NEED TO WRITE CAD STANDARDS 1

Set up everything in you DOCUMENT TEMPLATES & SHEET FORMATS. then leave a post-it: "Deviate & Die, Noobie."

What else is there to document, really?

Windows XP / Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000 / SolidWorks 2007 SP2.2 / SpaceBall 5000

http://www.Tate3d.com

"Right-click. It's friggin' magic!"... Jack L. Tate
FAQ376 I'm famous.

Hi Tate,
We currently have issues with different designers doing things "their" way. Some choose not to use the hole wizard for whatever reason and end up making all their holes as cut-extrudes which does not bring in as much data on the drawings when doing a hole callout. This is just one example of many "good practices" that we would like to maintain a firm position on. As well as the normal things like arrow styles, dims, notes, cosmetic threads, hardware with or without "real threads", etc.

BB

Hard-copy CAD Standards are most commonly (ergonomically) used as monitor height shims. If you make a "best practice" manual... at least keep it electronic... like a HTML page on your network server. That way - when you see an infraction - you can e-mail a link to the evil-doer - of the exact "rule". Also the sent email is saved & can be directly equated to a performance review.

Windows XP / Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000 / SolidWorks 2007 SP2.2 / SpaceBall 5000

http://www.Tate3d.com

"Right-click. It's friggin' magic!"... Jack L. Tate
FAQ376 I'm famous.

BodyBagger,
I hear your pain!! We have compiled a relatively complete CAD standards document for our company. It includes many snipits from SW's own sites and many company developed best practices. Due to our policies I can not share this document, but I do have a document that my indiviual work group follows if you would like to peruse it?? We have found that there is so much variance between companies that it was best to write our own for what we expect to see in modeling practice and file management.

btcoutermash - Anything that would save me some time, I would love to see. How can I get a viewable copy from you?

Thanks in advance,
BB

I would buy/read SolidWorks 2007 Bible and ASME Y14 standards listed here:
Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 3.0 & Pro/E 2001
XP Pro SP2.0 P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
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(In reference to David Beckham) "He can't kick with his left foot, he can't tackle, he can't head the ball and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that, he's all right." -- George Best

Heckler - Thanks for the link, some good stuff there.

BB

I set up everything in the templates and sheet formats. I made it easy to follow the documentation standards by writing a few macros and set up shortcuts that make some common functions accessable by single keystrokes. I then wrote one procedure on how to set up systems properly to apply these standards, and one procedure that goes into some preferred practices in assembly, part and drawing modes.

In all this time (ten years), I only had one engineer get slick and try to create his own drawing templates. I found out almost immediately by accident and brought him back into line. I think adjusted my macros to make even easier to use the standard rather than some custom set up.

My suggestion
For the best practices procedure, first look online for general practices and advice on how to use SolidWorks. Then list know issues you guys are having in terms of instructions on the proper ways to do something. Never list improper methods. Divide the these into four areas:

SolidWorks Performance covering computer system requirements, Windows settings, SolidWorks installation, and working directories.

Best Practices for Parts discussing preferred methods to creating features.

Best Practices for Assemblies covering methologies (when to use top-down or bottom-up, what part should be the primary fixed component) and how to avoid circular mating, etc.

Best Practices for Drawings covering templates/sheet formats, shortcuts, drawing macros, etc.

I have some FAQ's the might help out at my site under "Tips/Tricks". Also, look through and There's many other sites out there too, so look in our weblinks areas too.

Good luck.

Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
sw.fcsuper.com
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group

BodyBagger,
Again these are pretty generic, but the things listed here are pretty much our bare minimum.

We have all of our templates and related files for SW setup out on our network and the CAD admin sets up each seat of SW. He installs our PDM, copies all settings over including file paths, macros, and such. Gets everyone started on the same sheet of music.

Through training and our Best Practices document we get people inline. Wish I could share the document. In all though it takes alot of owrk on your part to get together a document best suited for your company.

Wish you lots of luck!!! Doing ours was a real barel of monkeys ;-)

Matt,
I like your ideas. A star for you.

Bradley
SolidWorks Premim 2007 x64 SP3.1
PDM Works, Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU
3.00 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Virtual memory 12577 MB, nVidia 3400