TriMech Blog

With so many software options out there, it’s hard to know which combination is right for your custom manufacturing needs. With the SOLIDWORKS family of integrated products we’re spoiled for choice, but that doesn’t make understanding all the options any easier to someone looking at it for the first time. We’ve taken a look at all the options and put together a summary of what we think is the “ideal” manufacturing bundle. In this blog post, we’ll go over all the top-level benefits for each product and what you’ll be taking with you.

The Hyatt Regency Walkway collapse was an event that changed engineering forever. This example serves as a lesson to many about double-checking your work. We should always use every tool available to us to make sure our designs are safe and that they perform how we expect. I wonder what the engineers on this project could’ve done if they had a simple tool to use that could have raised a red flag after just a few minutes of set up.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation is one of the leading design analysis tools that brings the power of simulation into the SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD environment, to conduct design validation early in the design process. Ease of use and tight integration within CAD enables designers and engineers to run different types of simulation from linear static to nonlinear static to dynamic analyses. However, even with its extensive capabilities, there are situations where SOLIDWORKS Simulation needs a little extra help. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at one of these situations, running a snap fit analysis and will walk through assisting SOLIDWORKS Simulation with Simulia Structural Simulation Engineer (SSE).

The VeroFlex and VeroFlexVivid family of materials are an unbelievably unique set of new materials available on Stratasys J Series 3D printers, which are capable of producing parts that have improved strength and flexibility while retaining great shape memory. Similar to how our simulated rubber-like Agilus material works, parts produced in either VeroFlex or VeroFlexVivid do not need to be handled as gently as other material parts and will hold up with little fear of them breaking. However, unlike Agilus, this material produces parts that are rigid and will snap right back to their original shape after being flexed in any direction. This makes them a great material to print high-quality full-color parts that are thin, like eyewear and small action figures, so today we’re going to show these new materials in action as we make some incredible Fourth of July sunglasses!

Prior to the SOLIDWORKS 2018 updates, you were capable of saving a SOLIDWORKS assembly as an SMG file, however, there were no export options for SMG files and the default export option was set to exclude surface bodies. Due to this, users preferred to open SOLIDWORKS file directly through Composer, where import options can be customized as they need. Since the SOLIDWORKS 2018 updates, new SOLIDWORKS export options for SMG files have been added that allow full control over what information is saved to SOLIDWORKS Composer. These new options provide many advantages to Composer users that will be explained in this blog. 

In any simulation project, setting up the correct boundary condition and interpreting the results are the most challenging phases, regardless of the simulation software being used. Certain tools and display settings available within SOLIDWORKS Simulation result plots can help you during the simulation result interpretation process. The stress hot spot diagnostic tool, available for linear static studies using solid and shell elements, can be used to detect regions of the model where stress singularities exist, for example, sharp edges or corners or the location of fixtures.

SOLIDWORKS Education Edition is the perfect solution for preparing students for a career in engineering. With more than 200,000 jobs posted a year seeking employees with SOLIDWORKS experience, investing in their training will not go to waste. There are many questions regarding the Education Edition and what all is included. Let's dive into those questions as well as the updates to the 2019-2020 version. 

It is important to design products that are strong yet light in weight while resisting damage against impact or unanticipated shocks and vibration. The static analysis assumes that loads are constant or applied very slowly, ignoring the effects of inertial and damping forces. For many practical cases, loads are not applied slowly. In fact, they change with time or frequency. To simulate such conditions, a dynamic analysis is required.

Over the years, I’ve dabbled in many surface editors. I have spent too many hours creating human faces, cars and other complex geometries only to have the most extravagant shapes not make the jump to hyperspace from surfaces to solids willingly. Perhaps, you know from experience, the let-down in creating something with surfaces that looks great in CAD, only to fumble into getting in a solid form so it can be 3D printed.  

In our previous blog post, we walked through the process of setting up an airflow study over the front of the Thunder Roadster. We used SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation to set up a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis to verify that incoming air is adhering to the surface of the car and entering the hood scoop at racing speeds. With the results verified, the next step is to design new inlet components to route as much of that air to the engine as possible to improve performance.

Manufacturing technology seems to catch on much slower than other technological leaps; it’s 2019 and I still train students every month coming from 2D drafting into the 3D world! Is this because of the companies, the designers, the machinists or none of these? There is a huge difference in how a job shop, or even a large-scale production facility, work versus how we think. We’re going to take a look at this much too common disconnect and what options are out there to improve shop communication and efficiency.

SOLIDWORKS is not just a CAD application. The integrated add-ins and supporting applications make it a complete engineering solution. I recently took advantage of these tools to complete a project that has been at the back of my mind for some time. It was a great opportunity to show how to use the SOLIDWORKS integrated platform from design all the way through the manufacturing and post-manufacturing process.