2012

Do

No

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Copying Bodies

48

ibu
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Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Identify the different uses of a multibody solid.

Combine solid bodies with add, subtract and common.

Deform a solid body using the Indent feature.

Use various techniques to split a part into multiple bodies.

Save solid bodies as discrete part files.

Create an assembly from a multibody part.

Do

No

49

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Common
Bodies

There are three ways to combine

multiple bodies into a single solid
body: Add, Subtract, and Common.
Add and Subtract are fairly intuitive
because they mimic manufacturing
process such as welding and
machining. The Common method,
sometimes referred to as a Boolean
intersection, is more abstract. This
example uses Common to model a
protective screen.
1

New part.

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Uses of Multibody Solids

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Open a new part using the Part_MM template.

Save the part naming it Protective Screen.

Create a sketch.

Using the Front reference plane, sketch the profile shown.

I
I

Sketch a 3 point arc coincident

to the two points and dimension
it as shown.

Extend the ends of the arc beyond

the sketch points.

Do

No

Tip

Sketch and dimension the

centerline.
Insert two sketch points and
add Vertical relations between
them and the ends of the
centerline.
Dimension the sketch points.

50

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Revolved thin feature.

Since the sketch is open, you will be asked if you want to close it.
Click No because you want to create a thin feature.
Use Midplane with an Angle of 90.

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Set the Thickness to 1.00mm and make sure the material is added to
the outside of the sketch.

Sketch.

Open a new sketch on the Top

reference plane.

Create the sketch shown at the right.

Use mirroring to create the necessary
symmetry.

Do

No

This sketch defines the outline of the

screen.

51

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

Extrude.

Extrude the sketch using the end

condition Through All.

Offset plane.

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Clear the Merge result option.

Important!

Create a plane offset 1mm

below the top face of the
extruded body.

This plane will be used later,

in step 9.

Shell.

Shell the extruded boss using a

Thickness of 3mm.

Do

No

Remove the uppermost face.

Sketch.

Open a new sketch on the plane you created in

step 6.
Sketch a line for a rib as shown at the right.

52

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Rib.

Click Rib

For Selected body, select the

shelled body.
Click OK.

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10 Linear pattern.

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Set the Rib Thickness to 1mm

and click Normal to Sketch.

Pattern the rib using a Spacing

of 12.75mm and Number of
Instances = 14.

11 Second rib and linear pattern.

No

Select the uppermost face of the

shelled body for the sketch plane.
This is necessary because for the
rib to extend across the ribs from
the previous step, the sketch has
to be above the upper face of the
existing ribs.

Do

Create a second rib just like the

first one, this time starting at the
other corner.

53

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

Use the Common

option for Operation
Type and select both
bodies.
Click OK.

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13 Save and close the part.

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12 Combine the solid

bodies.
Click Combine.

Indent Feature

The Indent feature is used to reshape thin walls of the Target Body to
the shape of one or more intersecting Tool Bodies. The indentation
thickness and optional clearance are controlled by numeric values.
I

Target Body
The Target Body is the body being indented.

Tool Body Region

The Tool Body Region is a selection of both a solid body (tool)

and a region as the tool body is divided by the target body.

Menu: Insert, Features, Indent

Using Indent

In this example, Indent is used to

reshape the protective screen we
just built. The selection of the
tool body region determines to
which side of the target body the
indent feature is applied.

No

Where to Find It

Do

54

Open the part Protective Screen - Indent.

This is a copy of the previous part as it existed at step 13.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Rollback.

You will get a message

indicating that the sketch will be
unabsorbed.
Click OK.

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Once Sketch2 is unabsorbed,

position the rollback bar just
below it.

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Expand the Boss-Extrude2

feature and drag the rollback bar
so it is positioned between the
feature and its sketch.

New sketch.

Open a new sketch on the Top

reference plane.
Show Sketch2.

Create an offset 2mm inside the

contour of Sketch2.

The revolved thin feature is hidden for

illustration purposes.

Note

Extrude.

Extrude the new sketch. Use

Offset From Surface for the end
condition.
Set the Offset Distance to 1mm
and make sure the offset is above
the face of the revolved feature.
Clear the Merge result option.

Do

No

Important!

55

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

Fillet.

Indent.

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Click Indent.

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Apply a 0.5mm radius fillet to

the four vertical edges of the
extruded body.

Select the revolved feature as

the Target body.
Select the curved face of the
extruded body as the Tool
body region.
Under Parameters, set the
Thickness to 1mm and the
Clearance to 0mm.

Click OK.

Important!

Click inside the uppermost face of the extruded body as shown.

Hide body.

Do

No

Hide the tool body to see the

results.

56

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Fillet.

Apply 0.5mm fillets to the concave edges of the indented region.

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Apply 1.5mm fillets to the convex edges as shown in the section view
below.

Roll forward.

No

The system rebuilds the part incorporating the changes youve made.

Do

Introducing:
Delete Body

Where to Find It

Delete Body or Delete Solid/Surface is used to delete a solid or

surface body from the Solid Bodies or Surface Bodies folders but

keep the body available for calculations prior to that deletion.

I
I

Menu: Insert, Features, Delete Body

Shortcut Menu: Right-click a body and click Delete Body

57

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

10 Delete body.
Expand the Solid Bodies folder, right-click the tool body (Fillet1),
and click Delete Body.

Click OK.

11 Save and close the part.

Local
Operations

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A Body-Delete1 feature is added to the feature tree and the Fillet1

body is removed from the Solid Bodies folder.

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The local operations technique is used to make specific modifications

on one body without affecting another body. A common example of
this technique is a variation on shelling. The shelling operation, by
default, affects all features of the solid body that precede it. In this
example, a shelling problem will be solved using Merge result and
Combine.

Open the part

Local Operations.

Shell part.

Add a 4mm shell that removes the bottom face.

Section view.

Do

No

Create a section view parallel to the

Front reference plane, at an Offset
Distance of -42mm.

58

Notice in the section view that the

shell affects the entire part. We only
want it to affect the bottom plate.
Click OK to keep the section view
active.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Modify feature.
Use Edit Feature on these three

bosses:
I
I

Vertical_Plate
Circular_Boss
Rib_Under

Clear the Merge result check box

for each boss and click OK.
5

Explore the solid bodies.

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After clearing the Merge result check box for each

boss, the model breaks into four solid bodies.
Expand the Solid Bodies folder to view them.

Click on them to highlight in the graphics area.

Combine the solid bodies.

Click Combine.

Use the Add option for Operation

Type.

Select all four bodies from the Solid

Bodies folder for Bodies to
Combine.
Click OK.

Explore the single solid.

The part now exists as a single

solid body Combine1.

Do

No

The name is assumed from the

last feature added to the body.

Tip

Turn off the section view.

Save and close the part.

Features, such as fillets, that use the edges formed by merged solid
bodies, will fail if Merge result is unchecked in a later operation.
The following rebuild error will appear:
Fillet1: Multiple bodies not supported for this feature.

59

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Using Local
Operations to
Solve Filleting
Problems

Many times success in filleting

depends on the order in which you
apply the fillets. Multibody solids
and local operations give you the
ability to alter the sequence in which
fillets are applied. This can be very
helpful with particularly difficult
filleting problems.

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Uses of Multibody Solids

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Thanks to Keith Pedersen at Computer-Aided

Products, Inc. for submitting this example.

Open the part Fillet Problem.

Attempts at filleting.

Do

No

Various attempts to apply a 6mm

fillet do not yield satisfactory
results. This is because the fillets are
affected by adjacent faces. The
solution is to fillet the bodies
separately.

60

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Unmerge the solids.

Right-click the Angled Piece
feature and click Edit Feature.

Fillet the Angled Piece feature.

Apply a 6mm fillet to the uppermost
face of the Angled Piece.

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Clear the Merge results check box

and click OK.

Combine the solids.

Click Combine.

Merge the two solids using the Add

option.

No

Click OK.

Fillet.

Do

Apply the remaining 6mm fillet as

shown.

Save and close the part.

61

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Modeling
Negative Space

Consider a part where the

design and placement of
holes, voids, and cavities,
relative to each other and the
origin, are of primary
importance. One example of
this is a hydraulic manifold.
The working medium of this
design is hydraulic fluid, not
steel.

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Uses of Multibody Solids

Image Pressure Design Hydraulics Limited

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You could start with a block of steel and model all the passages as cut
features. An alternative approach is to model the empty, or negative
space, and subtract it from the main body.

The example that follows is a very simple one and because of that, it is
somewhat unrealistic. However, it serves to illustrate the concept of
modeling negative space.

Open the part Hydraulic Manifold.

The part contains multiple solid bodies representing interconnected

cavities in the manifold.

Sketch a rectangle.

Do

No

Open a new sketch on the Top reference plane and sketch a rectangle
whose four sides are colinear with the planar faces of the cavity bodies.

62

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Extrude.

Extrude the rectangle in two directions.

I

Direction 1 (up): Up To Surface

Direction 2 (down): Blind; Depth = 30mm

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Combine the solid bodies.

Do

No

Using the extruded block as the Main Body and the remaining solid
bodies as the Bodies to Subtract, combine with a Subtract operation.

Transparency has been applied to the extruded block for illustration

purposes.

Note

Save and close the part.

63

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

Using Cut to
Create
Multibodies

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Certain cut features will split a part into multiple solid bodies. If this
happens the Bodies to Keep dialog box appears. You can control how
to split the part.

Open the part Cut into Bodies.

Create multibodies.

Do

No

Using Sketch3, create a Through All cut with the All bodies option.

64

Explore the Solid Bodies folder.

The cut feature creates two solid bodies.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

You can save one or more of the solid bodies in a multibody part as
separate part files. There are several commands to do this, each with
different characteristics. Some commands give you the option to also
generate an assembly from the saved parts.

Default Templates

The commands in this section create new SolidWorks documents

either a part or an assembly or both as appropriate. You have the option
of specifying a document template or allowing the system to use the
default template. This choice is determined by the settings in Tools,
Options, System Options, Default Templates.

Introducing:
Insert into New Part

Insert into New Part allows you to save individual solid bodies as part

files. Each resulting part file is linked by an external reference back to

the source part. A Stock-<source part name> feature appears in the
saved part. This feature carries the external reference. For more
information about external references, refer to the Assembly Modeling
training course.

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Note

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Saving Solid
Bodies as Parts
and Assemblies

If you select multiple bodies or the Solid Bodies folder, the saved part
will be a multibody part with a Stock feature for each body.
Insert into New Part does not create a feature in the source part. The

solid bodies are saved as they are after the last part feature is rebuilt.
Any changes you make to the source part will propagate to the saved
parts.

Where to Find It

Shortcut Menu: Expand the Solid Bodies folder, right-click the

body you want to save, and click Insert into New Part

Insert the solid bodies into new parts.

Expand the Solid Bodies folder. Use Insert into New Part to create
the parts as shown below, one part for each body.
The new parts are opened automatically.

Do

No

clamp top

clamp bottom
5

Create an assembly.

Open a new assembly. Add the saved parts. Name the assembly
clamp_assy.

65

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

Newly created part.

Make changes to the source

part.

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Switch to one of the newly created parts. Examine the FeatureManager.

Note the Stock feature. This carries the external reference.

Switch back to the source part.

Sketch two 13mm circles on the

planar face on the underside of
the bottom half of the clamp as
shown.

Through All cut.

Click Extruded Cut

Set the end condition to Through

All.

Click Detailed Preview

Under Options, click Show only

new or modified bodies.
Clear the Highlight new or
modified faces check box.

No

Examine the preview. It shows that the feature will cut through both
bodies.

Do

Do not click OK yet.

66

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

10 Set the feature scope.

Expand the Feature Scope group box.

Clear the Auto-select check box.

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Select the bottom half of the clamp and click OK.

11 Results.

The cut feature only affects the selected body.

No

12 Second Through All cut feature.

Create another Through All cut
feature as shown. Use the Feature
Scope to limit its effect to just the

Do

upper half of the clamp.

67

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

13 Examine the individual parts.

Introducing:
Save Bodies

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14 Save and close the files.

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The changes made to the source part propagated to the saved files.

Save Bodies also allows you to save individual solid bodies as part

files. You can indicate which bodies you want to save. Optionally you
can generate an assembly from the saved parts.

Save Bodies adds a Save Bodies feature in the FeatureManager of the

source part.

The bodies are saved at the point in the part history where the Save
Bodies feature appears. Any subsequent features added to the source
part will not propagate to the saved files.
Each resulting part file is linked by an external reference back to the
source part. A Stock-<source part name> feature appears in each
saved part. This features carries the external reference.

Where to Find It

I
I

Menu: Insert, Features, Save Bodies

Shortcut Menu: Right-click the Solid Bodies folder and click Save

Bodies

Open the part Boat Cleat.

No

There are two solid bodies

representing the core and the pattern.
One body is shown semi-transparent
for illustration purposes.

Do

68

Edit appearance.

Right-click the topmost feature in the

FeatureManager.
Click Appearances

. Click Advanced. Click the Illumination tab.

Remove the transparency.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Saving the bodies.

Click Save Bodies. The PropertyManager

appears.
As you move the cursor over the model, the
individual bodies highlight.
Sometimes it is hard to tell which callout points to
which body. Changing the view usually helps.

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Tip

Saving the bodies.

In the PropertyManager, under Resulting Parts,

double-click the name field.
The Save As dialog appears.

Save the bodies as Core and Pattern.

When you save the bodies you can specify an origin location. If you do
not, the saved parts have the same origin as the source part.

Note

Resultant bodies state.

No

Clear the Consume cut bodies option. This will keep the solid bodies
in the source part visible.

Creating an
Assembly

If you want to create an assembly do the following:

Do

1. In the Create Assembly group box, click Browse. The Save As

dialog opens.
2. Browse to where you want to save the assembly.
3. Give the assembly a name and click Save.
In this example it is not necessary to save the assembly. If later you
decide you need an assembly you can always create one from the saved
parts using traditional bottom-up assembly modeling techniques.

Click OK.

The saved parts open.

69

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

FeatureManager.

Examine the FeatureManager design tree of the source part. A Save

Bodies feature has been added. This records the point in the parts
history when the bodies were saved. Changes made to the source part
after this feature will not propagate to the saved parts.
Make changes to the source part.
Make sure the source part, Boat Cleat, is

active.
Click Combine.
Subtract the core from the pattern.

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The results are shown in a section view

for clarity.
9

Examine the Pattern part.

The change made to the source part did not propagate to the saved files.

Do

No

10 Save and close the files.

70

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Sometimes it is easier to start a design as a single part. Then, after form,

fit, and function are defined, the part is split into its individual
components. This is particularly handy when aesthetics are important.

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Splitting a Part
into Multibodies

Introducing: Split

Split allows you to break a part into multiple solid bodies using

splitting tools such as sketches, faces, planes, or surfaces.

No

The Split command creates a Split feature in the FeatureManager of

the source part. This means the bodies are saved at the point in the part
history where the Split feature appears. Any subsequent features added
to the source part will not appear in the saved files.
If you delete the Split feature in the original part, the new parts still
exist, but the status of the external reference in the new parts is
dangling.

Do

Where to Find It

Menu: Insert, Features, Split

71

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

1
2

Open the part Handle.

Split the part.

Trim tools.

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Select the Front

reference plane as the
trim tool.

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Click Split.

Cut the part.

Click Cut Part. The

system computes the

intersection of the trim
tools with the part and
calculates the results.

Do

No

As you move the cursor

over the model, the
individual bodies
highlight. Click on the
bodies you want to
create.

72

In this case, click both

resulting bodies.
Click OK.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Saving the Bodies

Saving the bodies.

Click Save Bodies.

In the graphics area select one

of the bodies. A callout
appears. Double-click the
name field.

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The Save As dialog appears.

Type in the name. Do this for
both bodies.

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In the Split command you have the option to save the resulting bodies
as individual part files. However, doing this within the Split command
is not recommended because if you edit the split feature later, you will
have to remap the saved bodies. It is a better practice to save the bodies
as a separate operation using the Save Bodies command.

Name the bodies Handle Left Side and Handle - Right Side.

Note

When you save the bodies you can specify an origin location. If you do
not, the saved parts have the same origin as the source part.

Resultant bodies state.

Clear the Consume cut bodies option. This will keep the solid bodies
in the source part visible.

Click OK.

The new part files are created. Open them in their own windows.
You would now finish modeling the details of each part.

Do

No

Note: View rotated for clarity.

73

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

Once the solid bodies have been saved as part files, you can use them to
create an assembly just as you would with any other parts. You can
create an assembly manually using traditional bottom-up assembly
modeling techniques, or you can automate the process.

Introducing:
Create Assembly

Create Assembly collects the part files saved by one or more Save
Bodies or Split features and creates a new assembly from them.

Where to Find It

I
I

Shortcut Menu: Right-click the Save Bodies or Split feature and

click Create Assembly
Menu: Insert, Features, Create Assembly

Create Assembly.
Switch to the Handle part.

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Creating an
Assembly

Click Create Assembly. The PropertyManager opens.

Click Browse.

The Save As dialog box appears.

Browse to the folder where you want to save the assembly, and type a
name for the assembly in the File name box.

10 Click Save.
The Save As dialog box closes and the file name appears under
Assembly file in the PropertyManager.
11 Click OK.

The new assembly

document opens.

There are no mates in this

assembly. Both components are fixed with their
origins at the assembly
origin.

Note

No

12 Save and close the files.

Do

Summary

74

There is quite an assortment of tools and techniques for saving

individual solid bodies as part files and for creating assemblies from
multibody parts. All of the techniques create an external reference
between the saved part file and the original source part.
The various commands and techniques are summarized in the table on
the following page.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Technique

Allows you to create

new parts from the
bodies in the Solid
Bodies folder.

If you use Insert into New Part on the Solid Bodies folder instead
of an individual body, you will create a multibody part that is linked
back to the original part. Each body will be represented by its own
Stock feature.

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Insert into New Part

Results

Insert into New Part does not add a feature in the FeatureManager
of the source part. Therefore, any features you add to the bodies in
the source part will propagate to the saved files. Also it is not
possible to navigate to the child part from the source part.

Adds a Split feature in the FeatureManager of the source part.

Allows you to split a

single solid body into
multiple bodies.

The bodies are saved at the point in the part history where the Split
feature appears. Any subsequent features added to the source part
will not appear in the saved files. Any features added before the
Split feature will propagate to the saved files. While you cannot
directly access the saved files from the source part, editing the Split
feature will give you their full path names.

Save Bodies

Adds a Save Bodies feature in the FeatureManager of the source

part.

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Split Part

Like Split Part without

the splitting tools. It
takes existing bodies in
the part and lets you
write them out as parts.
Create Assembly

Optionally you can generate an assembly from the saved parts.

This is a convenience tool that automates generating an assembly

from a Split feature. You could do exactly the same thing by
manually opening a new assembly and adding all the saved parts.
Create Assembly does not add a feature in the FeatureManager of

the source part. Therefore, it is not parametric in the sense that if you
create more solid bodies later, they do not automatically appear in
the assembly.

No

Collects the part files

saved by one or more
Split features and
creates a new assembly
from them.

The bodies are saved at the point in the part history where the Save
Bodies feature appears. Any subsequent features added to the source
part will not appear in the saved files.

Insert, Part

Do

Inserts a part into the

current part.

Adds a Stock feature to the current part. Insert, Part does not add
any features to the parent or source part, but it will insert all bodies
from the source. Often, a Delete Bodies feature is used after
inserting multiple bodies. This has the advantage of being more
robust if the number of bodies in the source changes, but has the
disadvantage of not being able to access the child from the source,
and not being able to control the point in the source part history
where the part is taken.

75

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

Using Split Part

with Legacy
Data

You can use Split Part to modify imported geometry or legacy parts
that would otherwise be difficult to change.

Before

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After

Import an IGES file.

Click Open .

From the list of file types, select IGES (*.igs,

*.iges).
Select the file Legacy Data.IGS and click
Open.

Import Diagnostics.

Sometimes imported data will have faulty

geometry. When you import a model with
faults, a message asks if you want to run
Import Diagnostics.

Click Yes.

Click Attempt to Heal All. The system repairs the faults.

Click OK.

Cutting plane.

No

Define a reference plane that is parallel to

the Front plane and that passes through the
vertex shown.

Do

This will be used as the cutting plane in the

Split Part command.

76

Vertex

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 3
Uses of Multibody Solids

Split Part.

Using the plane created in the previous step,

split the part into two separate bodies.

Move/Copy Body.

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The bodies are shown here in different colors

for illustration purposes.

Note

Click Move/Copy Bodies.

Use mates to rotate the body 180 and move

the body 0.75 with respect to the Z axis as
indicated by the reference triad.

Filling the Gap

No

How you fill in the gap depends on the

shape on the part geometry. In this
example a simple extrude feature will
work. For an example of how a loft
feature can be used to fill in a gap, see
Merging a Multibody with Loft on
page 234.

Bridge the gap with an extruded boss.

Do

Create a sketch on the flat face of the rear

body.

Use Convert Entities

of the face.

to copy the edges

Extrude the sketch using the end condition

Up To Next.
Be sure the Merge results check box is
selected.

77

Lesson 3

SolidWorks 2012

Uses of Multibody Solids

Results.

Save and close the part.

Do

No

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78

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 6
Combining a Multibody Part

Exercise 6:
Combining a
Multibody Part

Create this part by following the

steps as shown.

Multibody Solids on page 26.

Combining Bodies on page 36.

Units: millimeters
Procedure

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This lab reinforces the following

skills:

Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it Mbody1.
1

Sketch first profile.

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Use lines and fillets to

create an open profile
for a Thin Feature.

Extrude the profile

57mm using the Mid
Plane end condition
and a Thickness of 9.5mm.

Sketch second profile.

Extrude as required.

Combine bodies.

Combine the two solid bodies

into one.

Add features.

No

Add boss, cut, hole

wizard and fillet
features.

Do

Finish the part with

1.5mm radius fillets
and rounds.

CBORE for M5
Pan Head
Machine Screw

Save and close the part.

79

Exercise 7

SolidWorks 2012

Bridging a Multibody Part

Exercise 7:
Bridging a
Multibody Part

Create this part by following the

steps as shown.

Multibody Solids
on page 26.

Merge Result on page 31.

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Units: millimeters

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This lab reinforces the

following skills:

Design Intent

The design intent for this part is as follows:

1. Part is not symmetrical.
2. Holes are through all.
3. All fillets and rounds are 5mm radius.

Procedure

Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it Mbody2.
Create a multibody part.

Do

No

80

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 7
Bridging a Multibody Part

Finish part with bridge technique.

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Use Merge Result to combine the bodies.

Save and close the part.

Do

No

81

Exercise 8

SolidWorks 2012

Indent

Exercise 8:
Indent

In this exercise, Indent is used to reshape

an existing thin walled feature for a hole,
fastener and clearance for tools.
This lab reinforces the following skills:

Procedure

Indent Feature on page 54.

Use the following procedure:

1

Open the part Indent.

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It includes two intersecting solid bodies.

Circular pattern.

Add a Circular Pattern of the

tool body as shown.

Indent.
Click Indent and select the large
solid as the Target body.

No

Select the three revolved solid

bodies as the Tool body region.

Do

Under Parameters, set the

Thickness to 6mm and Clearance
to 1.25mm.

Important!

82

Click OK.
The preview shows the indent.
Make the tool body region selections from the underside of the target
body as shown.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 8
Indent

Section View.
Use the Section View tool with the
Front Plane to cut the display.

Delete body.

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Delete the tool bodies.

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Note how the Clearance is applied. It

can be reversed
if necessary.

Fillet.

Apply a 2mm fillet to the edge of

each cavity.

Save and close the part.

Do

No

83

Exercise 9

SolidWorks 2012

Modeling for Rapid Tooling

Exercise 9:
Modeling for
Rapid Tooling

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When modeling a part it is

tempting to think only of how
the finished part will be and
not consider how to make the
part ready for manufacture,
and especially how to
minimize the cost and time
needed for tooling. One way
you can leverage your CAD
Many thanks to Steve Prentice of Steve Prentice Design
model is to prepare it for the
Limited for providing this example.
www.StevePrenticeDesign.com
rapid creation of tooling. By
utilizing multibodies, you can
model the necessary sand cores and patterns, save them out individual
parts, and still have the finished, as-machined version of the part. It is
the quickest and least expensive path from design to the delivery of the
finished castings.
This lab reinforces the following skills:

Procedure

Modeling Negative Space on page 62.

Saving Solid Bodies as Parts and Assemblies on page 65.

Combining Bodies on page 36.

Use the following procedure:

Open the part Motorcycle_Gear_Case.

To save time all the necessary sketches have be created in advance.

Do

No

Three of the layout sketches are shown below. The one highlighted in
blue represents the pitch circles of the gears. The black one is the
parting line of the gear case. The orange one represents the bosses for
the mounting bolts.

84

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 9
Modeling for Rapid Tooling

Outline for core.

Hide the sketches named Gears, Body, and Bosses.

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Show the sketch named Core Outline. This sketch was made by
converting entities from the Body and Bosses sketches and then
sketching and trimming additional geometry.

Extrude the core.

Do

No

Extrude the sketch 50mm upwards and 11mm downwards, with 2 of

inward Draft in both directions.

85

Exercise 9

SolidWorks 2012

Modeling for Rapid Tooling

Fillets.
Apply 5mm fillets to the vertical edges.

Use the FilletXpert and the option Connected to start face to

simplifying selecting all the edges.

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Tip

Revolved cut.

Do

No

Use the sketch Core Face Cut to create a revolved cut feature.

86

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 9
Modeling for Rapid Tooling

Extruded cut.

Use the sketch Core Bridge Cut to extrude a cut 5mm upwards and
Through All downwards.

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Apply 2 of Draft so that the draft goes inward in the up direction and
outward in the down direction.

Extruded cut.

Do

No

Use the sketch Bosses for Gears to extrude a Through All cut Offset
8.5mm above the sketch plane, with 3 of outward draft.

87

Exercise 9

SolidWorks 2012

Modeling for Rapid Tooling

Fillets.
Apply 5mm fillets to the edges shown.

Do

No

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88

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 9
Modeling for Rapid Tooling

More fillets.
Apply 2mm fillets to the edges shown. Be sure to fillet all four edges

Do

No

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on the underside.

10 Save body.
Use the Save Bodies command to save the body and name it
Sand Core.
11 FeatureManager folders.

In the FeatureManager design tree, expand the Pattern Features

folder so you can access the next group of sketches.
Select all the features that make up the core body and put them in a new
folder and name it Core Features.

89

Exercise 9

SolidWorks 2012

Modeling for Rapid Tooling

12 Hide.

Hide the core body.

13 Extrude the pattern.
Use the sketch Outside Body to extrude a boss 43mm upwards and
11mm downwards. Apply Draft of 2. Use inward draft in the up

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direction and outward draft in the down direction so that all the draft
goes in the same direction. Clear Merge results.

14 Revolved cut.

Do

No

Use the sketch Outside Revolved Cut to create a revolved cut feature.

90

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 9
Modeling for Rapid Tooling

15 Extruded cut.

Use the sketch Bridge Cut to extrude a cut 2mm towards the body and
Through All away from the body.

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Apply 2 of Draft so that the draft goes inward in the direction towards
the body and outward in the direction away from the body.

16 Fillet.

Do

No

Apply a 2mm fillet to the edges shown.

91

Exercise 9

SolidWorks 2012

Modeling for Rapid Tooling

Do

No

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17 More fillets.
Apply 8mm fillets to the edges shown.

18 Save body.
Use the Save Bodies command to save the body and name it
Body Pattern.
19 FeatureManager folders.

Put the features that make up the pattern body into the Pattern
Features folder.
Expand the Machined Features folder so you can access the next
group of sketches.

