Stuck in Solidworks and need help.

you don't have to delete a feature to see how it work. you can click the little + sign to the left of it and it will expand any sketches that are used to make it. then you can either single left click to get the sketch to display or double click it to enter said sketch. Also when you right click on a feature a context menu pops up and above this menu are icons for things you can do with the feature such as edit feature, edit sketch, edit sketch plane, hide, show, suppress, unsuppress, and more.

besides the solidworks tutorials (which i've always thought were really good and you should go through them ALL) the official solidworks forum is a great place to learn all of solidworks quirks as well as techniques you might never think. i've used solidworks for almost a decade and knowing what you want to do but not knowing how to do it in solidworks can be very frustrating, but that doesn't mean it is not possible. keep calm and model on. 8)

edit: you can actually do it with just an extrude.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2012 02:43PM by Evogenius.

Here's another way using an extrude for the rail, and extrude for a rung, linear pattern for the rest of the rungs followed by a mirror.

edit: I didn't notice the cross section that you wanted for the rails. That can be done using a "shell" after the extrusion. The file has been updated to include this.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2012 04:08PM by brnrd.

Evogenius Wrote:
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> you don't have to delete a feature to see how it
> work. you can click the little + sign to the left
> of it and it will expand any sketches that are
> used to make it. then you can either single left
> click to get the sketch to display or double click
> it to enter said sketch.
I know that I just prefer to zap it as it brings it out clearer to me. Just me not the program, lol.

> Also when you right click
> on a feature a context menu pops up and above this
> menu are icons for things you can do with the
> feature such as edit feature, edit sketch, edit
> sketch plane, hide, show, suppress, unsuppress,
> and more.
That is how I do all of my modeling and man what a godsend and time saver.
>
> besides the solidworks tutorials (which i've
> always thought were really good and you should go
> through them ALL) the official solidworks forum is
> a great place to learn all of solidworks quirks as
> well as techniques you might never think.
As I said I have been there and well the best thing I can do is say no comment. Users are great, well most are, though.
> i've
> used solidworks for almost a decade and knowing
> what you want to do but not knowing how to do it
> in solidworks can be very frustrating, but that
> doesn't mean it is not possible. keep calm and
> model on. 8)
Yeah, frustrating because I come from a 3d graphics world like they would use in Hollywood or for commercials and it is way different than SW.

> edit: you can actually do it with just an extrude.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

brnrd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here's another way using an extrude for the rail,
> and extrude for a rung, linear pattern for the
> rest of the rungs followed by a mirror.
>
> edit: I didn't notice the cross section that you
> wanted for the rails. That can be done using a
> "shell" after the extrusion. The file has been
> updated to include this.
Alright, how did you do that as that is what I wanted to do but it wouldn't work. I made my sketch at the bottom and say 27cm from the center line but when I extruded it there was nothing to distance dimension at the top.

edit:Ahhh, I see now you took it not up to down (how my brain thinks) but from outside to inside. Novel approach now I will say one thing the sketch is wrong as the |_| is not like that but spun around 90 degrees from that so each rung goes inside each rail. Would that change anything?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2012 06:36PM by Dark Alchemist.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

You just edit the shell and select the surface facing the rungs instead of the back surface and it will be as you wanted.

I am back to having the same issues I had before. I draw a rectangle on the front plane. I draw a centerline and distance the bottom 27cm from it. I then go up to the top and put in 16.75cm and it becomes over defined with no way to remove any of the definitions. It shows them but I can't delete them.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

Remove the vertical constraints you have on your lines before you input the dimensions.

You can also either sketch a parallelogram as I have done or just use the line tool to make a tilted rectangle and the dimension it (sides and angles).

Nvermind, above 2 posts beat me to it.....

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2012 08:21PM by Dad911.

