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Modeling basics · Lesson 6: Editing, measuring and documenting a part

Rollback bar and parent/child relationships, material, measurements, global variables, equations and file properties.

Lesson goal

Understand and edit an existing part, then make it usable: material, mass, driven dimensions and properties.

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6 videos

✎

1 exercise

Intermediate

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Prerequisite: Lessons 1 to 4

1. Watch the videos

Dassault Systèmes videos hosted on MySolidWorks: they open in a new tab and a free account is enough. Watch them in order.

Editing PartsVideo 1▶Editing PartsRollback bar, feature reordering, parent/child relationships.In French↗ Applying Material PropertiesVideo 2▶Applying Material PropertiesSet the material, create a custom material, change it by configuration.In French↗ Using the Measure and Mass Properties ToolsVideo 3▶Using the Measure and Mass Properties ToolsEvaluate dimensions, mass and center of mass, and the effect of the coordinate system.In French↗ Global Variables and EquationsVideo 4▶Global Variables and EquationsName a value and drive several dimensions with equations.In French↗ File PropertiesVideo 5▶File PropertiesCustom properties and how they are used in annotations and drawing tables.↗ Property Tab BuilderVideo 6▶Property Tab BuilderBuild a property input tab with lists, fields and external data.↗

2. Key takeaways

1

The rollback bar steps back through the history: ideal for understanding a part received from a colleague.

2

A child feature depends on its parent: deleting or moving the parent puts it in error.

3

Without a material, the calculated mass is meaningless; the material is also used for simulation and appearance.

4

Custom properties (part number, description, material) flow into the title block and the BOM.

Tip

Create a global variable for the wall thickness and link all the relevant dimensions to it: a single number to change for the whole part.

3. Do the exercise

Open the housing from lesson 4:

  • apply a plastic material and note the mass
  • drive the shell and rib thickness with a global variable
  • add the Part Number, Description and Material properties
✓To check: Change the global variable: the shell and rib update, and the displayed mass changes.

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