Introduction to

SolidWorks
Basics
Materials Tech. Wood
Table of Contents

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 1

Book End .......................................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2

Learning Intentions ..................................................................................................................... 2

Modelling the Base ..................................................................................................................... 3

Modelling the Front .................................................................................................................. 10

Modelling the Support ............................................................................................................. 11

Modelling the Plug……………….………………………………………………………………………………………..20

Assembly of Parts…….............……………………………………………………………………………….………..21
Creating the Screw………………………………………………………………………………………....….……….. 25
Creating an Exploded View.…………………………………………………………………………………..……….28
Creating a working drawing…………………………………………………………………………………..……….31
Rendered View...................................................................................................................42

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Book End

Introduction
The purpose of this lesson is to teach some of the basics of SolidWorks. This includes
creating parts, creating an assembly from the parts, and using the assembly to create a
working drawing of the object.

Learning Intentions
On completion of this exercise you will be familiar with:

 The various sketching commands.

 Using the extrude commands.

 Adding appearances to parts.

 Using the hole wizard.

 Creating an assembly.

 Using the Design Library to create screws.

Create Folder called Book End. Save all files into this folder

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Part Modelling the Base

Open a new part.

Save Part as Base.

Create a new

sketch
on the Top
Plane

Select the Rectangle command.

Draw a rectangle with one

corner co-incident to the origin.

. Hold down the left mouse

button to drag out the rectangle.
Release when its an approximate
size. Accept the sketch to complete

Select Smart Dimension and apply the dimensions below to the rectangle.

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Hover over line. It will highlight in orange. Left-click on line, drag out dimension line and left-
click again to open the dimension window.

The rectangle turns black when enough dimensions

are added. It is a Fully Defined sketch.

Accept the sketch by selecting the pencil at the top right of

the screen.

Select the Features Tab and select Extruded Boss/Base

Extrude by 18mm.

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Accept by selecting the green arrow as shown.

Click on the face shown and select sketch.

Press the space bar on the keyboard and select normal to. This allows us to look straight at
the face when sketching on it.

Select the down arrow beside

the line command. Select
Centreline, and draw the centreline between the
midpoint of the top line and the midpoint of the
bottom line.

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Press the Escape key on the keyboard when
finished.

Select the line command and draw the

shape shown. Select one of the sloping
lines, hold down the shift key and select the other sloping line. Add an Equal Relation to
these lines.
Add the following dimensions.

To mirror this shape about the centreline, select the Mirror

command.

Select the four lines as shown.

Select the Mirror about box,

and select the centreline on the drawing.

Accept.

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In the Features commands select Extrude Cut.
Cut by a distance of 18mm.

Accept

The Dovetail pins are now created.

Creating the hole for the Screw.

Select the underside of the Base Part. Press the space

bar and select the Normal to icon.

Select sketch and draw a point on the surface.

Select smart dimension and add the dimensions shown.

Accept the sketch.

In the Features commands select the Hole Wizard.

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In the command manager
select Countersink for Hole
Type.
Scroll down and add the
additional information.
ISO.
CTSK Flat ISO.
Size = M3
Fit = Normal

Tick the box for Head Clearance and add a depth of 5mm as a
plug of 5mm depth will be inserted to hide the screws later.
Selecting Added C`Bore is important as this will create a hole
to the depth of 5mm and the diameter of the screw head.

If the Show custom sizing box is ticked the dimensions of the

hole created will be shown.

Note: It will be important when creating the plug that it is 6.3mm as shown.

When all the information is input, select position.

On the part, click on the surface where the hole is to be

positioned. Then click on the point that was created.

Press the Escape key on the keyboard to prevent drawing more holes.

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Exit the command.

Appearance
To apply a wood appearance to the base, select the icon on the right hand side of
the screen.

Expand the Appearances folder by selecting the + symbol. Scroll down to the Organic folder.

Expand the Organic folder, then the Wood folder.