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Thingiverse ID Alan1279

Yeah, I went to dinner but before I did I managed to remove the vertical constraint but not like I normally do and how it finally did it (was a new window) I don't know. I know by simply clicking the construction line it showed me all of the constraints but I could not delete them. Odd.

Going to see how I managed to delete them by redoing the entire project.

edit: PomeroyB Wrote:
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> Remove the vertical constraints you have on your
> lines before you input the dimensions.

Yep, that worked but I always was able to do it after the fact before but no big deal.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2012 08:51PM by Dark Alchemist.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

How do I help this? I made a plane with the plane being coincidence to the inner face of the leg and did my sketch of the rung then extruded it to the other leg but it followed in a straight line so it is slanting.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

You'll have to make a new reference plane, or use the front, right, or top plane. You can only extrude normal to the plane you are sketching on.

EDIT: To help in your specific situation, try to get a plane that is in the middle of your ladder sides that is straight up and down. You can do this by either selecting a default plane (Which is probably the right plane), or by creating your new plane and offsetting it until it's in between the sides.

Sketch the sides of the bottom rung at the height you want. Extrude that in both directions, with the parameters being "Up to next". Then make a linear pattern, selecting the rung as the feature to pattern, and pattern it vertically however many times you want. This will automatically make all the rungs you need.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2012 11:33PM by PomeroyB.

PomeroyB, my ladder example are both on one plane with the sketch mirrored (3d mirror I can't get to act right in this instance). So, the rung is on the right plane I think and I have the sides coincidence to each side of the rail. Now I extrude that to other surface and click the inner surface of the other rung and that is what I get. It isn't working wrong it is just not being told what to do correctly, I think.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2012 11:27PM by Dark Alchemist.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

PomeroyB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You'll have to make a new reference plane, or use
> the front, right, or top plane. You can only
> extrude normal to the plane you are sketching on.
>
> EDIT: To help in your specific situation, try to
> get a plane that is in the middle of your ladder
> sides that is straight up and down. You can do
> this by either selecting a default plane (Which is
> probably the right plane), or by creating your new
> plane and offsetting it until it's in between the
> sides.
>
> Sketch the sides of the bottom rung at the height
> you want. Extrude that in both directions, with
> the parameters being "Up to next". Then make a
> linear pattern, selecting the rung as the feature
> to pattern, and pattern it vertically however many
> times you want. This will automatically make all
> the rungs you need.
I bet that will work and yet another thing I hadn't thought to try.

See, my biggest issue with Solidworks is all of these planes as I find them very restrictive in these sorts of things where I come from a completely free 3d world/environment. This 2d to 3d stuff is crazy to me but in the same sense it offers a lot of power when you start to use dimensions though I know dimensions can just as easily be done in 3d space. 3d sketch throws me in a tailspin when I try it though.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

Ah. Your problem is that though the sides are two different bodies, they came out of 1 sketch, and are, therefore, 1 feature. Get rid of the mirrored part of the sketch, and just do half the ladder. I edited my post above to be more descriptive, but since you'll no longer have both sides, I'll correct it here.

Have one half of the ladder side done. Sketch the rung on the right plane as you have done, with the sides coincident to the edges (Make sure you only do one rung). Extrude this in the direction of the side you have modeled, with the parameter of "Up to next".

Select "linear pattern". Select your rung extrude as the feature, and select the vertical edge of the rung as the direction (Or any other line that is point straight up. Don't click part of the slanted side). Copy it as many times as you want, with the distance you want in between.

Now you have the completed 1/2 ladder. 3D Mirror the entire thing along the right plane to make the whole ladder.


That should work. If not, upload your .sldprt and I'll look at it.

Let me ingest all of that and having it as one sketch mirrored (not the best way I think) did work with the rung perfectly. Now let me try it the way you described above doing only half.

That worked perfectly so that part is done. Now to extrude cut at an angle (I still need to but a protractor and a digital angle finder) and one side is done.

Thanks to everyone who offered help it really is much appreciated.

