Anna's SolidMuse

Creating A Tube With Normal To Surface End Cutoffs: Option 3

I recieved another solution for the modeling task of creating end cut-offs in a tube that are normal to the surface.  This particular solution was submitted by Charles Culp.  Charles solution also uses surfaces, breaking down the process creating each surface separately.  The key aspect to this solution is Charles use of a Ruled Surface to create the normal surface.

Ruled Surface Technique

Here is the SolidWorks 2009 file of the tube.

Cheers,

Anna

Creating A Tube With Normal To Surface End Cutoffs: Option 2

Check out Rob Jensen's Blog...

Rob has posted another solution, using Sheet Metal tools, for creating a normal to surface end cutoff on a tube.

http://www.robjensenblog.com/2009/06/02/creating-a-tube-with-normal-to-surface-end-cutoffs-option-2

Cheers,

Anna

Creating A Tube With Normal To Surface End Cutoffs

This was a question posed a few weeks ago on the SolidWorks Forums.  How do you model a tube with an end cutoff normal to the surface of the tube?  This is the type of cut that would be created with a laser.  The tube is held in a chuck that rotates the tube around it centerline.  The laser head will move along the tube centerline to make the cut.  A google search on 'laser tube cutting' will get you several links to companies that do this type of work and have some neat videos of the lasers in action.

Tube With Trims Normal to Tube Surface

Using typical SolidWorks modeling techniques, Extrudes and Cuts with solid bodies, this looks like an impossible task.  This is where we, as SolidWorks users, need to think beyond our normal tools we use everyday and take a look at some of the other tools SolidWorks offers us.

This type of tube is very easy to make using Surfaces.  One of the cool aspects of surfaces is when you offset a surface it is offset normal to the seed surface.  We can take advantage of this behavior to model our tube.

Surface Offset

What we will do is sweep a surface, then trim the surface and finally thicken the surface to create the solid body tube.

Tube Created Using Surfaces

Here is a video of the process and the SolidWorks 2009 file of the tube.

A very easy task when you break out of the thought process to create the tube with solids.  There are all kinds of ways surfaces can be used to make your modeling projects much easier.  In the future, I will explore a few other techniques for modeling with surfaces instead of solids.

Cheers,

Anna

SolidWorks Forming Tool Wizard... Why I Don't Use It

Ever since SolidWorks developed a new way of creating Sheet Metal Forming Tools in SolidWorks 2006 with their Form Tools Wizard I have not used it. I use the old school techniques for creating the forming tool. The number one reason I do not use the wizard is the Orientation Sketch in the form tool sldprt file can't be edited and for my needs the Orientation Sketch created by the Wizard is inadequate for orienting the form tool.

Forming Tool Wizard Orientation Sketch Can't Be Edited

Old School Forming Tool Orientation Sketch Can Be Edited

I add quite a bit of construction geometry to my Orientation Sketch to help me with the placement of the lance tabs that I use for our carrier designs. There are 9 points that I can select to orient a lance tab in our carriers.  I also add sketch geometry that outlines the size of the punch I am placing and the P0 (punch zero point/punch centerline).

It is important when placing our lance tabs to not have the punch bodies running into each other.  If they do run into each other I have to stamp the lance tabs in two operations as opposed to one operation. Extra operations means more time and money is required to create the carrier.  We try to avoid that whenever possible. Not being able to add this type of info into the Wizard Orientation Sketch is a huge detriment to the Form Tool Wizard.

Old School Forming Tool Orientation Sketch

Later when I design the tooling for this part, I also use the forming tool orientation sketch for locating the standard pockets we Wire EDM in the die, stripper and punch holder at the P0 (punch zero point) in the stamping tooling we create.  I have the wire pockets created and saved as Design Library parts that I can drag into the tool models and anchor on the zero point of the form tool orientation sketch.

At the end of this post I will have a link to a zip file with the form tools and a coupon showing how I place the forming tools.  The zip file will also contain a pdf of a typical lance punch we use, with the standard Wire EDM pockets that are in our tooling. From the pdf you should be able to discern my logic for creating the form tool.