Apply a Polished yellow pine to the Part by holding
down the left button on the mouse, and dragging the
polished yellow pine ball onto the part on the drawing
area.
A popup window appears as shown to enable you apply
this appearance on to the part, body, feature or face. Apply it to
the part as shown.

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Note: Real View Graphics must be
enabled to see the appearance
once it is applied.
This can be activated by clicking on
the icon shown at the top right of
the drawing area then selecting the ball icon.

Save

Part Modelling the Front

Open new Part. Save as Front
Create a sketch on the right
plane.

Select corner rectangle and draw a rectangle

starting from the origin as shown.

Press Escape on the keyboard.

Select smart dimension and add the following

dimensions to the sketch.

Exit the sketch.

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In the Features commands select Extrude Boss/Base and extrude by 18mm

Select the face shown and select the sketch command from the ghost toolbar.

Press the space bar on the keyboard and

select the front face of the orientation
cube. This allows us to look at the front
face of the part.

Select Centreline command and draw the centreline from the top
midpoint to the bottom midpoint.
Press escape.
Select the line command and draw the following shapes shown.

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 Add a collinear relation to the two lines highlighted.
Add an equal relation to the two sloping lines.
Then apply the following dimensions.
Start with the smallest dimension first.

Select the mirror entities command. Select the seven lines to

mirror. Click in the Mirror about box to activate it and when it turns blue select the
centreline on the drawing. The lines are now mirrored about the centreline as shown.

Accept.
Exit the sketch.

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In the features commands select Extrude Cut.
Select Through all for direction.

To add a chamfer to the top of the part, select the down arrow
under the fillet command. Select Chamfer.

Select the top edge shown to

chamfer. Select Angle distance.
Add a distance of 8mm the angle
being 45°.

Accept.

Adding the hole for the screw

As with the Base Part select the back surface of the
Face part and sketch a Point to the following dimensions.
Accept the sketch and in the Features commands select Hole
wizard.

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Follow the same process as for the “Base” to create the hole.

Appearance
Apply a Polished yellow pine finish to the part.

Save.

Modelling the Support

Open a new part.
Save the part as Support.
Create a sketch on the Front
plane.
Select corner rectangle
and draw a rectangle as shown.

Start the rectangle at the origin. Select

smart dimension and add the
following dimensions.

Accept the sketch.

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In the features menu select Extrude Boss/ Base and extrude by 18mm.

Accept

Select the front face and select sketch.

Press the space bar on the keyboard to

activate the view orientation cube.
Select the front face of the cube to look at
the front of the part for sketching.

Using centre circle draw a circle

as shown near the top of the part.

Select the circle and holding down the shift key

select the top edge of the part. Add a tangent
relation.

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Repeat the process to add a tangent relation to the circle and the right side of the part also.

Add the dimension of 50mm diameter.

Draw a vertical centreline from the centre
of the circle to the top of the part.

Draw another circle as shown.

Press Escape.

Select both circles by holding down the shift key. Add a

tangent relation between the two circles.

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Add the following dimensions to fully define the circle.

Draw a sloping line coincident with the left hand side of

the part as shown.

Add a tangent relation between the line and the circle

shown. To do this select the circle then holding down the
shift key select the line also, release the shift key and select
the tangent icon on the pop up toolbar.

Add a 25mm dimension from the origin.

Select the trim

command and select trim
to closest.

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Trim away the part of the line shown and the parts
of the circles also.

Accept.

In the features commands select Extrude Cut.

Flip the side to cut if necessary.

Appearance
Add a polished yellow pine appearance to the part.

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Note: If the grain is running in the wrong direction add the polished yellow pine appearance
to the face.

Click on the face and select the down arrow beside the beach ball. Select face as shown.

Move the cursor to the centre of the

axis that appears. Holding down the left
button on the mouse, rotate so that the
grain is in the correct direction.

To copy this appearance to the back

face, click on the face, and on the
ghost toolbar that appears, select
Copy Appearance icon.

Rotate the part to the back face. Click on the face and select the Paste Appearance icon.

