Users, Choosers, and PDM-less Losers

It’s a fairly common topic on most of the SW fora: “How do I move/manage/protect my files?”.  I suppose someone needs to say it, just as a formality; it doesn’t take very long before someone replies, “You should get a PDM system!”

 Can I get a “Well, Duh!” from the congregation? [Amen, Hallelujah].

The fact is, the vast majority of the SW community are users, not choosers.  They work away in the arena provided by their employer: slow network, weak workstation, outdated software, leaky ceiling and bad coffee.  Users may have loud voices, but usually very little say in what they get to use.  They almost certainly don’t get to decide whether to install and use a PDM system, making the first salvo of well-meaning advice hollow. For whatever reason, management will not allow PDM implementation.

File Management Survival Skills

As CAD skills go, file management tends to get short shrift.  New users-in-training are preoccupied with more pressing issues like changing colors and constraining sketches.  They are in a hurry to get useful so that Sir Boss doesn’t second-guess his hiring decisions.  Especially true for small-to-medium sized businesses, where cost of CAD comes out of Sir Boss’ pocket.

At work, it gets worse.  Projects and priorities appear and change daily.  Many projects get idled or abandoned, and the SW files get scattered across a half-dozen network drives and “My Documents” folders.  Multiple files exist of some parts, leaving no one certain what truly belongs.  Parts get accidentally changed by ham-fisted noobs or over-eager bosses.  In many places, there is no formal ECN process or designated storage area for released files.

Get the picture?  I’ve seen it four times over in the last two years while doing contract work.

Case Study: A Client Awakens

There is hope for some.  My current assignment is at a metal fabrication place with three SW users, plus myself.  The engineering manager saw the mounting file management crisis and tasked me to address it.  PDM was out of the question, as there was no money or support from parent company.  We had to find another way.

The result was a system of protected folders acting as a vault for CAD files and a library for other documents.  The folders are protected using windows security and are owned by a “phantom” user, so that no individual can inadvertently change files under his own login.  So far, it works.  Not as good as PDM, but OK.

What was encouraging was that the manager saw the value of his CAD data.  CAD data is valuable information.  Design data does not come cheap.  Software, hardware, users, training, etc. are all pricey.  Even more costly are the mistakes that can result from mishandled or lost data.  Design data needs careful guardianship.

File Management Survival Skills

File management is a skill set that is no less important than sketching.  There are things every user should know how to do (or at least know can be done).  If you can not do any of these things, you should not be satisfied with your file management skills:

  • Move files to a new folder
  • Create copies of files for work or backup
  • Copy entire assemblies
  • Replace components in an assembly
  • Reconnect “lost” components to an assembly
  • What is a file’s “internal ID” and why it is important
  • Understand how SW finds components and references
  • Use your operating system to protect files and folders

Not a complete list, but enough to get one thinking.

How to use a Model’s Material directly on the Drawing

I should start out by saying that I personally advise against using the model’s Material value directly on a drawing (edit: for SolidWorks version 2008 and older; SW 2009 appears to have addressed some of the issues).  However, below is the instructions to do just this.

First, let me bring up three problems when it comes to materials and the SolidWorks Material Database naming convention.  One, the material names used in SolidWorks library are not correct.  In fact, in many cases they are not even the common names for those materials.  Two, for those of us who need accurate specification, the standards that define the materials are not mentioned of the library at all, making references to material incomplete.  Three, the names of the materials are not capitalized, so they are not formatted correctly to be used directly on a drawing in the first place.

A solution to these issues is to change your library to add this info and correct formatting or create a new library to do the same.   Another more common solution is to enter the information manually in a custom property within the model, then have that value pulled into the drawing via normal custom property linking, such as an annotation note with the following text: $PRPSHEET:”Material” or similar.  Make sure to identify which view you wish the data to be pulled from, within the Sheet Property window.

