BASIC TIPS

TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY
IN SOLIDWORKS
[ PRACTICAL EXAMPLES INCLUDED ]
 Use templates and Custom Properties
SolidWorks comes with some predefined templates you can use, but if you want to be
more productive, you should adjust them to your own needs.

In SolidWorks we can have a lot of different templates, but the bare necessities are:
Part and Assembly Templates
Drawing Templates and Sheet Formats
Bill of Material Templates

Part, Assembly and Drawing Templates can carry meta data called Custom Properties.

If Sheet Formats and BOM templates are set up correctly, Custom Properties
are automatically transferred from the model to the drawing.
This means that you don't need to fill out the drawing (Title Block and BOM) by
hand!

Custom Properties and Sheet Format Example

To speed up the process of filling out Custom Properties, you can build your
own Custom Properties Tab, that opens on the right side of your SolidWorks
window.

SolidWorks Drawings Templates Webinar

P.S. if this looks like too much work for you, we can customize the templates for you.
 Use a numbering scheme for naming
CAD documents
Whatever you do, please don't name your CAD files Sprocket01.sldprt or
Handle20190404-ChangedByBill.sldasm or something similar.
Use numbers instead and if a change happens that you want the manufacturing to know
about, save the model under a different number.
Standard parts like bolts, bearings, cylinders may be named by its specific description.
If you don't know what numbering scheme to use, use a non-significant 6-digit
numbering scheme. You can't go wrong with this.

Example: Without Generation Number

Top assembly:
ProductName/ProjectNo.sldasm

Other Models or Drawings:

100001.sldprt
100001.slddrw
100002.sldasm
...
Standard components:
ST- name of part - standard- dimensions-ordering code.sldprt

Example: With Generation Number

Generation number (last two digits) can be used to indicate that a change has happened.
Because the base of the part number remains the same, the CNC programmer can easily
find the code of the old part and tweak it to make the new one.
Please don't mistake the generation number for Revision!

Top assembly:
ProductName/ProjectNo-01.sldasm

Other Models or Drawings:

100001-01.sldprt
100001-01.slddrw
100002-01.sldasm
...
Standard components:
ST- name of part - standard- dimensions-ordering code-00.sldprt

Reference: Parts & Documents Numbering Schemes by Jörg Eisenträger

 Make your own Design Library of Standard
Components
I must confess I'm not a big Toolbox fan. I had some bad experience with it in the past
and besides this, it's also not included in SolidWorks Standard package.

If you are not using Toolbox already or if you only have SW Standard I advice you to take
your time to make your own Design Library.
You can download the models of standard parts from a supplier's website or
you can create them on your own. You can also copy them from the toolbox, but in
this case make sure to remove the toolbox property flag.

If you decide to use configurations, make sure not to include too many in one part. Having a
lot of configurations might cause performance issues when working on large projects. Using
Design Tables when creating configurations can be a huge time saver.

If you make standard parts with only one configuration,

Design Library make sure to scale up from a seed model. This will help
the Replace Components procedure to run smoothly.
Example:
To save even more time you can add Mate References
to your standard components. This will speed up the
mating process in the assembly.

Standard Parts Example:

In our design library we only keep one length of the
bolt with only one configuration. When I'm working on
a project, I copy the specific component to the project
folder and change the length as needed. (I also replace
the first two initials (ST) with the project number to
prevent duplicates.) But this approach is not
considered the best among SW experts.
Experts suggest that you don't copy your standard
parts to the project folder, but rather include parts
from the library folder directly.
Both approaches have some pros and cons.
 Use Pack-And-Go for copying a project or sending it
to your customer
I bet you needed to, at least once in your CAD career, send a SolidWorks project to
someone outside your company.

Some CAD users are still doing this by selecting files from a folder and compressing
them in a Zip file. The problem with this is, that one often forgets to select all the files
that are used in a project. This means that when the other person opens the project,
some models or drawings might be missing.
If you want to make sure your project is complete the next time you send it
out, use Pack-And-Go.

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3

4 5

Example: Send project as Zip file

Open the top project assembly and go via "File" to "Pack-And-
Go" (1). If you also want to include drawings, make sure to select
them (2). In the table view you will see all the files that are
referenced in your project and that will be copied to the Zip file.
If you are sending the project out, select Save to Zip file (4) and
specify the folder (5) you want to save to. Then click Save (6).