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Then select the face icon shown.

The grain pattern can be enlarged or reduced by stretching

any corner of the rectangle shown.

Save.

Modelling the plugs

Open New Part from the SolidWorks Document dialogue box.
Select File. Click Save as on the standard toolbar. Save as “Plug”
in the Book End folder.
Create a sketch on the Top Plane.
Select Circle and having centre point on the origin draw the
circle. Add a diameter of 6.3mm to match the holes created
earlier.

Extrude by 5mm.

Appearance
Add a polished Mahogany appearance to the part.

Save.

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Book End Assembly
All part files for the bookend must be saved in the same folder.

On the top of the screen select

File, New.

Select Assembly in the SolidWorks Document dialog box.

Click OK.

In the following window, select browse and select the ‘Base’ part. Select Open.

Click OK in the property

manager as shown.

The parts origin will snap to the

origin of the assembly.

Select File, Save as on the standard toolbar.

Save the assembly as “Book End” in the same folder as its parts.
Select Insert component from the assembly tool bar.

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 Choose Browse from the Insert Component dialog box.

Select the Front part and click Open.

The part comes in as shown. If it is
not in the correct orientation, click
on the x, y or z icon on the screen.
Then click anywhere on the graphics area to place the
part as shown.

Select Mate from the assembly toolbar.

Select the back face of the front part and the inner face of the pins as shown and accept.

Select the sloping face of the pin and the sloping

face of the tail as shown and accept.

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Finally select the bottom face of the base and the
bottom of one of the tails and accept.

Select OK to exit the command.

Choose Insert Component from the Assembly toolbar. Click

Browse, select the “Support” and insert it into the graphics
area as before.

Select the inside face of the ‘Front’ part, and holding

down the shift key, select the face of the ‘Support’ as
shown.
Release the shift key, and select the coincident mate
in the pop up toolbar that appears.

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Mate the top of the ‘Base’ to the bottom of the support.

To ensure the support is in the centre of

the Book End, select Mates then select
Advanced Mates.

Under advanced mates select Width.

Select the two end surfaces of the

Front part for the Width Selection.
In the Tab selection window select
the two side surfaces of the
support.

Accept the mates.

Accept again to exit the property manager.

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Adding the screws using the Toolbox.
Click on the design library icon on the right hand
side of the drawing area.

Expand the toolbox folder

Scroll down and select the icon shown.

Expand this folder also.
Double click on the Bolts and Screws folder.
Double click on the Cross-recessed Head Screws to open it.

Right click on the CTSK

FLAT ISO icon and select
Create Part.

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 Fill in the following information in the property manager.

Accept

Then holding down the left button on the

mouse, drag the screw onto the drawing
area.

To rotate the screws to the correct orientation Right click on the

screw and select Move with Triad.

Move the cursor to the blue circle and holding down the left button on the mouse move the
mouse until the screw is orientated correctly.

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Select the cylinder at the head of the screw and holding
down the shift key select the hole as shown.
Accept the concentric mate.

Select the countersink face of the hole,

and the countersink face of the screw,
and accept the coincident mate.

Select the green icon to accept the mates.

Exit the mate commands by selecting the green tick in the

feature manager.
Repeat the process to insert the other screw to the Base.

Finally insert the plugs by selecting Insert Component,

Browse and select the plug.
Select the cylindrical surface of the plug and the hole
and select the Concentric Mate.

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Select the bottom surface of the Base and the bottom face of the
plug and select the coincident mate.

Repeat the process for the other plug.

Creating an Exploded View

Select Exploded View

Click on the Base, the support, the plug and the screw as shown.

To select the screw, select hidden lines visible mode. Select the X (red horizontal)
arrow to move the parts.
Pull the base horizontally to the left.

Click anywhere in the drawing area away from the parts to accept the command.

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In Hidden lines visible, again select the
screw and the plug that is connected to
the base, and move along the Y axis by
selecting the vertical arrow.

Accept the command by clicking anywhere on the

screen, away from the parts.

