SOLIDWORKS-AUTOCAD-UNIGRAPHICS DESIGN With tutorial aids that very simple and funny, which emerge to learn 3D design in learner friendly way

While it is useful to read through the definitions and functions of all the sketch entities, tools, and relations, using your mouse to create is what this is all about. This tutorial makes sure that you get to know all the major functions in SolidWorks sketches. Almost every part that you build will start with a sketch, so this is a skill worth mastering. Follow these steps to learn about sketch relations: Open a new part using a template that you set up in the Template tutorial from Chapter 1. If you do not have this template, there is one provided for you on the CD-ROM named BibleInchTemplate.prtdot. Copy it to your templates folder and use it to create a new part. You may also use a SolidWorks default template. Select the Front plane in the FeatureManager, and click the Sketch button on the Sketch toolbar. Click the Line tool from the Sketch toolbar. Move the cursor near the Origin; the yellow Coincident symbol appears. Draw a line horizontal from the Origin. Remember that there are two ways to sketch the line: Click+click or click and drag. Make sure that the line snaps to the horizontal and that there is a yellow Horizontal relation symbol. The PropertyManager for the line should show that the line has a Horizontal relation. Also notice that the line is black, but the free endpoint is blue (after you hit Esc twice to clear the tool, then clear the selection). This means that the line is fully defined except for its length. You can test this by dragging the blue endpoint. Click the Smart Dimension tool on the Sketch toolbar, use it to click the line that you just drew, and place the dimension. If you are prompted for a dimension, type 1.000. If not, then double-click the dimension; the Modify dialog box appears, enabling you to change the dimension. The setting to prompt for a dimension is found at Tools ➪ Options ➪ General, Input Dimension Value. Draw two more lines to create a right triangle to look like Figure 3.40. If the sketch relations symbols do not show in the display, turn them on by clicking View ➪ Sketch Relations. You may want to set up a hotkey for this, because having sketch relations is useful, but often gets in the way. Note that the sketch relation symbols may also be green, depending on how your software is installed. Drag the blue endpoint of the triangle. Dragging endpoints is the most direct way to change the geometry. Dragging the line directly may also work, but this sometimes produces odd results. The sketch leaves a ghost when dragging so that you can see where you started. Note that the setting for leaving a ghost when dragging a sketch is found at Tools, Options, Sketch, Ghost Image On Drag. Click the Smart Dimension tool, and then click the horizontal line and the angled line. This produces an angle dimension. Place the angle dimension and give it a value of 30°. Click the Sketch Fillet tool, set the radius value to 0.10 inches, and click each of the three endpoints. Where the 1.000-inch dimension connects to the sketch, SolidWorks has created virtual sharps. Figure 3.41 shows the sketch at this point. You may now want to turn off the Sketch Relations display because the screen is getting pretty busy. You can find this setting at View >Sketch Relations.

To build a sketch driven pattern: Open a sketch on the face of a part. Click Point or Tools > Sketch Entity > Point , and add multiple sketch points to represent the pattern you want to create, based on the seed feature. Click Sketch Driven Pattern (Features toolbar) or Insert > Pattern/Mirror > Sketch Driven Pattern. Patterns make items by repeating selected objects in an array based on the features we want. Many supporting features exist in the Solidworks program. We can make a variety of patterns ranging from linear patterns, circular patterns, curve patterns, fill patterns or using point sketches or coordinate tables to create patterns. To reproduce features in Solidworks select the Visual Properties option in the Property Manager. For Circular Pattern, select the feature and axis as the center of rotation, then specify: The number of items and the angular distance or number of items and the total angle to create the pattern. For Curve Driven Pattern, select a feature and segment or sketch where for the feature's pattern. Then we can determine the type of curve, the curve method, and the alignment method. For patterns, choose where to change the seed feature by sketching points on the face model. For Table Pattern, add or take the previous item with XY coordinates to fill in the feature. For Fill Patern, fill in the area specified with the pattern feature. We can also make copies of patterns and copies of patterns of control and adjustment systems.