Several questions about Solidworks

[TiagoFigueiredo]

Hello Everyone, I'm a new user of this forum.



I have in the past used solidworks, about 8 years ago, in another type of products. Today, in my current job we are pondering to switch to Solidworks. We need to see the pros and cons of switching to it.

I will have in a few days a trial version, but I would like with all of you, to see if it can fulfill my expectations.

-Is it possible in design in context to have a surface in one part, and link it to another, and maintain it linked (every time in 1st part we change it, in the linked part is updated).

-Is it possible in design in context, link bodies to another part?



-Imagine that I have 2 Assemblies. In assembly 1 I have a Coordinate system that defines the position of a part in assembly 2, is it possible to "link" that Coordinate system from Assembly 1 to Assembly 2, and create the mate to relate them? Do I have the need to redraw de coordinate system in Assembly 2 to mate the part? Or how should I behave?



-About parameters, is possible to have variables with multiple values? like the following video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKEzLPRDAso

Can you show me with some info the answers to my questions with some information?



Many thanks.



Tiago Figueiredo
Tooling Engineer

Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1qdlBeJJEgMgpPLVJoOIOw

 

[SBaugh]

Have you not contacted your local VAR and have them give you a demo and answer these questions as well as show you?

Scott Baugh, CSWP
CAD Systems Manager
Evapar

http://www.evapar.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[TiagoFigueiredo]

Not yet. I want first to see if it's in my expectations. When I call it, i want to have a more realistic idea of it, to make the right questions, and I want him to show me the things that I have some doubts of the desired capabilities.


Tiago Figueiredo
Tooling Engineer

Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1qdlBeJJEgMgpPLVJoOIOw

 

[TheTick]

All the things you ask are possible. Almost too easy sometimes. Like anything, there are good ways to do them, and not-so-good ways.

 

[Theophilus]

I'll chime in with the linked surfaces thing. I do this frequently to generate quick models--often at the concept level.

Essentially you can copy or offset a surface in one part within the context of the assembly. Then this surface resides within the part file, where you can reference it to build further features. However, this can be a delicate thing, since if the surface changes or the face ID changes, the copied surface (as a feature) can fail or change unpredictably. SolidWorks isn't always reliable in keeping face IDs straight, and individual face IDs are how one feature/part/assembly will retain links to other features/parts/assemblies. If you edit a feature upstream, this can cause chaos downstream in all parts that reference the face/surface that changed.

It gets complicated, so I'll stop there, but as TheTick said, there are good ways and less-than good ways to handle this--with the quality often being determined by how resilient your models are built.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

A people governed by fear cannot value freedom.