In the morning I will tackle the second half of this thing.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2012 12:25AM by Dark Alchemist.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

So far so good except I for shell or if I use the cutting tools because I have two parts that must eventually fit together. At the bottom of the feet it has a gripper and the gripper is hollow so you can move the ladder at different angles. How would I hollow out part A to shove onto part B and the hollow inside remains of A while the lower part of B remains as well?

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

Hollowing out parts almost always involves the shell feature. You can "fake" the shell feature by using a cut extrude into the area you want, which takes longer, but gives you a bit more control.

If you are using two parts, however, you should look into making assemblies instead of a single part.

Yeah, I use shell all the time but this is the first time I needed a part to go inside another part and shell will not allow that because it wants to cut off the other piece because it looks like shell thinks everything is one part.

Think of a ball and a stick is stuck inside the ball and I ask you to carve out the ball with a thickness of 3mm. Well, I wouldn't touch the stick unless asked to but shell chops it off at the top of the ball. Now if I do that ball that is now hollow with a 3mm thick wall and poke my stick into it the ball suddenly becomes solid which is just wrong and shouldn't happen.

edit: First time I ever played around with Assemblies and this is the sort of freedom I am used to with Cinema4D only you have to take more steps here but the outcome, as it looks now, is the same. I have my gripper completely done and the hole did not close up. Now if I want to cut through both surfaces to make a mate (a bolt/rivet) can I do that or do I have to do the harder task of making the holes before I bring in the parts in the Assembly?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2012 10:30PM by Dark Alchemist.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

You, unfortunately, have to edit in holes for bolts and the like at the part level. I wish Solidworks could have a feature that allows you cut a hole through multiple parts in an assembly, as it would simplify a lot of things, but I haven't seen it yet.

Also, when making bolts, it is usually unnecessary to model the threads and whatnot. Just note the size of the bolt and use a simple model as a placeholder.

Well, I gotta tell you in 2012 I made a simple hole and that sucker cut the hole to my dimensions all the way through every part of the assembly that was in its path. Pretty neat but I have yet to find a way to precisely lay that hole.

edit: Used hole series and love it as I can preciously lay the hole with full dimensions through both parts simultaneously with only one set of dimensions.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2012 06:25AM by Dark Alchemist.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

Ah, you're using 2012, I'm still on 2011, so they must have added that functionality in. Good to know!

Yeah, I can manipulate the holes and even use smart dimension on them but the one thing missing is Extrude. I have Extrude cut just not Boss/Base and I have most of the other 3d features just not that one which is odd.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

How do I get my assembly to save as one stl? I get 1 stl for every part in the assembly instead and I looked for merge and join but couldn't find anything for 2012 that worked or made sense.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

[lmgtfy.com]

First link.

"Save all components of an assembly in a single file" That is what I couldn't find.

Is that option there for other formats as well?

edit: What is this Join I kept reading about where everyone said to join the parts together to save it as one piece? Oh, is there a way to get an assembly into one part or will it forever be separate files? Not that I mind separate files but for some of the stuff I do having it as one part might come in handy later.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2012 06:09AM by Dark Alchemist.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

I would imagine that those options are available in the dialog box that opens when you save as an STL, perhaps under some advanced options tab. Joining parts convert the two parts into one part at the intersections. I don't think you want to do this if you want a movable assembly. I am not very familiar with saving STLs in solidworks, so this is the most I can help.

As a STL nothing moves anyway because it is one piece. :/

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

Nothing will move in the STL, but I would think that you want your assembly to move once you print it. For things to move, you need some amount of clearance in between them. Joining parts eliminates this clearance and will result in a static printed part rather than a dynamic one.

Right, and for now I am only doing static though I would like to eventually do things that move but 3d printers has issues with that do to infil that must be done. Make a bearing set inside something and the bearing would never move and you can't get to them to clean out the infill. Powder and liquid printers don't have this issue so it seems (no need for infill).

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.