92

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 9
Modeling for Rapid Tooling

20 Combine.

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Show the core body and subtract it from the pattern body.

21 First machining operation.

Use the sketch Machining to create a Through All cut. Pay attention

Do

No

to which side of the material is being removed.

93

Exercise 9

SolidWorks 2012

Modeling for Rapid Tooling

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22 Second machining operation.

Use the sketch Machined Bosses to create a Through All cut.

Do

No

23 Third machining operation.

Use the sketch Spot Face to create a Blind cut 18mm deep.

94

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 9
Modeling for Rapid Tooling

24 Fourth machining operation.

Use the sketch Bearings to create a Blind cut 30.50mm deep to form

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the seats for the bearings.

25 Last machining operation.

Use the sketch Bolts to extrude a Through All cut Offset 25mm above

Do

No

the sketch plane to form the counterbores for the mounting bolts.

26 Conclusion.

You now have parts representing the sand core, the pattern for the cast
body, and the finished machined part. Providing the pattern maker with
complete and accurate CAD data saves time and money.
27 Save and close all files.

95

Exercise 10

SolidWorks 2012

Split Part

Exercise 10:
Split Part

Using the part provided, create

multiple parts that are related to
the original.

Splitting a Part into

Multibodies on page 71.

Units: inches
Procedure

Use the following procedure:

Open the part USB Flash Drive.

This part represents the conceptual design of the product.

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This lab reinforces the

following skills:

Split the part.

Split the part to separate the cap

from the remainder of the body.
Name the saved part

Cap - USB Drive.sldprt.

Click OK.

Resultant bodies state.

Right-click the cap and click Hide

from the shortcut menu.

This will hide the cap making it easier to

split the remaining body along the
parting line.

Add a boss.

Do

No

Create the sketch shown below and

extrude a boss a distance of 0.160.

96

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 10
Split Part

Split the part.

Split the part to create the upper and lower halves of the body. Use the
Parting Surface as the trim tool. The surface is hidden. If you
selected it from the Surfaces folder, it does not have to be visible in
order to use it as a trim tool.

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Name the parts as shown in the illustration below.

Open the individual parts.

No

Add any additional design details needed.

Create an assembly.

Save and close all files.

Do

97

Exercise 10

SolidWorks 2012

Do

No

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Split Part

98

ibu
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Lesson 4
Introduction to Sweeping

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Understand the unique requirements of working with multi-sketch
features.

Create boss and cut features by sweeping.

Understand the importance of using the Pierce relation to tie the

sweep profile to the guide curves.

Create a sweep with guide curves.

Create a Dome feature.

Use the SelectionManager to select extended sets of entities such as

edges and sketch entities together, a subset of the entities within a
sketch, or entities across multiple sketches.

Do

No

99

Lesson 4

SolidWorks 2012

Introduction to Sweeping

Sweeping

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A swept feature, either a boss or a cut, is created by moving a profile

along a path. A sweep can be simple or complex.

Not to scale

Swept features can incorporate 3-dimensional curves or model edges as

paths, and the sweep section can be made to vary as it moves along a
set of other curves called guide curves.
In this lesson we will review basic sweeping using a 2D path and a
simple, sketched profile. In later lessons we will explore more
advanced and complicated applications of sweeping as well as using
3D curves as paths or guide curves.

Sweep
Components

The following is a description of two of the major components used in

sweeping.

Profile

No

Sweeping only supports a single profile sketch. It must be a closed,

non-self-intersecting boundary. However, the sketch can contain
multiple contours either nested or disjoint.
Path

Do

Path

Nested contours
Disjoint contours

100

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 4
Introduction to Sweeping
I

Sweep Path

Sweeps are created from a series of intermediate sections made by

replicating the profile at various positions along the path. The
intermediate sections are then blended together.

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The system also uses the path to position the intermediate sections
along the sweep. Assuming the profile plane is normal to the path:
I

The Orientation/Twist Type option Follow Path means that the

intermediate sections will always stay normal to the path.

If the Keep Normal Constant option is used, the intermediate

sections will stay parallel to the plane of the profile sketch.

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These options will be covered in more detail in Orientation and Twist

Control on page 196 in Lesson 6: Advanced Sweeping.

Case Study:
Faux Raised
Panel Door

Traditional raised panel doors are assemblies of

five components: two rails, two stiles, and a
raised panel. Lower cost alternatives mimic the
look but are made from a single piece of
material, usually medium density fiberboard.

Open the part Faux Raised Panel Door.

Do

No

Examine the part. It consists of a rectangular extruded boss, a userdefined reference plane, and two sketches: the path (in blue) and the
profile (in orange).

101

Lesson 4

SolidWorks 2012

Introduction to Sweeping

Sweep a cut.
Click Swept Cut

For the Profile, select the sketch named Profile.

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For the Path, select the sketch named Path.

Click OK.

View the results.

No

Do

Practice Exercises

102

Save and close the part.

Before continuing with this lesson, complete the following:

I
I

Exercise 11: Oval Foot Drawer Pull on page 110.

Exercise 12: Tire Iron on page 113.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 4
Introduction to Sweeping

Sweep with
Guide Curves

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Sweeps can contain multiple guide curves which are used to shape the
sweep. As the profile is swept, the guide curves can control the profile
sketchs shape, size or orientation. One way to think of guide curves is
to visualize them driving a parameter such as a radius. In the
illustration below, the profile is attached to the guide curve. As the
profile is swept along the path, the radius of the circle changes.

Case Study:
Bottle

Modeling complex shapes requires some techniques

for creating features that are quite unlike the
extruded or revolved shapes built in the basic
course. Over the course of the next few lessons, we
will go through the steps of creating the molded
plastic bottle shown here.
We will start by building the basic shape. Other
details and features will be added later.

Begin by opening a new part using the Part_IN template.

No

Procedure

Sweep path.

Select the Front reference plane and open a sketch.

Do

Sketch a vertical line, starting at the Origin. Dimension this

line to a length of 9.125.
This will be used as the sweep path.
Exit the sketch and name it Sweep Path.

New sketch.

Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane.

103

Lesson 4

SolidWorks 2012

Introduction to Sweeping

Sketch picture.
Click Sketch Picture.

In the Case Study folder for this lesson open the

folder named Bottle Images, select the file
Front of Bottle.tif, and click Open.

I
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Origin X Position = -2.390in

Origin Y Position = -0.100in
Width = 4.79in

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Size and position the sketch picture so it is

centered on the sweep path and the bottom of the
neck is even with the top of the sweep path. The
following settings will help:

Exit the sketch and name it Picture - Front.

Second sketch picture.

Repeat the previous step, this time inserting the picture

named Side of Bottle.tif.
Use the same settings to size and position the picture.
Exit the sketch and name it Picture - Side.

Sketch first guide curve.

No

Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane

and sketch a spline using Picture - Front as a
guide.

Do

Add Horizontal relations between the ends of

the spline and the ends of the sweep path.

104

Add a 0.5 dimension between the end of the

spline and the path.
Exit the sketch and name it First Guide.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 4
Introduction to Sweeping

Sketch the second guide curve.

Open a new sketch on the Right reference plane and
sketch a spline this time using Picture - Side as a

guide.

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Again, add Horizontal relations between the ends of

the spline and the ends of the sweep path.
Since we want the neck of the bottle to be both a
particular size and circular, again add a 0.5
dimension between the end of the spline and the path.

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Exit the sketch and name it Second Guide.

Sweep section.

Select the Top reference plane and open a

sketch.

Click Ellipse
and sketch an ellipse with its
center at the Origin.

Relating the sweep section to the guide

curves.

We want the profile of the sweep section to be

related to the guide curves. This way the guide
curves will control the size of the ellipse. We
do this using a Pierce relation. This is why we
created the guide curves before the profile.

No

Press the Ctrl key, and select the point at the

end of the major axis and the first guide curve.
Right-click and click Pierce. Repeat this
procedure for the minor axis and the second
guide curve.

Do

Fully defined.

Since the Pierce relation on the major axis

defines its size and orientation, we do not need
to further constrain it. If we had used a
dimension to control the size of the major axis,
we would need to control the orientation of the major axis in some way.

10 Exit the sketch.

The sweep section is now fully defined so you can exit the sketch. We
are now ready to sweep the bottle.
Name the sketch Sweep Profile.

105

Lesson 4

SolidWorks 2012

Introduction to Sweeping

Sweep Options

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The Sweep PropertyManager contains selection

lists for several types of objects: Profile, Path and
Guide Curves. It also has options to determine
how the system orients the sections while
sweeping.
The dialog is divided into five sections or group
boxes:
I
I
I
I

Options

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Profile and Path

Options
Guide Curves
Start/End Tangency
Thin Feature

The Options group box contains one or more of the following controls
depending whether the sweep is a boss or a cut, a base feature, or a
multibody.

Orientation/twist type

With a simple sweep, the orientation of the profile is controlled by

choosing either Follow path, Keep normal constant, Twist Along
Path or Twist Along Path With Normal Constant.
If the sweep includes guide curves, the orientation of the profile can be
controlled by choosing either: Follow path and 1st guide curve,
Follow 1st and 2nd guide curves. This is optional.

Path alignment type

(Available when Follow Path is selected as the Orientation/twist
type). Stabilizes the profile when small and uneven curvature

fluctuations along the path cause the profile to misalign. Options are:
I

None

Aligns the profile normal to the path. No correction is applied.

Minimum Twist (For 3D paths only)

No

Prevents the profile from becoming self-intersecting as it follows

the path.

Direction Vector

Do

Aligns the profile in the direction selected for Direction Vector.

Select entities to set the direction vector.

Note

106

All Faces

When the path includes adjacent faces, makes the sweep profile
tangent to the adjacent face where geometrically possible.
For more detailed information and examples of the Orientation/twist
type and the Path alignment type options, see Orientation and Twist
Control on page 196.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 4
Introduction to Sweeping
I

Merge tangent faces

With this option on, it merges tangent faces together, creating an

approximation. Planar, cylindrical and conic faces are not merged.
I

Show preview

Merge result

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With this option on, it displays a shaded preview of the sweep,

changing as each component is added. The more complex the sweep,
the longer a preview takes.

With this option off, the sweep generates an additional solid body. This
option is not available when the sweep is the first feature in the part.
I

Align with end faces

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With this option on, it will continue the sweep beyond the geometric
end. For more information, see Align with End Faces on page 213. This
option is not available when the sweep is the first feature in the part.

Sweep with
Guide Curves

As the profile is swept, the guide curves control the profile sketchs
shape, size or orientation. In this example, the guide curves control the
length of the major and minor axes of the ellipse.

11 Sweep with guide curves.

Click Swept Boss/Base .

12 Select profile and path.

Make sure the Profile box is active and select the
ellipse. When you select the profile, the Path

box automatically becomes active. Select the

vertical line for the path. Callouts appear on each
selection.

Do

No

The preview displays the result without the

effect of any guide curves.

107

Lesson 4

SolidWorks 2012

Introduction to Sweeping

13 Guide curves.
Expand the Guide
Curves group box.

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A callout appears only

on the last guide you
select.

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Click in the selection

list, and select the two
curves indicated.

Showing
Intermediate
Sections

When sweeping a complex shape, you can see how the intermediate
sections will be generated by clicking the Show Sections option.
When the system computes the sections, it displays a spin box listing
the number of the intermediate section. You can click the up and down
arrows to display any of them.

14 Showing Sections.
Click Show Sections

, and use
the spin box to display the
intermediate sections.

Notice how the shape of the ellipse

is driven by its relationship with the
guide curves.

15 Options.

Do

No

Expand the Options group box, and

make sure that the default
Follow Path is selected.

Expand the Start/End Tangency group box, and

make sure both tangency conditions are set to
None.
Click OK.

108

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 4
Introduction to Sweeping

16 Finished sweep.

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The swept feature is shown at the

right in a Trimetric view.

Do

No

17 Save and close the part.

109

Exercise 11

SolidWorks 2012

Oval Foot Drawer Pull

Exercise 11:
Oval Foot
Drawer Pull

This lab reinforces the

following skills:

Procedure

Sketching Splines on
page 8.
Sweeping on page 100.

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Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it

Drawer Pull.
1

Sketch construction geometry.

Open a sketch on the Top reference plane.

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Sketch two centerlines and dimension them as shown below. The

midpoint of the long, horizontal centerline is coincident with the
Origin.

Sketch a spline.

Sketch a three-point spline connecting the endpoints of the construction

lines.

Add relations.
Add Vertical relations to the drag handles at the two ends of the spline.

No

Do

Do not modify the drag handles at the middle point of the spline.

110

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 11
Oval Foot Drawer Pull

Symmetry.

To properly capture the required symmetry in the path, the lengths of

the two drag handles must be equal. However, this poses a challenge. If
you select the two drag handles, you cannot add an Equal relation to
them. If you select the two drag handles and the construction line, you
cannot add a Symmetric relation.

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But you can dimension their lengths and use a global variable to make
them equal.

Exit the sketch.

Sketch the profile.

Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane.

Sketch an ellipse, dimensioned as shown, with its center coincident

with the end of the spline.

Exit the sketch.

In order to execute the Sweep command, you must exit the sketch.

No

Note

Insert sweep.

Do

Sweep the profile along the path.

111

Exercise 11

SolidWorks 2012

Oval Foot Drawer Pull

Oval foot.

Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane.

Offset the profile sketch a distance of 4mm to the
outside.

Fillets.

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Apply a 4mm fillet to the top edge,

highlighted in blue, of the extruded
boss.

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Extrude a boss to a Depth of 3mm.

Apply a 0.5mm fillet to the edge

between the extruded boss and the
swept boss.

Mirror.

No

Mirror the extruded boss and both fillets with respect to the Right
reference plane.

Do

10 Save and close the part.

112

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 12
Tire Iron

Exercise 12:
Tire Iron

Create this by following

the steps as shown.

Design Intent

Sweeping on
page 100.

Dome on page 115.

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This lab reinforces the

following skills:

The design intent for this part is as follows:

Procedure

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1. Regular end is symmetrical using angled cuts.

2. Wrench end is created using a hexagon cut.
3. Section is constant diameter.

Open a new part using the Part_IN template and name it Tire Iron.

Create the sweep path.

Do

No

Create the sketched lines then add the fillet.

113

Exercise 12

SolidWorks 2012

Tire Iron

Insert sweep.

Revolved feature.

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Create a new reference plane and use it to sketch the sweep profile.
Sweep the profile along the path.

Create a revolved feature on the angled end of the sweep feature. This
boss will hold the hexagon cut.

Hexagonal cut.

Do

No

Create a hexagonal cut using the

Polygon tool
.

114

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 12
Tire Iron

The Dome feature lets you deform the face of a model creating either a
convex (default) or concave shape.

Introducing: Dome

To create a dome, select the face or faces you wish to deform. Specify a
distance and optionally, a direction. By default the dome is created
normal to the selected faces. You can select faces whose centroid lies
outside the face. This allows you to apply domes to irregularly shaped
faces.

Where to Find It

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CommandManager: Features > Dome

Menu: Click Insert, Features, Dome

Round the bottom of the cut using the

Dome feature.
Click Dome .

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Dome Feature

Select the hexagonal face at the bottom of the

cut.
Clear the Continuous dome check box.
Specify a Distance of 0.25.

Click Reverse Direction

concave.

to make the dome

Click OK.

Through all cut.

Create the flat end of the part using a sketch and a through all cut.

Save and close the part.

Do

No

115

Exercise 13

SolidWorks 2012

Build Your Own Bottle

Using sweep with guide curves, design your own bottle. The shape is
not critical. The intent is to practice and understand how guide curves
control the shape of the profile as it is swept. The images below are just
examples to give you some ideas. Use your imagination.

No

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Exercise 13:
Build Your Own
Bottle

This lab reinforces the following skills:

I

Sweep with Guide Curves on page 103.

Do

Units: your choice

116

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 14
Hanger Bracket

Exercise 14:
Hanger Bracket

Create this by following the steps as shown.

This lab reinforces the following skills:
Multibody Solids on page 26.

Sweep with Guide Curves on page 103.

SelectionManager on page 119.

Units: millimeters

Design Intent

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The design intent for this part is as follows:

1. All fillets and rounds are
3mm.
2. Part is symmetrical with
respect to the parting
line.
3. Draft is 3.

Procedure

Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it

Hanger Bracket.

Create sweep ends.

Do

No

Create two extruded solid bodies

to represent the ends of the
sweep.

117

Exercise 14

SolidWorks 2012

Hanger Bracket

Create sweep path and guide curve.

Sketch the path referencing the existing geometry.

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In the same sketch, sketch the guide curve referencing the existing
geometry, including the path.

Path

Guide Curve

Create the sweep profile.

Do

No

Create the sweep profile as a sketch using the dimensions shown below.

Path and Guide in

the Same Sketch

118

The sweep path and the guide are built in the same sketch because that
was a very easy way to sketch them. However, when it comes to
selecting them in the Sweep command, you need a way to tell the
system to use some of the entities in the sketch for the path, but not all
of them. Likewise, you need to do the same with the guide curve.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 14
Hanger Bracket

Introducing:
SelectionManager

The SelectionManager enables you to select only

some of the entities in a sketch, select entities across
multiple sketches, as well as select them in
combination with model edges. The SelectionManager is available in
the loft, sweep, and boundary features only.

Where to Find It

Shortcut Menu: Right-click in the graphics area and click

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SelectionManager

Tool

Description

Accepts the selection.

Cancel

Cancels the selection and closes the

SelectionManager.

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OK

Clears all items in the selection set being

created or edited.

Select Closed
Loop

Selects the entire closed loop when you select

any segment of the closed loop.

Select Open
Loop

Selects all chained entities when you select

one entity.

Select Group

Selects one or more individual entities.

Selections can propagate to include tangent
entities on both ends of a selected entity.

Select Region

Selects parametric regions in the same way as

Contour Selection when in 2D sketch mode.

Standard
Selection

Uses regular selection, the same as available

when the SelectionManager is not activated.

Sweep the boss.

Click Swept Boss/Base.

No

Clear All

Do

Select the sweep profile you sketched in

step 3.

119

Exercise 14

SolidWorks 2012

Hanger Bracket

SelectionManager.

and
Click Select Open Loop
select one of the entities that makes
up the path.
The system selects all the connected
entities.

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Click OK using the right mouse

button
, or click OK
on the
SelectionManager.

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Right-click in the graphics area and

click SelectionManager from the
shortcut menu.

Select the guide curve.

Repeat the above process to select the

guide curve.

Resulting swept boss.

Use the Merge result option to

combine all the solid bodies.

Do

No

Click OK on the Sweep

PropertyManager.

120

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 14
Hanger Bracket

Create through holes.

Insert fillets and rounds.

Add 3mm fillets and rounds, shown here

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Add two through hole cuts to the model.

in red, to complete the model.

Tip

Filleting by feature works best.

Do

No

10 Save and close the part.

121

Exercise 15

SolidWorks 2012

Starship

Exercise 15:
Starship

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Create this by following the steps as shown.

This lab reinforces the following skills:

SelectionManager on page 119.

Inserting Image Files as Background Pictures on page 133.

No

Units: centimeters

Procedure

Open a new part using the Part_MM template.

Do

122

Units.

Change the part units to CGS (centimeter, gram, second).

2

Viewport background.
Click Tools, Options, System Options, Colors.

Under Background appearance, click Plain (Viewport Background

color above). Then, set the Viewport Background color to white.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 15
Starship

Save.

Name the part Starship.

4

Sweep path.

Sketch a vertical line 1525cm

long, as shown.
Name the sketch Path and exit
the sketch.
5

First guide curve.

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Open a new sketch on the Top

reference plane.

Open a new sketch on the Top reference plane.

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Select the line in the Path sketch and click Convert Entities.
Change the converted line to construction geometry.
Sketch a line and tangent arc as shown below.

Exit the sketch and name it Side Guide.

Second guide curve.

Open a new sketch on the Right reference plane.

Select the line in the Path sketch and click Convert Entities.
Change the converted line to construction geometry.

Do

No

Sketch a line and three tangent arcs as shown. The arc without a
dimension has an Equal relation to the R762 arc.

Exit the sketch and name it Top Guide.

123

Exercise 15

SolidWorks 2012

Starship

Sweep profile.

Open a new sketch on the Front

reference plane.
Sketch a semi-ellipse as follows:

I
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The centerpoint is Coincident with

the end of the Path.
The major axis has a Pierce relation
with the Side Guide.
The minor axis has a Pierce relation with the Top Guide.
The two endpoints have a Horizontal relation to each other.
The start point has a Coincident relation with the major axis.

Bottom half of sweep profile.

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Continuing in the same sketch, sketch a

second semi-ellipse as follows:
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The centerpoint is Coincident with the

end of the Path.
The major axis is Coincident with the
endpoint of the first ellipse.
The minor axis is as yet undefined.
Both endpoints are Coincident with
the endpoints of the first ellipse.

Construction lines.

Sketch two construction lines from the center to the end of the minor
axis, and then to the end of the major axis.

No

Add an angular dimension and set the value to 60.

Do

Exit the sketch and name it Section.

124

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 15
Starship

10 Sweep with guide curves.

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Select the profile, path, and both guide curves.

There are two important options in the sweep command that affect the
quality of the resulting faces. They are Merge tangent faces which is
located in the Options box, and Merge smooth faces which is located
in the Guide Curves box.
If the sweep profile has segments that are tangent, Merge tangent
faces causes the corresponding surfaces to be tangent.
Clearing Merge smooth faces improves performance of sweeps with
guide curves. However, it will break the faces into segments at all
points where the guide curve or path is not curvature continuous.

Results with both Merge tangent faces

and Merge smooth faces cleared.

Do

No

Results with Merge tangent faces

selected and Merge smooth faces
cleared.

Results with both Merge tangent faces

and Merge smooth faces selected.

125

Exercise 15

SolidWorks 2012

Starship

11 Rename.

Name the swept feature Fuselage.

12 Sweep path for wing.

Sketch a line for the sweep

path as shown.
Exit the sketch and name it
Wing Path.
13 Guide for trailing edge.

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Open a new sketch on the Top

reference plane.

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Open a new sketch on the Top

reference plane.

Sketch a line as shown.

Exit the sketch and name it Wing

Trailing Edge.

14 Wing section.

Open a new sketch on the Right

reference plane.
Sketch three lines and an arc as
shown at the right.

Dimension and constrain the sketch

according to the illustration.
Exit the sketch and name it Wing
Section.

15 Sweep with guide curves.

Clear the Merge results check

Do

No

box.

Because of the symmetry in the

model, our plan is to build the
wing and engine and then mirror
them. However, patterning
features such as a sweep with
guide curves can be problematic,
even with the Geometry Pattern
option. A much better approach is to create the wing and engine as a
disjoint body and then mirror the body.
Rename the feature Wing.

126

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 15
Starship

16 Fillets.
Add a 91.50cm radius fillet to the leading edge of the Wing.

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Add a 160cm radius fillet to the trailing edge of the Wing.

17 Engine.

From the Design Library, in the Exercises folder for this lesson, drag
the library feature named Engine Profile and drop it on the planar face
at the end of the wing.

18 Edit the sketch.

Do

No

In the sketch there is a small, vertical

construction line. This is used to
locate the profile.

127

Exercise 15

SolidWorks 2012

Starship

19 Add relations.
Add a Midpoint relation

Drag the other end of the

construction line and make it
Coincident with the upper
edge of the wing.
Click Finish to exit the
sketch.

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20 Revolve.

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between the bottom end of

the construction line and the
bottom edge of the wing.

Select the sketch and click Revolve Boss/Base. Since sketches can be
shared between features, it is not necessary to dissolve the library
feature first.
Be sure Merge result is selected so the revolved feature merges with
the Wing.
Rename the feature Engine.

No

21 Fillet.

Create a 15cm radius fillet between the Wing

and the Engine. Fillet both the upper and lower
sides of the Wing.

Do

Name the fillet Wing/Engine Blend.

128

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 15
Starship

22 Mirror.

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23 Combine.
Click Combine

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Mirror the Engine with respect to the Right reference plane.

Do

No

For Operation Type, click Add and select all three solid bodies.

129

Exercise 15

SolidWorks 2012

Starship

24 Fillets.
Create 120cm fillets between the Wing and the Fuselage.

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Name the fillet Upper Blend.

25 Sketch for aft section.

Open a new sketch on the planar face at

the aft end of the Fuselage.

Expand the Fuselage feature and select

the Section sketch.

Use Convert Entities to copy it into the

active sketch.

Sketch a line through the minor axis and

trim away half of the profile.

26 Revolve.

Create a revolved feature with an Angle

of 180.

Do

No

Name the feature Aft Dome.

130

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 15
Starship

27 Edit color.

Select the topmost feature and change the part color to medium gray.
The R, G, B values are 128, 128, 128.

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Select the two pointed faces (the engine exhaust) and change their color
to red (255, 0, 0).

28 DisplayManager.

Click the DisplayManager tab

in the Manager Pane. Then click

.

View Scenes, Lights, and Cameras

29 Lights.

Expand the Lights folder.

Right-click Ambient and select Off in

SolidWorks from the shortcut menu.
Double-click Directional1.

Adjust the settings to match the illustration at the

right.

Do

No

The color is light cyan. The R, G, B values are

128, 255, 255.

30 Add two spot lights.

Right-click the Lights folder and click Add Spot
Light from the shortcut menu.

Repeat this to add a second spot light.

131

Exercise 15

SolidWorks 2012

Starship

31 Adjust settings.

Do

No

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Adjust the settings of the two spot lights to match the illustrations
below. The color of Spot2 is dark maroon. The R, G, B values are 128,
0, 64.

132

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 15
Starship

You can import an image file and use it as a background of a part or

assembly. Supported file types include:
I
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Windows bitmap (*.bmp)

Portable Network Graphics (*.png)
High Dynamic Range (*.hdr)
Tagged Image File (*.tif)
Adobe PhotoShop (*.psd)
Joint Photographic Expert Group [JPEG] (*.jpg)

32 Scene editor.

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Inserting Image
Files as
Background
Pictures

In the DisplayManager, right-click the Scene folder and click Edit

Scene.The system will prompt you with the following message:

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To view the document scene you must set the background

appearance option to 'Use document scene' (Tools->Options>System Options->Colors).
Would you like to set the background appearance to 'Use
Document Scene?'

Click Yes.

33 Add a background picture.

On the Basic tab click Browse and select Nebula.tif from the
Exercises folder of this lesson.

Do

No

Click OK.

133

Exercise 15

SolidWorks 2012

Starship

34 Change the view.

Click Perspective

to turn on a perspective view.

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Rotate the view until you are satisfied with the appearance.

To turn off the reference triad, click Tools, Options, System Options,
Display/Selection and clear the Display reference triad check mark.

Tip

35 Save.

Save the view state. Then save and exit the part.

Try using some of the other TIFF images that are supplied in the
Exercises folder as backgrounds.

Do

No

Optional

134

ibu
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Lesson 5
Working with Curves

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Create a 3D sketch.

Create a helix.

Create a 3D curve from orthogonal views.

Create a composite curve from multiple entities.

Fit a spline within a tolerance to a set of sketch entities.

Sweep a profile along a 3D curve.

Create a non-planar curve by projecting a sketch onto a surface.

Create a multi-thickness shell.

Model threads.

Create a curve through a list of X, Y, and Z coordinates.

Create and use sketch blocks as a way to reuse data.

Create equation driven curves.

Do

No

135

Lesson 5

SolidWorks 2012

Working with Curves

This example illustrates

several techniques for creating
sweep paths while modeling a
moderately complex coil
spring.

Sweeping
Along a 3D Path

In Lesson 4: Introduction to Sweeping we worked through a couple of

simple cases of sweeping using a 2D path. In this lesson we will look at
a more complex case using a 3D path. 3D paths can be constructed
from 3D sketches, projected curves and helixes among others.