Lance Tab Placement In A Typical Carrier

Lance Tab Placement In A Typical Carrier

In my carrier designs I create a Lance Tab Layout Sketch that I use to define the placement of the lance tab. After dropping in the forming tool, I use the orientation sketches in each form tool to locate (coincident, parallel, collinear, etc) to the lance tab layout sketch.

One key tip to keep in mind when using the old school method for creating form tools and orientation sketches is to not have any horizontal or vertical constraints within your orientation sketch.  Be sure to delete any that are created and add the appropriate constraint to fully define the sketch.  Horizontal and vertical constraints will restrict how you can orient the form tool in your model.

Here is a zip file which has SolidWorks 2009 files with a coupon demonstrating the techniques I use to place form tools.  There is an old school form tool and a form tool created using the Form Tool Wizard.  I also have a pdf of a typical lance punch we use.

Forming_Tools.zip

Forming tools are a great feature in SolidWorks.  Using the old school methods for form tool creation will offer you much more control when placing your form tools.

Cheers,

Anna

ATI FirePro Video Cards, A Second Look

It has been ages since I seriously considered ATI video cards for the workstations that we purchase at Auer or that I purchase myself for my own personal computer systems.  Nvidia Quadro cards have worked well and have not given us any grief in our systems.  That has been the case up until the last year or so with SolidWorks.

Unfortunately, with SolidWorks 2008 and SolidWorks 2009 something has changed.  The Nvidia graphics cards do not seem to be as rock solid as in the past.  Is it the Nvidia drivers, the Windows operating systems; both XP and Vista, or SolidWorks?  I do not know, but something is not right and we have been hearing plenty of issues with Nvidia video cards on the SolidWorks forums that I read daily.

My own personal experience has not been horribly bad, but I have had numerous annoying glitches with the Nvidia card in my Lenovo Thinkpad T61p and on my new Core i7 workstation.  Screens locking up and not refreshing, not repainting the graphics window under dismissed dialog boxes and tearing of the graphics window when dragging sheet metal forming tools out of the design library.

All of these issues have lead me to want to take a look at the new ATI FirePro graphics cards that where introduced in the 2nd half of 2008.

The rub was I wanted to try out the new cards but was not willing to spend the dollars to purchase a FirePro without hearing of some good experiences by real SolidWorks users.  The reviews in the various trade publications just were not good enough for me.  Even with the FirePro getting some very good reviews.

Well as luck would have it ATI was looking to get some of their new graphics cards into the hands of some SolidWorks users and bloggers to try out and write about.  Perfect, I would be able to take a good look at their cards and not have to fork out my own dollars to do a test. 

I was able to get the FirePro V3750 and V5700 video cards to try out in my Core i7 workstation.  The deal was I could have the cards for two weeks and then I would have to send them back to ATI.  ATI paid for the shipping both ways. 

My first impressions of the FirePro's when I pulled them out of their boxes was how heavy the cards were compared to my Nvidia FX570.  Both of the FirePro's have huge copper heat sinks.  They are about 2.5 times the size of the aluminum heat sink that comes on the FX570.  Copper is not cheap and there is a lot of it in the FirePro's.  It sure looks like overheating should never be an issue with the FirePro's, as long as the gpu fan is running.

From top to bottom, FirePro V3750, Nvidia FX570 and FirePro V5700

I got to work and set about installing the FirePro V5700 into my Core i7 machine.  Specs for the workstation can be found in the posts I wrote a while back documenting the Core i7 workstation build. I am currently using a ViewSonic G810 CRT monitor set at 1600 x 1200 and a 70 Hz refresh rate.

After the card was installed I headed over to the SolidWorks website to get the latest approved graphics card driver for the ATI FirePro.  Since I do not have an OEM system I looked for approved drivers under the ATI Technologies vendor drop down list.  The 8.543 version driver was approved on 1/9/2009 for both graphics cards, SolidWorks 2008 & 2009 and the Windows Vista x64 OS that I run on my workstation.  Cool that would make swapping the two video cards easy as I would not have to install new drivers for the two different cards.

