The industry's top engineers, designers, and additive manufacturing experts offer their best advice, research, how-tos, and insights—all in the name of helping you level-up your 3D designs and engineering skills.
You’ve been through the tutorials, took a class or two and are feeling pretty good about getting programming using SOLIDWORKS CAM. But every time you fire it up, you always repeat the same steps, Machine, Tool Crib, Post Processor etc and every time you think to yourself, there must be an easier … [Read more...] about How to Set up Your Machine in SOLIDWORKS CAM
So you’ve got your mill setup, you’ve ordered all of your tools, vises, and holders. Let’s not discuss how much you’ve just sunk into ‘ancillaries’ to get this venture, AKA hobby, going. Wipe that brow, take a sip of that brew, and let’s talk tooling. Whilst you can just adjust tools on the fly, … [Read more...] about How to Set Up Your Tool Crib in SOLIDWORKS CAM
So you’ve done it…you’ve sunk your life’s savings (or should that be wife’s savings) into a CNC. You’ve taken the garage door off, cut a hole in the roof, broke your back in 5 places and dropped a thousand bucks into a curse jar but you’ve got your machine in its final resting place. You’ve jogged … [Read more...] about Getting Started with SOLIDWORKS CAM
Welding Symbols in SOLIDWORKS Diving into the world of welding symbols can be intimidating enough without having to find and learn the tools needed to put them in parts and drawings. Luckily, SOLIDWORKS has streamlined the process of defining weld symbols with a single dialog box. There we can … [Read more...] about SOLIDWORKS – Getting Familiar with Weld Symbols
Spreading Holiday Cheer with Hawk Ridge Systems I have designed myself a catapult with some specific design criteria in mind with the intent on spreading holiday cheer through the office. I will be firing a Hawk Ridge Systems present to all of my coworkers!The catapult is going to be 3D … [Read more...] about SOLIDWORKS Simulation: Validating the Strength of a 3D Printed Catapult
Definition of Rest Machining Inevitably when it comes to machining parts certain features may require multiple tools in order to machine swiftly and accurately. Rest machining gives the programmer the opportunity to use a large tool to remove a bulk of the material while generating a second … [Read more...] about Explaining Rest Machining in SOLIDWORKS CAM
How you import your SOLIDWORKS assembly into SOLIDWORKS Visualize matters! This blog and the companion video compare the two most common import methods and provide some time-saving tips. Importing SOLIDWORKS Assembly into SOLIDWORKS VisualizeFirst let us examine the Export … [Read more...] about How to Apply and Manage Appearances in SOLIDWORKS Visualize
With each annual release, SOLIDWORKS looks to streamline their tools to make the designer more productive. One of the most commonly used tools is the Measure Tool! We can use it to measure the lengths of edges, determine the distance between planes and surfaces, and even calculate the surface area, … [Read more...] about What’s New SOLIDWORKS 2019: Measure Tool Enhancements