3D Sketching

As the name implies, the entities in a 3D sketch are not constrained to a

single plane as they are in a traditional 2D sketch. This makes 3D
sketches very useful for applications such as sweeping and lofting.
However, 3D sketching can sometimes be a bit of a challenge.

Where to Find It

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Case Study:
Modeling a
Spring

CommandManager: Sketch > Sketch

Menu: Insert, 3D Sketch

> 3D Sketch

3D sketching with standard reference planes allows you to sketch in 3D

by switching between standard reference planes that exist in the model.
By default, you sketch relative to the default coordinate system (Front
reference plane) in the model. To switch to one of the other two default
planes, press Tab while the sketch tool is active. The origin of the
current sketch plane is displayed. To switch to a reference plane other
than the standard ones, Ctrl-click it.

Subset of Sketch
Entities and
Relations

There are fewer entities and sketch relations available in 3D sketches

compared to 2D sketches. However, other relations such as Along X,
Along Y, and Along Z are only available in a 3D sketch.

No

Using Reference
Planes

Do

Space Handle

136

When working in a 3D sketch, a graphical

assistant is provided to help you maintain your
orientation while you sketch on several planes.
This assistant is called a Space Handle. The
space handle appears when the first point of a
line or spline is defined on a selected plane.
Using the space handle, you can select the axis
along which you want to sketch.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

New part.

Open a new part using the Part_MM template.

Name the part 3D Sketch.
Open a new 3D sketch.

Click 3D Sketch
3

Centerlines.

Click Centerline

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Press Tab until the cursor displays the YZ symbol.

Start sketching at the Origin. Sketch the centerline using the Along Y
marker to keep it on the Y axis of model space.

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Make the line about 3mm long.

Sketch a second centerline using the Along Z marker

the Z axis of model space.

to keep it on

Make this line about 3mm long also.

Dimension the lines to lengths of 3.25mm and 3mm respectively, as

shown.

First centerline

Second centerline

Dimensions

Sketching a line.
Click Line .

No

Press Tab until the cursor

displays the XY symbol.

Do

Start sketching at the end of

the second centerline.

Drag the line using the

to keep
it on the X axis of model
space.
Along X marker

Make the line about 10mm long.

137

Lesson 5

SolidWorks 2012

Working with Curves

Continue sketching.

Sketch the next line at

approximately a 45 angle below
the horizontal as shown.
Even though we are sketching
parallel to the Front reference
plane, no Parallel relation is
automatically captured.

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Make the line about 3mm long.

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The symbol next to the cursor

indicates that we are sketching
parallel to the XY plane.
However, the lack of a yellow background like we saw with the Along
X marker means this is a reference indicator only. No sketch relation is
being created.
We will add the Parallel relation in step 9.

Switch sketch planes.

Press the Tab key to switch to the YZ plane.

Sketch the line using the Along Z marker

model space.

Do

No

Make the line about 3mm long.

138

to keep it on the Z axis of

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

Viewports.

3D sketching in an isometric view can be disorienting. It can be

difficult to tell how something moves when you drag it. Multiple
viewports can help.
, Four

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On the Heads-up View toolbar, click View Orientation

View .

Drag.

Do

No

Drag the endpoint that is shared between the two blue lines. With
multiple viewports, it is easy to see how the angled line moved off of
the Front reference plane.

139

Lesson 5

SolidWorks 2012

Working with Curves

Add relations and dimensions.

Select the Front reference plane and the angled line. Add a Parallel

relation.

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Dimension the sketch as shown below.

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Select the Front reference plane and the end of the third line, the one
going along the Z axis. Add an On Plane relation.

10 Fillets.

Do

No

Use the Sketch Fillet tool

to apply two fillets: one radius 2mm and
one radius 1.25mm as shown.

11 Exit the 3D sketch.

140

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

12 Create an offset plane.

Create a reference plane

parallel to the Front
plane at the endpoint of
the 3D sketch.

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Insert a new sketch on

the newly created
reference plane.

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13 New sketch.

14 Sketch a circle.

Sketch a circle centered on the Origin, and Coincident to the end of

the 3D sketch.
With this circle, we are preparing to create a helix. The circle
establishes the center and beginning diameter for the helix.

If you start the circle from the center and drag the cursor to the
endpoint of the 3D sketch, the circle will automatically have a
Coincident relationship without the need to apply it manually later.

No

Tip

Do

15 Exit the sketch.

141

Lesson 5

SolidWorks 2012

Working with Curves

Introducing: Helix
and Spiral

Insert, Curve, Helix/Spiral creates a helical 3D curve based on a circle

Where to Find It

and definition values such as pitch and number of revolutions. The

curve can then be used as a sweep path.
CommandManager: Features > Curves

> Helix and

Spiral

Menu: Insert, Curve, Helix/Spiral

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16 Create a variable pitch helix.

Select the circle and click Helix and Spiral

Notice that this helix is variable in both pitch and

diameter.

For the Region Parameters, use the settings

below for Pitch, Revolutions, and Diameter:
Pitch

Revolution

Diameter

2mm

6.5mm

2mm

6.5mm

1.25mm

4.5mm

1.25mm

7.5

4.5mm

No

The Start angle is 90 and the helix goes Counterclockwise.

Do

Click OK.

142

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

Creating a 3D
Curve from
Orthogonal Views

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The ends of the spring have loops to connect to rods. The loops are
curved in two different directions which are easy to describe from
orthogonal views. The illustration below shows a close up view of one
of the loops on the end of the spring.

Insert, Curve, Projected creates a 3D curve using one of two

Introducing:
Projected Curve

techniques:

Sketch onto Face(s).

Projects a sketch onto a face or group of faces.

Sketch onto Sketch.

2D Sketches

No

Projects sketches through space and

creates a curve where they intersect.
The sketches are usually at right
angles to one another, but this is not
necessary.

Do

Where to Find It

I
I

CommandManager: Features > Curves

Menu: Insert, Curve, Projected

Projected Curve

> Project Curve

17 Front view of loop.

Open an new sketch on the Front

reference plane and sketch a semicircle as shown.

143

Lesson 5

SolidWorks 2012

Working with Curves

18 Exit the sketch.

19 Side view of loop.

Open a new sketch on the Right reference plane, and sketch the side
view of the loop as shown.

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Connect the rightmost end of the sketch to end of the helix using a
Pierce relation.

20 Exit the sketch.

21 Create projected curve.

Select the front and side view sketches of the loop

and click Project Curve .
Use the Sketch on Sketch option.

Tip

If you preselect items, SolidWorks attempts to

select the appropriate type of projection.
You will see a preview of the projected curve.

When seen in an isometric view, the preview of the projected curve

makes sense of the two separate orthogonal views.

Do

No

Click OK.

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Lesson 5
Working with Curves

Introducing:
Composite Curve

One of the requirements of the sweep path is that it must be a single

entity. A Composite Curve enables you to combine reference curves,
sketch geometry, and model edges into a single curve. All entities must
touch end-to-end with no gaps or overlaps. This curve can then be used
as a guide or path when sweeping or lofting.

Where to Find It

Curve
I

Menu: Insert, Curve, Composite

22 Composite curve.

> Composite

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CommandManager: Features > Curves

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To sweep the entire spring as a single feature, you

will need all of the curve elements you have
created to be a single entity. One way to achieve
this is to use a composite curve.

and select the 3D

Click Composite Curve
sketch, the helix and the projected curve.
Click OK.

23 Profile.

Open a sketch on the Front reference plane, and create a circle as

shown.

Do

No

Create a Pierce relation between the center of the circle and the
composite curve.

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Working with Curves

24 Exit the sketch.

Unlike an extrude or revolve feature, you must exit the sketch before
you can create the sweep feature.

Sweep a boss feature using

the circle as the profile and
the composite curve as the
path.
26 Mirror.

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25 Sweep.
Click Swept Boss/Base.

Transitions

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Mirror the swept body about

the end that is coincident with the Front reference plane using the
Merge solids option.

You might notice that at the ends of the helix are transitions which
arent perfectly tangent. This is a problem for 3D curves, since the 3D
curves cannot be filleted like 2D sketches.

Do

No

One way of smoothing these transitions is to make the entire composite

curve into a single spline. Because a spline is an interpolated entity
(meaning the software fills in the parts of the curve between the user
specified spline points), it will smooth out any tangency problems in
this model. However, you should be aware that because splines are
interpolated geometry, it also means that they are approximations, and
will not exactly match the original entities.

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Working with Curves

27 Convert composite curve

to sketch entities.

Delete the Sweep1 feature.

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To get a smoother spring, we

will use a spline for the path
instead of the composite
curve.
Open a new 3D sketch and select the composite curve from the
FeatureManager.
Click Convert Entities

Introducing:
Fit Spline

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Notice that the composite curve is converted into several entities of

different types: lines, arcs, and splines. We want to join all of these into
a single spline.

Where to Find It

Fit Spline creates a spline that fits over a selection of 2D or 3D sketch

or curve entities which touch end to end without gaps or overlaps. A

tolerance is applied to the fit. The smaller the tolerance, the better the
fit, but also the more complex the spline.

I
I

CommandManager: Sketch > Spline

Menu: Tools, Spline Tools, Fit Spline

> Fit Spline

28 Convert sketch entities to a spline.

Window select all the sketch entities in the 3D

sketch and click Fit Spline .
Clear the Closed spline option.

Do

No

Verify that the Constrained option is selected

This leaves the spline constrained to the original
geometry which gets converted to construction
geometry.

Increase and decrease the

Tolerance value. Look at the
preview and notice how the
Tolerance effects how well
the spline fits the original
entities. If the spline does not
fit the geometry accurately
enough, you will need to
decrease (tighten) the tolerance value.

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Lesson 5

SolidWorks 2012

Decrease the tolerance

value to 1.25mm and see
that the fit improves.
However, the end near the
hook does not look good
until the tolerance goes
below 0.1mm.
Set the Tolerance to
0.1mm and click OK.

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Working with Curves

29 Recreate the sweep.

Delete the Pierce relation between the center of the profile circle and

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the composite curve, and recreate it to the 3D fit spline. To do this, you
will need to reorder the profile sketch to the end of the FeatureManager.
Now recreate the sweep with
the small circle as the profile
and the fit spline as the path.
Notice that the sweep is one
continuous face, rather than
being broken up into several
faces as it was before. Also
notice that it is much
smoother than it was before
at the transition areas.

30 Mirror the spring.

Do

No

Select the flat face nearest the Front reference plane, and mirror as
before.

148

31 Save and close the part.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

Applying the
Label to the
Bottle

We are now going to use some of the

techniques we learned while modeling the
spring to model some of the details of the
bottle.
First, we will model the outline for the label.

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The outline of the label is a swept feature.

The path is a projected curve created by
projecting a sketch onto the face of the bottle.
The curve that is generated will be used as the
Sweep Path of another swept feature. The
sketch is already built and has been stored as
a library feature.

Library Features

Library Features are generally applied using the Design Library (see

the SolidWorks Essentials manual) but can also be dragged and

dropped from the File Explorer or Windows Explorer.

File Explorer

The File Explorer is used to search drives and folders for SolidWorks
file types. The files can be dragged and dropped into SolidWorks.

Open the part Bottle.

Browse to the Case Study folder of this lesson and select the part
Bottle. This is as it was saved at the end of Lesson 4: Introduction to
Sweeping.
File Explorer.

Click the File Explorer tab

of the Task Pane.

Do

No

Double-click the folders

Lesson 5 and Case Study to
find the library feature label.

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Working with Curves

Drag and drop.

Show the Front plane of

the part.

Drop the library feature

on the boundary or name
of the plane in the
graphics area.

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Tip

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Drag the label from the

File Explorer and drop it
on the Front plane.

References.

Select the Sketch Point reference and click the parts

Origin. Although this reference is not required,
selecting it avoids having to repair the dangling
relation.
Click OK.

The sketch appears in the FeatureManager design tree

in a folder named label<1>.

Tip

Dissolve Library Feature can be used to break down the LibFeat

folder. This removes the library feature icon and causes each of the
features it contained to be listed individually in the FeatureManager
design tree.

Do

No

The Library Feature

Folder

150

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

Projecting a
Sketch onto a
Surface

Project Curve dialog and preview.

Click Project Curve

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In Creating a 3D Curve from Orthogonal Views on page 143 we looked

at one way of using the Project Curve command intersecting two 2D
sketches. In this example, we will create a projected curve by
projecting a 2D sketch onto the curved surface of the bottle. This 3D
curve will be used as the sweep path to create a boss to outline the label
area on the bottle.

Select the Sketch on faces option from the list.

6

Selections.

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Click in the Sketch to Project list and select the

sketch. Click in the Projection Faces list and
select the model face.

Do

No

By default, the system projects the sketch normal

to the sketch plane (along the positive Z axis). If
you want to project the curve onto the back of the
bottle, click Reverse Projection.

Click OK.

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Lesson 5

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Working with Curves

Projected curve.

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The system projects the sketch onto the front

surface of the bottle. This 3D curve will be
used as the sweep path to create a boss to
outline the label area on the bottle.

Sketch the profile.

Change to a Right view and select

the Right reference plane. Open a
sketch and draw a circle in any
convenient location.

Pierce relation.
Add a Pierce relation between the

center of the circle and the

projected curve to define its
location. Dimension the circle to
0.125 diameter.

Do

No

The projected curve pierces the

sketch plane in two places: at the
top and the bottom. The system
chooses the pierce point closest to
where you select the curve. If you
want the circle located at the top,
select the projected curve near the top. Its that simple.

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SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

10 Sweep the boss for the label outline.

Exit the sketch.

Click Swept Boss/Base

Click OK.

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Select the circle as the Profile and the

projected curve as the Path.

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Notice the system has no difficulty sweeping

a feature with the profile located at the
middle of a closed path.

11 Add the neck.

Select the top face of the bottle and open a

sketch.

Use Convert Entities

into the active sketch.

to copy this edge

Do

No

Extrude the sketch upward a distance of

0.625.

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Lesson 5

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Working with Curves

The Shell Feature command gives you the option of creating a multithickness shell, in which some walls are thicker (or thinner) than
others. You should decide what thickness represents the usual case,
which is applied to most faces. Then, you should determine what
thickness represents the exceptions, applied to fewer faces. In the case
of the bottle, all faces are 0.020 thick except the neck, which is 0.060.

Shell the Bottle

Create a multi-thickness shell, removing the top of the bottle neck. Use
a wall thickness of 0.060 for the neck and 0.020 for all the other
faces.
12 Shell command.
Click Shell .

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Set the Thickness to 0.020 as

the default.

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Multi-thickness
Shell

For the Faces To Remove,

select the top face of the bottle
neck.

13 Multiple thickness.
Expand the Multi-thickness Settings group box.

Face selections made here will not use the default thickness.

14 Select thicker faces.

Click in the Multi-thickness
Faces field and select the

outside face of the bottle neck.

Set the thickness to 0.060.
Click OK to create the shell.

15 Results shown in section view.

Do

No

The section view at the right shows the

two different wall thicknesses.

154

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

Modeling
Threads

Models can contain two types of threads: standard or cosmetic threads,

and nonstandard threads. Standard threads are not modeled in the part.
Instead, they are represented in the model and on the drawing using
thread symbols, drawing annotations, and notes.

Creating a Helix

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Nonstandard threads should be modeled. These threads, like the threads

on the neck of this bottle, cannot simply be specified by a note on a
drawing. Model geometry is needed because downstream applications
such as NC machining, rapid prototyping, and FEA require it.
A thread is modeled by sweeping a profile along a helical path. A helix
can also be used to sweep springs and worm gears.
The major steps in modeling threads are:
Create the helix.

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The helix is based on a sketched circle tied to the diameter of the neck.

Create the sketch for the cross section of the feature.

The sketch is oriented with respect to the helix and penetrates the neck.

Sweep the sketch along the path (helix) either as a boss or a cut
feature.

In this example, the threads are a swept boss.

Procedure

In the remainder of this example, we will

build the threads on the neck of the
bottle as shown at the right.

16 Offset plane.

Do

No

Create a reference plane offset 0.10

below the top of the bottle neck. This is
where the threads will start.

17 Insert sketch.

With this plane selected, open a new sketch.

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Lesson 5

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Working with Curves

18 Copy the edge.

Copy the edge of the bottle neck into the

active sketch using Convert Entities.
This circle will determine the diameter
of the helix.

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19 Create the helix.

Click Helix and Spiral

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This is why we dimensioned the tops of

the two guide curves with respect to the
path. If the distances were different, the
neck of the bottle would be elliptical, and you cannot create a helix
from an ellipse.

Note

For Defined By click Pitch and

Revolution.
Set the Pitch to 0.15 and the
Revolutions to 1.5.

Click Reverse direction so the

threads go down the neck.

Set the Start angle to 0 and click Clockwise.

Click OK to create the helix.

20 Insert a sketch.

Using another library feature,

insert the sketch used for the thread
profile.
In the File Explorer browse to the
Lesson 5\Case Study folder.

No

Insert the library feature

thread.sldlfp onto the Right
reference plane.

Do

21 Relations.

Edit the sketch of the library feature.

Create a relation of Collinear between
the horizontal centerline of the sketch
and the plane Plane1.
Use a silhouette edge to add a
Collinear relation between the
vertical centerline and the outer edge
of the model. The sketch is now fully
defined.
Exit the sketch.

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SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

22 Sweep the threads.

Click Swept Boss/Base

. Select the
sketch as the sweep section, and the
helix as the sweep path.

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Click OK.

If you are wondering what the option Align with End Faces is used
for, we will cover a simple example explaining its purpose later in the
course. See Align with End Faces on page 213.

Note

23 Results.

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The results of sweeping the thread are

shown at the right.

24 Add the finishing details.

An easy way to round off and finish the ends of the

thread is to create a revolved feature. Do this for both
ends of the thread.

Tip

Use the vertical edge where the thread meets the body of
the neck as the axis of revolution for the revolved
feature.

25 The finished bottle.

We are finished with the bottle at this time. We

will revisit it later in the course to add a couple
of additional features.

Do

No

26 Save and close the part.

157

Lesson 5

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Working with Curves

Curve Through XYZ Points enables you to create a curve through a

series of X, Y, Z locations. You can enter these locations directly into a

spreadsheet-like dialog or you can read them from an ASCII text file.
The file should have the file extension *.SLDCRV or *.txt. The curve
will pass through the points in the same order as they are entered or
listed in the file.

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Case Study:
Creating a
Curve Through
a Set of Points

Important!

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Airfoil data is a good example of when you would have a file of X, Y, Z

coordinates, although since an airfoil cross section is 2D, the Z
coordinate would be zero.

Where to Find It

CommandManager: Features > Curves

XYZ Points
Menu: Insert, Curve, Curve Through XYZ Points

Do
158

> Curve Through

If you havent created a text file containing the locations beforehand,

you can enter the X, Y, Z coordinates directly into the Curve File
dialog. In addition, once you have done that, you can save the point list
as a file for reuse. To do this, follow this procedure.

No

Entering Points
On the Fly

The curve is created outside of a sketch. Therefore, the X, Y, and Z are

interpreted with respect to the Front (XY) coordinate system.

Double-click in the upper-left cell

(top row, under the heading Point)
and the system will open a row for
the first coordinate point using the
default values of X=0.0, Y=0.0,
and Z=0.0.
Type in the appropriate values.
Use the Tab key on the keyboard
to move from one cell to another
or just double-click each cell in turn.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

Double-click in the next cell below Point #1 to add more rows. If you
need to, you can insert a row in the middle of the list. Highlight the row
by single-clicking the number in the point column and clicking the
Insert button.

Reading Data
From a File

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If you anticipate using this data set again, you can save it to a file using
the Save button. If you are editing an existing file, Save will overwrite
the original file; Save As will save a copy of it.
Instead of entering the point data directly, you can browse for a file and
read the data from it.

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The file must be an ASCII text

file. You can use spaces or tabs
between the columns of X, Y and
Z coordinates. One method of
creating the file is to use the
Notepad accessory that comes
with Windows. Another method
is to use Excel and save the file as
a *.txt file.

Remember: the X, Y, and Z are interpreted with respect to the Front, or

model space coordinate system.

Editing the Curve

If you need to modify the data points associated with a curve created
through a data point set, use Edit Feature, the same as you would for
any feature. When editing the definition of the curve, you have several
options:
I
I
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Special
Considerations for
Airfoil Data

Browse for and substitute a replacement file.

Edit the existing point list.
Edit the original file and read it in again.

Airfoil data only has X, and Y values. Z is assumed to be zero and is

therefore omitted from the file. In order to use the data file in
SolidWorks, you will have to add the Z coordinate values.

No

Airfoil data present some other special situations:

Do

The data is unit sized. That means the X coordinate goes from 1
to 0 and back to 0. In order to model an actual wing, the data has to
be scaled to the chord length of the airfoil.
In order to create the wing in its proper orientation with respect to
the aircraft coordinate system, you will have to rearrange the X, Y,
and Z values. For example, of you want the airfoil crated parallel to
the Right reference plane, the X values in the original data must go
in the Z column and the sign must be reversed.
If you wanted to change the angle of attack of the airfoil, that is,
rotate it, you would have to transform the values in the file. Not a
trivial task.

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Lesson 5

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Working with Curves

To work around these issues, we will pursue the following strategy:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Procedure

Create the curve in model space using the data as is.

Open a sketch on the Front reference plane.
Use Convert Entities to replicate the curve as sketch entities.
Make a block of the active sketch.
Create a new sketch on the appropriate reference plane.
Insert the block, scale it, and position it where needed.

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Strategy: Use
Sketch Blocks

Begin by opening a new part using the Part_IN template.

1

Change units.

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Change the units to feet & inches. We use feet and inches because the
airfoil data is from a World War II-era Boeing B-17 and its
specifications are all in those units.

Insert curve.

Click Curve Through XYZ Points

Select the file.

Click Browse and select the file

NACA_0018.sldcrv from the
Curve Data folder in the Case
Study folder of this lesson.

The file contents are read into the

dialog and separated into
columns.

Note
Note

The browser can be set to search for Curves (*.sldcrv) or Text Files
(*.txt).
NACA stands for National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the
precursor to NASA.

Add the curve.

Click OK to add the curve to the part. A smooth spline curve is created
using the points contained in the file as shown below in a Front view.
A feature named Curve1 appears in the FeatureManager design tree.

Do

No

New sketch.

Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane.

6

Convert Entities.

Use Convert Entities to copy the curve feature into the active sketch.

160

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

Complete the sketch.

The trailing edges of the airfoil are not closed.

Sketch a line connecting the two ends of the
spline.

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Do not exit the sketch yet.

Blocks are a way to save, edit, and reuse graphic information. Often
people think of blocks in terms of elements in drawings, such as
standard notes, symbols, and title blocks. However, blocks are also a
way to reuse and manipulate sketch geometry.

Introducing: Sketch
Blocks

You can create blocks from single or multiple sketch entities. Using
blocks you can:

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Sketch Blocks

I
I
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Create layout sketches using a minimum of dimensions and

relations. For more information about creating layout sketches
using blocks, please refer to the Assembly Modeling course.
Freeze a subset of entities in a sketch to manipulate as a single
entity.
Manage complex sketches.
Edit all instances of a block simultaneously.

To create a block you can either select entities in the graphics area, or
save a sketch directly to a block file.
Blocks are separate SolidWorks files with the file extension *.sldblk.

Where to Find It

I
I

Menu: Tools, Blocks, Save

Blocks Toolbar: Save Sketch as Block

Create block.
Select the Origin. Click Tools, Blocks, Save.

In the Save As dialog box, browse to the Curve Data folder and save
the block as NACA_0018.sldblk.

No

Click Save.

Selecting the Origin defines that location as the insertion point of the
block. In other words, when you insert the block, this is the point that
lines up with the cursor in the graphics window and determines the
location of the block when you click.

Do

Why Select the

Origin?

Repeat.

Repeat step 5 through step 8 this time using the curve file
NACA_0010.sldcrv. Likewise, name the block NACA_0019.sldblk.
10 New part.

Change the units to feet & inches. Save the part and name it Wing.

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Lesson 5

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Working with Curves

11 Reference plane.

Create a reference plane offset from the Right plane a Distance of 4

feet.

Name this plane Root.

12 New sketch.
13 Insert block.
Click Tools, Blocks, Insert.

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Open a new sketch on the Root reference plane.

Browse to the Curve Data folder and select

NACA_0018.sldblk.
Under Parameters, set the Scale to 19.6.

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Since the airfoil sketch had a chord length of 1

unit, in this case 1 foot, a Scale of 19.6 scales the
airfoil to 19.6 feet which is the length of the
chord at the root of the wing.
Click the Origin to insert the block.
Click OK.

14 Offset plane.

Create a reference plane offset 45 feet from the Root reference plane.
Name this plane Tip.

15 New sketch.

Open a new sketch on the Tip reference plane.

16 Define the insertion point.

As you can see from the

drawing at the right, the cross
section of the tip has to be
positioned aft and up to
accommodate the taper and
dihedral angle of the wing.

Do

No

Insert a sketch point and

dimension it as shown below.

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SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

17 Insert block.
Click Tools, Blocks, Insert.

Browse to the Curve Data folder and select NACA_0010.sldblk.

Under Parameters, set the Scale to 7.25.

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This scales the airfoil to 7.25 feet which is the length of the chord at the
tip of the wing.
Click the sketch point to insert the block.

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Click OK.

Exit the sketch.

18 Loft.

Loft will be covered in detail in Lesson 7: Lofts.

However, we are creating a simple loft here so we
can see the finished wing.
Click Features > Loft

Select the two sketches being careful to pick in

roughly the same location on corresponding entities in each sketch.

Do

No

Click OK.

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Working with Curves

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19 Save and close the part.

Equation Driven
Curves

Using equation driven curves

you can create splines that
are defined by equations.

Introducing:
Equation Driven
Curve

The equations for equation driven curves can be either Explicit where
Y is a function of X, or Parametric where X, Y, and Z are functions of
T. If you create a parametric equation driven curve in a 2D sketch, only
X and Y can be defined.
3D sketches support parametric equations only.

No

You can use any functions that are supported in the Equations dialog
box. For example: D1@Sketch1*sin(t).

Where to Find It

CommandManager: Sketch > Spline

> Equation Driven

Curve

Do

Menu: Tools, Sketch Entities, Equation Driven Curve

New part.

Open a new part using the Part_MM template. Name it Wave Spring
Washer.
2

3D sketch.

Create a new 3D Sketch and change the view orientation to Isometric.

164

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

Equation driven curve.

Click Equation Driven Curve

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. Enter the
parametric equations shown at the right and
click OK.

What do the
Equations Mean?

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In a 3D sketch, Xt, Yt, and Zt are interpreted with respect to the model
coordinate system. The equations for Xt and Zt together define a circle.
The value 14 is the radius of that circle.
The equation for Yt defines a cosine curve. (The only difference
between a sine curve and a cosine curve is the phase the cosine
curves is shifted 90 out of phase compared to the sine curve as
illustrated below.)

Cosine curve

Sine curve

No

In the equation for Yt, 1.25*cos(5*t), the value 1.25 is the amplitude
of the curve. As written, the amplitude is centered with respect to Y=0.
If you wanted to offset the amplitude you would add an offset value.
For example, 1.25*cos(5*t)+2 would center the curve with respect to
Y=2 causing it to oscillate between Y=0.75 and Y=3.25.

Do

The value 5 is the angular frequency. A sine curve is a periodic curve

completing one oscillation in 2* radians. The value 5 causes the curve
to complete five oscillations in 2* radians.
The parameter t1 defines the start of the curve and t2 defines the end, in
radians.

Fully define the sketch.

Select the curve and click Fix

PropertyManager.

in the Add Relations section of the

165

Lesson 5

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Working with Curves

Second curve.

