3D CAD drafting, design & engineering

3D CAD design, drafting and engineering with SolidWorks

3D CAD SolidWorks engineering drafting ujoint SolidWorks has established itself as the standard in the field of 3D CAD Software. The intuitive user interface and the applications that can be integrated into SolidWorks make it a very powerful and efficient Software.

With this page we hope to give our visitors a small insight into the world of 3D CAD design & drafting with SolidWorks. We have tried to portray the development process of parts and components.
With these pages we also want to show the possibilities of our engineering services and that the data in SolidWorks has more potential than the mere construction itself.

Before any drafting & design process is started a product concept catalogue should be created in which all known information about a component should be gathered. This defines the system boundaries and functionality a part has to adhere to and fulfill.

part drafting, 3D sketches and assemblies

3D CAD SolidWorks engineering drafting ujoint sketch Even in 3D CAD modeling a simple 2D sketch is a absolute must. This sketch however is not your complete part but rather represents the basic geometry of the component. A 3D sketch is mostly used to define guidelines for extruded components. The picture to the right hand side demonstrates the principal of a 2D sketch. The profile of a component is sketched and then extruded via a 360° extrusion around the center of the component.

Tipp:"always use completely defined sketches to reduce CPU load."

3D CAD SolidWorks engineering drafting interference If all components for a assembly have been created they are then virtually assembled. The assembly file then provides the possibility to validate all components and check for collisions and to test the function via movement simulation.

In the portrayed construction a small collision takes place, displayed in the picture to the left. The interference is calculated automatically and then displayed red in the User interface. The obvious next step is to change dimensions or take other appropriate steps to solve all collisions.

sheet metal

3D CAD SolidWorks engineering drafting sheet metal SolidWorks offers a very powerful tool for sheet metal design & drafting. The engineering of a sheet metal part is usually approached by designing the component the way it should look like.
With this approach all dimensions are specified as needed and you get a perfect match of what you need. After the part is completed the user will add bending lines etc. to define the component as a sheet metal bended part and then create a sheet metal drawing with bend line notes and annotations.

Features List: Creating a base flange, Adding a miter flange, Mirroring the part and creating new bends, Adding an edge flange and editing its sketch profile, Mirroring a feature, Adding and bending a tab, Adding a cut across a bend, Folding and unfolding bends, Creating a closed corner, Creating a sheet metal drawing, Adding bend line notes

2D drawings and Bill of Materials (BOM)

3D CAD SolidWorks engineering drafting 2D drawing A 2D drawing can be created by simply clicking on one button. As an example the bracket for the u-joint is shown. The production needs a 2D drawing with all parameters and information. In this case the unfolded sheet metal drawing of the bracket. This is possible with only a few clicks.

A explosion overview of an assembly is defined in the assembly itself. This can then be placed on a 2D drawing. A bill of materials can then be assigned to the drawing and placed where necessary. Changes, that are made to the assembly e.g. adding a part or deleting a part, are automatically updated in the BOM. The BOM is a Excel based spreadsheet.
A part in SolidWorks can be edited and given specific user defined info such as price, material, etc. these info's can also be displayed in the BOM.

file formats

import of parts:
IGES (.igs, iges), ACIS (.sat), STEP AP203/214 (.step), VDAFS (.vda), DXF (.dxf), Adobe Illustrator (.ai), Catia (.cgr), ProE (.prt), DWG (.dwg), VRML (.wrl), Parasolid text file (.x_t), Parasolid binary file (.x_b), UGII (.prt), Inventor (.ipt), Solid Edge (.par .psm), CADKEY (.prt .CKD), IDF (.emn .brd .bdf .idb)

import of assemblies:
IGES (.igs, iges), ACIS (.sat), STEP AP203/214 (.step), VDAFS (.vda), Tiff (.tif), Adobe (.pdf), Universal 3D (.u3d), 3D XML (.3dxml), Microsoft XAML (.xaml), Catia (.cgr), ProE (.asm), STL.(stl), VRML (.wrl), Parasolid text file (.x_t), Parasolid binary file (.x_b), 3D Studio Max (.3ds), eDrawings (.easm)

import of drawings:
DXF (.dxf), DWG (.dwg)

export assemblies:
IGES (.igs, iges), ACIS (.sat), STEP AP203/214 (.step), VDAFS (.vda), Tiff (.tif), Adobe (.pdf), Universal 3D (.u3d), 3D XML (.3dxml), Microsoft XAML (.xaml), Catia (.cgr), ProE (.asm), STL.(stl), VRML (.wrl), Parasolid text file (.x_t), Parasolid binary file (.x_b), eDrawings (.easm), HCG (.hcg), HOOPS (.hsf)

export drawings:
Tiff (.tif), DXF (.dxf), DWG (.dwg), Adobe (.pdf), eDrawings (.edrw)

export parts:
IGES (.igs, iges), ACIS (.sat), STEP AP203/214 (.step), VDAFS (.vda), Tiff (.tif), Universal 3D (.u3d), Microsoft XAML (.xaml), STL.(stl), VRML (.wrl), Parasolid text file (.x_t), Parasolid binary file (.x_b), eDrawings (.eprt), Adobe (.pdf), 3D XML (.3dxml), Catia (.cgr), ProE (.prt), JPEG (.jpg), HCG (.hcg), HOOPS (.hsf)