Select the plug, and select the

vertical arrow, and drag the plug
along the Y axis.

Select the support. Move it vertically by clicking on the

vertical arrow, and dragging it upwards.
Click anywhere on the screen to accept.

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Select the screw, and plug connected to the front part, and drag them along the x axis to the
right.
Select the plug, and repeat to separate the plug from the screw.

Accept the exploded view by clicking on the OK button.

It is possible to show the project in the Collapsed, Exploded, Animate Collapse or Animated
Explode position by right clicking on Book End Assembly in the design tree, and selecting
from the list.

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To edit an exploded view, click on the
ConfigurationManager tab, and select
the ExplView1. Then select Edit Feature.

Creating Drawings and Worksheets

Adding Views
Create a drawing from the Book End
Assembly.

Select an A3L sheet template (e.g. DCG A3L)

Select the View Palette on the right of the screen.

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Select browse, if the drawings of the Book End are not
displayed.

In the View Palette, drag and drop

the elevation by selecting Front
view. Drag the mouse down from
the elevation to create the plan.
Move the mouse to the left of the
elevation to create the end view
shown. Notice how the views will
auto project from elevation. Select
escape to end the command.
If the elevation is moved the others move also, keeping the link.

Show the dotted lines by clicking on the view and selecting Hidden Lines Visible.

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Insert the Isometric View from the view palette and change its display style to Shaded With
Edges.

To insert a 3D view looking in the other direction, select the elevation. Then select projected
view in the View Layout tab at the top of the screen.

Select the elevation. Holding down the left button of the

mouse, drag the mouse up at an angle as shown.

Hold down the Control key to

move this view into its position on
the sheet.

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The scale of the drawings can be changed by
moving the curser close to a view, and
selecting the dotted rectangle that appears
around the view.

In the Property Manager, scroll down to Scale.

Select Use custom scale. Select the down
arrow as shown and select 1:2.

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Dimensioning the Drawing
Select Model Items from the Annotation tab. Select
Selected Component as the source and click on the Base
in plan. The import items into all views is unticked.

Note: These dimensions are Driving

dimensions imported from the part.
Right click on any dimension you
don’t want to show and select Hide.
You can also add driven dimensions
by clicking on smart dimensions and
add these manually (shown in pink).

Use the Note command to add

text.

The solution drawing sheet is now complete.

Save as Book End.

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Detailed Sheet
Select Add sheet icon on the bottom
left of the screen.

It can be seen from the view palette that in the

isometric explode view a lot of detail is hidden.

To add an extra view:

1. Open the assembly (use R key for documents)
2. Select the required view using the view
selector cube.
3. Press the space bar and click on the new view
icon
4. Give the new view a name and select OK.
5. Save the file

Open the drawing and refresh the View

Palette.

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Drag and drop the new view into the drawing.

Creating Worksheets
Open the part Support. Select Save As.

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Select Save a copy and open

Save as Support Outline.

In the design tree select the following

feature and Delete. Delete the sketch also.

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Open Book End Assembly. Open Save As.
Select save a copy and open as before.

Save as Base and Front and select Save.

In the copied Assembly delete the features as shown.

Open the drawing (R- Key)

Add another sheet.
Add the Orthographic views as before.

In the View Palette use the down arrow to

select Book End Base and Front.

Add the Orthographic views as before.

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In the View Palette browse for the Support Outline part.

Select Open.

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Drag in the Front view and a 3D view.

Add appropriate notes to the worksheet.

Save.

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Rendered View
Open the Book End Assembly.
On the top of the screen select the down arrow beside
the options tab

Select Add-Ins.

Make sure both boxes are ticked for

PhotoView 360.
Select OK.

PhotoView 360 now appears at the top of the screen.

Click on the PhotoView 360 tab.

Scenes can be added to the part.

The Appearance can be changed if required.

Select Final Render.

The process will take a few

minutes to complete.

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When the process is complete, select Save Image.
Give it a name.

Save the Image into the same folder.

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