I
I
I
I
I

Xt = 17.5*sin(t)
Yt = 1.25*cos(5*t)
Zt = 17.5*cos(t)
t1 = 0
t2 = pi

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Create a second equation driven curve using the

following equations:

Add a Fixed relation to this curve as well.

Exit the sketch.
6

Profile sketch.

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Open a 2D sketch on the Right

reference plane.

Sketch a rectangle and dimension it as

shown.

Add Pierce relations between the

midpoints of the two vertical lines and
the equation driven curves.
Exit the sketch.

Sweep.

Select the 2D sketch for the

Profile.

Using the SelectionManager,

select the inner curve for the
Path and the outer curve for the
Guide Curve.

For Orientation/twist type,

select Follow path and 1st
guide curve.

166

Orientation and twist options

will be covered in more detail
in Lesson 6: Advanced
Sweeping.

No

Do

Note

Click OK.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 5
Working with Curves

Mirror.

Why didnt we create the two

equation driven curves through
a full 360 (2* radians)?

Question

ibu
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Mirror the body with respect to

the Right reference plane to
complete the part.

Because there is a limitation in

equation driven curves that
does not allow closed curves curves where the starting and ending
points are merged.

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We could have created a second set of equation

driven curves but that would have been more
work than simply mirroring the swept body.
Save and close the part.

Do

No

167

Exercise 16

SolidWorks 2012

Worm Gear

Exercise 16:
Worm Gear

Procedure

Creating a Helix on page 155.

Sketch Blocks on page 161.

Sweeping on page 100.

ibu
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This lab reinforces the following

skills:

Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it

Worm Gear.
Extrude a cylinder.

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The ends of the finished gear are

symmetrical, so use the Midplane
end condition.

Offset plane and sketch.

The plan is to make the helix longer

than the final gear and then trim it to
size. To accomplish that, create a
plane offset from the end of the
cylinder, open a sketch on it, and
convert the edge of the cylinder into
the sketch.

Create the helix.

Do

No

Be sure to use sufficient revolutions

so the helix extends beyond the far
end of the cylinder.

168

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 16
Worm Gear

Gear tooth profile.

Insert the block Gear Tooth

Profile.sldblk that is located in
the Exercises folder of this
lesson.

ibu
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Create a plane normal to the end

of the helix and open a new
sketch.

Add a Pierce relation between the helix

and the sketch point in the block.

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Add a Perpendicular relation between

the long construction line and the axis of
the cylinder.

Sweep.

No

Sweep the gear tooth profile

along the helix.

Do

Cut off the excess.

Sketch a rectangle. Make the

two vertical sides Colinear with
then ends of the basic cylinder.
Make sure the two horizontal
sides are outside and clear of the
gear teeth.
Extrude a Through All cut
using the option Flip side to
cut.

169

Exercise 16

SolidWorks 2012

Worm Gear

Extrude a boss.

Open a sketch on the cut end of the

gear. Sketch a circle and make it
Coradial with the edge of the cylinder.

Extrude another boss.

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This boss is concentric with

the previous boss. Refer to
the illustration for
dimensions.

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Extrude a boss 3mm.

Mirror.

Mirror the bosses you created in

the previous two steps.

Do

No

10 Save and close.

170

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 17
D-cell Flashlight Spring

Exercise 17:
D-cell Flashlight
Spring

Using a helix with a variable pitch

and diameter, create a spring for a Dcell flashlight.

Procedure

Creating a Helix on page 155.

Sweeping on page 100.

ibu
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This lab reinforces the following

skills:

Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it

Flashlight_Spring.
1

Create the helix.

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Create a variable pitch helix defined by pitch and revolution.

Pitch

Revolution

Diameter

0.5mm

40mm

2.0mm

40mm

5.0mm

35mm

5mm

4.5

22.5mm

0.001mm

15mm

Sweep the spring.

The wire diameter is 1.25mm.

Save and close the part.

Do

No

171

Exercise 18

SolidWorks 2012

Water Bottle Cage

Exercise 18:
Water Bottle
Cage

ibu
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In this exercise you will model the wire portion of a

water bottle cage for a bicycle. Although the
illustration shows the mounting clips and a water
bottle, those components are not relevant to the
objectives of the lesson so you will not be modeling
them.
This lab reinforces the following skills:
I

Sketching Splines on page 8.

Projected Curve on page 143.

Sweeping on page 100.

Procedure

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Units: millimeters

Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it Water

Bottle Cage.

New sketch.

Open a new sketch on the Top

reference plane.

Sketch and dimension a circle as

shown.
Note the location of the Origin.
Use symmetry to maintain the
orientation of the 40 angle.

The vertical centerline will be used

in the next sketch.

Sketch the second profile.

Open a new sketch on the Front

reference plane.

Do

No

The sketch consists of a short,

horizontal line starting at the
Origin, a tangent arc, and a
spline.

172

Add a Pierce relation between the

bottom end of the rightmost
centerline and the vertical
centerline in the previous sketch.
Use curvature display and sketch
relations to control the shape of
the spline.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 18
Water Bottle Cage

Projected curve.

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Create a projected curve using the two

sketches.

Sweep profile.

Sketch a circle on the Front reference plane.

Relate it to the projected curve with a Pierce

relation and dimension it.

Sweep.

Do

No

Save and close the part.

173

Exercise 19

SolidWorks 2012

3D Sketching

Exercise 19:
3D Sketching

Create this by following

the steps as shown.

Procedure

3D Sketching on
page 136.

Sweeping on
page 100.

ibu
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This lab reinforces the

following skills:

Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it

3D Sketching.
New 3D sketch.

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Create a new 3D Sketch and change the view orientation to Isometric.

Sketch lines.

Click the Line tool and start the first

line at the Origin. Sketch the line in
the X direction of the Front
reference plane.

Switch planes.

Begin dragging the second line to see the

space handle.
Press the Tab key to switch from the
default Front plane to the other planes.

No

Switch to the Right plane orientation and

sketch along the Z axis.

Do

174

Continue lines.

Continue sketching lines and

switching planes so that you are
always sketching on X, Y or Z in the
appropriate direction.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 19
3D Sketching

Relation.
Add a Coincident relation between

Dimensions.

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Dimension the true length

of the lines as shown to
fully define the sketch.
Select the endpoints of
the lines or the lines
themselves.

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the endpoint and line shown at the

right.

Fillets.

Add 20mm fillets at the

vertex points.

Exit the 3D sketch.

Profile sketch.

No

Create a new plane

normal to the 3D
sketch and coincident
to its endpoint.

Do

Sketch a circle of
diameter 15mm.

175

Exercise 19

SolidWorks 2012

3D Sketching

10 Sweep.

Optional

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Sweep the circle section

along the 3D path.

Edit the profile sketch of the sweep to create a thin wall.

11 Edit sketch.

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Edit the profile sketch and add a concentric

circle, diameter 20mm.
Exit the sketch.

12 Modified sweep.

The concentric circles

form a thin wall in the
sweep.

Do

No

13 Save and close the part.

176

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 20
3D Sketching with Planes

Create this part by following the steps as shown.

This lab reinforces the following skills:
3D Sketching on page 136.

Using Reference Planes on page 136.

Sweeping on page 100.

ibu
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No

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Exercise 20:
3D Sketching
with Planes

Do

Planning Ahead

Procedure

Often times when 3D sketching you will need reference planes other
than the three default ones. Whenever possible, it is a good idea to
create these before you start 3D sketching. This usually requires some
preplanning as well as some construction geometry.
Open an existing part named 3DSketchAngle.

177

Exercise 20

SolidWorks 2012

3D Sketching with Planes

Reference plane.

Create a reference plane at a 15 angle to the Right reference plane,

passing through the leftmost 100mm construction line as shown below.

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Name the plane Angle 15.

Second reference plane.

Create a second reference plane at a 60 angle to the Front reference

plane, passing through the rearmost 150mm construction line as shown
below.

Do

No

Name the plane Angle 60.

178

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 20
3D Sketching with Planes

3
4

New 3D sketch.
Create a new 3D Sketch and change the view orientation to Isometric.
Sketching a line.

Drag the line using the Along

X marker
to keep it on the
X axis of model space.
End the line so it is
Coincident with the end of

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the construction line.

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Click the Line tool and start

sketching at the Origin of the
sketch.

Switching Sketch
Planes

To review switching sketch planes in 3D sketches, please see the topic

Using Reference Planes on page 136.

Switch sketch planes.

Press the Ctrl key and click
the plane named Angle 15.

When you start sketching the

next line, the space handle
will be aligned with the
reference plane named Angle
15.
Drag the line using the
Vertical marker
to keep it
on the Y axis of the active
plane.
Look at the cursor

The green square indicates that you have selected a plane for
sketching.
The On Surface symbol indicates you are capturing an On
Surface relation between the line and the plane.

No

Do

179

Exercise 20

SolidWorks 2012

3D Sketching with Planes

Continue sketching.

to keep it on the X axis of

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Drag the line using the Horizontal marker

the active plane.

Add relation.
Deselect the Line tool.

Do

No

Add an On Plane relation between the end of the line and the
Angle 60 reference plane.

180

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 20
3D Sketching with Planes

Activate the Angle 60 plane.

Double-click the Angle 60 reference plane. This becomes the active

sketch plane.

Then sketch a Vertical line as shown.

ibu
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Sketch a Horizontal line starting Coincident with the endpoint of the

previous line. Drag this line beyond the Right reference plane.
Horizontal and Vertical are interpreted with respect to the active
sketch plane, not model space. The Angle 15 and Top reference planes

Note

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are hidden for clarity.

Add relations.

Deselect the Line tool. Add an On Plane relation between the end of
the angled line and the Top reference plane.
The two angled planes were hidden for illustration purposes.

Do

No

Note

181

Exercise 20

SolidWorks 2012

3D Sketching with Planes

10 Continue sketching.
Deactivate the Angle 60 reference plane by double-clicking an empty

area of the graphics window.

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Starting at the end of the angled line, sketch along the model X axis
ending the line so it is Coincident with the corner of the Setup sketch.

11 One more line.

Press Ctrl and click the Right reference plane. Sketch the final line so
it is approximately perpendicular to the Angle 60 plane.

Do

No

Add a Perpendicular relation between the line and the Angle 60

plane.

182

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 20
3D Sketching with Planes

12 Add dimensions.

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Dimension the sketch as shown below. This fully defines the sketch.

13 Fillet.
Add 30mm fillets to all six corners.

No

14 Sweep.

Do

Create a circle profile and

use the sweep command to
complete the exercise.

15 Save and close the part.

183

Exercise 21

SolidWorks 2012

Blower Housing

Exercise 21:
Blower Housing

Create this by following the steps as

shown.
Helix and Spiral on page 142.

Sweep with Guide Curves on

page 103.

Sweeping Along Model Edges on

page 213.

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This lab reinforces the following skills:

Getting Started

With some models, where you should start is not obvious.

You may find it very tempting to start building your sweep by drawing
the sweep profile first. It is best practice, however, to create the path
and guide curves first so that the profile appears at the right point in
history to apply Pierce relations to make the sweep work. This can
present some difficulties because it is often helpful to use the profile to
help build the path and guide curves.
If you find that you must build the profile first and use it to construct
the path and guide curves, you can copy the original profile to a new
sketch which is driven by the path and guide curves.

In this part, the overall shape is a flat spiral, but the cross section of the
involute shape changes in two directions as the sweep progresses.
Making the profile grow taller around the sweep will mean that we use
a spiral for the path and a spiral of a slightly larger pitch for the first
guide curve. Making the sweep grow in width will be the work of a
helix.
Open a new part from the Part_IN template and name it
Blower Housing.

No

Procedure

Do

Create the path.

The path should be the smallest spiral,

since it is best practice to sweep to the
outside of a curve when you can.
Sweeping to the inside of a curve can
create self-intersecting geometry if the
curvature of the path is too small.
Sketch a circle on the Front reference
plane with a 4 inch diameter centered
at the Origin, as shown.

184

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 21
Blower Housing

I
I
I
I

For Defined By click Spiral.

For Pitch enter 0.750.
For Revolutions enter 1.
For Start angle enter 0 and
click Counterclockwise.

Create the first guide curve.

ibu
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Next use the Helix/Spiral tool with

the sketched circle to create a spiral
with the settings below:

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Draw a second circle again on the Front reference plane, this time with
a 5 inch diameter centered at the Origin.

Use the settings below to create a second spiral which will function as a
guide curve:
I
I
I
I

For Defined By click Spiral.

For Pitch enter 1.500.
For Revolutions enter 1.
For Start angle enter 0 and click Counterclockwise.

Create the second guide curve.

Create a new plane with an Offset Distance of

0.200 from the Front reference plane.
Name it Helix_Plane.

Draw a third circle on Helix_Plane, with a

4.5 diameter, again centered at the Origin.
This time create a helix with the settings
shown.

For Defined By click Height and Revolution.

Constant pitch
For Height enter 0.500.
For Revolutions enter 1.
For Start angle enter 0 and click Counterclockwise.

No

I
I

Do

You do not need to make a tapered helix to compensate for the

increasing diameter. We will accommodate that in the profile sketch.
You should now have two spirals and a helix.

185

Exercise 21

SolidWorks 2012

Blower Housing

Draw the profile.

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Open a sketch on the Top reference plane, and sketch a rectangle with
two tangent arcs on the horizontal ends, turning two of the lines of the
rectangle to construction geometry as shown.

To create involute shape, the spirals will drive the X dimension, so as

the spirals get progressively further apart from one another, the X
dimension of the sketch gets larger.
The Y dimension will be driven by the helix.

Add sketch points to the profile sketch.

Add sketch points to the midpoints of the vertical lines. The

points allow the spirals to drive the X dimension. The midpoint
relations enable the Y dimension to be driven symmetrically.

Add Pierce relations to

spirals.
Next, add Pierce relations

No

between the sketch points and

the spirals.

Do

Note

186

The helix has been hidden for

clarity.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 21
Blower Housing

Add another sketch point to the profile.

Add a sketch point to the construction line as

shown

Add Pierce relation to

helix.
Add a Pierce relation

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between the new sketch

point and the helix. Make
sure to select the helix in
the graphics window near
the end where you want
the point to touch it.
There are three locations
on the plane where the
pierce would be correct:
either end and the
midpoint of the helix.

ibu
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Do not place the point at the midpoint of the line,

just on the line so that it only gets a Coincident
relation. The point needs to be able to control the
Y dimension and be able to slide back and forth,
since the helix does not increase in diameter, but
the spirals do.

Important!

Create the sweep.

Use the small spiral as the path, the large spiral as

the first guide curve, and the helix as the second
guide curve.
Check the intermediate profiles to see how the
profile sketch follows the guide curves
parametrically.

Do

No

Also notice that the helix on one side drives the

width of the involute symmetrically.

187

Exercise 21

SolidWorks 2012

Blower Housing

10 Extrude the outlet.

Open a sketch on the outlet end

of the involute, select the end
face, and click Convert
Entities.
Rename this feature Outlet.

11 Offset.

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Open a new sketch on the Front

reference plane.

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Now extrude the sketch 2.25.

Select the smaller spiral from the

FeatureManager design tree, and
create a sketch offset at 0.200.

12 Complete the sketch.

Complete the sketch with horizontal

and vertical lines as shown.

Trim the lines and the spline to create

a closed profile.

Do

No

13 Create the body.

Create a Mid-Plane extrusion
with a Depth of 0.900.

188

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 21
Blower Housing

14 Draw outlet ring sweep profile.

Open a new sketch on the Front reference

plane.
Switch to Hidden Lines Removed to make
the sketch more visible.
Notice the sketch penetrates the solid body.
In SolidWorks, sweeps are not always exact,
so it is best practice to avoid creating lineon-line geometry. In this case, make the
sweep interfere slightly with the main body
to make sure that the new feature merges.

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Tip

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Create a Pierce relation between the endpoint of the arc and the edge of
the Outlet.
Edge of Outlet

15 Sweep the outlet ring.

Select the sketch from the

previous step as the profile and
the pierced edge as the path.

Use the option Tangent

propagation so the sweep will

No

continue along the tangent

edges, much like a fillet.

Do

The result of the sweep is

shown in a different color for
illustration purposes.

189

Exercise 21

SolidWorks 2012

Blower Housing

16 Create extrusion.

Open a sketch on the flat face as shown.

Sketch a circle centered on the Origin with a diameter of 4.75.

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Extrude the sketch a Depth of 0.550 with Draft of 5.

17 Mirror the feature.

Mirror the extruded boss about the Front reference plane.

Splitting a Face

A split line is used to divide model faces into two. Split lines are
created like any other sketched feature. They can be one or more
connected sketch entities. They must be oriented so that they will pass
through model faces when projected normal to the sketch plane.

Introducing:
Split Line

Split Line uses one or more curves to split one model face into two.

Where to Find It

The curves are sketched on a plane and projected onto the faces to be
split.
I

Do

No

CommandManager: Features > Curves

Menu: Insert, Curve, Split Line

190

> Split Line

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 21
Blower Housing

18 Split line.

Open a sketch on the Front reference plane.

Draw a circle centered on the Origin with a diameter of 3.25.
Create a Split Line feature splitting the two flat faces as shown.

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Make sure the Single Direction option is cleared.

19 Split the Outlet face.

Open a new sketch on the end face of the Outlet.

Select the flat face, and offset the edges by 0.05
to the inside as shown.

Do

No

Create a Split Line feature on the face of the

Outlet.

191

Exercise 21

SolidWorks 2012

Blower Housing

20 Add fillets.

Do

No

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Add fillets as shown.

192

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 21
Blower Housing

21 Shell.

Shell the part using a Thickness of 0.050.

Notice that at the transition from the

involute scroll to the straight outlet,
there is a bit of tangent discontinuity.
To correct for this, try using a spline to
flow smoothly between the spiral and
the straight line. A similar technique
was shown in the coil spring case
study.

No

Tip

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For the Faces to Remove, select the three faces that were created by
the split lines in step 18 and step 19.

Do

22 Save and close the part.

193

Exercise 21

SolidWorks 2012

Do

No

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Blower Housing

194

ibu
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Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Understand and apply orientation and twist control options to
achieve the desired results when sweeping.

Understand and apply the path alignment options when sweeping.

Understand the role of guide curves in controlling twist.

Do

No

195

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

Advanced Sweeping

When creating sweeps, controlling the orientation of the sketch profile

is very important, and for certain types of sweeps it may seem difficult.
To control the sweep, it is important to understand what sweeps are
doing that effects twisting and orientation.
One way to think of, and even
better, to describe, is to put it in
terms of degrees of freedom and
the attitude of an airplane.

Yaw

Path

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Pitch and yaw are defined by the

orientation of the profiles sketch
plane to the path. As the sweep
progresses, it is the path that
controls pitch and yaw.

Profile

ibu
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Orientation and
Twist Control

Pitch
Roll is the twisting or spinning of
Roll
the profile around the path.
Generally the challenge is to either induce twist, or prevent it. This is
done using options or guide curves.

Sweeps are created from a series of intermediate sections made by

replicating the profile at various positions along the path. The
intermediate sections are then blended together. In this sense, you can
think of sweeps as an automated set-up for a loft. This is an
oversimplification of what happens, and there are special cases where
other types of functions are used, but it will do for the purposes of
understanding how to set up a successful sweep.
Intermediate sections are referred to several times in this section in
situations where SolidWorks does not actually display them.
Intermediate sections can only be displayed for sweeps with guide
curves. However, visualizing the intermediate sections is a good way to
understand the final geometry and reasons for why a sweep might fail,
such as self-intersection.

Do

No

Intermediate
Sections

196

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

Follow Path

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Intermediate sections for sweeps using a planar path maintain the

relation of the initial profile to the path throughout the sweep. If the
profile sketch is perpendicular to the beginning of the sweep path, then
the rest of the intermediate sections are also perpendicular to the sweep
path. If the profile is at an angle, so are the intermediate sections.

The Keep Normal Constant option keeps the intermediate sections

parallel to the original profile.

Do

No

Keep Normal
Constant

197

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

Advanced Sweeping

The default Orientation/twist type is Follow Path. This is appropriate

and good for many sweeps, especially simple ones. For example,
consider sweeping a simple tube. As you can see in the illustration
below, the circular profile stays normal to the centerline (path) of the
tube.

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Which to Use?

Do

No

However, when the Orientation/twist type is set to Keep Normal

Constant, the tube is distorted. Clearly this is not appropriate for this
type of sweep.

198

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

One situation where Keep

Normal Constant is the
correct choice is when
sweeping a rib. Consider this
example: the entire part
base, bosses, and rib
requires 5 of draft.

Procedure

Open the part Keep Normal Constant.

Edit feature.
Edit the Sweep1 feature. The Orientation/twist type is set to Follow
Path.

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When to Use Keep

Normal Constant

Click Cancel.

Edit Sketch6.
This sketch was created using
the Intersection Curves
command to find the
intersection between the
Right reference plane and
two faces in the part. The
angle dimension was created
by selecting the two ends and the corner of the intersection curves.

Notice that even though the profile had the proper amount of draft built
into it, the side of the rib has less than the required 5 of draft. This is
because as the profile rotates to stay normal to the path, it has the effect
of foreshortening the draft angle.
Exit the sketch.

Edit feature.
Edit the Sweep1 feature.

No

Set the Orientation/twist type to Keep Normal Constant.

Click OK to rebuild the feature.

Do

Edit Sketch6.
Notice that the draft angle is
now correct.

199

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

Advanced Sweeping

Controlling Twist

The concepts of Follow Path and Keep Normal Constant also hold
true for sweeps with 3D paths. However, with a 3D path, there is an
additional degree of freedom how the intermediate sections rotate or
spin around the path.

Do

No

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In other terms, pitch and yaw are controlled by the profiles

relationship to the path, but roll is not.

200

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

Open the part Twist.

Notice how the sweep twists. If the profile had been circular, this may
not have been noticeable.

Do

No

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The goal is to make the rectangular profile remain aligned with Axis1,
such that the faces on the inside and outside of the ring are normal to
the Front reference plane.

201

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

Advanced Sweeping

Predicting twist.

The twist of this part may not be intuitively clear, but it can be
predicted by looking at the curvature comb for the path.
Show the path sketch and the profile sketch.
Show curvature comb for the path spline.

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Notice that the relationship between the curvature comb and the profile
remains approximately constant throughout the sweep.

Turn off the curvature comb display and hide the two sketches.

Minimize twist.

Do

No

Edit the sweep feature, and set the Path

alignment type to Minimum Twist.

202

Section View

Compared to the default setting, Minimum Twist is an improvement,

but not enough. The edges of the cross section should be square to the
display. The profile still does not have an external reference to control
its rotation about the path.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

Since we know that a sweep with a planar path does not twist, we can
use that to prevent the section from spinning.

Using a Planar Path

and Guide Curve to
Control Twist

Create a planar curve for the path.

ibu
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To do this while still keeping the 3D shape of the sweep, we will use
the 3D spline as a guide curve, and a projection of the 3D spline onto
the Front reference plane as the path.
Expand the sweep feature. Show the path sketch, 3DSketch1.

Drag the rollback bar just after the sweep feature and before Sketch1.

You may receive a message telling you the sketches will be temporarily
unabsorbed for editing purposes. If so, click OK.
Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane.

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Use Convert Entities to project the 3D spline onto the sketch plane.

No

Exit the sketch.

Do

Modify the profile sketch.

Drag the rollback bar down between Sketch1 and the

sweep feature.
Edit Sketch1.

203

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

Advanced Sweeping

3D sketch

Edit the sweep feature.

2D sketch

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Keep the same sketch selection for the

Profile.
Select the new 2D sketch for the Path.
Select the 3D sketch for the Guide
Curve.

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Draw a new construction line

which is collinear with the existing
construction line and that extends
to the 2D sketch.
Add a Pierce relation between the
end of the new construction line
and the 2D sketch. In this way, as
the profile is moved around the
path, the construction line will
remain parallel to Axis1.
Exit the sketch.

Examine the resulting sweep.

Do

No

Create various section views and vary the

offset distance to see how the side faces
of the part are oriented.
Also, edit the sweep and show the intermediate sections. Examine how
they are oriented with respect to the path and guide curves.

204

Save and close the part.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

Control Twist with

Guide Curves

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Above we have seen eliminating twist using guide curves and settings.
Next we explore inducing controlled twist and other uses for guide
curves.

When creating a profile sketch for a sweep that you know is going to
have a tendency to twist, it is a good idea to avoid Horizontal, Vertical
and any external sketch relations other than Pierce. This is especially
true for lines that go between the path and guide curves. When a sweep
section twists, horizontal and vertical relations may cause the sketch to
fail because they can not be solved in one or more of the intermediate
positions.

Sketch Relations

But if relations like Parallel and Perpendicular are used, the sketch is
allowed to move and rotate independently from the sketch plane itself.
This often makes the difference between a sweep that works and one
that does not.

Open the part Guide_Curves.

In the part are a profile sketch and three curves.

Do

No

Second guide curve

Profile

First guide curve

Path

205

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

Advanced Sweeping

Predicting twist.

We can predict twist by showing the curvature combs of the path.

However, Show Curvature Combs does not work on a projected
curve, which is what the path is. So we need to make a copy of it as a
spline.

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Open a 3D sketch.
Select the path, Curve2, and click Convert Entities. This creates a
copy of the curve as a spline.
Right-click the spline and click Show Curvature Combs.

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This graphically shows how the path twists which in turn will cause the
profile to twist as it is swept.

Do

No

Exit the sketch discarding the changes.

206

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

Start the Sweep feature.

Select Profile to be used as the sweep profile.

Select Curve2 for the path.

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The sweep follows the path, but it also twists in a way that for this part,
is not useful.

Path alignment.

Expand Options and set the Path alignment type to Minimum twist.

This eliminates some of the twist but the result is still not acceptable.
Select the first guide curve.
Select Curve1 as the first guide curve.

Do

No

Notice how the end of the sweep is distorted. This is because of

Horizontal and Vertical sketch relations in the profile.

207

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

Advanced Sweeping

There are two ways to fix this problem:

I
I

Change the Orientation/twist type option.

Expand Options and under Orientation/twist type, click Follow path
and 1st guide curve.

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Change the Orientation/twist type option.

Edit the profile sketch and remove the problematic horizontal and/
or vertical relations, replacing them with parallel or perpendicular.

This straightens out the sweep because the intermediate sections are no
longer relying on just the path to determine their orientation.
Using the Follow path and 1st guide curve option, the twist
orientation of each intermediate section is determined by a vector
between the path and the first guide curve.

No

Vector that controls

orientation

Do

The option Follow 1st and 2nd guide curves uses the same concept,
except that the alignment is defined by a vector between two guide
curves instead of between the path and first guide curve.

208

Add a second guide curve.

Add Curve3 as the second guide curve. The order

of the curves listed in the list box is important,

especially if using one of the Orientation/Twist
type options that uses guide curves. The order can
be changed by using the arrows on the left side of
the selection list.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

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This curve controls the height of the sweep as it moves along the path.
In this example, the height of the section affects the radius of the arcs
on the top of the profile sketch. This is done with construction
geometry and an Equal relation.

Click OK.

An alternate method for

straightening out the sweep is to
edit the Profile sketch, remove
the problematic Horizontal and
Vertical sketch relations, and
replace them with Parallel and
Perpendicular as appropriate.

Do

No

Alternative Method

Results.

With this approach you would not

use the Follow path and 1st
guide curve option but you
would still use the guide curves.

209

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

Advanced Sweeping

Edit the Profile sketch.

View the sketch relations.

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Select the two Vertical relations

and delete them.

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Delete these relations

10 Add relations.

Select the construction line and

the long sketch line as shown
in the illustration at the right.

Add a Perpendicular relation.