If you still wish to use the actual model’s material value (despite all of the above reasoning), there’s a couple extra steps (also involving the use of custom properties):

1.  In the model, create a custom property called something like Material at File>Properties>Custom tab.

2.   For the value of Material property, just click on the down arrow of the entry field and select Material.

3.  On the associated drawing, create similar custom property with the same name.  (Again, make sure to identify which view you wish the data to be pulled from, within the Sheet Property window.)

4.  For the value of the drawing’s Material custom property, type $PRP:”Material”

5.  Create an annotation note that links to the drawing’s Material custom property.  This will display the value of the model’s material directly on the drawing.

Into the “real” world.

Hello my name is Joe.  I have been working in the Engineering industry for about 7 months and been at my current job for almost 3 months. After graduating from Northwest Technical Institute in February of this year I had a vast amount of jobs to choose from. There are so many different possibilities in this field that I found myself not sure what to do or even what type of job I wanted. For most it seems that the starting pay is what drives them to decide on a certain job. I wanted to find a job that paid well and used a program I enjoyed using. I am from Minnesota, right around the Minneapolis area where there is a technical jungle of drafting and design jobs for entry level candidates to choose from. I was lucky enough to be offered an internship while I was still attending school so I was able to explore many options. Only one out of the 6 job offers I had used SolidWorks so I was more than willing to give them a chance. I couldn’t be happier with my decision, I work with some really great people and I love what I do.

After being in the industry for a while I began to realize how much I never learned in school about SolidWorks. I did some online research and I couldn’t believe how many resources were available to me. I found out about using macros to automate SolidWorks and have actually been helping my company develop a standardized way to do drawings and fill in title block/bill of materials information using macros. With the help of Matt Lorono and other online resources I have been able to customize macros and actually am able to understand a lot of the code it takes to make one.

If you are fresh out of school be sure to explore every option available to you, take every job interview you can. This will serve you greatly in the future because you are not only seeing what else is available to you but you are building relationships and networks of people that may want to hire you down the road if things don’t work out where you end up.

I’ll continue to document my journeys and keep you updated!

Order of Business: Possibly Rename Resources Site

I am considering renaming Lorono’s SolidWorks Resources website.  I’ve not made up my mind if I want to or should.  So, let me ask others.  What do you think of the name?  Does it represent that website?  Should I associate it more closely with SolidWorks Legion (Legion SolidWorks Resources; SolidWorks Legion SolidWorks Resources) or modify and enhance its identity in some other way?  Do you have any thoughts about this?  In fact, what are your thoughts about Lorono’s SolidWorks Resource website in general?

Correction on Rib/Draft on Curved Surface Article

I stand corrected on a previous article.  I originally made a misstatement regarding the capabilities of SolidWorks to create drafts on ribs based on curved surfaces with controlled root widths.  As far as an explanation for this oversight, I can only say what didn’t work for me last week worked this week, and that my VAR has some new inexperienced people on their phone support.  Here’s the basics that didn’t work before but work today.

SolidWorks does allow one to control the root width of a rib feature on a curved surface with the draft feature.  This means that draft will diminish from the ribs base, even if it is from a curved surface.  To apply a draft to such a rib, simply use the parting line option and pick a perpendicular plane or a parallel line/entity for the direction of draft.  For the parting line, choose each of the edges where the rib intersects its curved surface base.  If necessary, toggle the direction of draft.  That’s it. 

Of course, this method is still imperfect.  The question is, why doesn’t the draft feature just know that I want to pull it from the root?  It seems illogical to require a neutral plane at all since each rib has only two ends.  Why not just ask the user for the end to draft from?  I guess if someone wants to use draft to add angle to a rib long its left to right/up to down, then making this assumption wouldn’t work.  I doubt that would be much of an issue however, since that is not what a rib nor a draft is supposed to be.

The alternative method I posted last weekend should be referenced as a case of bad practice that works and should only be used if nothing else does.  Edit: however, it is a good demonstration of how to get a line along a curved surface into a sketch.