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FIGURE 18.2

Windows can be built to order by using the process that DWX implements.

If you visit the DriveWorks Xpress website (www.driveworksxpress.com), you will find several live examples of automated assemblies that demonstrate the capabilities of DWX, including a window. This chapter will use a ceiling fan to demonstrate the capabilities of DWX.

DriveWorks Xpress is produced by DriveWorks Software, which is based in the United Kingdom. DriveWorks Software also produces and sells DriveWorks Solo and DriveWorks Pro. Because the Xpress version of their product is free, it is included with every copy of SolidWorks and is a very valuable tool. It is discussed here so that you will get the most out of your investment in SolidWorks.

How do you know if your models need DriveWorks Xpress? If a SolidWorks model and a questionnaire that has multiple-choice or numerical answers can describe your product line and you build a large number of different configurations of the same basic design, then your product is a great candidate for rules-based design automation. (The word configurations is used here in its generic sense, meaning an arrangement of details, rather than the specific meaning of SolidWorks configurations. Rules-based design automation software is sometimes called a configurator.)

Examples of products that could benefit from rules-based design are

• Automobiles. One model with many options.

• Windows. Same construction, many sizes.

• Pre-fabricated buildings. One layout, established options, or sizes.

• Pneumatic or hydraulic power cylinders. Same construction, many sizes.

• Cranes and gantries. Definable options, scalable engineering.

• Storage racks. Numbers-driven design.

• Conveyors. Same basic design from customer to customer, resized overall with custom components.

Aligning expectations with some estimates

What kind of output can you realistically expect from a program such as DriveWorks Xpress? It really depends on the volume of design that you can automate, and how often your models change or update. You have to do some basic business calculation and some good old-fashioned work estimation to get an idea of how much you can save by automating your design process.

The first step is to estimate how much time it will take you to automate your design. This is the initial investment of setup that you need to do. You will probably be able to start from the models that you already have. Like regular modeling in SolidWorks, modeling for DWX automation also has some “best practice” type suggestions that you should try to follow.

For example, measure how much time it currently takes you to copy a design and make a new set of models. Think of all the input that you need to accomplish that task. Can you build a form that captures that information? Can you now relate the input values to specific model dimensions, or sets of dimensions?

As an initial estimate, it may take you about four times as long to automate a model as it would to do the changes the “old” way (manually editing all the parts). Running an automated job does take time, when you include checking the results and cleaning up the drawing (dimension and annotation placement). You may also need to create some components manually — components that weren't accounted for in the automation, perhaps.

Therefore, as an example, you might find that you can run and check a DWX job in one-tenth the time it takes to do the work the “old” way. Therefore, in four jobs, you start breaking even on the investment you made in automating the design. If a single job takes a week using the “old” method, then automating it might take a month, but you can now do a month's worth of work in about two days.

Of course, these are all rough theoretical estimates, and they will certainly vary greatly with the size of the automation project, and the detail involved, but it works as an approximate estimate for you to get a feel for the size of the time that you will invest and save.

Building the Original Model

When building a model to automate with