So, I am teaching the students how to reuse pre-existing data in SolidWorks.\u00a0\u00a0The project is using a Truarc – E-Clip retaining ring.\u00a0Cool stuff – Toolbox has the Truarc catalog to just drag and drop.\u00a0\u00a0Toolbox Pull-down has the groove generator with the intelligence to select the correct groove size\/feature for the Truarc E-Clip by having the user just select the shaft surface.\u00a0Awesome stuff right?\u00a0\u00a0That is until you realize that the dimensions, relations and tolerances have to be applied manually.\u00a0\u00a0All the information is there so why doesn’t SolidWorks just dump the info in.Here is the best part, up until that point the students think I am God handing out the solution that they could have used the semester previous.\u00a0\u00a0“Oh man!\u00a0\u00a0We could have used this on 4 project last semester”\u00a0\u00a0Then we DEFINE the groove. “Why would I want to use this tool?” That is the outstanding question of the year!\u00a0\u00a0Why have an incomplete tool.\u00a0\u00a0It ends up being 3 times the work to define the groove than if you just did the revolved cut. No matter if your company is model centric or still uses drawings the size\/location dimensions and tolerances still need to be there.\u00a0\u00a0Please jump on this bandwagon and complete the enhancement request to finish this tool.\u00a0\u00a0In theory it is a huge time saver and could potentially help designers and engineers from making mistakes about o-ring and retaining part numbers, sizes, dimensions and tolerances.\u00a0 –Chris MacCormack<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"