Example: Copy project

In the example above, the CAD documents belong to project no. 17014. If I need to design
a copy of this project and I want it to have a new project no., I can do this with the help of
Pack-And-Go. First, I make sure I include the drawings, then I click on Select/Replace. A new
window opens where I replace the old project no. with the new one. After that I select Save
to Folder and specify the path to where the project with the new number will be copied. If
you don't want to copy some of the files, make sure to unselect them in the table view. In
this case the new project will be referencing the same files as the old one.
 Create a Template for Project Folders
Companies that are project based could usually have the same folder structure for all
their projects.

You can create such a template folder in less than 10 min and it will save you some time
in the future. Besides it also gives your projects a structure and makes other CAD
users follow the same rules.

Project Folder Example:

01 - Design Process 07 - Measurements

We use this folder to In this folder we
keep all the files that store scans and
our customer photos of
provides (inputs) measurements that
and all files that we are usually needed
send to the before the start of
customer (outputs). the project.
We keep the files in
folders by datum 08 - Examples
(YYYY-MM-DD). In this folder we
store links to similar
02 - CAD projects or
In this folder we products.
keep all the CAD files
that are used on a 09 - Render
project. This folder contains
05 - Photo render images if the
In this folder we customer requires
03 - Documentation
keep the photos we one.
In this folder we
make during
keep all released 10 - Other
production or
PDFs, STEPs and Here we store
installation of the
DXFs. everything else.
project's hardware.

04 - Calculations 06 - Literature 11 - Project Statistics

In this folder we In this folder we Here we store
keep Excel files of usually keep data- project's time report
engineering sheets of specific from Toggl. Based
calculations and components that on this we can
FEM analysis results. are used on the estimate future
project. projects more
precisely.
 Use batch processing tools like #Task or Batch+
#Task (SharpTask) is a tool that can save you a lot of time. You can use it for batch
processing of SW files. It's very easy to install and also very intuitive to use.
Sadly it's not free anymore.

The best free alternative for it right now is Batch+.

For detailed presentations see #Task YouTube Playlist

#Task Save as PDF Example:

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4
5

Click (1) on the Earth icon to open the window with all possible tasks
that are available for use. Search for Save PDF and add it to your tasks.

Click (2) on the Plus icon to add SW files that you would like to save as PDF. You can
also include parts and assemblies on the list and then select (3) to only process
drawings.

In the Arguments section select (4) what kind of output filename you would like to
get. Besides the original title of the CAD file I always add custom property "Revision"
to the PDF filename.

Choose the desired destination (5) for your PDF files and run the task (6).

LinkedIn Article - Bulk processing for SW files is free!

#Task test video - How much time can you save?
 Use PDM to create a common and stable database
If your company has more than one CAD user it is worth considering
investing in a PDM software.

The main functionality of PDM software is to establish a common database and

to prevent CAD users from messing up each other's work.
This might be the best solution for your company if CAD users are wasting time with
copying files from one workstation to another. All other features that come with a PDM
might be considered as gadgets that may come handy to you in the future.

SolidWorks offers two main options of PDM. The first one is SolidWorks PDM
Standard that comes with every SolidWorks Professional or Premium package, and
SolidWorks PDM Professional that has to be bought as a separate licence.

What options do you have?

If your company already uses SolidWorks Professional or higher, you might want to
consider starting with PDM Standard. In case you are using SolidWorks Standard, it
might be more cost efficient to invest in PDM Professional. Check with your VAR.

Although PDM Standard comes as part of SolidWorks CAD package, you will have to pay
for its implementation (unless you do it on your own). The same goes for PDM
Professional. But if you decide to use PDM only to establish a common database and
enable versioning of CAD files, the implementation will not cost you much.

And BTW, check with your IT if you actually need an expensive server computer, because
you can also install PDM vault on a basic workstation.

PDM Professional for 2 Users Example:

As you might know, we are a company of two and we offer engineering design and drafting
services.
In the past we had two workstations. One of them also served as the database and the
other accessed the database via network. Because networks are not stable enough, we
had problems with corrupted SW files.

We have one SW CAD Professional and one SW CAD Standard, so we decided to

implement SW PDM Professional. We also invested in a third workstation (nothing fancy)
that now serves as a server and has PDM Vault installed on it.

We implemented PDM with the help of our VAR but tweaked it to suit our needs by
ourselves. In this place I must say that we are using most of the functionalities that PDM
Professional offers. In case we would only use it for the sake of a stable and common
database, there would be no need for additional work.
 TO BE CONTINUED...

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www.simpleCADstandards.com

If you need help with defining your CAD standards, feel free to
contact me.

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REVISION B