PROBLEM USING SOLIDWORKS BLOCKS

[rudragoo]

Hi

I am trying to move the creation of Elecrical and P&ID drawings into Solidworks. I have created the blocks (very simple ones) that we need but using blocks really slows my system, generates huge files, and moving the blocks for modification or editing is a real problem. In AutoCAD and VectorWorks I can GROUP lines together and move or copy them as that group - cleanly. The only thing I can find in SW is BLOCK. I have contacted our VAR about this (several times) but they have no alternative, to blocks, to suggest. I have kept my Feature Manager Blocks clean and up-to-date but that doesn't really solve the problem.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to quickly create symbols/groups for drawings in SW DRAWING that are quick and easy to move/use and take up little file space?

If we can't do something better than SW blocks I'll have to go back to ACAD or Vectorworks- and I really don't want to.

Thanks for your time.

DAVID

 

[ctopher]

Have you searched for "blocks" in help? You can create them and add to a location on a server for all users to use.
Going back to ACAD just because of a block issue would be a waste...

Chris
SolidWorks 08, CATIA V5
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

If you are using SW only for 2D drawing creation you are wasting money. There are many 2D CAD packages available which are far more suitable ... and some of them are free.

The goal of SW was not for 'intensive' 2D drawing ability ... and it has achieved that goal quite well.

 

[ArtemTat]

You can also use Empry Views as a group of Sketch Entities.

In sert Empty View with Insert->Drawing View->Empty from the menu.

Now you can draw of copy-paste sketch entities into this view and move them all with the view as a group.

Thanks,

Artem Taturevich
CSWP

 

[rudragoo]

Thanks for your help. We are using the drawing feature to make the control panel simple schematic layouts for the 3D assys and parts we have created along with the standard parts and assy dwgs. We are also creating the P&ID drawings for our system. The P&ID and schematics are the only 2D drawings created from scratch and are pretty simple and basic.

I have followed all the proper block building procedures - it is just SW BLOCKS are not too well engineered - not just my opinion but also from GoEngineer my VAR. They are just too byte intensive, hard to move around, and hard to use in the way we need them. I'm bulding simple squares for term blocks, simple symbols for other items. Adding a square to a term block line can totally mess up the entire set. Waiting for a block to move and then set can take quite a bit of time. We need something faster to create these very simple line drawings or we just can not have our entire design in SW as was our goal. VectorWorks is not too good of a system but at least it can make simple blocks.

I will try the empty view to see if that will work for us.

Thanks to everyone. Any other ideas?

 

[handleman]

SolidWorks is just not intended for 2D drawing. That's why DWGEditor is included with your SW license. It functions very much like AutoCAD, although admittedly much less powerful. I never interacted much with AutoCAD beyond the student/intern level, so I can't tell a whole lot of difference. It certainly works much better than SW for 2D stuff like P&ID.

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

 

[ctopher]

Maybe Visio will help?
Also, forgetting about ACAD and switching your mind to SolidWorks will help...different worlds.

Chris
SolidWorks 08, CATIA V5
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

 

[rudragoo]

Thanks to everyone. Still havn'e found what will work but I'll keep trying.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Have you tried the Group function?

 

[rudragoo]

I did a search and couldn't find a group function that I understood would work for this. That works in other CADs and I wanted to try it.

Can you tell me where it is?

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Tools > Align > Group

Check the Help file index for group annotations

 

[rudragoo]

I loaded several blocks (squares with numbers) and exploded the blocks. I then selected a single box and number - can't group select only individual component select - but after going into ALIGN/GROUP the commands were grayed out so I could not group anything. It may work for grouping a set of blocks but does not really reduce the block file size.

I'm going to write SW as well since my VAR can not help with the problem.

Thanks

 

[SincoTC]

rudragoo,

Just a thought; Why not give up the unequal struggle of trying to get SW to create 2D drawings directly, for which it is truly dreadful and use its true strength by making your simple schematic symbols into solids by extruding the sketches to a nominal depth, deselect the "Merge result" checkbox to retain boundaries of parts of the sybmol if necessary and keep any text to the minimum.

You'll soon build up a symbol library (You could even put them in a custom Toolbox). Now you can quickly build up an assembly on some simple base, pattern/mirror if you want, Mating or dragging them to form the schematic layout, and when satisfied, create a drawing from that and add annotations and simple lines as necessary.

I regularly do something like this where I nest loads of simple flat components on a sheet for CNC cutting. They could just as easily be symbols and it's a lot easier to manipulate the parts in the assembly and produce a simple "one view" drawing!

Trevor Clarke. (R & D) Scientific Instruments.Somerset. UK

SW2009x64 SP3.0 Intel Core i7 2.94Ghz, 12Gb Ram, NVIDIA Quadro FX3700 Driver: 6.14.11.8246
SW2009x64 SP3.0 Intel Core 2 Duo 3.17Ghz, 8Gb Ram NVIDIA Quadro FX3700 Driver: 6.14.11.8246

 

[ShaggyPE]

This thread passed right over ctopher's mention of Visio. Visio is the way to do this. The Visio drawing will insert right into the SolidWorks drawing as an OLE object. Just like inserting an excel spreadsheet. IMHO this is the proper way to do what you are trying to do.

The sketch on the empty view would be my second choice.

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Certified SolidWorks Professional
Certified COSMOSWorks Designer Specialist
Certified SolidWorks Advanced Sheet Metal Specialist

 

[rudragoo]

Thanks I will try the suggestions but I don't think we are in a position to purchase any additional software like Visio. But maybe we can.I'll present all of these to the owner and see what happens after I give it a try.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

If you are just looking for symbols take a look at faq559-1229

 

[ShaggyPE]

Visio is $260 for the base package. There is a 60 day free trial. It has all sorts of standard blocks (Visio calls them templates) built in to the software.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio/default.aspx

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Certified SolidWorks Professional
Certified COSMOSWorks Designer Specialist
Certified SolidWorks Advanced Sheet Metal Specialist