Installing the drivers was easy. I installed the ATI drivers with all the options and keep the standard default settings for the cards.  One nice thing about the ATI Catalyst Control Center is that you do not need to go in and set the graphics card driver software for the CAD program you want to use the gpu with like on the Nvidia cards.  The driver software handles that for you and will adjust settings as required based on the software package you are working in.  For those that are tweakers there is a whole range of settings you can play with to get your gpu to work to your liking.  For me, and I am sure most users, the standard settings should work out of the box.

The first test I did was to see if both of the FirePro's would have any affect on any of my benchmarks tests.  As expected, the new cards had no affect on the test results.  The benchmarks I have are a real test of cpu performance as it relates to SolidWorks.  See the right side bar for the benchmark file links.

From there I set about to using both cards just like I do for work with typical models I create everyday.  I made sure to do some detail drawings and also work with PhotoView 360.  I did not spend anytime trying out any of the numerous video tests that are out on the internet.  Those test results are covered very well by the various hardware review sites.  Tom's Hardware has several reviews of the various professional graphics cards on their website.

A problem I did discover was that I had the same annoying graphics glitches with the FirePro's as I had with the Nvidia cards.  Screens locking up and not refreshing, not repainting the graphics window under dismissed dialog boxes and tearing of the graphics window when dragging sheet metal forming tools out of the design library.

What this did help to confirm for those of us with these graphics issues is that the gpu's are not the problem for this particular set of glitches.  There is some interaction between SolidWorks and Windows Vista.  This was confirmed a couple weeks ago by Ron Bates over on the SolidWorks forum, when he let the users know that one common thread with this set of problems was running Windows Vista with the Windows Aero interface disabled.  http://forum.solidworks.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=134&threadid=20983&highlight_key=y

I am not a fan of Windows Aero but certainly have a system capable of running with it enabled so I immediately turned the Aero interface back on.  What do you know the graphics glitches went away.  This is a great tip that Ron shared with the user community and something that the programmers at SolidWorks can work on in future updates of the software.

So what is the bottom line after spending a few weeks with the ATI FirePro's?  I liked the cards, they worked well with my system and are definitely on par with the offerings from Nvidia.  This is very good for consumers in the workstation market.  Healthy competition between Nvidia and ATI in the professional graphic card space should yield better performing graphics cards with some competition on pricing for the cards.

I will have no problem recommending SolidWorks users take a look at the ATI FirePro's and to consider them in their purchase decisions.

After returning the FirePro's to ATI, I went out and purchased my own FirePro V8700 from www.newegg.com.  It has been installed in my Core i7 system for a week or so.  In the near future I will be installing Windows 7 RC1 on my Core i7 with an OCZ Vertex SSD drive.  I plan to do a review in the future of my setup with Windows 7 RC1 and SolidWorks.  From the little bit I have worked with this set-up it looks very promising for Windows 7.

Cheers,

Anna

I Won A Space Navigator!!!

Last week I had a nice surprise when I found out I had won a 3Dconnexion Space Navigator.  A few weeks earlier I had participated in www.spaceclaiming.com's CAD Test 2009.  The contest sponsored by NovEdge and SpaceClaiming.com had each contestant answer a list of about 10 multiple choice questions of CAD trivia.

Not sure how many people participated in the CAD quiz, but about 30% of the participants answered all the questions correctly.  Lot's of real CAD geeks out there.  The NovEdge folks put all the 100%'ers in a hat and pulled a name at random.

What do you know, they managed to pull my name out of the hat.  I think that is the first time I have won anything, ever.  Pretty cool!!!

Late in the week the Space Navigator arrived at the house.  Great service from the folks at NovEdge.

Since I already have a Space Explorer I will be saving the Space Navigator for a future Phoenix SolidWorks User Group meeting raffle. I am sure one of our members will put the Space Navigator to great use.

Thanks NovEdge and SpaceClaiming.com!