Select these lines

11 Add relations.

Select the two construction lines

as shown.
Add a Parallel relation.

12 Exit the sketch.

Do

No

13 Edit the Sweep1 feature.

Change the Orientation/twist
type to Follow Path and the
Path alignment type to
Minimum twist.

210

Select these lines

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

Neither technique is really better than the other. Best practice is to

avoid using Horizontal and Vertical relations in the profile sketch,
using Parallel and Perpendicular instead. Thats good sketching
technique for sweeps that follow 3D paths. And, use guide curves
together with the Orientation/twist type options to control twist
either to induce it or to eliminate it. To really master sweeping along
3D paths, you need to be comfortable employing both techniques.

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Best Practice

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14 Add shell and fillet features to complete the part.

I Fillet radius = 0.150
I Wall thickness = 0.150

15 Save and exit the part.

Twist along Path

Use the Twist along Path option

to twist any sweep. It can also be
used to prevent sweeps from
twisting, by setting the amount of
twist to zero.

No

Twist along Path can be used on

Do

complex 3D spline paths (far right

image) as well as on straight line
paths (near right).

211

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

Advanced Sweeping

The twist can be defined by a value of Degrees, Radians or Turns

along the entire length of the path.

Defining Twist

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Path

Profile

Open the part Twisted Ring.

It contains two sketches:

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I
I

Sketch2 is the Profile

Sketch3 is the Path

Sweep.
Click Cut Sweep

and
create a simple cut sweep
using the default Follow Path
option.

Edit Cut-Sweep1
feature.
Edit the Cut-Sweep1

No

feature and set the

Orientation/twist type to
Twist Along Path.

Do

Use Define by: Turns

and 15 turns.

212

Click OK.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

Completed.

You are probably wondering what the

option Align with End Faces is used for.
Consider this simple example. Suppose
you wanted to create a cut by sweeping a
profile along the edge of a model as
illustrated at the right.

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Align with End

Faces

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Complete the model by

adding a R0.013fillet to the
edges of the cut feature.

If you use Align with End Faces, the cut

continues all the way through to the end
face of the model. This is similar to the
Through All end condition used in
extruded features. This is usually desirable
and is why this option is selected by default
when you are sweeping a cut.

No

If you do not use Align with End Faces,

the cut terminates when the profile reaches
the end of the path, leaving a small lip of
uncut material.

Do

The reason we did not use Align with End

Faces when sweeping the threads is there

Sweeping
Along Model
Edges

were no end faces for the boss to align

with. Using it in that case could have
forced the system to give an incorrect
result. Fortunately, Align with End Faces
is deselected by default when sweeping a boss.
There is something else this example shows: model edges are valid
entities for a sweep path. They can be selected directly, without
copying them into a sketch.

213

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

Advanced Sweeping

When you select a model edge as a sweep path, an additional option

becomes available in the Sweep dialog. This option is Tangent
propagation and it serves the same function as the similar option in
filleting. If you select a single segment of the edge, this option causes
the sweep to continue along the adjacent, tangent edges.

What if the Edges

Arent Tangent?

Consider a situation where you want to run a

swept feature around a number of edges, not all
of which are tangent. The Sweep Path
selection list only accepts one selection if you
use the conventional method of selecting it in
the graphics window. Use the
SelectionManager to select all the edges as a
closed loop.

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Propagate Along
Tangent Edges

Open the part align end faces.

Sweep the cut.

Click Swept Cut

Cut, Sweep.

or click Insert,

Select the circle as the Profile.

SelectionManager.

Do

No

Right-click in the graphics area and

click SelectionManager from the
shortcut menu.

214

Click Select Group

and select
the uppermost edge that coincides
with the center of the profile circle.
Click the Tangent icon

The system selects the tangent chain

of edges.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

Remaining edges.

Next select the remaining edges to

complete the path.

This completes the definition of the

group.

Preview and results.

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Click OK using the right mouse

on the
button
, or click OK
SelectionManager.

Click OK.

Save and exit the part.

No

Sweeping a
Tool Body

You can sweep a solid tool body along a path to make a swept cut using
the Solid sweep option. One common application is creating cuts
around cylindrical bodies such as on a drill bit.

Do

The Solid sweep option has some specific requirements:

1. It is only available for swept cuts.
2. The tool body must:
I Be a revolved feature.
I Contain only analytical geometry (lines and arcs).
I Not be merged with the model.
3. The path must be tangent within itself (no sharp corners) and must
begin at a point on or within the tool bodys profile.

215

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

Advanced Sweeping

Open the part Drill_Bit.

The part consists of two

disjoint solid bodies:
I
I

Tool body

One representing the body

of the drill bit.
One representing the tool
that will cut the flutes.

Examine the geometry.

Drill body

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The path is a helix defined by a

circle that was sketched on a
plane that is parallel to the Front
reference plane and coincident
with the vertex at the tip of the
drill body.

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The sketch for the revolved tool body

is on a plane that is normal to the path
and coincident with the end of the path.
There are two relations on the
lowermost end of the construction line:

I
I

Coincident to the arc

Pierce to the path

Do

No

The angle of the sketch is controlled by

the 1mm dimension between the
construction line and the vertex of the
drill body.

216

Path

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 6
Advanced Sweeping

Sweep the cut.

Click Swept Cut

or click Insert, Cut, Sweep.

Under Profile and Path, click Solid sweep.

Select the tool body as the Profile.

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Select the helix as the Path.

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Under Options you can click Show preview,

although it is off by default because generating
the preview is fairly time consuming.

Click OK.

Results.

The results of the sweep are shown

at the right. The tool body is
absorbed into the resulting sweep
feature.

Circular pattern.

Make a circular pattern of the cut sweep feature. Use the cylindrical
face of the drill bit body as the Pattern axis.

No

Use two instances evenly spaced through 360.

Do

The results are shown below using RealView graphics.

217

Lesson 6

SolidWorks 2012

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Advanced Sweeping

Save and close the part.

Do

No

218

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 22
Makeup Case

Exercise 22:
Makeup Case

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This is a concept model for a cosmetics case such as one that powder or
rouge would be packaged in. As such, it is a single, monolithic solid
with no internal components or details, much like the USB flash drive
you worked on in Exercise 10: Split Part on page 96.

Thanks to Keith Pedersen at Computer-Aided Products, Inc. for submitting this example.

This lab reinforces the following skills:

I

Split Line on page 190.

Sketch Blocks on page 161.

Orientation and Twist Control on page 196.

Units: millimeters

Procedure

Use the following procedure:

Open the part Makeup Case.

This part represents the
conceptual design of the product.

No

Do

Edit sketch.

Edit the Groove Path

sketch.
Use Fit Spline to
convert the two lines and
the arc to a spline.

219

Exercise 22

SolidWorks 2012

Makeup Case

Split line.

Use the active sketch to spit the

uppermost face of the solid.

The challenge is to sweep the

profile and maintain the correct
orientation with respect to the
uppermost face of the part.
4

Reference plane and sketch.

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Create a reference plane normal

to the end of the split line.

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This edge will be the sweep path

for the groove.

Open a sketch and insert the

block named Groove Profile
located in the Exercises folder
of this lesson.

Add relation.
Add a Pierce relation between the split

line and the sketch point in the block.

View normal to.

Change the view so it is normal to the

sketch and zoom in on the sketch block.

No

Drag the block. See how it is free to rotate

with respect to the split line (the sweep
path)? This is the degree of freedom you
must control in order to successfully
sweep the profile.

Do

220

Add relation.

Add a Coincident relation between

the split line and the end of the
construction line (center of the arc).
Exit the sketch.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 22
Makeup Case

Sweep a cut.

Sweep a cut using the default settings:

I
I

View the results.

The results are not good. The profile

twists as it moves along the path,
distorting the shape of the groove.
10 Edit feature.

Edit the sweep feature and change the

Path alignment type to All Faces.

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This causes the profile to maintain the

proper orientation along the path.

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Orientation/twist = Follow Path

Path alignment type = None

11 Mirror.

No

Mirror the swept cut with respect to the Front reference plane.

Do

12 Save and close the part.

221

Exercise 23

SolidWorks 2012

Mouse

Exercise 23:
Mouse

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This is a concept model for a computer mouse. As such, it is a single,

monolithic solid with no internal components or details. The task is to
create a reveal using a swept cut feature.

This lab reinforces the following skills:

I

Orientation and Twist Control on page 196.

Control Twist with Guide Curves on page 205.

Sketch Relations on page 205.

Units: millimeters

Procedure

Use the following procedure:

1
2

Open the part Imported Mouse.

This part represents the conceptual design of the product.
Sweep the cut.

Do

No

Sweep a 0.5mm square profile along the edge of the model to create the
reveal, shown in orange below. Try to complete this exercise without
referring to the answer on the following pages.

222

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 23
Mouse

Answer

If you were not able to control the twisting of the profile to create a
satisfactory sweep, follow the steps below.
1

Composite curve.

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Create a composite curve using the edges of the mouse. This will be the
guide curve.

Because of the shape of the path, you can anticipate that the profile will
tend to twist when it is swept. This means two things:
I
I

Avoid horizontal and vertical relations in the profile sketch

Use a guide curve

Create the guide curve.

The guide curve has to be created before the sweep profile so you can
relate the profile to it.
Open a sketch on the Top reference plane.

Do

No

Use Convert Entities to copy the edges of the mouse into the sketch.

223

Exercise 23

SolidWorks 2012

Mouse

Sketch the sweep profile.

Open a sketch on the Right

Sketch a 3 Point Corner

Rectangle and make it a square by
adding an Equal relation between
two adjacent sides. This is an easy
way to avoid unwanted horizontal
and vertical relations.
4

Pierce relations.

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Sketch a centerline and add a

Colinear relation between it and
the side of the square.

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reference plane.

Add Pierce relations between the

corner of the square and the
composite curve, and between the
bottom end of the centerline and
the guide curve.

Dimension.
Add a 0.5mm dimension to one

side of the square.

Sweep the cut using the guide curve.

Do

No

224

Save and close the part.

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Lesson 7
Lofts

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Create a boss by lofting between profile sketches.

Model complex shapes using advanced lofting techniques.

Use Split Entities to divide a sketch curve.

Use the Deviation Analysis tool to compare faces along edges.

Do

No

225

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

Both sweeping and lofting are capable of creating complex shapes.

Which tool you use to build a particular part depends primarily on what
design information you have to work with. There are also some general
differences between sweeping and lofting that will influence which
method to use. In essence:
I
I

Sweeping uses a single profile sketch.

Lofting uses multiple profile sketches.

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Lofting and
Sweeping:
Whats the
Difference?

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Consider the first feature of a plastic bottle such as the one we worked
on in Lesson 4: Introduction to Sweeping. If the design data you are
working with consists of the two curves that describe the outline of the
bottle as seen from the front and side, and the cross section is similar
throughout the shape, you can create the feature using sweep, with
guide curves controlling the major and minor axes of the elliptical
section.

If the design data you are working with consists of a set of cross sections,
you can use loft to build the part. This is especially useful when the cross
sections are dissimilar, although that is not the case in this example.

Do

No

Starting with this?

Use Sweep.

226

Starting with this?

Use Loft.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

It may be helpful to think of extrudes and revolves as being analogous

to lines and arcs, and lofts being analogous to splines. In the same way
that splines interpolate curves between points, lofts interpolate surfaces
between profiles.

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How Lofting
Works

Spline interpolated through points

Surface lofted through profiles

This explains why if you start with

four profiles like this:

No

You end up with this:

Do

Instead of this:

227

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

Lofting enables you to create features

that are defined by multiple crosssectional profiles. The system
constructs the feature a boss, a cut or a
surface feature by building the feature
between the sketches. Lofts and sweeps
are often referred to as interpolating
features because they interpolate face
geometry between the profiles.

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Basic Lofting

Do

No

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We are given the dimensions of the bottom, top, and an intermediate

section of this part, as well as its height. This sort of problem lends
itself very well to lofting.

228

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

Stages in the
Process

The major steps in this operation are:

I

Create the profiles.

Optionally create guide curves.

ibu
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Loft profiles may be made from 2D or 3D sketches, edges, curve

features or faces. For best results the profiles should be made up of the
same number of entities and you should give some thought to how the
entities will map one to the other during the loft. To save time, the
sketches have already been created for this example.
Guide curves can optionally be used with lofting to give more control
over the transitions between the profiles.
I

Insert loft between profiles.

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Where you select each profile and the order in which you select them is
important.

Introducing: Loft

Inserting a Loft creates a boss, cut or surface using profiles and

optionally, guide curves. The loft is first created between the profiles
and optional guides provide additional control over how the shape in
between the profiles is generated.

Where to Find It

I
I
I
I

Procedure

CommandManager: Features > Lofted Boss/Base

CommandManager: Features > Lofted Cut
Menu: Insert, Boss/Base, Loft
Menu: Insert, Cut, Loft

Consider the following procedure:

Open the part Defroster Vent.

Do

No

It contains three profile sketches as shown.

Insert a loft.

Click Lofted Boss/Base

229

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

Loft PropertyManager.
Click in the Profiles list and select the three

sketches in the graphics window. You should

pick in roughly the same location on
corresponding entities in each sketch.
When lofting three or more sketches they have
to be in the proper sequence. If the profiles are
not in the correct order in the list, you can
reposition them using the Up and Down buttons.

Tip

Although Show preview improves visualization

as you select the profiles, with complex shapes,
the preview tends to slow the system response.
Loft connectors.

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Note

As you select the sketches, the system generates

a connector showing which vertices on the
sketches will be connected during the loft. Pay
close attention to this connector because it will
show you if the loft is going to twist, and it will
enable you to correct twists or selection errors
just by dragging the dot. A callout also appears
to identify the profiles.

Click Thin Feature.

No

Do

Set the Thickness to 0.090

inches. Make sure the
thickness is added to the
outside of the profiles.

230

Under Options, click Merge

tangent faces.
Click OK to create the feature.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

Merge Tangent
Faces

Edit the feature.

Edit the definition of the

loft feature.
Under Options, clear the
Merge tangent faces

option and click OK.

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Notice that the edges that

corresponded to the ends
of the lines and arcs in the
profiles are now visible.
Compare this to the results
in step 5.

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The Merge tangent faces option causes the surfaces in the loft feature
to be tangent if the corresponding segments in the profiles are tangent.
Faces that can be represented as planes, cylinders, or cones are
maintained. Other adjacent faces are merged, and the sections are
approximated. Sketch arcs may be converted to splines.

Start and End

Constraints

Turn Merge tangent faces back on.

When lofting, you can control the shape at the ends of the loft by using
options that influence the direction of the loft at the beginning and
ending profiles. You can also control the length and direction of the
influence at each end.

Edit the feature.

Edit the definition of the loft feature. Expand the

Start/End Constraints group box.

Do

No

The Default tangency condition approximates a

parabola scribed between the first and last profiles.
The tangency from this parabola drives the loft surface, which results in
a more predictable and natural loft surface when matching conditions
are not specified.

Start/End Constraints = Default

Start/End Constraints = None

231

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

Normal to Profile.
Select the options Normal to Profile for both the start and end of the

loft. The tangent vector arrows should point in the directions shown.
If they do not, click Reverse Direction

to reverse the direction.

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Leave the start and end tangent length values at the default 1. Changing
the tangent length changes the influence on the shape of the loft.

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You can change all the Tangent Length values by typing a value and
clicking Apply to all. Individually, a single tangent vector arrow can be
dragged.

Do

No

Pay attention to the preview. If the tangent arrows are in the incorrect
direction, the preview will look something like the illustration below.

232

Click OK.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

The result is that the

shape of the loft is
altered so that the faces
of the feature start and
end normal (perpendicular) to the plane of the
profile sketches.
The Draft Angle option
with

Note

Normal to Profile

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10 Results.

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applies draft with

respect to the planes of
the profiles. If it is used with the Direction Vector option, the draft is
applied with respect to the direction vector.

11 Save and close the part.

Instead of several 2D sketches, one for each section of

the loft, you can create everything in a single 3D
sketch. Use the SelectionManager to select each loft
section within the 3D sketch. Since a solid model requires closed loft
sections, you should use Select Closed Loop .

Do

No

Lofting Using a 3D
Sketch

Examine the part Defroster Vent - 3D Sketch to see an example of

lofting using a 3D sketch.

233

Lesson 7

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Lofts

Merging a
Multibody with
Loft

The Merge result check box can be used on any boss feature aside
from the first feature. In this example, we will create the transitional
feature from the head of a golf club into the shaft using a multibody.
Open the part Lofted Merge.
It contains two solid bodies that cannot be merged.

Insert a loft feature.

Insert a loft feature between

the planar faces of the two
bodies.

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Select the faces in similar

areas.

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Start/End constraints.

Change the two tangency

options to Tangency To
Face for the selection on
the head and Normal to
Profile for the selection on
the shaft.
The Next Face button is
used to resolve any
ambiguity as to which set
of faces is used.

Merge result must also be

checked.

Note

The option Curvature To Face could be used in place of Tangency To

Face to make the faces match in curvature.

Merged feature.

Do

No

Once the feature is added, the part contains

only one solid.

234

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

Using Derived
and Copied
Sketches

Lofted features may have many sketches to describe the Profiles,

Guide Curves or Centerlines. Many of the sketches may be similar or
exactly the same. Derived and copied sketches can help reduce the
amount of sketching required.
exact duplicates of the
original sketch and retain
the link from the original
to the derived. They can
only be placed, not
changed.
Copied Sketches are also
duplicates of the original
sketch but can be changed
in any way. There is no
link back to the original.

Original Sketch
Copied Sketch

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Derived Sketches are

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Consider a decorative shape

Derived Sketch
like the one shown in the
illustration. Two sketches of the loft are the same (the original sketch
and derived sketch) while the third is similar, but not identical.

Open the part Derive&Copy.

It contains a single sketch named

Source.

To create another profile of similar shape, copy and paste the existing
sketch onto the desired sketch plane. Copied sketches can be edited in
any way and are not linked back to the original. In this example, the
sketch Source will be copied onto the plane Right and edited.

No

Copying a
Sketch

Do

Select sketch.

Select the sketch Source. The sketch geometry will highlight on the
screen.

Copy sketch.

Using Ctrl+C, or Edit, Copy, copy the sketch to the clipboard.

235

Lesson 7

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Lofts

Select plane and paste.

Select the Right plane from the

FeatureManager design tree

and press Ctrl+V, or click Edit,
Paste. The sketch will be
pasted from the clipboard to
the selected plane. It will
appear on the screen in the
planes orientation.

Edit sketch.

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Select the new sketch and click Edit

Sketch.
Use Tools, Sketch Tools, Modify to rotate
and move the sketch geometry.
Relations and dimensions will be needed to
fully define the sketch.

Add relations.

No

Add relations between the profiles to

fully define the sketch.

Do

Make changes.

Make some changes to

the dimensions in the
sketch. Change the bold,
red, underlined
dimensions as shown.
Note that two of them
are also changed from
Diameter dimensions.
Exit the sketch and
rename it Copied.

236

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

Derived
Sketches

A Derived Sketch is used to create a copy of the Source sketch on a

different plane and location. The derived sketch will be a child of the
original sketch.

Introducing:
Insert Derived
Sketch

Insert Derived Sketch is also used to create a copy of a sketch.

Where to Find It

Creating a Derived
Sketch

Create the derived sketch on the plane Top. Once copied, the sketch
can be rotated and repositioned if it is at the wrong orientation.

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Menu: Insert, Derived Sketch

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Derived sketches are dependent on the original for size and shape but
not location and usage. You cannot edit the geometry or dimensions of
a derived sketch. You can only locate it with respect to the model.
Changes to the original sketch propagate to the derived copies.

Select sketch and plane.

Hold down Ctrl and select the sketch Source and the plane you want it
copied to (Top). The sketch will be copied to the selected plane in the
next step.

Insert a derived sketch.

Click Insert, Derived Sketch. The sketch is inserted onto the selected
plane, but it is under defined.
Unlike Copy and Paste, the system automatically puts you into the
Edit Sketch mode. Also, notice that derived sketches are identified as
such by the derived suffix appended to their names in the
FeatureManager design tree.

Locating the
Derived Sketch

Derived Sketches are inserted under constrained and often out of

orientation.

10 Modify the sketch.

Click Modify Sketch

No

.
Position the cursor over the
black origin symbol as
indicated.

Before

Do

Click the right-mouse

button to mirror the sketch.

After

237

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

11 Drag.

12 Fully define.

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Add relations between the profiles

to fully define the sketch.

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Move the sketch to the right

and close the Modify Sketch
dialog.

13 Insert a loft.
Click Loft Boss/Base

. Click Merge tangent faces.

Do

No

Loft the three profiles without using guide curves or centerlines. Select
the profiles near a common vertex.

238

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

Loft Viewing
Options

When you are creating or editing a loft feature, you can enhance the
preview by displaying Connectors, Mesh, or Zebra Stripes.

Where to Find It

Faces
I

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Shortcut Menu: Right-click in the graphics window and click Show

All Connectors or Hide All Connectors
Shortcut Menu: Right-click in the graphics window and click Mesh
Preview, Mesh All Faces or Mesh Preview, Clear All Meshed
Shortcut Menu: Right-click in the graphics window and click
Zebra Stripes Preview

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14 Show All Connectors.

Right-click Show All
Connectors to view

connections between all the

profile endpoints.

Right-click Hide All

Connectors.

15 Mesh Preview.
Right-click Mesh Preview,
Mesh All Faces. A surface

mesh overlays the shaded

preview.

Right-click Mesh Preview,

Clear All Meshed Faces.
Click OK.

Do

No

16 Save and close the part.

239

Lesson 7

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Lofts

Centerline
Lofting

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The part shown at the right is a heat shield that goes over a hot gas
manifold. It consists of several shapes a semi-circle, a rectangle, a
half ellipse all of which must be smoothly blended together. Since the
basic shapes are the result of blending two or more profiles, lofting is
the approach of choice.

Open the part Heat Shield.

To save time, we will start with this part that already has the basic
geometry defined.

Do

No

240

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

Preparation of the
Profiles

When lofting, you have to give special consideration to the way you
sketch the profiles, and how you subsequently select them in the Loft
command. In general, there are two rules you should follow for good
results:
I

Pick the same corresponding spot on each

profile.

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The system connects to points you pick. If you are

careless, the resulting feature will twist.

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If the profiles are circles there are no ends to pick

such as there are on rectangles. That makes picking
corresponding spots tricky at best. In this situation,
put a sketch point on each circle and pick them
when you select the profiles.

Each profile should have the same

number of segments.

In the example at the right, a closed semicircle (2 segments) was lofted to a

rectangle (4 segments). As you can see, the
system blended one side of the rectangle
into part of the arc, another side into the
remainder of the arc, and so on. This does
not give a good result.
You have two options:
I
I

Insert a loft.
Click Loft Boss/Base

, or click Insert, Base, Loft.

Do

No

Interactively add or move connector

points during the Loft command.
Subdivide the arc manually so you can
control exactly which portion of the arc
corresponds to each side of the
rectangle.

241

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

Preview.
Select Sketch6 and then
Sketch4. Notice the

preview. Be careful to
pick the same relative
corner of each profile.

Centerline.

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Expand the Centerline

Parameters group box.

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Because of the
importance of where you
pick the profiles, it is
usually not a good idea
to select them from the FeatureManager design tree.

Tip

Select the centerline

(Sketch3).

Use Normal to Profile

for both the start and end
constraints.
Click OK to create the
feature.
Results.

Do

No

242

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

Sharing Sketches

Sketches that have been absorbed when used to create extrudes,

revolves, sweeps and lofts can be used again to create additional
features. They can simply be selected from the FeatureManager to
become part of the new feature.
Insert another loft.

Show Sketch4. (It is absorbed

into the loft feature.)
Loft between Sketch5 and
Sketch4.
Use Sketch2 as the Centerline.

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Use Normal to Profile for both

the start and end constraints.

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Shared sketch.
Sketch4 is shared by both

loft features, as indicated by

the name and the
symbol.
Editing the sketch would
change both features.
Unfortunately the loft shape,
although valid, is not
desirable. The fact that the
profiles have different
numbers of edges adversely
influences the shape of the
feature.

Show Connectors.
Right-click the Loft2 feature
and click Edit Feature. Right-

click in the graphics area and

click Show All Connectors.
Colored circles appear at the
endpoints of the segments of the
profiles. Notice that a connector
has been added to the
semicircular profile. This is
because both profiles must have
the same number of segments. If you did not sketch them that way, the
system breaks them for you.

Do

No

243

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

Synchronize the profiles.

Drag the connectors to improve

how the rectangular profile
maps to the semicircular profile.

10 Results.

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Although dragging the

connectors is very interactive, it
may not be precise enough for
some applications. If precise
control is needed over how the
profiles map to each other, you
should manually subdivide the
profile.

ibu
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Click OK to rebuild the feature.

11 Delete.

Delete the Loft2 feature and use a modified sketch with an equal
number of segments.

12 Recreate the sketch.

Select Plane4 and open a

sketch.

No

Select Sketch4 and click

Convert Entities
to create
copies of the arc and line in the
sketch.

Split Entities breaks a single sketch curve into multiple pieces at

Where to Find It

Do

Introducing:
Split Entities

244

selected locations.

Menu: Tools, Sketch Tools, Split Entities

Shortcut Menu: Right-click a sketch segment and click Split
Entities

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

13 Split entities.

Divide the arc into three pieces

by using Split Entities at two
locations along its length.

Split Points

All three arcs are coradial but

their arc angles are under
defined.
14 Angular dimensions.
Dimension the arcs at 35

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using 3 point angular

dimensions. If you want,
you can make the values of
the angles equal using a
global variable. This way,
when you change one, they
both change.

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Position the breaks on either

side of the center.

15 Exit the sketch.

16 New Loft.

Create a second centerline loft

between Sketch5 and the new
four-sided sketch using the
centerline curve.

Use Normal to Profile for both

the start and end constraints.

Right-click Show All

Connectors to display the
matching endpoints.

No

17 Results.

Do

The second loft merges into the

first, forming a single solid.

245

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

Sometimes with sweeping and

lofting the model ends up with
unwanted artifacts faces from one
feature that protrude through
another feature. Generally these
artifacts should be removed.
One way to make it easier to spot
these artifacts is to make the
features contrasting colors.

ibu
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Cleaning Up a
Model

Artifact

Changing the display to Shaded With Edges also helps make artifacts
more visible.

The Delete Face tool removes one or more faces from the model,
allowing it to be replaced by extending the boundaries of adjacent faces
or by filling in the gap with a completely new surface. Delete Face can
also turn a solid body into a surface body by simply removing the face
and not replacing it with anything.

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Introducing:
Delete Face

Where to Find It

I
I

CommandManager: Surfaces > Delete Face

Menu: Insert, Face, Delete Face

18 Change colors.

Change the appearance of the two

loft features, making them
contrasting colors.

Tip

Increase the image quality to make

it easier to see the artifacts.

19 Delete face.
Click Delete Face

Click Delete and Patch.

No

Zoom in on the edge of the flat face where the

two loft features meet.

Do

Select the artifact faces. Some are very tiny, sliver

faces.

246

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7

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Artifact faces

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Lofts

Click OK.

20 Remove color.

Remove the colors you assigned in step 18.

Introducing:
Deviation Analysis

The Deviation Analysis tool can be used to determine the angular

difference between faces along common edges. A 90 value indicates
perpendicular faces, 0 indicates tangency.

Where to Find It

I
I

CommandManager: Evaluate > Deviation Analysis

Menu: Tools, Deviation Analysis

21 Analysis parameters.
Click Deviation Analysis

and select the model edge shown. Set the

number of sample points slider control to halfway.

Do

No

Click Calculate.

247

Lesson 7

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Lofts

22 Deviation Analysis graphics.

The results of the deviation analysis appear as pairs of 3D arrows on

the edge. They are color coded to show the change in angle between the
faces along the common edge.

