How can I show silk screen text / logos on a Solidworks model? 2

[Jaycb]

I've been evaluating Solidworks and have come up against a problem - showing silk screened text on a part. I've been able to do so using the sketch entities command, then extruding the text as a very thin extrusion, then colouring each letter, but found it incredibly time consuming. Is there a quick way to add text by importing it en masse from AutoCAD and just "printing" it on where one wants it?
Apologies if this sounds like a dumb question but it's an area I need to be clear about before migrating from AutoCAD to Solidworks.
Thanks.
J.

 

[ctopher]

Why do you color each letter? Why not type the whole word and color the word? Each word or character can be a different sketch or the same sketch, depending on your design.
You can open the DWG/DXF from AutoCAD in SolidWorks. Make it a part.
I always create a new part with all silkscreen on it, extruded very thin as you mentioned. Then I create a multisht dwg (no format) with the silkscreen. Each sheet a different color/layer.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

If you have SW06, you can also place an Illustrator file onto a modelface using Sketch Picture. The Illustrator file can be fully coloured and can be used to create the silk screen.

In previous SW versions, the Sketch Picture can be used to place other bitmap images.


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[Heckler]

J,

On our plastic molded parts that get PAD printed we do the same thing you're doing. I make a PAD printing configuration, put the text on the model and extrude it to a height of .0005". But since our screen printers work from FreeHand drawings not SWx drawings for the artwork then my text on the SWx model is really reference only.

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 5.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

Never argue with an idiot. They'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience every time.

 

[Jabberwocky]

We used to use a thin extrude for our marking information, but I have found that in many cases a "Wrap - scribe" feature works better. It only splits the surface and does not cut away any material.

There can be issues when marking across multiple surfaces though.

 

[ShaggyPE]

Jaycb,
When you are coloring each letter, I believe you are selecting the face of the letter and changing its propertires. You are able to do the same thing with the entire extrude feature. Click on the extrude feature in the feature manager (the tree thing on the left of the screen) then click the color change icon. This will turn everything created in that feature to the color you want.

-Shaggy

 

[Standing]

Silk Screen & Art Work on Drawings
We can create artwork for the vendor right in our SolidWorks drawings. Place the text onto the sheet metal model at say .005 inches deep. Now place this model into an Assembly. When this Assembly model is placed onto the drawing you see text in an outlined form. Outline corner marks and dimension per silkscreen drawing requirements. Now hatch each peace of text using Solid Properties in the Area Hatch/Fill dialog box. Now here is the trick, find the sheet metal part model not the assembly in the drawing tree. Right mouse click on the part, drag your cursor over Show/Hide, then click Hide Component. Also hide any Pem nuts. Your outline corner marks and dimension with hatched areas are all that is left.


Bradley

 

[btcoutermash]

What we use is the "Wrap" command. You put a sketch on the face that you want the text to be on, then in the sketch put a guide line for the text, then tools/sketch entities/text. When your done, exit the sketch and insert/features/wrap. We select scribe and once it processes you can just select the "wrap" feature in the tree and select the color template to change the color of all the text. To show on a drawing you need to "Show Tangent Edges" in the views.

 

[Standing]

btcoutermash,
Your method is way cool. I am changing my ways. A star for you.


Bradley

 

[Jaycb]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Now I've come up against another wall - I've tried to import text as a .dwg but when I do so it doesn't appear! The tree says that there's a sketch there but there's nothing visible. Is there some feature I don't know about that needs to be switched on in order to display the text once it's imported as a sketch?

 

[ctopher]

You may not have the font available. Try exploding the text first, then export and import.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[Jabberwocky]

I don't mean to be b*tchy, but btcoutermash said the same thing I did, over a day later. Is it wrong to feel slighted?

Also I agree with ctopher, I've had problems importing through .dwg when the fonts don't line up. Exploding should get you the curves you want.

 

[btcoutermash]

Sorry Jabberwocky, I missed that. Did not mean to step on your .... Credit to you.

 

[Jabberwocky]

No worries btcoutermash, it's good to see that other people also use the Wrap method.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Aw, some kind soul has given me a star. Now I will look a complete fool when future people read this thread.

Well played kind stranger, well played.

 

[PlasticFantastic]

Use a decal.
1) Create a jpg of the logo. Use this as the primary bitmap
2) In Photoshop select the inverse of the logo. Fill that with black. Save out a second jpg to use as a transparency channel
(image mask file)

Very easy to move around and similar to the pad print process.