Phoenix SolidWorks User Group Meeting, May 7th, 2009

Phoenix Metro Area SolidWorks User Group
Next Meeting

Thursday, May 7, 2009
4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Auer Precision Company
1050 West Birchwood
Mesa, Arizona 85210
www.auerprecision.com

Click For PDF with Map and Directions

Agenda:

SolidWorks Sheet Metal Designed for Manufacturing

Guest Speaker:

Gerald Davis

Gerald Davis will be making a presentation on Sheet Metal Designed for Manufacturing.  The objective is to discuss general best practices and to address any specific questions that the members of the user group may have.  He will arrive with the PowerPoint presentation that was prepared for SolidWorks World 2009 but sincerely hopes that the meeting will be more of a dialog than a lecture!

Gerald owned and operated a precision sheet metal job shop in Denver for about 20 years.  During that time he developed his skills as a CAD jockey and, since 2004, has been working as an independent design contractor.  His experience with SolidWorks started in 1998.  He passed the CSWP in 2005.  He is the past group leader for the Colorado SolidWorks user group.

Please RSVP with the meeting sign-up form located at www.phxswug.com so we can plan refreshments and pizza for everyone.

Looking forward to seeing you May 7th.

Regards,

Anna Wood

Phoenix SolidWorks User Group Meeting, Feb 5th, 2009

Phoenix Metro Area SolidWorks User Group
Next Meeting

Thursday, February 5, 2009
4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Auer Precision Company
1050 West Birchwood
Mesa, Arizona 85210
www.auerprecision.com

Click For PDF with Map and Directions

Agenda:

SolidWorks Ten Essentials for Assemblies 2009
This is what every effective SolidWorks user needs to know about assemblies. Topics are based on using SolidWorks every day for fun and profit, with an enthusiastic intention of separating what’s useful from what is not. We will discuss Virtual Components, Multiple Mate Mode, Master Modeling Technique, SpeedPak, and much, much more.

Guest Speaker:

Phil Sluder,  Mechanical Engineer, while just a dumb engineer, has found his calling by presenting various SolidWorks topics at user groups and world conferences. His firm, TriAxial Design and Analysis, is an engineering service provider near San Diego. Phil has conducted SolidWorks training courses since 1997, and also finds time to lead the San Diego SolidWorks User Group. Additionally, he is the Western U.S. Representative on the SolidWorks User Group Network (SWUGN) Committee.

Please RSVP with the meeting sign-up form located at www.phxswug.com so we can plan refreshments and pizza for everyone.

Looking forward to seeing you Feb 5th.

Regards,

Anna Wood

Phoenix SolidWorks User Group Updates

User Group Meeting Schedule For 2009

For 2009, user group meetings for the Phoenix Metro Area SolidWorks User Group will be held on a quarterly basis.  Meetings will be held on the first Thursday of February, May, August and November.

2009 Meeting Schedule:
February 5th
May 7th
August 6th
Nov 5th

Meetings will start at 4:30 p.m. and be held at Auer Precision Company in Mesa.

We are working on an agenda for each meeting and hope to have that info posted soon at www.phxswug.com.

Zach Wilsterman Is Retiring...

Zach Wilsterman, long time leader of our Phoenix Metro Area User Group is stepping down from his duties as user group leader.  Zach has been leading the group for as long as we can remember and will be taking a well deserved break from those chores.

Thank-you to Zach from the entire user group for your years of service to the group.

Anna Wood has volunteered to take on the leadership duties for the group.

More PhotoView 360 Renders

My latest project at Auer is an order for three new die designs. These tools are being built to work with three new ballistic press systems we are also doing the design and build on.

I am almost done with the designs and have quite a few of the common components already released to the shop for build. Been going through all the designs, tying up loose ends and getting the rest of the detail drawings completed and ready for final release.

We have a four day weekend for the Christmas holidays so I have brought my files home to work on over the weekend. I get pretty bored after about a day at home with not much to do. So I figured I would get some busy work done on these designs here at home.

Today I spent some time setting up one of my tool models for rendering in SolidWorks new PhotoView 360 rendering program.

On my list of things to do, is to send a request into the Luxology/SolidWorks PhotoView 360 Resources Forum for some new materials. Being in tool design there are a few materials we use all the time that are not represented. Black Oxide for fasteners is high on my list, along with some more refined appearances for machined and ground tool steels. More colors for anodized aluminums would be great to see also.

Here are the results of my rendering session this afternoon.

Cheers,

Anna