A Face Fillet is created between selected faces, instead of on selected

edges as with the default fillet type. Face fillets are generally used
when the edge between two faces is not as perfect as you would like it
to be.
As we saw with the deviation
analysis, the angle between the
faces joined by the edge
highlighted in the illustration at
the right transitions from 90 to
0. This is sometimes called a
degenerate edge and they can be
problematic when it comes to
filleting. This is because of very
slight irregularities caused by the interpolation of the lofted faces. The
best approach for filleting this type of edge is to use a face fillet.

Do

No

Face Fillets

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The color settings used for the arrows can be changed.

248

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

23 Face fillet.
Click Fillet

Click Face fillet.

Click in the Face Set 1
selection list to activate it.
Select the face on the top of the
Loft2 feature.
Click in the Face Set 2
selection list to activate it.

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Select the face on the side of the

Loft2 feature.

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Set the Radius to 25mm.

Click OK.

24 Second face fillet.

You cannot fillet

disconnected edges using a
face fillet. Therefore a
second face fillet is required
on the degenerate edge on the
opposite side of the Loft2
feature.

25 Remaining fillets.

You can use a multiple radius

fillet if you wish, or create two
separate fillets.

No

Run a 25mm fillet down the

remaining sharp edge of the
Loft2 feature. This can be a
regular edge fillet; it does not
have to be a face fillet.

Run a 55mm radius fillet up the edge between the two lofts.

Do

Note
Tip

Fillets shown in color for clarity.

If you have difficulty creating
the 55mm fillet, edit the first loft
feature and under Centerline
Parameters, increase the
Number of sections by
dragging the slider slightly to the
right.

249

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

26 Create an offset plane.

Create a plane offset 100mm
from the Top reference plane.

27 Sketch profile.

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Sketch a rectangular profile as

shown.

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This will be used to sketch the

profile of the rectangular inlet
tube.

Fillet the corners with sketch

fillets.

The profile is centered left-toright with respect to the Origin.

28 Extrude.

Extrude a boss using the end

condition Up to Next, and 5 of
Outward Draft.

29 Add fillet.
Run a 12.5mm radius fillet around

Do

No

the base of the boss.

250

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

30 Shell part.

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Shell the part towards the inside using a wall thickness of 1.5mm.

31 Save and close the part.

Advanced
Lofting

Many shapes found in industrial products

fall into the complex shapes category.
This lifting hook is one of them. There
are no flat surfaces, and the only
identifiable feature is the revolved loop
on top.
To help determine where to start
building, make a list of the information
you have:
I
I

No

Design requirements
Sizes
Materials
Manufacturing processes
The application in which it will be
used

Do

This may not answer all the questions for

you, but it will give you a start.

251

Lesson 7

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Lofts

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In this case, we have a picture of a similar part

we are to design around, and know that the
inside diameter of the top loop is 1.25 and the
cross section of the loop has a diameter of
0.750.

Planning a
Modeling Strategy

Before tackling a part like this, it is a good idea to plan out the task.
Placement of the origin is one of the first things that should be
considered, since it can be important to downstream tasks such as
mating in an assembly. In this case, the origin could go at the center of
the top loop or at the center of the hook throat. There may be other
valid locations but these are two examples.
Next you should try to identify
functional shapes on the part. For
example:
I
I
I
I

The loop
The hook
The transition between the
hook and the loop
The tip on the end of the hook

Loop

Transition
Tip

Each one of these functional

shapes will present its own
modeling challenge.

Do

No

Hook
Once you have identified the
functional shapes, it may become easier to assign features to make each
shape. The loop is most easily created as a revolve. A transition from
one shape to another is a good description of a loft, so we will use a loft
for the transition area. The hook could be created with either a loft or a
sweep, but a loft will be easier to set up to get the desired shape. Again,
there are several ways to make the tip, but here we will create it with a
loft.

252

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

Layout sketches are frequently used when creating complex models. A

layout sketch is a regular 2D or 3D sketch used as either a visual
reference or as a parametric reference for the rest of the model.

Procedure

To simplify matters somewhat, this part has been partially set up for
you.
1

Open the part Hook.

It contains the following:

Hook Layout Sketch. The

Hook Layout Sketch has
been partially created for
you. You will finish it.
Sketch Picture. The Hook
Layout Sketch has a sketch
picture in it for you to trace
around and to help align
sketches and features.
Loft Profile Sketch. This is a
sample sketch to get you
started.
Loft Profile Planes. Several loft profile planes have been created
for you.

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Layout
Sketches

Now you are ready to use a spline to trace the back side of the hook.
Edit Hook Layout
Sketch.
Create a second spline
around the outside curve of
the main hook body. It will
take some adjustment to get
it close to the sketch picture
image. The purpose of this
spline is to help you set up
the loft which will form the
main part of the hook body.

First Profile Plane

Do

No

Overbuild the spline by one

or two spline points on both
ends, and do not be
concerned about the transition to the loop or the tip. Overbuilding and
trimming back will help us get the correct curvature at the end of the
shape.
The new spline should extend past the First Profile Plane.

253

Lesson 7

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Lofts

3
4

Exit the sketch.

Open a new sketch.

ibu
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Open a new sketch on the First Profile

Plane. This will help the loft begin the
transition shape even though at this point we
arent yet starting to build the transition
feature.

Sketch an ellipse whose major axis is pierced

on both ends by the splines of the layout
sketch, and whose minor axis is 1 wide.
5

Exit and rename the sketch.

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Name the sketch First Profile.

Suppress the sketch picture.

Expand the Hook Layout Sketch in the

Feature Manager design tree.

Right click Sketch Picture1 and click Suppress from the shortcut
menu.

Edit the Second Profile sketch.

Constrain the two points of the proportional

spline which lie on the axis of symmetry to
the layout sketch splines using the Pierce
relation.

Note

This sketch was created by mirroring a

proportional spline and using Fit Spline to
join the original and the mirrored copy.

8
9

Exit the sketch.

Copy and paste the profile.

Do

No

We are going to use this same profile for several of

the loft sections. Because it is a proportional spline
and the distance between the guide curves changes,
the sketch will stretch to fit between the curves.
Select the Second Profile sketch from the
FeatureManager design tree and press Ctrl+C.
Select the Third Profile Plane, and press Ctrl+V.
Repeat this for all the remaining planes except
Seventh Profile Plane.
Notice that the last sketch that was pasted is not
where it belongs. We will fix this as we edit each
profile.

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SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

10 Edit the copied sketches.

Edit Sketch2.

Constrain the same points in the same way as in

step 7, using the Pierce relation.

ibu
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Do this for all of the remaining sketches except the

last copy.

Notice that the sketches grow in width as they grow

in length. Also notice that the fit spline looks black
on top of a blue proportional spline. The sketch is
still under defined until both Pierce relations are
applied.

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11 Reposition the sixth profile sketch.

Edit the sketch. Notice that Sixth Profile Plane

crosses both guide curves twice. If you apply a

Pierce relation, between a sketch and a guide

curve, it may go to the correct location and it may

not, depending on which is closer. To make sure the
Pierce relation snaps to the correct location, move
the point you want to pierce so it is close to the
location you want it to snap to. Use the same
technique for both ends.

Tip

Add the Pierce relation at the end that is already in

the correct position. Then, drag the other end of the
centerline (the axis of symmetry) to rotate the
profile into position. Now add the second Pierce relation.

12 Create the last profile sketch.

The last profile sketch is on Seventh
Profile Plane, and is again an ellipse,
with a width of 0.6.

Do

No

At this point, the sketching for the main

hook body loft is complete.

Because portions of this example have

been set up ahead of time, the
construction of the rest was relatively
easy. In real projects you should expect
this process to take more time. As you
gain experience with the techniques,
your speed to model complex shapes will
increase.

255

Lesson 7

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Lofts

13 Create the loft feature.

We are using closed loop splines and

ellipses, so each profile only has a
single entity. Still, it is best practice to
select each profile in approximately the
same location.

ibu
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First, select all the profiles, and make

sure the preview is showing you
approximately what you expected to
see.

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Also, on models that turn through a

large angle such as this one, sometimes
SolidWorks will automatically reorder
the loft profiles. If the profiles are lofted in a different order, the feature
will likely fail. One way to see this quickly is if you notice the
connector lines showing in a way that doesnt match your intent.
Notice that the loft preview doesnt quite match the guide curve
sketches at this point. This is an important thing to observe when
setting up a loft. If you try to modify a loft too much with a guide
curve, the loft may fail. In this case, the natural loft is reasonably close
to what we want the end shape to be, so it is likely to work.
Do not click OK.

14 Select the guide curves.

Select the spline to the outside of

the hook, the one that you have
drawn, as the first guide curve.

Do

No

When you begin to select the guide

curves for the loft, the
SelectionManager will appear on
the screen.

In the SelectionManager, click

Select Open Loop
, and click
the right mouse button OK
, or,
click OK
on the
SelectionManager.
Select the inner guide curve in the same manner.
Notice now that the loft fits the guide curves well.

256

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

15 Evaluate the loft preview.

Before clicking OK to create the loft, take a look at the mesh lines. The

16 Create the top loop.

On the Front reference plane,

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create the sketch as shown. The

bottom of the 0.750 diameter
circle should just touch the circle
from the layout sketch.

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mesh lines are the thin black lines on the loft preview. In this case, the
mesh looks clean, and the lines dont bunch together, twist or kink. In
some lofts, the mesh will preview areas which appear rippled, kinked,
or twisted. This is usually an indication that there are problems with the
loft or that there will be problems later with features such as shell,
offset or fillet.

Revolve the sketch about the

centerline.

Do not merge the revolved body

with the lofted body.

17 Trim the loft feature.

Before adding the top loop, it was

difficult to tell where the top of the lofted
feature should be. This is the reason why
we overbuilt the loft. Now that we can
see the relationship between the shapes,
we can trim back the loft to the
appropriate length.

Also, because the loft has to transition to

a round shape, it makes sense to have the
loft end at a curved edge rather than a flat
one.

No

On the Right reference plane, draw a

circle concentric with the top loop with a
diameter of 3.7.

Do

Extrude a Through All cut in both

directions. Use the Feature Scope so that it only cuts the lofted body.

257

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

18 Trim the top loop.

To transition from the hook loft to the loop, we need a place on the loop
to transition to.
Again on the Right reference plane, draw a circle dimensioned as
shown.

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Be sure to use Flip side to cut.

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Extrude a Through All cut in both directions. Use the Feature Scope
so that it only cuts the revolved body.

19 Make the transition loft.

Now that we have a cut

surface on the loft and one
on the loop, we can join the
two shapes together.

Do

No

Create a loft feature by

selecting the two faces
created by the cuts made in
previous steps. Select the
faces at approximately
corresponding locations. It
will also work if you select
the edge around the cut face
instead of the cut face itself,
but in general, it is better
practice to loft between
faces than edges when
creating solid lofts. This is because SolidWorks will use the edge to
create a new face which could introduce small errors.
Use Tangency to Face end condition for both profiles. Use a value of
0.5 for the Start Tangent Length and End Tangent Length.

258

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

If the loft bulges out, it may be because the

tangency is going to the wrong face. If this is
the case, you will have to use the Next Face
button to get it to select the correct face to be
tangent to.

20 Sketch a point.

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Also notice the connectors. Depending on

your selection, you may have to move them. The best place for them is
as shown, along the plane of symmetry of the part
Create a plane with an Offset Distance of 0.5
from the small end of the hook loft.

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Create a sketch on the new plane and sketch a

point as shown. The point should be constrained
Vertical from the Origin or Coincident to the
Right reference plane.
Exit the sketch.

21 Loft the tip.

Create a loft from the flat

face of the end of the hook
loft to the sketch point.
Lofting to a point is a
useful technique for
capping the ends of parts.

Do

No

Start/End Constraints
should be set Tangency To
Face for the face profile.

Use Normal to Profile for

the point profile, with the
End Tangent Length set
to 2.2 to give the tip of the
hook some breadth.
Click OK.

259

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

22 Results.

Boundary
Feature

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23 Save and close the part.

The Boundary feature (boss, cut, surface) is much like Loft with some
exceptions. The best way to understand the Boundary feature is to
compare it with Loft and illustrate the differences. This will help you
decide which tool to use in different modeling situations.

Do

No

When a feature is made up of only profiles, such as the Defroster

Vent, there is very little difference between the results you get with
Loft and those you get with Boundary. The most noticeable difference
is the start and end tangent conditions seem to have more influence in
the Loft feature. However, you can adjust this in the Boundary feature
by lengthening the tangent vectors.

260

Loft

Boundary

Which result is correct? They both are. When you are modeling
features that are not analytic, such as extrudes and revolves are, but
rather are created by interpolating between cross sections, there is
virtually an unlimited number of correct answers.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 7
Lofts

When a feature is made up of two sets of curves,

profiles and guides in the case of Loft, the
difference between Loft and Boundary is more
pronounced. An example of this type of part
would be the Hook.

Do

No

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In the Loft feature, the profiles have more

influence over the resulting shape than do the
guides. In the Boundary feature, both sets of
curves (called Direction 1 and Direction 2)
have the same weight or influence over the
shape of the result.

261

Lesson 7

SolidWorks 2012

Lofts

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This difference between Boundary and Loft really becomes apparent in

surface modeling. Because both sets of Boundary curves have equal
weight, C2 matching can be applied to all four sides of the surface
patch. With a lofted surface, C2 matching can only be applied to the
profiles, not the guides.

For a more complete treatment of the Boundary feature, please refer to

the Surface Modeling course.

Optional

Explore the Boundary feature by redoing any of these case studies

using Boundary instead of Loft:
Defroster Vent

No

Lofted Merge

Do

Hook

262

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 24
Funnel

Exercise 24:
Funnel

Create this part using the

information and dimensions
provided.

Loft on page 229.

Sweeping Along Model

Edges on page 213.

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Procedure

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This lab reinforces the

following skills:

Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it Funnel.

Sketch the first profile.

Open a new sketch on the Top reference plane.

Use ellipses, lines and arcs to create this profile.

Second profile.

No

Create a new plane that is parallel

to the Top reference plane
82.5mm below it.

Do

Sketch a circle lined up with the

Origin.
This circle will be used as the
second profile in a loft, after it is
divided up into sections that
match the first profiles endpoints.
If the circle is not broken up, the
loft will decide what the breakup
of the circle should be.

263

Exercise 24

SolidWorks 2012

Funnel

Breakup.

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Add centerlines radially from the circles center to the endpoints of the
first profile. This geometry will cross the circles circumference at several places.

Divide the circle.

Using the Split Entities

command, add six split points, breaking the
arc into pieces. Make each split point coincident with a centerline. You
can add Coincident relations or you can drag and drop them onto the
centerlines.

First loft.

Exit the sketch and loft between

the two profiles. Select two
endpoints that will match
position, one from each sketch.
This will ensure that the start
point of the loft will be
positioned correctly.

Do

No

Important!

The option Merge Tangent

Faces should be used.

Note

An extra callout was added to

the illustration for clarity.

264

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 24
Funnel

Resulting loft.

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The loft solid should look

like this when completed.

Initial neck sketch.

The funnel neck is

formed by another loft,
this time using two
sketched circles. Flip the
model over and sketch a
circle on the end face,
making it Coradial with
the circular, outer edge.

Circular Edge

Add a point on the circle.

Relate the point to the
Origin with a Vertical
relation.
Neck end sketch.

Create a new reference

plane offset from the
circular face by 50mm.
Sketch a circle that is
lined up with the
Origin. Add a point on
the circumference of the
circle that is related to
the Origin with a
Vertical relation. The
points are used to line
up the profiles just as
the centerlines were
used in the first loft.

Do

No

265

Exercise 24

SolidWorks 2012

Funnel

Neck loft.

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Select the sketches in the FeatureManager design tree and loft between
the profiles.

10 Shell the funnel.

The dimensions are

given for the inside of
the funnel.

Do

No

Create a thin walled part

by shelling to the
outside, a thickness of
1.50mm.

266

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 24
Funnel

11 Build the rim.

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Sketch the outline of the rim using the dimensions given. Use Convert
Entities to create the inner outline. Extrude the rim to a depth of
1.50mm. Make the two thickness values equal using a global variable.

12 Sweep a lip on the

underside of the rim.

The cross-section of the lip

is a semi-circle, 1.50mm in
diameter. Use the model
edge of the rim as the
sweep path.
To review selecting model
edges as a sweep path, see
Propagate Along Tangent
Edges on page 214.

Do

No

Tip

267

Exercise 24

SolidWorks 2012

Funnel

13 Make a rib on the

neck of the funnel.

Profile

Sweep Path

Sweep the section

along a curve that lies
on the inner face of the
funnel neck.

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An easy way to
construct this curve is
to sketch a line and
constrain it with
Pierce relations to
model edges at the
opening and where the inside of the neck meets the main body.
14 Pattern the rib.

Make a total of three ribs, equally spaced,

using a circular pattern.

15 Problem.

Do

No

Because of the shape of the sides of the

funnel, the two copies of the rib do not
merge completely with the body.

268

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 24
Funnel

16 One solution.

Edit the sketch for the path of the rib and make the path longer by a
adding a short, colinear line. Make the line about 1mm long.
If you make the path too long, the rib will protrude into the inside of the
funnel.

Note

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17 A hole in the rim.

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Using the dimensions provided, sketch a profile to cut through the rim
so the funnel can be hung on a hook. Notice the use of an angular
dimension on an arc. This can be created by picking the arcs
centerpoint and its two ends.

Do

No

Detail of the hole.

269

Exercise 24

SolidWorks 2012

Funnel

Do

No

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18 Save and close the part.

270

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 25
Rocker Arm

Exercise 25:
Rocker Arm

This lab reinforces the

following skills:
Layout Sketches on
page 253.

Sketching Splines on
page 8.

Derived Sketches on
page 237.

Loft on page 229.

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Create this part using the

dimensions provided. Use
sketch relations and
dimensions to maintain the
design intent.

Design Intent

The design intent for this part is as follows:

1. The part is symmetrical.

2. The main body of the arm must smoothly connect the three pivot
points.
Units: millimeters

Procedure

Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it

Rocker Arm.

Draw the layout

sketch.

No

Use the dimensions

shown to draw the
layout sketch on the
Front reference plane.
This will place all of the
functional features on
this part.
Note the symmetry.
Exit the sketch.

Do

Name the sketch Layout Sketch.

New sketch.

Open a new sketch on the Front reference plane.

Name the sketch Guides.

271

Exercise 25

SolidWorks 2012

Rocker Arm

Draw guide curves.

Draw both guide curves

in the same sketch. The
lower guide curve is two
lines and an arc, and the
upper one is a single
three-point spline.
The spline is
perpendicular to the two
short centerlines that
pass through the centers
of the small circles.
Create three new planes.

Plane2

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Create two new planes

perpendicular to the
centerlines at the centers of
the small circles.

Create a third plane at 90

degrees from the Front
reference plane through the
short centerline.

Draw profile sketch.

On Plane1, sketch an ellipse.

No

Constrain it to the guide curves and dimension it

as shown.

Derived sketch.

Do

Using the sketch from step 5,

create a derived sketch on
Plane2.

272

Constrain it to the layout sketch

and guide curves to fully define
it.

Plane3

Plane1

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 25
Rocker Arm

Draw third profile sketch.

On Plane3, draw an ellipse

dimensioned as shown.

Begin loft.

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Use Pierce relations to

constrain the ends of the major
axis to the two guide curves.

Click Loft, and select the three ellipses.

Select guide curves.

Select the spline as the first curve.

Select the two lines and the tangent

arc as the second guide curve.

Since both of the guide curves are

in the same sketch, you will have to
use the SelectionManager.

Do

No

Click OK.

273

Exercise 25

SolidWorks 2012

Rocker Arm

10 Extrude the pivot bosses.

On the Front reference plane

Set the three offset values equal to

each other using a global variable.

Optional

Extrude the sketch:

I
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End Condition: Mid Plane

Distance: 65mm
Draft: 5

11 Cut holes.

Open another new sketch on the

Front reference plane.

Convert the circles from the

layout sketch and create a cut that
goes Through All in both
directions.

12 Add fillets.
Add 10mm fillets around the

bosses.

Select the lofted body rather

than the edges.

Do

No

Tip

274

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open a new sketch and offset each

of the three circles from the layout
sketch by 10mm.

13 Save and close the part.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 26
Boat Hull

Exercise 26:
Boat Hull

Create this part using the dimensions

provided. Use relations and
equations where applicable to
maintain the design intent.

Layout Sketches on page 253.

Fit Spline on page 147.

Projected Curve on page 143.

Loft on page 229.

Loft connectors. on page 230.

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This lab reinforces the following

skills:

Units: MKS (meter, kilogram, second)

Design Intent

The design intent for this part is as follows:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Procedure

Bow (front of hull) comes to a point

Transom (rear of hull) is a single smooth spline
Intermediate sections consist of four symmetrical lines
Hull transitions from sharp corners to a continuous smooth surface

New part.

Open a new part using the Part_MM template.

Change the units to MKS (meter, kilogram, second) with 3 decimal

places.
Save the part naming it Boat Hull.

Draw a scale reference layout

sketch.

Sometimes it is helpful to have a

reference sketch just to indicate
the overall size of the part.

No

On the Right reference plane,

sketch a rectangle 9m long by
2.2m high.

Do

Change the rectangle to construction lines.

Insert sketch picture.

A sketch picture has been provided in the Exercises folder of this

lesson. It is named Boat Hull Side Elevation.
Insert the sketch picture and scale and position it using the sketched
rectangle as a guide.
4

Exit the sketch.

Rename it to Scale_Reference.

275

Exercise 26

SolidWorks 2012

Boat Hull

Draw a layout sketch.

On the Right reference plane, sketch two splines one for the keel and

one for the sheer. Use the sketch picture as a guide.

Definition

Sheer is a boat building term meaning the fore-and-aft curvature from

bow to stern of a boats deck as shown in side elevation.

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One end of each spline is Coincident with the Origin.

The other end of each spline is Coincident with the rightmost vertical
construction line in the Scale_Reference sketch.

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Sheer

Keel

Keel

On this part, especially on the keel, you want to create a spline that
does not change convexity. The best way to find a convexity change is
to right-click the spline and click Show Inflection Points.

Inflection Point

Do

No

Tip

Remember the relationship between splines and lofts: loft sections are
analogous to spline points. When using a spline to lay out the keel, it is
a good idea to make the spline points and the loft sections coincide.
Later we will create the profile planes at the spline points of the keel.

The curvature comb and the control polygon can also show an
inflection point where they cross the spline.
6

Exit the sketch.

Rename it Layout_Sketch.

276

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 26
Boat Hull

Second reference sketch.

Open a new sketch on the

Top reference plane.

The width is 4.5 m. Note

particularly the Midpoint and
Coincident relations.

Sketch picture.

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Sketch a rectangle of
construction lines as shown.

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Switch to a Top view and insert the sketch

picture named Boat Hull Plan View.

Scale and position the picture so it lines up with

the sketched rectangle.

Sketch a spline.

Use a spline to sketch half of the top outline of

the boat, tracing the sketch picture.

No

Make sure the spline is as long or longer than

the rest of the sketches. If it is too short, it will
not work as a guide curve.

Do

Use Coincident relations to connect the ends to

the sketched rectangle.

10 Exit the sketch.

Rename it Top_Outline.
11 Copy the sheer.
On the Right reference plane, open a new
sketch and use Convert Entities
to copy the
sheer from the Layout_Sketch.
12 Exit the sketch.

277

Exercise 26

SolidWorks 2012

Boat Hull

13 Hide the Layout_Sketch.

14 Create a projected curve.
Use Project Curve
to create the 3D curve

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from two 2D sketches.

15 Create mirrored curve.

You cannot mirror a curve directly. To create a

mirrored curve, use a Derived Sketch and a shared
sketch to create another projected curve.

Insert a derived sketch of Top_Outline on the Top

plane, and use Modify Sketch
to mirror it about the Origin.

Use Project Curve

to create the 3D curve from two 2D sketches.

16 Autosize the standard planes.

Do

No

When making a part much larger than most of the other parts you have
worked on, the default display size of the reference planes may be too
small.

278

Right-click the Front reference plane in the FeatureManager and click

Autosize.
You can do this for the rest of the standard planes as well as any newly
created plane features.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 26
Boat Hull

17 Create profile planes.

Show the Layout_Sketch.

Create new planes in the order shown parallel to the Front reference
plane and at each of the keel spline points and at the end of the keel
using the Parallel to Plane at Point plane type.
Plane3

Plane4

Plane5

After you create the first plane, select the Front reference plane and
the next spline point. Then press Enter. This repeats the previous
command. Now press Enter again to create the next plane.

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Tip

Plane2

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Plane1

18 Create first profile.

The first profile will be the point at the bow of the boat.
On the Front reference plane, place a sketch point

at the Origin.

Exit the sketch and rename it Bow_Point.

19 Create the second profile.

On Plane1, create a sketch of five

lines as shown, with symmetry. Add a

Pierce relation between the sketch and
the keel spline and one of the projected
curves. Because of the symmetry, if
you pierce both projected curves, the
sketch will become over defined.
Exit the sketch and rename it
Second_Profile.

No

20 Copy the profile.

Select the Second_Profile sketch in the FeatureManager and press
Ctrl+C.

Do

Select Plane2 and press Ctrl+V. Do the same for Plane3 and Plane4,
but not Plane5.
Plane5 will get its own sketch.

279

Exercise 26

SolidWorks 2012

Boat Hull

21 Constrain the copied profiles.

Add the Pierce relations to the copied sketches and change the

dimensions as shown.

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Name the sketches Third_Profile, Fourth_Profile, and

Fifth_Profile respectively.

Third_Profile

Fourth_Profile

Fifth_Profile

No

The Fifth_Profile will get some additional attention in the next step.

22 Fit spline.
Edit Fifth_Profile.

Do

Select the lower four sketch lines and fit a spline to them as follows:

280

Clear the Closed spline check box

Constrained
Tolerance = 0.05 m

Transitioning from a profile with sharp corners to a profile rounded by

a spline will enable you to create a transition which gradually blends
into a smooth surface.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 26
Boat Hull

23 Adjust the sketch.

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In the previous step, the Tolerance was set to 0.05 m. This means the
spline can be as far as that distance away from the original lines.
Because loft guide curves have to contact the profiles, we need to
adjust the sketch to compensate for this.

Fit Spline
Considerations

You cannot add relations to a fit spline. This poses a challenge when
trying to attach the fit spline to the guide curve. Normally we would
insert a sketch point and constrain it to the intersection of the
construction line and the fit spline. We then could add a Pierce relation
between the point and the guide curve. However, since we cannot add
relations to a fit spline, that technique wont work.

24 Trim the construction line.

Under defined

The system trims the construction line to

its intersection with the fit spline.

Notice the end is blue indicating it is

under defined. That is because there is no
Coincident relation between it and the
fit spline.

25 Dimension the construction line.

Do not change the length. Accept the

value as it is. This will fully define the
construction line.

Do

No

Notice the length is slightly less then

the Tolerance of 0.05m used in the
Fit Spline command. This is because
the Tolerance is the maximum distance the spline can deviate from the
source geometry.

26 Remove relation.
Delete the Pierce relation between the

original lines and the keel.

Delete

281

Exercise 26

SolidWorks 2012

Boat Hull

27 Add relation.
Add a Pierce relation between the end of

the construction line and the keel.

This pulls the profile down so it
intersects the keel.

29 Transom sketch.
On Plane5, draw several

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construction lines using symmetry

and then sketch a single spline as
shown to create a symmetrical
spline.

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28 Exit the sketch.

Exit the sketch and rename it

Transom.

