West Michigan SolidWorks User Group

Last week the West Michigan SolidWorks User Group held its 3rd meeting of 2009 and it was an absolute great time.  This meeting was a landmark for our group as we moved to a new, larger location as our group has been rapidly growing over the past 3-4 meetings.  We moved down the road to Holland, MI (from Zeeland, MI) to the Haworth Inn & Conference Center which is an absolutely beautiful venue for our group. 

We had around 45-50 people in attendance (end of last year we were around 25-30) and this resulted in a lot of great discussions & networking during this meeting.  This meeting also was a test time for Paul Kellner (NISWUG) & Dan Bovinich (EMSWUG) who did a Skype video chat session during the meeting.  Paul was in attendance and was using a webcam to stream the meeting to the east side of Michigan where Dan was watching and hearing all of the happenings of this meeting.

The meeting started off with a great pizza dinner for all of those in attendance as Mike Garvelink (Gentex Corp.) gave a presentation on weldments.  Mike did a great job with his presentation which consisted of no PowerPoint and all SolidWorks.  That’s what these meetings are all about right?  Mike gave a brief beginners overview of how weldments work by building a work bench that included a lot of user interaction by shouting out preferred sizes for the bench.  He then showed the different options for corner conditions, fillet welds and many of the other options that SolidWorks offers.  After the bench was designed Mike went into the different options for drawings including cut lists, weld notes, weld annotations among other things.  Some of the highlights of his presentation were:

• the ability to group common lengths & profiles for cut lists
• benefits of using weldments
  • good, accurate cut list
  • 1 part vs. multiple parts in an assembly
• relative views for holes in weldments
  • RMB view > Drawings Views > Relative View > select views in model
• use Design Library for common weld notes
• weld cut list table
  • add bodies to folder & then you can get your cut list table to read folder name
    • add properties to folder/bodies

After Mike wrapped up his presentation we had a quick 15 minute break that offered the opportunity for a lot of networking.  I think that there was more networking at this meeting than I have seen at any previous meeting of the WMSWUG.

After the break we had the wonderful opportunity of having Mark Biasotti (SolidWorks Corp.) do a presentation on surfacing.  The name of his presentation was “Everything Curves & Surfaces”.  This was a presentation that Mark gave at SolidWorks WORLD 2009 in February.  Mark’s presentations at SolidWorks WORLD are always some of the most attending breakout sessions of the event so I knew that we would be in for a treat.  For his presentation I decided to do a “Cover It Live” live blogging session on my blog so instead of writing out all of the things from his presentation I will give you the link to that session and you can read what I was writing during the presentation.  You can find that here.  You will also be able to find Mark’s presentation by going to the Downloads page of this site.

Here are links to some various models and videos Mark is gracious enough to provide everyone.

Three part Razor demo:

http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/advanced-modeling-demo-part1.swf

http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/advanced-modeling-demo-part2.swf

http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/advanced-modeling-demo-part3.swf

http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/razor-mm.zip

Boat Hull Demo:

http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/boathull-using-freeform.wmv

http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/boathull-using-freeform.zip

Game Controller Model:

http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/gamecontroller.zip

Boundary surface Spoon Demo:

http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/boundary-feature.wmv

Miscel:

http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/getting around project curve constraint problem.avi

http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/applying a face tangent constraint.avi

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/subscription/SolidWorksTipsandTricksArchives.html

All in all this was an awesome meeting!  I will leave you with a couple of pictures and a reminder that our next meeting will be pushed back a week and will be held on JULY 21, 2009.

Well, I am a little late getting this on here but I guess late is better than normal.  The West Michigan SolidWorks User Group held it’s 2nd meeting of 2009 on March 10 at the Colonial Clock Building and it was definitely a meeting to remember.  We had a huge turnout for our group with around 40-45 users cycling through the room as the night went on.  This by far is the highest attendance that we have had since the group kicked off again at the beginning of last year.  What a great problem it is when you have to set up additional chairs because more people show up than planned on.  The only problem now is where do we meet from now on that will hold this kind of turnout.

