Solid works is a computer-aided design (CAD) platform developed and distributed by D assault Systems Solid Works Corp. This software package is currently being used by as many as 100,000 organizations worldwide for a variety of production, design and research and development applications, but Solid Works and sheet metal manufacturing is where our main focus lies.

Solid Works and sheet metal manufacturing have a solid partnership on a fundamental level.  Using this all-in-one CAD tool the possibilities of going from design to manufacturing right away are excellent.

Essentially, Solid Works is a three-dimensional design package with the capability to provide a “virtual environment” in which designs can be put through their paces before being manufactured. This can save technology firms a lot of unnecessary time and money. Engineers no longer need to wait on a prototype to be constructed, thus time is saved in addition to the cost of labor and construction materials.

Building a model using Solid Works is a fairly straightforward job. In relation to Solid Works and sheet metal manufacturing, generally a two-dimensional sketch would consist of graphical lines, arcs, conics, and splines. Extra dimensions can then be contributed to the design to determine the scale and position of the geometry. Relations are used to determine properties including concentrically, perpendicularity, parallelism and tang ency – but many of these attributes are not needed for standard sheet metal fabrication. Using Solid Works in this way guarantees that the first test has a higher likelihood of success as the dimensions in the sketch can be determined independently, or by relationships to other parameters of the sketch, and modifications can be affected quickly and easily.

Design intent plays a role in production as well. Intent is how the designer of the part wants it to adapt to alterations and updates. If you take into consideration that modifying a design can sometimes end in redoing the whole project (on computer) this is a vitally important asset. Solid Works will work around any other features of a design that might need to be kept. For example, if you were to draw a briefcase with a handle that is 8″ long and raises 3″ from the case, changing anything else, including the size or height of the briefcase, would not affect the status and criteria of the handle. Because of this, alterations can be affected quicker than with other CAD software.

Parameters can programmed to define design intent. Parameters may be either numerical parameters or geometrical parameters.  Numerical parameters would be values such as the length of a line or the radius of a circle. Geometric parameters might be concentric, tangents, parallels, horizontal and vertical lines and so forth. One of the advantages of Solid Works is in that numeric parameters can be related to each other.  The use of relations is part of what allows for the capture of design intent.

When a design for a part has been saved to disk, it is cataloged and can be pulled back up at any time, altered, used as a guide for a new design or added with another design to form an assembly drawing.

These few tools alone add to the usability of the program in relation to Solid Works and sheet metal assembly. For custom jobs, having a filing system already in place for all completed work plus the ability to quickly and easily modify the drawing to fit specific needs is an advantage. For new jobs the the speed at which you can draw, render and create a prototype helps to ensure design efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Marc Anderes is a co-founder of Maloya Laser which specializes in Metal Manufacturing and <A href=”http://www.MaloyaLaser.com”>Laser Cutting</a> with advanced <A href=”http://www.maloyalaser.com/capabilities_equipment.php”>laser technologies</a>, for aerospace, medical, machinery, scientific and transportation requirements.