30 Hide the Layout_Sketch.

31 Keel guide curve.

On the Right reference plane, open a new sketch and draw a spline
whose spline points are Coincident with each profile except for the
Fifth_Profile.

The Fifth_Profile, the fit spline, has no point on the Right reference
plane and the guide curve has to be related to the profile geometry.

No

Add a Pierce relation between the spline point and the fit spline in the
Fifth_Profile.

Do

32 Exit the sketch.

Rename it Keel_Guide.

282

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 26
Boat Hull

33 Start the loft.

The Bow_Point sketch is the first

profile. Select the profiles in order and

in approximately the same location.
At first the loft may appear
misshapen.

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34 Select the guide curves.

Click in the Guide Curves selection

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It is easy to see the effect of having a

different number of sketch segments
in the profiles. Some faces may
appear twisted or like they are joining the wrong corresponding faces.
This will be fixed by using the loft connectors.

list and select both projected curves

and the Keel_Guide sketch.

The loft should straighten out at this

point.

35 Show connectors.

Right-click in the graphics window

and click Show All Connectors.

36 Adjust connectors.

No

We want the sharp corner to

transition at the middle of the
bend in the spline.

Do

Adjust the connectors for the

corner transition.

Adjust

283

Exercise 26

SolidWorks 2012

Boat Hull

Before Adjustment

38 Finish the loft.

Click OK to create the loft.

After Adjustment

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39 Shell.

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37 Adjustment.

Optionally you can shell the boat, removing the top face. Shell with a
Thickness of 0.006 m (6.0mm).

Do

No

40 Results.

284

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 27
Light Cover

Exercise 27:
Light Cover

Create this part using the dimensions

provided. Use relations and equations
where applicable to maintain the
design intent.
Closed loop loft

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This lab reinforces the following skills:

Design Intent

The design intent for this part is as follows:

1. Part is symmetrical.
2. The surface is smooth.
3. The shell is 1.25mm thick.
Units: millimeters

Procedure

Open a new part using the Part_MM template and name it

Light Cover.

Create the setup curve.

This part uses a projected curve to set up the loft, but does not use the
curve as a guide curve or a centerline.
I
I

Do

No

On the Front reference plane, draw an ellipse.

On the Right reference plane, draw an arc.
Create a projected curve.

285

Exercise 27

SolidWorks 2012

Light Cover

Create multiple profile sketches.

On the Top reference plane, create

Second sketch.

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two semi-circles centered on the

projected curve with dimensions as
shown.

On the Right reference plane, create two

half ellipses centered on the projected curve
with dimensions as shown.

Start the loft.

When you select one of the profiles, the

SelectionManager will appear. Use the
Closed Loop
option and click OK.

No

Do this for all four profiles.

Adjust the connectors.

Do

You may need to adjust the connectors to get the

loft to work properly.

286

If the connectors will not move, right-click and

click Reset Connectors.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 27
Light Cover

Close the loft.

Shell the part.

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To make the loft create a

closed loop, click the
Close loft option in the
Options area.

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Use a Thickness of 1.25mm and remove the

back face created by the straight lines.

Save and close the part.

Do

No

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SolidWorks 2012

Do

No

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Light Cover

288

ibu
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Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Understand the options available with default, constant radius
fillets.

Apply advanced fillet types.

Analyze geometry for curvature, minimum radius and inflection

points.

Analyze surfaces with zebra stripes.

Use the Wrap feature.

Use the Deform feature.

No

Use the Move Face command.

Use the Delete Face command.

Do

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Other Advanced Tools

Advanced
Fillets

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Fillets do not take the place of advanced modeling techniques such as

loft and sweep. In general they are used to break sharp edges. This is
mostly a best practice suggestion which will depend on the type or
level of work you are doing. Highly stylized consumer products will
use fillets mainly in the final stages to break hard edges. On the other
hand, when working with rough conceptual models, it may be
acceptable to use fillets to round out a part or create an overall shape.

There are many filleting functions beyond the most commonly used
default constant radius fillet. Advanced fillets can be powerful tools to
help you achieve your design goals. This lesson will help you explore
these. Advanced fillet types include:
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Variable radius
Setback fillet
Face fillet

There are also various options which affect the finished fillet:
I
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Keep Features

Multiple radius
Overflow type (Keep edge, Keep surface)
Round corners
Curvature continuous
Constant width
Smooth or straight transition for variable radius fillet
Using hold lines

The Keep features option controls the behavior of fillets when they
fully surround an existing feature.

Open the part Keep_Features.

Click Fillet

Apply a constant radius fillet to the edges shown using a Radius

of 5mm.

Do

No

Expand the Fillet Options group box and look at the Keep features
option. By default it is selected.

290

SolidWorks 2012

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Other Advanced Tools

Click OK.

Change the fillet radius value.

Change the radius value to 9mm.

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Notice that both the hole and the boss are affected by the fillet and are
either trimmed or extended to adjust for it.

Rebuild the model to reflect the new value.

Notice that the fillet completely surrounds the boss but not the hole.
Both features are still extended or trimmed back to compensate.

Change the Keep Features setting.

Edit the fillet feature and clear the Keep features check box.

Click OK.

Do

No

Notice that the boss disappears but the hole remains.

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Change the fillet radius value.

Change the radius value to 12mm.

Rebuild the model to reflect the new

value.
7

Keep Edge and

Keep Surface

Save and close the part.

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The hole disappears.

Under Fillet Options for constant as well as variable radius fillets,

there are two Overflow type options:
Keep edge
Keep surface

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These options enable you to specify how fillets will act when they are
larger than the space available for them.

Open the part Keep_Edge.

Notice that the edges of the middle

layer are not parallel to the sides of
the bottom layer. This will help
illustrate the differences between the
Keep edge and Keep surface
Options.

Click Fillet

Select the edge as shown.

Set the Radius to 5mm.

Do

No

Make sure Tangent propagation is

selected.

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Keep Surface setting.

Expand the Fillet Options group box
and click Keep surface.

The surface that is being kept is

the surface of the fillet itself. Notice
that the edges of the outer faces have
changed they are no longer
straight. However, the faces of the
fillet are unbroken.
4

Keep Edge setting.

Face is unbroken
Edges have changed

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Edit the fillet and change the option

to Keep edge.

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Click OK.

Now notice that the boundary of the

outer face is now straight as it was
before the fillet. However, the face of
the fillet has been broken up.

The Default setting in this case

Face is broken
would be the same as Keep edge,
Edges are straight
but in general, this is an automatic
setting which allows SolidWorks to
choose the overflow type for you based on geometry conditions.

The Round corners setting determines the

behavior of fillets at non-tangent corners. With
Round corners selected, the fillet will roll around
the sharp corner like a marble. With the option
cleared, the fillet will miter like a picture frame.

Do

No

Round Corners

Save and exit the part.

Round corners selected

Round corners cleared

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Other Advanced Tools

When filleting you often have to select edges that

are hidden behind faces of the model. Under Fillet
Options there is an option Select through faces
which allows you to select hidden edges. This
option is enabled by default and works
independently of the similar option in Tools,
Options, System Options, Display/Selection.

Variable Radius
Fillets

As the name suggests, the Variable

Radius fillet feature creates a fillet
or round which can change radius
along an edge.

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Select Through
Faces

Open the part Variable_Radius.

Click Fillet

Select the curved edge of the part.

Click Variable radius as the Fillet Type.

Note

The fillet type cannot be edited after the

feature is initially created. You cannot
change a constant radius into a variable
radius fillet or vice versa.

Enter radius values.

Do

No

The radius values can

be added either using
the on-screen callouts
or in the PropertyManager. The callouts
are generally easier to
use because they
graphically show
where the radius value will be applied.

294

Assign a value of 30mm to the inner

callout and 10mm to the outer callout as
shown.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Variable radius control points operate as follows:

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The system defaults to three control points, located at equidistant

increments of 25%, 50%, and 75% along the edge between the
vertices. You can increase or decrease the number of control points.
You can change the position of any control point by changing the
percentage assigned to that control point. You can also drag any
control point, and its assigned percentage will update accordingly.
If all the default control points have been assigned and you still
need to assign more, select a control point, press Ctrl, and drag the
control point to create another.
Although there is a visual display of the control points, they are
only active if you select them and assign a radius value.
Inactive control points are orange. Active control points are gray,
and have a callout attached to them indicating the assigned radius
and percentage values.

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Control Points

Add a control point.

By default, callouts only appear at the

endpoints of selected edges. To assign
another radius value at an intermediate
point, select one of the orange control
points and add a value to the callout.

Select the orange control point nearest to

the 30mm value and assign 30mm.

Click OK.

The finished variable radius fillet is

smooth.
Save and exit the part.

Do

No

295

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Straight and
Smooth
Transitions

Variable radius fillets can transition between values at control points in

two ways, straight or smooth.
To access the setting, use the Variable Radius
Parameters area in the PropertyManager.

Smooth Transition

Zero Radius
Values

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Straight Transition

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The variable radius fillet is one of the few features in SolidWorks

which can accept a value of zero.
1

Open the part Zero_Radius.

Notice that the edges on either

side of the ridge are parallel on
the near end of the part. This
situation often causes trouble for
fillet features, especially if the
center ridge changes convexity,
from convex to concave.

Apply a variable radius fillet.

Do

Note

No

Use a Radius of 0.0mm at the

end of the ridge where the edges
are parallel and a Radius of
10mm where the edges meet at
an angle.

296

Zero radius fillets may cause problems in manufacturing, so they

should be used with discretion.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Zero length fillet.

Suppress the variable radius

fillet.

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Create a constant radius fillet

with a Radius of 10.0mm.

Compare this fillet with the one created in step 2.

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Although both fillets transition from a 10mm radius to a point, the

shape of that transition is different between the two examples.

Setback Fillets

Save and exit the part.

The Setback Fillet is the most

complex fillet type to set up. The
effect can be subtle or outlandish.

Do

No

Setback fillets are applied where

three or more filleted edges meet at a
single vertex.
The setback is the distance from the
common vertex to where each fillet
begins to blend. Each edge can have
a different setback distance.

The Setback Parameters can be

used with Constant radius, Multiple
radius or Variable radius fillets. In
this example we will use a Multiple
radius fillet.

Setback Fillet

Default Fillet

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Click Fillet

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Open the part Setback_Fillet.

On this part we will work on only
two, three-edge vertices, although it
is possible to do more.

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Setback fillets are used in several applications, particularly cosmetic

plastic parts and deep drawn sheet metal. They give the corner a
blended look, and for drawn metal, they more accurately reflect the
stretching of the metal than do default fillets.

Enter a Radius of 12.5mm and click the Multiple

radius fillet option.

Select the five edges as shown.

The callouts can get very busy

on the screen and are sometimes
difficult to manage. Move them
around to separate them and
improve visibility.

Assign radius values.

It is easier to assign radius values

before assigning the setback values.

No

The callouts make it easier to

identify which value is assigned to
which edge.

Do

298

Select the setback vertices.

Expand the Setback Parameters group box and

click in the Setback Vertices
selection list.
Select the two vertices where the filleted edges
meet.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Assign setback values.

The callout for the setback distances can be a

little daunting at first. As you start entering
values, arrows will display indicating which
edge the distance applies to and individual
leaders will attach to each edge.
Use the Tab key to cycle from one callout cell to the next.

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Tip

The fillet preview will disappear until you have entered all the values
for a given vertex.

Using the Set Unassigned and Set All buttons can save a lot of set up
time if there are many common values.

Do

No

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The final set up should look as shown below.

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Click OK.

The final result with edges displayed shows how SolidWorks patches
together this complex fillet.

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This example uses only constant radius fillets. If you think about the
added work to do this with variable radius fillets on each edge, you
begin to see how complex the set up for this fillet type can be.

A Face Fillet is created between selected faces, instead of on selected

edges as with the default fillet type. Face fillets are generally used
when the edge between two faces is not as perfect as you would like it
to be. For example, if you have an imported model with a chamfer on
an edge, and you want to put a fillet over the chamfer, or if you have a
model with extraneous breaks in the edges, face fillets are often a good
approach.

Do

No

Face Fillets

Save and exit the part.

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Import a Parasolid file.

Import the Parasolid file

Face_Fillet.x_t using the
Part_MM template.

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Chamfer

Imperfections

Importing a Parasolid file creates a new SolidWorks document. You

have the option of specifying a document template or allowing the
system to use the default template. This choice is determined by the
settings in Tools, Options, System Options, Default Templates.

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Note

Notice the chamfer on one side and the imperfections along the edge on
the other side. Both of these will prevent edge fillets from being applied
to this part.

Click Fillet

Click the Face fillet option.

Click in the Face Set 1 selection list to activate it.

Select the flat face on the side with the chamfer.

Click in the Face Set 2 selection list to activate it.

Select the outside face of the part.

In a situation like this one, where the face fillet is removing an existing
face, the chamfer, the radius must be larger than the geometry it is
meant to cover. Edge fillets often fail because the fillet is too large.
Face fillets sometimes fail because the fillet is too small.

Do

Tip

No

Set the Radius to 4mm and click OK.

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Create fillet on the other side.

Flip the part over so you can now see the face that has
two small cuts.
Create a face fillet similar to the one just created on
the other side.
Save and close the part.

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Curvature
Continuous Fillets

Face fillets enable you to create a fillet which is

curvature continuous. This results in a fillet whose
cross section is not circular, or arc-based, but is
instead based on a spline. The default fillet type
has a constant curvature and is tangent to the
adjacent faces. The curvature continuous fillet
matches the curvature of the surrounding faces,
and then, like a loft, the curvature of the fillet is
continuously variable.

Important!

This option is available only when creating a face fillet.

Abrupt transition between

fillet and adjacent faces

Smooth transition between

fillet and adjacent faces

Constant curvature fillet

Curvature continuous fillet

Do

No

Curvature continuous fillets are often used in consumer product design.

This is because the tangent continuity between the default fillet and the
adjacent faces creates a noticeable break or even the illusion of
concavity. The curvature continuous fillet creates a smoother transition
between the fillet and the adjacent faces.

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Constant Width
Fillets

The Constant width option is also only available

when creating face fillets. When using the
Constant width option, the Radius value actually
specifies the chord length of the fillet. This option
is typically used when filleting between two faces which are either at a
very sharp angle or on a changing angle.

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Curvature continuous and Constant width can be used together.

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The Constant width fillet works like an automatic variable radius fillet
where the radius is determined automatically by keeping the chord
length of the fillet constant.

Constant radius

Hold Lines

Constant width

Another option with face fillets is the

use of Hold lines. A hold line is used to
define the fillets tangent edge or rail.
Defining the rail of the fillet defines the
fillets radius. In this case the bottom
edge of the part will be used.

No

Since the hold line will define the

radius, you do not need to enter a radius
value. Also, when you select a hold line,
the Radius field disappears.

Open part.

Do

Open the part Cover_Sketches.

Click Fillet.

In the Fillet Type group box, select the

Face fillet type.

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Since the Hold line will define the radius, you do not need to enter a
radius value. Also, when you expand the Fillet Options group box and
select a hold line, the Radius field disappears.
3

Select faces.

Verify that the Face Set 1 selection

list is active and select the top face
of the part.
Activate the selection list for Face
Set 2 and select one of the three side
faces.

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Note

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With the default condition Tangent propagation enabled, picking one

face will select all three.
4

Add fillet options.

Expand the Fillet Options group box.

Click in Hold line selection list, and select the three edges as shown in
the illustration.
Click OK to create the fillet.

Results.

Do

No

The three vertical faces (Face Set

2) are completely removed. The
fillet is created with a variable
radius defined such that the fillet
ends exactly on the hold lines.

304

Hold Lines

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Mirror and shell.

Mirror the body. Then remove the two

flat faces by shelling the part with a wall
thickness of 2.5mm.

Analyzing
Geometry

Save and close the part.

SolidWorks has several tools that are used to obtain information and to
assess the quality of curves and surfaces. They include:
Display Curvature
Show Curvature Combs
Show Minimum Radius
Show Inflection Points
Zebra Stripes

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What is
Curvature?

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To avoid getting too deep into mathematics, we will use this working
definition: Curvature is the reciprocal of the radius.
If a surface has a local radius of 0.25, it has a curvature of 4. The
smaller the curvature value, the flatter the surface.

Introducing:
Display Curvature

Displays the faces of the model rendered in different colors according

to their local curvature values. You can assign different curvature
values to the scale of colors. Red represents the largest curvature
(smallest radius) and black represents the smallest curvature (largest
radius).

Where to Find It

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Displaying the curvature can be system resource intensive. In many

cases you can improve performance by displaying the curvature only
on the face or faces that you want to evaluate.

No

Tip

CommandManager: Evaluate > Curvature

Menu: View, Display, Curvature
Shortcut Menu: Right-click a face and click Curvature

Open part.

Do

Open the part

Analyze_Geometry.

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Lesson 8

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Display Curvature.
Click Curvature .

The part is rendered in colors

according to the curvature of
the faces. As you move the
cursor over a face, a print out
appears giving both the
curvature and radius of
curvature values.
3

Look at the fillet.

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Notice the dramatic change in color from the body of the bottle to the
fillet around the bottom. This indicates that although the fillet is tangent
to the body, it is not curvature continiuous.This means the faces do not
have the same curvature at the edge where they meet.

Show Curvature
Combs

Turn off curvature display.

Click Curvature
again to turn off the curvature display.
Show Curvature Combs provides visual representation of the slope
and curvature of most sketch entities. You can use Show Curvature
Combs to evaluate splines before they are used to sweep or loft solid

features. You can also indirectly evaluate curved faces by generating

intersection curves and then evaluating the curves.

Show Curvature Combs gives

a graphic representation of the

curvature in the form of a series
of lines called a comb. The
length of the lines represents the
curvature. The longer the line,
the greater the curvature (and
smaller the radius).

No

Introducing: Show
Curvature Combs

Do

When the comb crosses the

curve, it indicates an inflection point. An inflection point is where the
curve changes convexity.

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In the illustration below there are two very similar looking curves, both
of which appear to have two inflection points.

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When you use Show Curvature Combs, it becomes obvious that the
bottom most curve is not smooth and has many inflection points.

Do

No

You can use Show Curvature Combs to learn about how curves are
connected. Look at the illustration below.

The two sketch entities are a circular arc and a quarter of an ellipse. The
two curves are tangent but not matched in curvature. This is indicated
by the fact that the curvature lines at the common endpoint are:
I
I

Collinear (indicates tangency).

Not the same length (different curvature values).

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In the illustration at the right, the two

entities are not tangent as indicated by the
fact that the curvature lines at the
common endpoint are not collinear.

Where to Find It

Shortcut Menu: Right-click the spline and click Show Curvature

Combs

Menu: Select the spline and click Tools, Spline Tools, Show

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Curvature

Intersection
Curves

Introducing:
Intersection Curve

Show Curvature Combs only works on sketch entities. In situations

where you do not have a sketch entity, you will have to apply other
techniques. For example, to evaluate a face or surface, one technique is
to generate an intersection curve.

Intersection Curve opens a 3D sketch and creates a sketched curve at

the following kinds of intersections:

I
I
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Where to Find It

A plane and a surface or a model face.

Two surfaces.
A surface and a model face.
A plane and the entire part.
A surface and the entire part.

CommandManager: Sketch > Convert Entities

Intersection Curve
Menu: Tools, Sketch Tools, Intersection Curve

Do

No

308

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The curvature comb remains visible when

you close the sketch (unless the sketch has
been made into a feature). To remove the display, right-click the sketch
entity, and click Show Curvature Combs again from the shortcut
menu to remove the check mark.

>

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Intersection curves.
Select the Front reference plane and open a

sketch.
Click Intersection Curve

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Select the face of the fillet and the main body

of the bottle.

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Click OK and then Cancel to close the

Intersection Curves PropertyManager.

Results.

Do

No

The system generates intersection curves

between the sketch pane and the selected faces.
Two sets of intersection curves are created
because the reference plane intersects the faces
in two locations. Only one set is needed for
this example.

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Show Curvature Combs.

Right-click one set of the intersection

curves and click Show Curvature
Combs.
Note the following:

Color

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The fillet has a circular cross section

as indicated by the curvature comb.
The fillet and the side of the bottle
are matched in tangency.
The fillet and the side of the bottle
are not matched in curvature as
indicated by the different lengths of
the curvature combs.

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The color of the curvature comb is

controlled by Temporary Graphics,
Shaded which is listed under Tools,
Options, System Options, Color.

Depending on the color of the viewport

background, you may want to change the temporary graphics color for
maximum visibility.

Modify Curvature Scale.

Right-click the intersection curve and choose

Modify Curvature Scale. Slide the bar right
(decrease) or left (increase) to change the scale of
the curvature combs.

There is also a slider to control Density, which is

the number of curvature combs per curve segment.

Show Minimum
Radius

Show Minimum Radius (of curvature) can be used to graphically

Where to Find It

Do

No

display the position and value of the minimum radius of curvature on

the curve. This is important information for shelling and offset
geometry.

310

Shortcut Menu: Right-click the spline and click Show Minimum

Radius

Menu: Select the spline and click Show Minimum Radius

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Show Inflection
Points

Inflection Points are those points on a curve

where the curvature changes direction,

shown in the curvature comb display as a
crossover. These points can be shown on the
curve.

Where to Find It

Shortcut Menu: Right-click the spline and click Show Inflection

Points

Menu: Select the spline and click Show Inflection Points

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Inflection
Points

Minimum Radius.

Do

No

Right-click the curve and click

Show Minimum Radius. A graphic
circle, tangent to the curve, appears on the
screen. A radius value is attached to the
circle.

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10 Inflection Points.

Right-click again turn off Show Curvature

Combs.

Turn on the Show Inflection Points option.

11 Turn off the displays.

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A small bow-tie symbol

appears at each
inflection point in the curve.

Right-click the intersection curves, and turn

off Show Inflection Points and Show
Minimum Radius.
12 Cancel the sketch.

Continuity
Explained

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Exit the sketch discarding the changes.

The concept of continuity applies equally to curves and surfaces

(faces). For practical purposes, there are three types of continuity that
we are concerned about in CAD systems. They are:
I
I

Do

No

Contact, or C0 continuity,
Tangent, or C1 continuity, and
Curvature, or C2 continuity.

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While there are orders of continuity higher than C2, they are not used in
the SolidWorks software and therefore will not be addressed here.

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The concept of continuity can be explained using a series of spirals. In

each case we are looking at how the gray surface patch is related to the
colored spiral. Remember: continuity applies equally to curves and
surfaces. We are only using surfaces here because the illustrations are
clearer.

Thanks to Bill Campbell of R&D Engineering for submitting this example.

Do

No

In the first case the gray surface isnt even touching

the spiral. This represents no continuity at all. This
condition is referred to as discontinuous.

In the second case, the gray surface is touching the

colored spiral. They share a common edge but that
is all. This represents contact, or C0 continuity.

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In the third case, the gray surface is not only

touching the colored spiral, it is tangent to it. This
represents tangent, or C1 continuity. While C1
continuity technically provides a smooth
transition between the two surfaces, it is not very
pleasing aesthetically. This is because of the
sudden change in the radius of the two adjoining
faces. At the common edge, the spiral has a
radius of about 65mm. The gray surface is flat; its radius is infinite. In a
finished product, this abrupt change can be both seen and felt.
Tangent continuity is acceptable for most applications with the
exception of Class A surfacing.

Note

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In the final case, the gray surface is touching the

colored spiral (C0 continuity), is tangent (C1
continuity), and it has the same curvature as the
spiral. This represents curvature, or C2 continuity.
It is important to note that to have C2 continuity,
you also have to have C0 and C1.
When two adjacent faces have C2 continuity, we
often say they are curvature continuous.

Zebra Stripes simulate the reflection of long strips of light on a very

shiny surface. Using zebra stripes you can see wrinkles or defects in a
surface that may be hard to see with a standard shaded display. Also,
you can verify that two adjacent faces are in contact, are tangent, or are
curvature continuous.

Introducing:
Zebra Stripes

Properly interpreting the zebra stripe display requires some

explanation. To illustrate, we will look at some examples using a box
with a fillet.

Boundary
Conditions

The way the zebra stripes appear when they cross the boundaries of
faces tells you how the faces within a part are blended one into the
other.

No

Zebra Stripes

Do

Tangent

314

Contact

Curvature
Continuous

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

There are three boundary conditions:

I
I

Where to Find It

I
I

Contact the stripes do not match at the boundary.

Tangent the stripes match, but there is an abrupt change in
direction or a sharp corner.
Curvature continuous the stripes continue smoothly across the
boundary. Curvature continuity is an option for face fillets.

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CommandManager: Evaluate > Zebra Stripes

Menu: View, Display, Zebra Stripes

13 Zebra stripes.
Click Zebra Stripes

Tip

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Rotate the view and watch how the pattern of

stripes changes. Pay particular attention to how
the stripes blend from the face of the bottle to
the fillet. The fillet is matched in tangency, but
not curvature.
Save this view display state so you can return
to it later.

Curvature
Continuous Fillets

The Curvature continuous option for face fillets creates a smoother

transition between adjacent surfaces. Only face fillets can be curvature
continuous. There are two ways to specify the radius of a curvature
continuous, face fillet:
1. Specify a Radius value.
2. Use the Hold line option. This requires two hold lines, one for each
set of faces.

Where to Find It

Fillet PropertyManager: Click Face fillet, expand the Fillet

Options group box, and click Curvature continuous

No

14 Turn off zebra stripes.

15 Rollback.

Do

Right-click the fillet, and select Rollback

16 Second split line.

Open a sketch on the bottom face

and create an offset of 0.375.
Use this sketch to split the bottom
face.

315

Lesson 8

SolidWorks 2012

Other Advanced Tools

17 Roll forward and Edit Feature.

Right-click in the FeatureManager design tree and select Roll to

Previous.
Edit the definition of the fillet.

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The face set list that represents the bottom of the bottle (Face Set 1in
this example) now has two faces listed because the bottom was split
into two during step 16.

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Click in the Hold line list, and select the edge of the face for the second
hold line.

Second Hold Line

Click Curvature continuous, and OK.

18 Intersection curves.

Repeat the procedure you used in step

5 on page 309 to create a new set of
intersection curves that represent the
bottle with the curvature continuous
fillet.

19 Inspect the curvature.

Do

No

Notice particularly how the curvature

display for the fillet has changed. The
unequal lengths of the curvature comb
indicate that the fillet is not circular in
cross section. This is understandable.
Curvature continuous fillets are not
circular. Also, the last comb element
on the body and the first element on
the fillet are the same length. This
indicates that the fillet is curvature
continuous with the body of the bottle.

316

20 Cancel the sketch.

Exit the sketch discarding the changes.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

21 Zebra stripes.
Click View, Display, Zebra Stripes. Examine

how the stripes blend from the body of the

bottle to the fillet.

23 Save and close the part.

Wrap Feature

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22 Turn off zebra stripes display.

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The Wrap feature takes a flat sketch and wraps it around a cylindrical
or conical surface, embossing (adding material), debossing (removing
material) or scribing (splitting faces). The sketch must be a single or
multiple closed loop, (not an open loop), and must be on a plane that is
parallel to a plane that is tangent to the surface.

Extrude a cylinder.

Open a new part using the Part_MM

template.

On the Top reference plane, draw a circle

with a 250mm diameter centered on the
Origin.
Extrude a thin feature 180mm tall with a
wall thickness 25mm to the inside.

Define a plane.

Do

No

Create a reference plane tangent to the

cylinder and perpendicular to the Right
reference plane.

317

Lesson 8

SolidWorks 2012

Other Advanced Tools

Draw a sketch to wrap.

Change to the Front view.

Equation.

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On the newly created reference plane, draw a sketch as shown.

Write an equation that sets the overall length of the sketch equal to pi
times the diameter of the cylinder.

