SolidWorks Weldment Profiles: Now Configurable!

SolidWorks Weldment Profiles: Now Configurable!
Posted in: Mechanical Design
April 14, 2014

SolidWorks Weldments has added an excellent enhancement for the 2014 release. The weldment profiles of structural members are now configurable! Previously, weldment profiles were managed on a file-by-file basis.

So, why would you want to configure SolidWorks weldment profiles? Some benefits include:

  • When creating a custom property to for the profile, you only need to add it in one location for the profile, and all variations of the profile now have that custom property.
  • When adding location points onto the weldment profile when inserting a Structural Member, all sizes get this location point as well. So if you need to change the size of the weldment profile later on, the reference is not broken.
  • You can use design tables to create the various sizes, this is a good solution for managing all of those sizes.

These benefits are a huge time saver in creating and using weldment profiles.

The picture below shows a screenshot of a weldment using the new Configurable Profiles.

SolidWorks Weldment Profiles

A configuration in SolidWorks is variations of one part maintained in one part document. Below is a screenshot of a square profile, and the Configuration Manager showing just a portion of the various sizes available.

SolidWorks Weldment Profiles

The new PropertyManager has not changed at all with this enhancement; we just need to choose a configuration instead of a type file.

SolidWorks Weldment Profiles

You do need to point SolidWorks to the correct file location of those weldment profiles. This is done in the System Options (1) > File Locations (2) > Weldment Profiles (3). You will want to save this somewhere outside of a SolidWorks file, so create a new file on your C:// drive for this. The reason you want to do this is because if you uninstall/reinstall SolidWorks, it will write over documents and delete the files.

SolidWorks Weldment Profiles

Did you know that SolidWorks comes with weldment profiles right out-of-the-box? From the SolidWorks Content in the Task Pane you can download the standard you require. Just  Ctrl+click on the standard you want. However, these out-of-the-box weldment profiles don't include the new, configured profile set, so save some time and use the link below to download the profiles from Hawk Ridge Systems.

Download Weldment Profiles Configurations
This is a .zip file, and will automatically begin to download when you click the link.

Want more info? Here's a quick video from our YouTube channel that I made about SolidWorks Weldment Profiles.

Will the new configurable SolidWorks weldment profiles save you time in your day-to-day design work? Let us know what you think in the comments.

April 14, 2014
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Comments
MPC
April 16, 2014
Thank you very much for this contribution. I just called tech support seeking this library feature. They informed me that you would be posting this within the week. Perfect timing. Downloaded and implemented. Thank you very much again.
agoes
September 5, 2014
nice information,, i like your artikel,...good jobs....Thank you very much ...
Poorvesh
November 6, 2014
So can we control the size of the Weldment from Design table. Just to elaborate, if I start a new part, create the sketch for path, select a weldment cross-section (which has configurations) & apply it on the sketch to get a 3D model, now to edit the size I had to edit the weldment feature, so now with this new feature can we control it from Design table created for new part ?
vinay
December 14, 2014
Thank you for your contribution I am facing some problem in linking weldment profiles from EPDM folders, we able to load STANDARD and TYPE from EPDM, but solidworks was not loading sizes from EPDM. please help us to solve this promlem.
Christopher
January 27, 2015
Facing the same problem here in ePDM 2013. Have determined that I (who created/loaded) the files can see them. Nobody else can, at first. Tried on a colleague's machine. He couldn't load the sizes. Browsed to the folder on his machine, had him make a copy of a weldment profile size that exists there and paste the copy in the same folder. Now, magically, can he not only see his copy, but also HE CAN SEE THE ORIGINAL!?!!!! Say what??? Even better: just tried on another colleague's machine: he couldn't even see the type at first. I then use Windows Explorer to drill down into the PROFILES folder and voila: now he can see the type, but still can't see the sizes.
Christopher
January 27, 2015
Update: "Get Latest" on the weldment profile directories loads them into the local cache and voila: now they're visible (until you decide to clear your local cache, of course)
Walt
January 5, 2016
Great article and video! We used this information to create a custom profile for flat stock steel sizes. The small detail which would have been helpful in the article (but was shown briefly in the video, but not directly pointed out), is the addition of the $PRP@Description column in the design table. This allows the custom profile to be correctly described in the weldment cut list table. Thanks Again, Walt-Charlotte, NC
Jason
June 22, 2018
Is the .zip file still available? the link takes me back to the Hawk ridge website. Thanks, Jason

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