Symmetry Solutions Blog

I ran across this on the SolidWorks forums. Someone was needing to create a helical blade and then flatten it with sheet metal tools. I thought that this could not be done but they gave an example of how to do this. I will share their instructions and a sample of this as well.

First you need to open a sketch and create a circle of 5″. From this make a helix constant pitch and the pitch being 25″ and 1 revolution. Now create another sketch with a circle of 20″. From this create another helix with the same numbers as the first.

Now create two 3D sketches converting one helix per sketch.

Now you have two profiles that you can use for a Sheet Metal Loft Base. From the Sheet Metal tool bar Lofted Bends or the Insert>Sheet Metal>Lofted Bends. Select to start the feature then select the two 3D Sketches and what thickness you want to use. There you have the helical sheet metal part that will give you a flat pattern.

View a sample part here.

The SolidWorks Flow Simulation can give you a message stating that authorization has failed. This is because on the client machine  the License Manager was opened and the License Order tab was selected. This changes a registry setting that needs to be corrected. Below is the work around for this and it has been corrected in 2010 SP3 which should be released in the middle of April.

Here is the workaround – please be sure you are comfortable editing the registry prior to attempting this procedure. Consider making a backup of the registry beforehand, in case you make a mistake. Read more…

SolidWorks can sometimes crash in 32-bit (x86) Vista environment when trying to create a reference plane, using convert to sheet metal, or using convert entities. The issue may occur if a user has multiple installations of SolidWorks on the PC, and does not follow best practices for installation locations. The root cause is related to .NET Framework which is integrated into Vista. Please download the attached zip file which contains a EXE file that will fix the .NET problem. To apply the EXE perform the folling steps:

1. Download ungen.zip
2. Extract the .EXE file to a location which can easily be navigated to from a command prompt
3. Open a command prompt as an administrator (Start -> All programs -> Accessories – right click on Command Prompt and choose “Run as administrator”
4. Use the “cd” command to change to the directory where the EXE was extracted to.  Example: cd “C:\ungen” (if the EXE is extracted to C:\ungen)
5. Type “ungen.exe” and press Enter, then wait for the process to finish
6. When it is complete, start SolidWorks and test to see if the crash is resolved.

SolidWorks has issued a critical alert for 64-bit systems that are running 2009 SP5, 2010 SP1, and 2010 SP2. It is a bug in the PhotoWorks program and it is recommended to not use it until the hotfix has been applied to your system. The hotfixes are available for download and a service pack will be available shortly. The downloads for the above mentioned service packs have been removed from the SolidWorks web site and will be replaced by 2009 SP5.1 and 2010 SP2.1 when they become available.

SolidWorks 2009 SP5 (x64), SolidWorks 2010 SP1 (x64), and SolidWorks 2010 SP2 (x64) have been temporarily removed from the SolidWorks Downloads pages due to the technical issue listed below.

An issue with PhotoWorks has been identified in 64-bit versions of SolidWorks 2009 SP5, SolidWorks 2010 SP1, and SolidWorks 2010 SP2 in which the SolidWorks installation, the operating system, program files and data files may become damaged or unrecoverable if the PhotoWorks add-in is enabled when SolidWorks is running and the SolidWorks process is already using more than 2GB of virtual memory.  These service packs have been removed from the web site as a precaution in order to prevent the risk of damage to customers’ systems under these circumstances.

This problem does not affect 32-bit versions of SolidWorks; hence all 32-bit Service Packs are still available for download. Furthermore, SolidWorks 2010 SP0 (x64) is not affected, nor are SolidWorks 2009 SP4.1 (x64) and earlier Service Packs of 2009. Please note also that this issue only pertains to enabling the PhotoWorks add-in and has no effect on the use of PhotoView 360 for renderings.

All customers with PhotoWorks on a 64-bit operating system with SolidWorks 2009 SP5, 2010 SP1, or 2010 SP2 MUST apply this hotfix.