After some brief introductions and business Brian Gilson for Aromech started the night off by doing a presentation titled “SolidWorks WORLD 2009 In A Nutshell: A First Timer’s Guide”.  Let me tell you what, Brian did a fantastic job with this presentation.  This is one of those hard ones to do because you are trying to tell 35-40 people who did not attend the event what you learned in a jam packed 3 days in Orlando, but Brian nailed it.  He started off with a brief who, what, when, where, why breakdown and then led into some of the things that SolidWorks WORLD is all about like the Partner Pavilion, a day by day breakdown, the off site event and the ever popular SolidWorks 2010 preview.  Here are some of the things you can expect to see in SolidWorks 2010.  To see the original source of this list please visit Ricky Jordan’s blog, thanks Ricky!

• New Display Box for View Mates with Separator Bar.  Lots of new functionality with this new display box!
• Mirror Components – You can choose from different options for component positions.  All the mirrored components appear under a Mirror Components feature.  Components are fully defined…no additional Mates necessary!
• Simulation – Solution Optimization options that will allow you to resize the model based on properties defined.  Example would be setting a specific volume…then let SolidWorks find the optimal model parameters!  It looked like you could set several parameters for optimizations.
• Multi-Bodies allowed in Sheet Metal parts!  You can also mix Sheet Metal and Weldment features with no issues!  Also better DXF output options for sheet metal flat patterns.
• New Reference Plane options!  The interface for Plane creation looks similar to the 3D Sketch Plane creation process.  New options include Midplanes and Tangency to two faces and Tangent to face plus parallel (or angled) to another Plane.  The Plane creation options appear as you select entities.
• Assembly Visualization – Sort assembly components by custom properties and other parameters.  Many options with this and you can use it to control the model visibility.  Model color displays can be used in this and can be based on ranges.  You can output the component lists to Excel!  You can modify custom properties in this interface as well.  (This might be my favorite feature shown!)
• Configuration Builder – You can build a form with something that looks like the Property Tab Builder and then use this form to easily create configurations.  You can set it up any way you want with Yes/No answers and custom fields.  VERY COOL!  Allows you to configure on the fly too!
• Drawing Annotations – GTol, Surface Finish, and Datum’s can be attached ANYWHERE to dimension extension lines.  You can combine notes with a simple drag and drop!  This looked REALLY nice!  Perhaps this will allow you to store custom notes individually in the Design Library then add them one by one?
• Drawing Balloons – User input Balloon size (using a number).  You an also automatically show the Quantity beside the Balloon just by clicking turning on the option!
• Drawing Dimensions – New heads up display that allows you to modify the dimension, tolerance, and other day all in one window without having to step through the PropertyManager.  Also – When you add dimensions to a drawing, other dimensions will now automatically shift outward or inward keeping the proper spacing!
• Drawing Center Marks – You can add Center Marks AFTER dimensions are created and the dimension extension lines will automatically trim to the Center Mark!
• Drawing Tables – Excel table functionality through all SolidWorks tables!
• Here’s a BIG ONE – Direct Editing – Enhanced Move Face tools that allow you to move imported features on the fly all from the Graphics area.  There was also a new direct editing tool that allowed you to modify patterns of holes in an imported part all at once!  The UI looks to be using the Instant3D rulers.  The direct editing tools did create features in the tree which will allow users to easily revert back to the original imported state.
• Enterprise PDM – Replicate Toolbox data across multiple vaults! – Converting Data and Print Jobs can now be managed on a server.
• Full Machine Simulation that is integrated with National Instruments LabView!

Brian also mentioned some of the cool tips & tricks that he learned while there.  Here they are:

• Extend entities using the trim command
• ALT + Print Screen prints the active program you have open
• You can rename configurations that are being used in an open assembly
• Hold Shift to select through a transparent part
• You can name a face by RMB face > Properties
• You can get free SolidWorks Simulation training at www.simulationxpress.com
• ! is the 1st character in the Windows character map, useful for reordering
• Double MMB equals “F” key which equals Zoom to Fit

After Brian wrapped up his presentation Ken Denton from 3Dconnexion did a brief product demonstration of some of the great products that they have to offer.  If you haven’t tried on of their products yet you need to.  They are great tools and they will greatly benefit your design environment.  Ken also donated a Logitech product for us to give away to one of our attendees, thanks to Ken and 3Dconnexion/Logitech for this.  Here is the problem, I got the business card of the user that won this product so that I could post his name here but you know what, I seem to have misplaced the gentleman’s business card so please accept my apologies.