Introducing: Wrap

Exit the sketch.

The Wrap feature will emboss (add material), deboss (remove material)
or scribe (split faces) a sketch around a cylindrical or conical face.

No

The Wrap feature can also deboss or emboss while allowing you to
specify a pull direction. This is for creating inset areas on plastic parts.

Where to Find It

Do

318

CommandManager: Features > Wrap

Menu: Insert, Features, Wrap

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Click Wrap

If you have not pre-selected the sketch, the system

will prompt you to select one.
Select the cylindrical face.
Select Deboss and set the Thickness to 12.5mm.
Fillet.
Add 25mm radius fillets to the corners of the cam

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track.

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Save and close the part.

Name the part Cylindrical_Cam.

Note

Better cam design would use spline transitions rather than simple
fillets, to make the transitions smoother. A fit spline might be used for
the contour instead of simple lines.

Deform Feature

Deform is a feature which can alter an existing solid or

surface body regardless of the existence of any

parametric data. That is to say that you can deform
native SolidWorks parts as well as imported geometry.

No

The Deform feature supports three types of

deformation:
I
I

Do

Introducing: Deform

Where to Find It

Point
Curve to curve
Surface push

Deform provides a simple way to change virtually any model, whether

organic or mechanical, and is useful when creating design concepts or

making geometric changes to complex models that would otherwise
take too long using traditional sketch, feature, or history editing.
I

Menu: Insert, Features, Deform

319

Lesson 8

SolidWorks 2012

Other Advanced Tools

Point Deformation

The Point option allows you to apply a bump to a part at a point, and
allows you to control the diameter of the effected area as well as the
height of the bump.
The Deform Distance
the deformation will be.

determines how high off the face of the part

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The Deform Radius

determines the size of the area to be effected.
The center of the radius is the selected sketch point.
The Shape Options determine the cross-section of the deformation.
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Stiffness - Minimum
Stiffness - Medium
Stiffness - Maximum

Open the part Deform.

This part is a native SolidWorks part, but it could have
been imported and the same functionality would be
available. Also note that the changes in shape we will
make to this part are independent of the features which
created the part.

Apply a split line feature.

Create a Split Line to break the curved face of the

model. This split line will be the dividing line between

the finger grip section and the rest of the grip.

Do

No

The sketch should be drawn on the Front reference

plane of the part and curve with the part. A 3 Point Arc
works well with a radius of about 300mm.

320

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Place a 3D sketch point on the model.

Open a 3D sketch and insert a sketch point directly on

the face of the model.

Exit the sketch.

Click Deform .
For Deform Type, click Point.

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This sketch point will be the center of the Point

deformation.

For Deform Distance enter 3.8mm.

For Deform Radius enter 63.5mm and click Deform

region.

No

Under Shape Options, click Stiffness - Medium

and Maintain boundary, which limits the deformation
to the just the face that has the point on it.

Click OK.

Do

This is an example of a shape that may be difficult to

model directly using lofts or may be difficult to add to
an imported body.

321

Lesson 8

SolidWorks 2012

Other Advanced Tools

Curve to Curve
Deformation

Second deform feature.

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The Curve to curve option is a precise method for deforming complex

shapes that transition from initial curves to target curves. The initial
and target curves can be edges of faces, surfaces, and section curves, or
free sketch curves.

Show the Finger Grip sketch and click Deform

8

Create the finger grip.

Click Curve to curve and select the model edge as the
Initial Curves
as shown below.

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Select the spline in the Finger Grip sketch as the

Target Curves
.
For the Fixed Curves/Edges/Faces
deformed face from step 5 as shown.

Note

, select the

Initial curves cannot touch fixed entities.

If the preview does not match the Target Curve

closely enough, move the Shape Accuracy slider
to the right.

No

Fixed Face

Click OK.

Do

This is another example of a shape that may be difficult

to model directly using traditional techniques.

322

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

The Surface push option modifies

surfaces of target bodies by pushing
tool bodies into them. You can select
a customizable pre-built tool body or
use your own tool bodies.

Tool Body

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Surface Push
Deformation

The surface push deform

approximates the surfaces of the tool
bodies, while maintaining the identities of the surfaces of the target
bodies (the number of faces, edges, and vertices remains unchanged in
the final target body).

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Surface push deform provides more efficient control of the deform

shape as compared to point deform. It is also a predictable way to
create specific features based on tool body shapes.

Use surface push deform to design free-form surfaces, tooling, plastics,

soft packaging, sheet metal, and other applications where it is useful to
incorporate the characteristics of tool bodies into existing designs.

Joining Surfaces

In the next step we will create our own tool body. We want to do this by
extruding a sketch using the Offset From Surface end condition.
However, the sketch spans two faces, and the command only allows us
to select one face. We need a way to combine two faces into a single
surface body. This means utilizing surface and solid modeling
techniques together which is fairly common in advanced modeling.

Introducing: Knit
Surface

Knit Surface takes faces that touch edge to edge with no gaps or

overlaps and combines them into a single surface body.

Knit Surface is introduced here to demonstrate one of the advantages

of surface functions even if you only create solid models.

Surfacing techniques are dealt with extensively in the Surface
Modeling course.

Where to Find It

Do

No

CommandManager: Surfaces > Knit Surface

Menu: Insert, Surface, Knit

323

Lesson 8

SolidWorks 2012

Other Advanced Tools

10 Knit faces together.

Click Knit Surface .

The system knits copies of the two

faces together, creating a single
surface body.
A Surface Bodies folder is added
to the FeatureManager design tree.

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Select the two faces as shown and

click OK.

The visibility of folders in the FeatureManager design tree is controlled

by Hide/Show Tree Items in Tools, Options.

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Note

11 Extrude.

Extrude the sketch named Thumb Rest using the

end condition Offset From Surface.
The Offset Distance is 2.5mm.

Offset From Surface has two solutions. The

extrude can stop 2.5mm short of the surface, or

2.5mm beyond the surface. We want the extrude to
go beyond the surface.
Examine the preview and if necessary, click
Reverse offset.

Select Surface-Knit1 from the fly-out FeatureManager.

Do

No

Clear the Merge result option and click OK.

324

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

12 Hide the surface body.

Right-click Surface-Knit1 and click Hide

13 Click Deform .
For Deform Type, click Surface push.

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For Push Direction, select the Front reference

plane.
For the Deform Region select the two curved
faces of the grip and the main solid body.

For the Tool Body

select the extrude feature
that was made from the Thumb Rest sketch.

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Set the Deform Deviation

to 1.25mm. The
smaller the value the more closely the deformation
conforms to the tool body. The larger the value, the
more subtle the effect of the tool body is.
The tool body was built in the correct position so
we do not use either the triad or the Tool Body
Position options in the PropertyManager.

No

Click OK.

14 Hide the tool body.

Do

Right-click on the tool body either in the graphics window, in the Solid
Bodies folder, or on the feature that created it, and click Hide .

325

Lesson 8

SolidWorks 2012

Other Advanced Tools

In step 13 we selected the solid body to deform

and we selected two additional faces. What is the
purpose of selecting those additional faces?

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Why Select Faces

and the Solid
Body?

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15 Results.

It is to limit the deformation to just the selected

faces. If no faces are selected, the entire body is
affected.

A look at the back of the finished part verifies this.

With additional faces selected

Without additional faces selected

16 Save and close the part.

The Move Face feature can operate on geometry in three different

ways:

No

Move Face and

Delete Face

I
I

Do

Offset faces, moving them in a direction normal to the face.

Translate faces, moving them in a selected direction.
Rotate faces, rotating about a given linear axis.

Introducing: Move
Face

Move Face will move a face on a solid or surface body, and extend or

Where to Find It

trim adjacent faces to match.

Menu: Insert, Face, Move

Delete Face was introduced in Lesson 7: Lofts on page 246.

326

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Import a Parasolid file.

Open the Parasolid file named Move_Face.x_t.

Increase the length of the large

cylinder.

Select

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Select the fillet and end faces of the

large cylinder.

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Use the Part_MM template.

Click Move Face

Click Translate and set

the Distance to 5mm.

Select the Top Plane to

define the translation
vector.

Click Flip direction to

make the cylinder longer.
Click OK.

Remove the fillets.

Click Delete Face

No

and select the three fillet

Do

faces.

327

Lesson 8

SolidWorks 2012

Other Advanced Tools

Delete and patch.

The default setting for Delete Face is Delete

and Patch, which untrims neighboring faces to
patch the hole left by the missing face.

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Click OK.

Preview

Results

Increase the diameter of the large

cylinder.
Using Move Face, and the Offset option,

increase the diameter of the large

cylindrical face by 10mm.

Chamfer.

Apply new 3mm x 45 chamfers to

replace the three fillets removed in step 4.
Save and close the part.

Do

No

328

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Open the part Delete_Face.

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Notice that when the boss was revolved, some extra material stuck out
of the part. This is because the Up To Surface end condition for the
revolved boss would not work because the profile intersects the surface
that defines the end condition.

Remove the extra geometry.

Using Delete Face with the Delete

and Patch option, remove the
unwanted faces.

The Hole Wizard was introduced in

the SolidWorks Essentials course.

The Hole Wizard requires a sketch

containing points that locate the
centers of the holes. This sketch can
either be a planar, 2D sketch, or a 3D
sketch.

Do

No

Using 3D
Sketch with the
Hole Wizard

Save and close the part.

If the sketch is 2D, all the holes will

lie on the same plane and their
directions will all be normal to that plane.
3D sketches enable you to place hole centers on non-planar faces, as
well as on multiple faces where the holes go in different directions. The
four counterbored holes in the part shown were created by a single
Hole Wizard feature using a single 3D sketch.

329

Lesson 8

SolidWorks 2012

Other Advanced Tools

Open the part named

3D_Sketch_Hole_Wizard.

The appearance of the part has been

made semi-transparent so it will be
easier to see the previews of the hole
features.
2

Rollback before the chamfer and

fillet.

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We are going to use midpoints of

edges to help locate the holes. To
make sure the midpoints are in the correct locations, rollback before the
chamfer and fillet features.
Hole Wizard.
Click Hole Wizard
on the Features toolbar, or
click Insert, Features, Hole, Wizard.

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Make sure the Type tab is showing.

Set the properties of the hole as follows:

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Hole Specification: Counterbore

Standard: Ansi Metric
Type: Socket Head Cap Screw
Size: M5
Fit: Normal
End Condition: Up To Next

Click the Positions tab.

Click 3D Sketch because we want to create

multiple holes with different orientations on

different faces.

No

The Point tool is active.

Do

330

Select the faces.

Select the four faces on which we

want to place holes. The system
automatically adds On Surface
relations to the selected faces and
generates previews of the holes.

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

Locate the first hole.

Now that we have the holes in their approximate

locations, we will use construction geometry, sketch
relations, and dimensions to precisely locate the points.

Locate the second hole.

This point should have:

I

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On Plane relation to the solid face

(created automatically in step 4).
On Plane relation to the Front

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The first hole should be located in the center of the face

as shown. Sketch a construction line between the diagonal vertices of
the face. Add a Midpoint relation between the construction line and the
point.

reference plane.
Dimensioned 10mm from the vertical
face as shown.

Locate the hole on the curved

face.
Activate the Front reference

plane.

Click View, Temporary Axes.

Sketch two construction lines: one

vertical and one at a 45 angle.
Both construction lines should be
Coincident to the temporary axis.

Add a Coincident relation

between the angled construction
line and the sketch point for the third hole.

Deactivate the Front plane by double-clicking in the blank space of the

graphics window.
Locate the fourth hole.

No

Do

The final counterbored hole has to

be centered with respect to the
highlighted face shown in the
image to the right.
There are a number of ways this
can be accomplished. In this
example we will use construction
lines.

331

Lesson 8

SolidWorks 2012

Other Advanced Tools

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Sketch a construction line between the diagonal

vertices of the face.

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Starting at the midpoint of the construction line,

sketch a second construction line capturing the
Along X relation.

Add a Coincident relation between the sketch point

and the construction line.
Remember: The point already has a On Plane
relation to the face of the solid.

10 Click OK and Roll to End.

Click OK to create the Hole Wizard

feature.

Right-click in the FeatureManager

and click Roll to End.

No

11 Save and close the part.

Do

Performance
Considerations

Performance
Settings

When working complex parts, performance tends to slow as the

geometry gets more complex. Sweeps, lofts, variable radius fillets, and
multi-thickness shells all have an impact on system resources and
performance. There are, however, some steps you can take to minimize
this impact and optimize system performance.

The Performance tab for Tools,

Options, System Options
contains settings which affect all
documents.
Turning off shaded previewing
can improve performance.

332

SolidWorks 2012

Lesson 8
Other Advanced Tools

The Image Quality settings

for Shaded and Wireframe
(Tools, Options,
Document Properties)
also have an impact on
system performance.

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Use the lowest possible

settings that still give
acceptable image quality.

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Image Quality

Suppressing
Features

Suppressing a feature causes the system to ignore it during any

calculations. Not only is it removed from the graphic display, the
system treats suppressed features as if they arent even there. This will
significantly improve system response and performance when working
with complex parts.

Parent/Child
Relationships

Parent/child relationships affect suppressing features. If you suppress a

feature, its children will automatically be suppressed also. When you
unsuppress a feature (turn it back on again) you have the option of
leaving its children suppressed or unsuppressing them as well.
The second implication of parent/child relations and suppressed
features is that you cannot access or reference any of the geometry of a
suppressed feature. Therefore, you need to give careful consideration to
modeling technique when you suppress something. Dont suppress a
feature if you will need to reference its geometry later.

Accessing the
Suppress Command

There are several ways to access the Suppress command:

I
I

Press Esc to interrupt the regeneration of a part. This also works when
opening parts, during rollback, and so on.

No

Interrupt
Regeneration

Shortcut Menu: Right-click a feature and click Suppress

Menu: Edit, Suppress

Do

When you interrupt the regeneration of a part, the system completes

regeneration of the current feature and then places the rollback bar after
that feature.

333

Exercise 28

SolidWorks 2012

Face Fillets

Exercise 28:
Face Fillets

In this exercise, apply face fillets as

described.

Procedure

Face Fillets on page 248 and

page 300.

Begin with an imported part.

Import the Parasolid file named
Gasket_Frame.x_t.
Use the Part_MM template.

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This lab reinforces the following

skills:

Apply first face fillet.

The loop around the inside of the

part has several features in it that
will cause edge fillets to fail.

Apply a face fillet with a 2.75mm

radius.

Apply outside loop fillet.

The outside loop of this part has an

existing chamfer on it.
Apply a face fillet with a radius of
1.5mm over the chamfer.
Save and close the part.

Do

No

334

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 29
Variable Radius Fillet

Exercise 29:
Variable Radius
Fillet

In this part create a variable radius fillet to fit

as specified.
This lab reinforces the following skills:

Procedure

Variable Radius Fillets on page 294.

Open the part Faucet_Cover.

1

Full round fillet.

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Apply a full round fillet to the narrow end

of the part.

Variable radius
fillet.

Apply a variable
radius fillet as
shown.

Link radius values.

Do

No

Use global variables to link symmetric radius values.

Save and close the part.

335

Exercise 30

SolidWorks 2012

Hold Line Fillet

Exercise 30:
Hold Line Fillet

Use the provided part, images and

dimensions to create a curvature continuous
face fillet using hold lines.
I
I

Procedure

Split Line on page 190.

Curvature Continuous Fillets on
page 302.

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This lab reinforces the following skills:

Open the part Faucet_Cover-Holdline.

This is the same base part as was used in the previous exercise, but this
time we will use hold lines to create a curvature continuous face fillet.
Draw a spline.
On the Right reference plane, sketch a spline like the one shown. The

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spline will be used to create a split line to constrain a fillet.

Add a Horizontal relation to the spline handle nearest the origin.

Note

To add the Horizontal relation, you must select the option Enable
Spline Tangency and Curvature handles in Tools, Options,
System Options, Sketch.

No

Use Show Curvature Combs and/or Show Inflection Points to make

sure that the spline is always convex and smooth.

Do

336

Create a split line.

Use the spline to create a split line

around the three tangent faces.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 30
Hold Line Fillet

Create another split line.

On the Top reference plane, sketch a

One technique for creating

symmetrical splines is to sketch
construction lines using dynamic
mirroring and then connect the ends
of the construction lines with the
spline.

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Tip

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symmetrical spline and create a

second split line.

Another technique is to simply

sketch the spline using
dynamic mirroring.

Create the fillet.

Do

No

Create a curvature continuous face fillet using the two split lines as
hold lines.

Save and close the part.

337

Exercise 31

SolidWorks 2012

Move Face

Exercise 31:
Move Face

Use Move Face to edit imported

bodies.
This lab reinforces the following
skills:

Procedure

Move Face on page 326.

Open the part Forged_Bracket.

1

Move end faces.

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Select the faces of the

four holes and move
them 10mm, using the
Front Plane for the
Direction reference.

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After you select the first

hole click
All co-

directional full
cylindrical/conical on

the menu
to
select the other three holes.

Move the end faces.

No

Select the six end faces

by selecting the front face
and clicking All
surrounding
on the
menu. Use the Front
Plane for the Direction
reference and move
them 12.5mm.

Do

Tip

338

Reduce the diameter of bar.

Select all the faces of the bar

feature except for the flat
underside face (seven of them)
and use the Offset option, with a
distance of 1.5mm.
Right-click one of the curved
faces of the bar and use Select
Tangency to select the faces of
the bar.

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 31
Move Face

Make the bar taller.

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Again select the seven faces of the bar and Translate them upwards
6.25mm using the Top reference plane for the Direction reference.

Measure distance.

Rotate the view so you can

easily see the underside of the
part.

Use Measure Distance to

determine the distance
between the underside of the
bar and the bottom face of the
part.

Extend lower face of the bar.

Select the underside face of the

bar as shown and move it
19.05mm so it is flush with the
underside of the bracket.
The Direction reference can
be a planar face as well as a
reference plane.

No

Note

Resize the holes.

Do

Reduce all the holes by

2.5mm.

Close and save the part.

339

Exercise 32

SolidWorks 2012

Delete Face

In this exercise you will apply the

various options available with the
Delete Face feature.
This lab reinforces the following
skills:
I

Procedure

Delete Face on page 246.

Open the part Delete_Face-imported.

1

Delete and patch.

Click Insert, Face, Delete.

Bump to remove
Artifact to remove

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Exercise 32:
Delete Face

Split face to remove

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Select the split face and the two faces that make up the artifact.
Use the Delete and Patch option.

The Delete and Patch option completely removes the edges around
the faces, and restores the underlying, untrimmed base surface.

Remove the bump.

Click Insert, Face, Delete.

Do

No

Use the Delete and Fill and the Tangent fill options.

340

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 32
Delete Face

Analyze results.
The Delete and Fill option automatically creates a Filled Surface

feature to patch the hole. At first glance the results look pretty good.
The Filled Surface feature is covered in depth in the Advanced Surface
Modeling course.

Note

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Click View, Display, Curvature or click Curvature

on the View
toolbar. The curvature discontinuity around the edge of the patch is
clearly visible.

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Edit the DeleteFace2 feature and select the Delete and Patch option.
Notice the improvement.

Delete and Fill

Tip

Delete and Patch

Turn off RealView Graphics before viewing the curvature display.

Save and close the part.

Do

No

341

Exercise 33

SolidWorks 2012

Hole Wizard and 3D Sketches

Exercise 33:
Hole Wizard
and 3D
Sketches

Create this by following the steps as

shown.

Procedure

Using 3D Sketch with the Hole

Wizard on page 329.

3D Sketching on page 136.

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This lab reinforces the following skills:

Open an existing part named Hole_Wizard.

1

Reference planes.

Create two new reference planes as follows:

Offset Distance offset 25mm
from the Front plane.

At Angle angle of 10

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Do

No

using a temporary axis and a

model face.

342

SolidWorks 2012

Exercise 33
Hole Wizard and 3D Sketches

Hole size.
Click Hole Wizard

Choose the settings for the description

CBORE for M6 Hex Head Bolt.
Use the Up To Next end condition.

Placement.

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Click the Position tab and select the

curved face as shown. This automatically
creates a 3D sketch.

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Position the holes locating point in the

3D sketch by adding On Plane relations
to both the 25 off and the 10 deg planes.

Patterns.

Do

No

The objective is to have 5 holes equally spaced through a total angle of

160, on both the front and back of the part, for a total of 10 holes. Do
this by patterning the hole.

Save and close the part.

343

Exercise 33

SolidWorks 2012

Do

No

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Hole Wizard and 3D Sketches

344

projected 143, 151

spiral 185
split line 191, 320, 336337
split lines 190
through XYZ locations 158

deleting 246, 326, 340

moving 326, 338
selecting 294
splitting 191, 320, 336337
feature scope 29
FeatureManager design tree
library feature folder 150
solid bodies folder 27, 31, 36, 59,
65, 68, 75
features
boundary 260262
deform 319
delete face 246, 326, 340
dome 115
fillet 249
helix 142
holes 342
indent 54
library 149150
loft 226, 228245
move face 326, 338
multi-thickness shell 154
shell 154, 251
split line 190
suppress 332333
sweep 100, 106109, 213214, 226
thread 155
wrap 317
file extensions
SLDCRV 158
SLDLFP 150
TXT 158
fillets
constant width 290, 303
control points 295
curvature continuous 302, 315, 337
face fillet 248, 290, 300
hold lines 290, 303304
keep edge 292
keep features 290291
keep surface 292
multiple radii 249
multiple radius 298
round corners 293
select through faces 294
setback 290, 297
smooth transitions 296
straight transitions 296
transitions 296
variable radius 290, 294

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Numerics
3D curves 143, 151, 308
See also curves
3D sketches 136140, 174, 177, 342
space handle 136

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Index

A
analysis
curvature 305
deviation 247
analyzing geometry 305

B
background images 133
bodies to keep dialog 64
boundary feature 260262

Do

No

C
combine 36
combined bodies
examples 37
combining bodies 36
common bodies 50
composite curve 145
connectors 283, 286
constant width fillets 303
constraints 231
See also relations
control points 295
convert entities 77, 153, 156, 244, 267,
277
copy sketch 234235
See also derived sketch
counterbore, See hole wizard
curvature
definition of 305
display 305
equal 13
inspect 305
show combs 306
curvature comb 336
curvature continuous fillets 302, 315,
337
curve file 158
curves
composite 145
editing 159
from a file 158
helix 142
intersection 308

D
deform 319
curve to curve deformation 322
point deformation 320
surface push deformation 323
delete
body 57
delete face 246, 326, 340
delete and patch 329
delete picture 133
deleting solid bodies 57
deleting surface bodies 57
derived sketch 237, 278
See also copy sketch
detailed preview 29, 66
deviation analysis 247
display curvature 305
dissolve library feature 150
dividing a curve, See split entities
dividing an entity 244
dome 115
draft 233
in extruded features 250
drag and drop
library feature 150
drill, See hole wizard

E
edit
curve data read from file 159
suppress 333
end conditions
up to next 250
entities
convert 77, 153, 156, 244, 267
split 244
equal curvature 13
explode, See dissolve library feature
F
face blends 248, 300
face fillets 248, 300
hold lines 303
faces

345

Index

SolidWorks 2012

G
geometric relations
along x 136
along y 136137
along z 136137
collinear 156
considerations in lofting 205, 209
on plane 140, 180
on surface 179
pierce 105, 144, 152

M
merge result 2627, 31, 52, 55, 5859
merge smooth faces 125
merge tangent faces 125
mesh 239
minimum radius, show 310
mirror
sketch 237
modify picture 133
modify sketch 236237
move face 326, 338
offset 328
translate 327
move/copy body 33
multibody parts 2627, 5874
combining bodies 36
common bodies 50
creating 26
creating with cuts 64
feature scope 29
local operations 58
merge result 2627, 31, 52, 55, 58
59
merging 59
merging using loft 234
saving as assemblies 65
saving bodies as parts 65
sweep 106
tool body 32
multi-thickness shell 154

preview, detailed 29, 66

project curve 143, 151
propagate along tangent edges 214
properties, feature 333
R
reading curve data from a file 159
reference geometry
composite curve 145
curve through XYZ points 158
helix 142
project curves 143, 151
regeneration, interrupting 333
relations
pierce 186
relationships, parent/child 333
replace picture 133
round corners 293

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H
helix 142
hold line, fillets 304
hold lines 303
hole wizard 342
hollowing a part, See shelling a part

258
centerline 235, 240, 242
closed loop 287
compared to sweep 226
connectors 239, 243, 259, 283, 286
merging a multibody 234
mesh 239
preparing the profiles 241
reorder profiles 230
rules for profiles 241
tangency control 231233

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zero radius values 296

fit spline 13, 147, 280281
folders
solid bodies 27, 31, 36, 59, 65, 68,
75
follow path 197199

I
indent 54
inflection points 276, 311
insert
composite curve 145
curve through XYZ points 158
derived sketch 237
fillet 303
helix 142
loft 229
part into an existing part 32
picture 133
shell 154
solid body into new part 65
spline 8
split line 190
inspect curvature 305
interpolate 146, 228
interrupt regeneration 333
intersection curves 308

No

K
keep edge 292
keep features 290
keep normal constant 197199
keep surface 292

Do

L
layout sketch 253, 275
library features 149150
dissolve 150
feature folder 150
light lines, See zebra stripes
lights 131
local operations 58
loft 229, 273
advanced 251
basic 228
blending between two bodies 234,

346

O
offset plane 250
options 65, 301
orientation and twist control 196, 200
213
follow path 197199
keep normal constant 197199
P
parent/child relationships 333
parts
inserting 32
inserting a solid body into a new
part 65
performance considerations 332333
pictures
as backgrounds in parts or
assemblies 133
pierce 186
planes
offset 250

S
saving solid body as a part 65
section views 154
select through faces 294
selecting items
propagate along tangent edges 214
SelectionManager 119, 214
setback fillets 297
sharing sketches 243
shelling a part 154, 251
show curvature combs 306
show inflection points 311
show minimum radius 310
silhouette edges 156
sketch
3D 136140, 174, 177, 342
convert entities 77, 153, 156, 244,
267, 277
copying 234235
See also derived
derived 237, 278
See also copy
fully defined 14
intersection curve 308
layout 253, 275
modify 236237
sharing 243
sketch picture 14
split entities 244
solid bodies folder 27, 31, 36, 59, 65,
68, 75
solid sweep 215
space handle 136
spiral 185
splines 8, 272, 336
control polygon 9
curvature comb 9, 306, 336
fit 13, 147, 280281
handles 9
inflection points 9, 276, 311
minimum radius 10
proportional 255
spline points 9
split entities 244
split line 190191, 320, 336337

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splitting curves, See split entities

splitting faces 191, 320, 336337
stock feature 65
suppress
features 332333
surfaces
delete 57
sweep
align with end faces 213
along model edges 213
compared to loft 226
components 100
controlling twist 196, 200213
follow path 197199
guide curve 185
guide curves 103, 105
keep normal constant 197199
merge smooth faces 125
merge tangent faces 125
multibody 106
options 106
orientation and twist control 196,
200213
path 101, 103
profile 100
propagate along tangent edges 214
section 100, 105
show intermediate profiles 108, 196
show preview 107
tool body 215
twist 212
symmetry 13, 337

Index

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SolidWorks 2012

T
tangent 146, 231
tap, See hole wizard
threads, modeling 155
TIFF images as backgrounds 133
tool body 32, 215, 325
tools, options 65, 301
transitions
straight and smooth 296
twist
controlling in sweeps 196, 200213
twisting along a sweep path 212

No

V
variable radius fillets 294
variational sweep, See sweep, guide
curves
view picture 133

Do

W-Z
wrap 317
zebra stripes 305, 314315
zero radius fillets 296

347

Do
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No

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Index

348

SolidWorks 2012