I very well could have had this conversation while doing tech support…
Dude: Well, I can see that this is some powerful software, but it’s taking a long time to solve and things shouldn’t be this complicated.

Me: Yeah… that’s a pretty… pretty big mesh. I can’t even see the part.

Me: What are you trying to study here?
Dude: The assembly. (Duhhh!)
Me: Yeah, but what about the assembly? Is there a particular part you’re worried about?
Dude: Well, now that you’ve mentioned it, I am pretty concerned about this part.

Me: Okay, we can eliminate these parts and apply equivalent forces on the faces.

Me: Alright, let’s get started! We can use a rough mesh to find the contact forces.

Me: Now, we can eliminate the top pieces from the assembly and create split lines where we would like to apply the equivalent forces.

Me: This is a perfect opportunity to use 2D simplification. Let’s create a new study.

Me: Now, we can afford a pretty heavy mesh control on the component of interest.

Me: If we go into properties and select the option for “Improve accuracy for no penetration contacting surfaces” we’ll get the same results as before with a fraction of the run time.
Dude: Thanks Nick! You’re the best!
Me: I know… I know.

As a member of the Technical Support Team at Symmetry Solutions, each year we are required to be recertified by SolidWorks.  Part of the recertification test is focused on new functionality and features for the latest release of SolidWorks.  As you may or may not know, there is a “What’s New” file for every new release of the software that documents these changes.  You can access this file from your help menu in SolidWorks.  Like many, I am one of those people that scan the document for some highlights when I install each new release.  However, since my recertification test was approaching, I thought I would give it a more thorough read.  You know what I discovered (again)?  There is a lot of good information in that document.  I won’t try and summarize the entire thing, but here is one tip that I think may be useful if you are in the process of updating hardware:

“You can transfer a license from a computer even if SolidWorks is no longer installed on that computer. You can download and run SolidWorks Activation Wizard from the SolidWorks customer portal to transfer the license.”

So now when you get that annoying message about “Activation Count Exceeded” because you forgot to transfer the license off of your old computer, you no longer need to call technical support to resolve the problem.

Note, the tool is new and currently only applies to SW2011 installations.

Take some time and read through the “What’s New” document (again).  It may not be the most fun reading material available, but I recommend it for all SolidWorks users, as it can help you get the most from your software.

P.S.  You will be happy to know that all the members of your SolidWorks Technical Support Team here at Symmetry Solutions passed their recertification test.

Please take a minute to vote and let us know what you’d like us to cover in the upcoming SolidWorks “What’s New For 2011″ Webinar.

Thanks!

Tim had been working on it for years; a perfect clone to assist him in the laboratory.  But to this day, no one knows exactly how it happened.  As he recalls, it was a dark and stormy night.  Tim had the recently dug up corpse on the table.  The electrodes had been placed.  He was waiting for the perfect strike of lightning.  The abandoned factory had been the location of his experiments through the years, but he hoped it would all be over soon.  As he raised the naked body to the lofted ceiling, he backed against a wall of buttons, accidentally releasing a series of chemicals prematurely into the corpse.  A shriek of bright lightning blinded his vision as the barking explosion of thunder jolted him into the lead pipe above his head.  It all went dark.

Well, it’s that time of year again.  SolidWorks has released Beta 3 of SolidWorks 2011 which means the official release must be right around the corner.

To help everyone get ready for the new release, Symmetry Solutions will be holding What’s New Events.  Please mark your calendar and plan on attending the event that’s closest to you.  Here is when and where the events will take place:

• New Richmond, WI – October 20th
• Owatonna, MN – October 21st
• Twin Cities – October 22nd

I will also be highlighting new features in this blog, so stay tuned and I hope to see you at the SolidWorks 2011 Roll Out.

Go Here to Register for Your Event!
 

Thanks to all those who attended our Open House on May 13th. We really enjoyed seeing all of you and, of course, enjoyed showing you our new facility. We played some games and gave away some really sweet prizes to lucky and skilled winners (those that could hit a virtual baseball the farthest, correctly model the fastest in SolidWorks 2010, and toss a bean bag accurately!).

Our grand prize, an Apple iPad, was won by Ben Pagel, of Remmele Engineering, Inc.  Congrats Ben!

Watch a slideshow video of photos from the event below. Thanks for coming everyone!

Greetings everyone! Welcome to Symmetry Solutions Inc’s Blog. As we all work through the worst economy since the Great Depression, it’s pretty easy to get a bit down. However, this time also affords us an opportunity to do some soul-searching and take a look at how we operate. And in doing so, we have launched a number of projects, including our new website and blog that we know will help our customers.

Jeff Ray, SolidWorks CEO, spoke at SolidWorks World 2009, and he mentioned some great inventions made during the Depression: nylon, the car radio and Spam! We particularly love Spam, as it is one of many great products from Hormel Foods, a leading SolidWorks and Symmetry Solutions customer.

In closing this entry, I want all of our customers to know Symmetry Solutions is here for you during these trying times. It’s easy to do business in outstanding economic times. However, this is when it’s most important for everyone to know we are here for you.

Enjoy the blog and I hope it provides you valuable information.