Mike Puckett (Certification Specialist, SolidWorks Corporation) was the final presenter on tap and let me tell you what, he did not disappoint.  Mike is a great guy and I consider him a friend of mine, and SolidWorks could not have hired a better and more passionate person to help out with the Certification area of SolidWorks.  Mike did 2 presentations for us, both of them full of great stuff.  He started off by doing a presentation on the 2009 SolidWorks Certification Program and even included some free vouchers for our group members to take one of the exams.  After he wrapped that up and answered a few questions he did Mold Design presentation that included some GREAT tips & tricks that everybody could use.  Instead of trying to write out all of the great stuff that Mike had to say, you can find his presentations on the Downloads page of our group website.  This wrapped up a memorable night for our group, a great meeting that hopefully left everyone looking forward to the next meeting that we are going to have.  So here are the details for our next meeting, make sure you mark it on your calendar TODAY!

• Date:  May 12, 2009
• Location:  TBD
• Time:  5:30pm – 8:30pm
• Presenter:  Mark Biasotti (Product Manager, SolidWorks Corporation) – he will probably be doing some sort of a surfacing presentation that you will NOT want to miss
• Presenter:  TBD

On a side note, if you are interested in doing a technical presentation at an upcoming meeting please send me an email.  Thanks again to all of you for making this such a great group!

The West Michigan held its final meeting of 2008 on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at the Colonial Clock Building in Zeeland, Michigan. We had 24 attendees (which was a little down from normal) at this meeting and those 24 generated a lot of discussion.

Shawn Wolters did a tremendous job with doing his own “What’s New in SolidWorks 2009″ presentation. He picked out the topics that he thought would cater most to the people in our user group and he hit it right on the spot. Before the meeting began Shawn was a little nervous about how long his presentation would take because he was counting on some discussion but that is something you don’t know if you will get or not. In the end I don’t believe Shawn even got through everything before the 2 ½ hours were up and it was time for us to wrap things up. Here are just a few of the things that Shawn touched on during his presentation.

• Sketch Tools Covered
  • Dimension input in sketches
  • Slot sketch tools
  • Stretch command
  • Negative values, 0 input for dimensions
• Instant3D additions
  • Extrude to cut extrude with drag
    • Negative values allowed
• Sheet Metal
  • Solid to sheet metal
• Sensors
  • Interference Detection
  • Mass Properties
• Weldments
  • Add gaps between Weldments
  • Weldment groups
  • Weldment caps
  • Weldment rebuild time faster with groups as opposed to single features
• Drafting standards
• Custom Property Builder
• SpeedPak
• Drawings
  • Quick view (right click, load sheet)

We also had a special guest attend this meeting (well all attendees were special but this one was extra special). Elton Smith, a SolidWorks employee who is based out of Canton, Michigan, happened to be in the West Michigan area on Tuesday and attended our meeting. Elton is the new Great Lakes Territorial Technical Manager for SolidWorks and is extremely smart when it comes to the software. He was able to answer a lot of the questions that were brought up throughout the meeting, do a couple of quick SolidWorks 2009 tutorials himself and jot down some questions that he couldn’t answer so that he can get answers from someone else. All in all it was absolutely great that Elton could make it and we hope that he can continue to attend upcoming meetings.

It was decided at the end of the meeting to do a follow up open floor discussion at our next WMSWUG meeting about SolidWorks 2009. This way hopefully everyone will have had some time to play around with 2009 and use it in production. So if you have any questions make sure you write them down and take them with you to the next meeting. Jason Raak will be doing the other presentation at this meeting. The title of his presentation is “The Ins & Outs of In Context Modeling”.

Here are the details for the next WMSWUG meeting. Make sure you mark it on your calendars TODAY:

• Date: January 13, 2009
• Location: TENTATIVELY @ the Colonial Clock Building again
• Time: 5:30pm – 8:30pm