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MANUAL NO. 1
INTRODUCTION TO SOLIDWORKS:
SolidWorks is a parametric and feature-based software that allows you to create 3D parts,
assemblies, and 2D drawings. The design process in SolidWorks is shown below. If you are a
new user of this software, then the time you spend on learning this software will be a wise
investment. If you had used previous versions of SolidWorks, you will be able to learn the
new enhancements. I welcome you to learn SolidWorks using this book as it provides step-
by-step examples to learn various tools and techniques.

ENVIRONMENT IN SOLIDWORKS:
SolidWorks offers various types of environments to perform different types of operations.
For Example, SolidWorks provides you with the Part Environment to design a part, Assembly
environment to perform assemblies, similarly there are many other environments to
perform advance operations such as, manufacturing process, process diagrams, drawings,
and so on. However, in this book we cover basic environments like Part, Assembly, Drawing,
Sheet Metal, and Surfacing. A brief introduction to these environments is given next.

PART ENVIRONMENT:
The Part environment provides you the tools to create parametric solid models.
You can start a document in this environment by clicking the new icon and then
double-clicking on the Part button from the New SOLIDWORKS Document dialog
box, as shown.

SOLIDWORKS USER INTERFACE:

While starting SolidWorks for the first time, the SolidWorks screen with Welcome -
SolidWorks 2018 dialog box by default get displayed, as shown. To enter in the Part
environment, click on the Part button from the Welcome - SolidWorks 2018 dialog box
displayed by default, as shown.
MOUSE FUNCTIONS:
Various functions of the mouse buttons are:

Left Mouse button / Mouse Button 1 (LMB / MB1):

The LMB can be used to select any tool, button, and option. Also, you can double-click LMB
on a model, to display its dimension, as shown. Using this detail, you can edit the
parameters of the objects.

• Double-click on the object to display its dimensions, as shown.

• Double-click on any dimension value to display Modify dialog box with dimension, as
shown.
• Enter new dimension value in it and click on the button to apply change.
• Next click on the button to exit it and click the LMB anywhere in drawing area to
display the model with applied changes, as shown.
Middle Mouse button / Mouse Button 2 (MMB / MB2):
• Press and hold the Ctrl key and the MMB (middle mouse button) and drag the
mouse to pan/move the view.
• Press and hold the Shift key and MMB (middle mouse button) and drag the mouse
in upward and downward direction to Zoom In/Zoom Out the view.
• Press and hold the MMB to use it as Rotate tool to rotate the model.

Right Mouse button / Mouse Button 3 (RMB / MB3):

• By clicking this button; the shortcut menu gets displayed with respect to the
object/feature selected.
• To display the mouse gestures, press and hold the RMB and move the mouse up to
some distance; the mouse gestures get displayed, as shown.

SKETCH COMMAND MANAGER:

This CommandManager has various sketching tools, used for drawing 2D and 3D sketches.

SKETCHING DIRECTLY IN PART ENVIRONMENT:

Creating sketches in SolidWorks Part environment is very easy. You have to activate the
Sketch tool first and then define a plane on which you want to create the sketch. To do this,
click on the Sketch button from the Sketch CommandManager, the planes get displayed.
Now you have to select any of the required plane in which you want to draw the sketch, as
shown.

Next, the Sketching environment will be displayed after selecting any of the required plane,
as shown. You can now draw the desired sketch over it, using various sketching tools
discussed next.

The tools in Sketch CommandManager, used in sketch environment in drawing sketches are
discussed next:

DRAW TOOLS:
SolidWorks provides you with a set of tools to create sketches. These commands are
located on the Sketch CommandManager. These tools are
discussed next.
• LINE TOOL:
This is the most commonly tool used for creating a sketch. In SolidWorks, there are
three types of tools used for drawing lines, as discussed below:

The steps to draw these are given below:

✓ Click on the Line button from the Sketch CommandManager to

activate the Line tool, as shown above.
✓ The Insert Line PropertyManager will get displayed, as shown.
✓ Click in the drawing area to define the start and endpoints of the line, as
shown.

✓ If you want to draw horizontal or vertical line, it is shown as.

✓ This radio button is selected to draw a construction line, as shown.