Hotfix instructions:

 Select the version to hotfix from the links below. (Note: SolidWorks cannot be running when the hotfix is applied):

- SolidWorks 2009 SP5

- SolidWorks 2010 SP1

- SolidWorks 2010 SP2

There is a problem in 2010 for automatic updates for administrative images. SW 2010 SP0 installation does not update automatically after upgrading Admin Image. This issue only affects Installation Manager-based administrative images; no other images are affected by this. The problem is due to the swspamanger.exe installed with SolidWorks on client machines failing to check and install the latest Installation Manger/Administrative Image.

The workaround for updating client machines is to deploy the service pack similar to deploying a new administrative image (i.e. ask users to browse to the \StartSWInstall.hta). NOTE: The person responsible for deploying SolidWorks, often a system administrator, should not send the .HTA file via email as the paths will not be recognized; instead the system administrator should send a shortcut/link to the .HTA file so it runs directly from the administrative image folder.

The issue will be resolved in SolidWorks 2010 SP2. Please note the fix will not be implemented until SP2 is installed (i.e. the automatic update won’t work until going from SP2 to SP3). To upgrade to SolidWorks 2010 SP2, the same method described above must be used.

There is also an issue when trying to update an install as per the work around when there is an admin image install of 2009. The only way to get this to work is to remove the 2009 install.

These two issues are covered under SPR 530079 for the auto update and SPR 530818 for the 2009 image install. They are both slated to be fixed in 2010 SP2.

The 2010 Installation Manager has changed again, but in a good way. All of the options can now be found on a single clickable dialog on the Summary page. As you can see from the image below, there is a checklist on the left, which tells you what page you are on. The first three pages are very much the same as in previous years, so I will focus on the Summary page. Here, you have selectable options that can be changed to suit your specific installation needs.

Let’s start with Products. When you select “CHANGE”, it will open that page and you have the option to select or unselect all products available for your serial numbers. If you have a network serial number, the default install will be at a Premium seat, even if you do not have it. So, on the Products Selection page, you can remove the products your license does not cover.

Download Options:  this is for all installs, whether you need to download or not. The options here include “Download” and “Install” for an individual install, “Download Only” to do a full download to share, and “Install Only” if you have already downloaded. You can also change the location to download to, as well as select to conduct a manual download.

Installation Location: This allows you to change where SolidWorks is installed. The default location is C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp. It also tells you what the size of the installation is and asks where you want to install from.

Toolbox Options: This tells you that SolidWorks is currently referencing a Toolbox if there is a previous install. It then needs to know what you want to do: 1) Create a new Toolbox, 2) Upgrade an existing one, or 3) Upgrade an existing one in a new location. The option you choose depends on your installation needs. If it is a new install, or you are not sure what Toolbox is, create a new one. If you are upgrading an existing install and removing the previous, just upgrade the existing one. But if you need to keep the previous install and have custom parts in your Toolbox, copy that one to a new location, add a new name and upgrade it. If you need to have multiple instances of SolidWorks on your computer, as I do, put the version of SolidWorks as a suffix to the folder name. For example, I have folders named SolidWorks Data 2009 and SolidWorks Data 2010. I do this for the installation folder as well.

On each of these pages in the lower right corner, there is a “Back to Summary” button. This brings you back to the Summary page, where you can select the next page to change or continue with the install. The button in the lower right will either say “Install Now” or “Download Now,” depending on if you have already downloaded the required data. If it is “Install Now,” it will go to the install page. If it is “Download Now,” it will go to the download page, and then continue to the install page if you are doing both a download and install. When it is done doing the tasks you told it to do, it will go to the finish page. Here it allows you to check for updates, see “What’s New?” or fill out a survey about the process. It also asks if you want to participate in the SolidWorks Customer Experience Program. I do recommend this, as it will send crashing issues directly to the SolidWorks development team. That enables them to see what is causing the crashes and helps them determine patterns of crashes. Also, if you need to send an Rx into Symmetry tech support and are not participating, the SolidWorks performance log does not fully attach.

I hope this information helps make your installation process easier.  If you have questions or need further assistance, we are happy to help. Please contact  Symmetry’s Technical Support Team at:

763-560-8600, option 4

support@symsolutions.com