Symmetry Solutions Blog

Starting with 2010 SP3.0, SolidWorks is checking whether you are on subscription before you install the service pack.  With SP3.0 you will just get a warning if you are not on subscription but starting with SP4.0 you will not be able to install. 

For network licenses, the expiration date is saved on the license server and that is the date that is checked during installation.  Depending on the date the SNL Manager was activated and the subscription expiration date, you may get the message that your subscription has expired even though it has been renewed. Read more…

One of the many advantages of any CAD system is the ability to reuse design data in new designs.  Copying an existing design and then making changes has saved companies tremendous amounts of time and money.  Here is an easy way to reuse a design including the drawings and save it with a new file name. Read more…

There are several reasons why you may need to find the internal volume of your design:  the amount of oil needed to fill a gear box, the volume of a tank with a pump, heater, or other items inserted, or the fluid volume of a bottle or jug.

The process is easy and quick.

Preparation

Part (Can be a multibody part): No preparation necessary.

Assembly: Save the assembly as a part including all components.

Create a box around your model

Start a sketch that completely encompasses your model on the left, bottom, and right side.  The top will be the “fluid” level.  In the case of the gear box, I want to find the entire interior volume so my sketch completely encloses my model.  And since I know one of your standard planes goes through the middle of the part (remember to try and be symmetrical to the planes) this sketch will be on that plane.

Now do a midplane extrude to completely enclose your model.  Make sure to uncheck Merge result.

Combine

I now have 6 bodies in this file: 5 from the original assembly and the one that I called oil, which will eventually represent the interior volume.

Select the body that is the “fluid”, then hold “Ctrl” and select the other body (bodies).  Right click and select “Combine.”  You want the Main Body to be the “fluid” and everything else to be the Bodies to Combine. 

We are going to Subtract the “fluid” (the rectangular block) from the gear box.

Click the green check mark.  A dialog box will appear. To select the Bodies to Keep – click on Selected bodies, then check Body 2.  We want to keep just the interior fluid.   

What remains is an exact shape of the interior.

Check the mass properties to get the volume which can then be converted to whatever units you need.  In this example, the volume is 72.46 in³ which converts to 0.31 gallons. (multiply by .00433)

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