✓ This radio button is selected to draw a line, symmetrical from the midpoint of the
line.
• CIRCLR TOOL:
This tool is used to draw a circle during drawing a sketch. There are two options
available in the Circle flyout for creating circles: Circle, Perimeter Circle, as shown.
The use of these tools is discussed next.

✓ Click to define the center point of the circle.

✓ Click and define three points in the drawing area, as shown.

The first two points define the location of the circle and the third point
defines its radius.
• SPLINE TOOL:
This tool is used to create a smooth spline curve passing through the defined points
by clicking in the drawing area. There are four different tools available in the Spline
flyout to create splines in four different types, as discussed one by one.

✓ Select the Spline tool (select Sketch > Spline).

✓ Click to define start points for the spline in the graphics window.
✓ Similarly, click to define the other points for creating spline, as shown.
✓ Now, press the right mouse button (RMB) to display the shortcut menu, as
shown.
✓ Click on the Select option to exit this tool and display the spline created, as
shown.

• RECTANGLE TOOL:
The Rectangle tool is used to create rectangle which is the combination of four lines.
There are five different tools available in the Rectangle flyout to create five types of
rectangles, as discussed one by one.

✓ This tool is used to create a rectangle by defining its corners diagonally.

✓ This tool is used to create rectangle by defining two points: center point and
one of the corners.

✓ This tool is used to create a rectangle at a selected angle, by defining three

points: center of the rectangle and its corner.

✓ This tool is used to create a rectangle with center point at an angle.

✓ This command creates a parallelogram by using three points that you specify.
• ARC TOOL:
This tool is the used to draw an arc during drawing a sketch. There are three
different tools available in the Arc flyout to create three different types of arcs, as
discussed below.

✓ This tool is used to draw an arc by defining center point, start point and end
point.

✓ This tool is used to draw arc tangent to an existing entity.

✓ This tool is used to create an arc by defining its two endpoints, and a radius.

• ELLIPSE TOOL:
The Ellipse tool is used to draw an ellipse while drawing a sketch. The tools available
in the Ellipse flyout are used to create an Ellipse, Partial Ellipse, Parabola, and Conic,
as discussed below one-by-one.
✓ This tool is used to draw an ellipse by defining center point and end points
for major and minor axis.

✓ This tool is used to create a partial ellipse in the sketch environment.

✓ This tool is used to create a parabolic curve in the sketch environment.

• SLOT TOOL:
These tools are used to create slots. There are four different type of tool in the Slot
flyout to create slots, as shown.

✓ This tool is used to create a straight slot by defining three points - first
end/start point, second end point, and third point that defines its width.

✓ This tool is used to create a slot by defining three points - center point,
endpoint, and point for width.

✓ This tool is used to create a 3 Point Arc Slot by defining four points.

✓ This tool is used to create a straight slot.

 • POLYGONAL TOOL:
This tool is used to create a polygon. A polygon is a single object having multiple
sides and all sides equilateral and equiangular with each other. In SolidWorks, you
can draw a polygon with 3 to 40 sides. The polygon is displayed inside or outside the
construction circle.

• POINT TOOL:
This tool is used to place sketched point in the drawing area or on any sketch entity
while drawing a sketch.

Similarly, you can place the point on other entities also, as shown.

DIMENSIONING:
In SolidWorks there are different types of tools for applying dimensions to the sketch. These
options are available under Smart Dimension flyout, as shown below.
APPLYING DIMENSIONS TO SKETCH USING SMART DIMENSION
TOOL:
In SolidWorks, in order to apply dimensions to the sketch drawn in the sketching
environment, you can easily apply dimensions by selecting the Smart Dimension tool from
the Sketch Command Manager. The applied dimension using this tool depends on the type
of entity selected.

PROBLEMS:
• PROBLEM NO.1:
• PROBLEM NO.2:

• PROBLEM NO.3:

• PROBLEM NO.4:
COMMENTS:
✓ In this we learned about the use of SolidWorks and the part environment.
✓ We have also learned about the tools that are located on the part
environment’s sketch interface.
✓ We have learned that what type of shapes we can made through SolidWorks.
✓ We have made different kind of shapes using the tools located on the part
environment sketch interface.
✓ We have also learned that how to apply dimensions on our sketch.