SolidWorks Simple Mini Guide

Contents

• Launching the SolidWorks environment

• Drawing a simple wall bracket using:

– Sketch

– Extrude Boss/Base tool

– Rib tool

• Conclusion

Launching the SolidWorks environment and creating a new environment

• Double-click on the solidworks icon on the desktop to launch the solidworks then:

i. Click new then choose the part option to start a new single part drawing.

ii. Or choose the assembly option to assemble already created parts.

iii. Click ‘OK’

Drawing a simple wall bracket

When drawing on a 3 D environment, there are usually several ways of realizing a model. This is due to our different ways of picturing images. This reason explains why different times are spent on same drawing, using different concepts.

A 2D Sketch of the wall bracket

Fig. 1

Steps

• Select ‘Top Plane’ from the draw tree at the left pane of the drawing environment

• Select ‘center rectangle’ from the sketch option, snap the mouse to the origin and draw a rectangle

• Note: All dimensions in ‘mm’ already

• Select ‘Smart Dimension’ and pick the horizontal side, type 100 mm

• Also, pick the vertical side, type 70 mm

• You should see a drawing similar to fig. 2

Steps

Fig. 2

Steps

• Click ‘Features’ to display a number of possible options

• Click ‘Extruded Boss/Base’ and in the space provided for dimension, type 10 mm

• Click the ‘OK’ to confirm the dimensions

• You should see a cuboid that looks like fig. 4 as shown below

Steps

Fig. 3

Steps

Fig. 4

Steps

• Click on the top face of the cuboid

• Select a ‘corner rectangle’

• Sketch by snapping the mouse pointer from the corner of the rectangle face to the adjacent edge

• Dimension the side to 10 mm by using the ‘smart dimension’

• Extrude by 40 mm using the ‘Extruded Boss/Base’

• Click ‘OK’

Steps

Fig. 5

Steps

Fig. 6

Creating a rib on the wall bracket

• Select the right plane of the model

• Click on ‘Normal To’. This enables the plane to face you.

• Select a line and draw from the top edge of the drawing as shown in fig. 7

• Select isometric on the top of the menu to give a 3D view of the model.

• Dimension the vertical edge with the end of the drawn line as 20 mm

Steps

Fig. 7

Steps

Fig. 8

Steps

• From the ‘Features’ option, click rib

• On the left pane, a rib menu dialog shows, make the thickness ‘both sides’ keeping it to 10 mm

• Change the ‘Extrusion direction’ and check ‘Flip material side’ as appropriate

• Click ‘OK’

• The result should look like fig. 9 below

Steps

Fig. 9

Conclusion

• Note: This guide is just to give a fore-sight to SolidWorks environment. The in-depth shall be taught in class.