SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible - Matt Lombard [101]
22. When you click the Color Display Mode tool, the colors return to regular sketch colors. When you exit the sketch, the line weight and style also return to normal.
Figure 6.26
Using line thickness and line style
Tutorial: Using Metadata
If you integrate the use of metadata into your company's modeling process, your SolidWorks models can be a resource for much more than just geometrical data. In this tutorial, discover the hidden treasure of extra information stored as metadata in this model.
1. Open the part from the DVD called Chapter 6 – Dial Cover.sldprt.
2. Check the Custom Properties in this file by choosing File⇒Properties. Notice the Thickness and Process properties in particular. All the metadata entry interfaces are shown in Figure 6.27.
Figure 6.27
Metadata entry interfaces
3. Add a Custom Property with the Property Name Material, type Text, and value ABS. The Custom Property interface is located at File⇒Properties.
4. Check the Comments in this part. Notice that a Comments folder exists near the top of the FeatureManager. Inside it is a list of the features for which I have written comments.
5. Add a Comment by right-clicking the VarFillet3 feature, selecting the Comment flyout arrow, clicking the Add Comment option, clicking the Date/Time Stamp button, and adding a comment that uses the word Blend.
6. Check the Tags for the part by clicking the small yellow tag in the lower-right corner of the Status Bar, then click any feature, and double-click in the Tags interface box.
7. Add a Tag by selecting the Cut-Extrude1 feature and adding the tag pilar.
8. Right-click any item in the FeatureManager and select Go To from the options.
9. Type 37 in the box and click the Find Next button. The FeatureManager should highlight a feature near the bottom of the tree named Fillet37.
10. Click Fillet37 in the Feature Manager and select the Zoom to Selection tool. Zoom to Selection is a magnifying glass with an equal sign in it. The display zooms and pans to a fillet on one end of the part.
11. Right-click a face of Fillet37 on the model and select Go To Feature (In Tree), which will select the FeatureManager if necessary and scroll to show Fillet37. This sequence of tools shows the importance and interdependence of feature names and the actual geometry.
12. Type the word Thickness in the filter at the top of the FeatureManager. Figure 6.28 shows the result. Notice how quickly the results appear. Notice also that the metadata item that caused the feature to show in the list can be shown in a tool tip by hovering the mouse over the feature.
Figure 6.28
Using the FeatureManager Filter to search for metadata
13. Click the X at the right end of the filter to restore the FeatureManager to its original state, and type the word Pilar instead. Now filter for Thermoform.
Tutorial: Sketching Calculator
Sketches can be used as geometrical calculators. Parametrics can be extremely powerful when you can define relationships between geometry. In this tutorial, you will set up a sketch to calculate the complex size and location relationships between the rings of a child's stacking toy.
1. Open a new part document with inch units.
2. Draw a pyramid with the base centered on the origin, as shown in Figure 6.29. Do not use dimensions, but use sketch relations and construction geometry to enable it to change symmetrically.
3. Draw three circles to the right of the pyramid. The bottom circle should be tangent to the bottom and the angled side of the pyramid. The middle and top circles should be tangent to the lower circle and the angled side of the pyramid, respectively. Figure 6.30 shows this process partially completed.
Figure 6.29
Build a pyramid without dimensions.
Figure 6.30
Sketching stacking rings
4. Put a diameter dimension on each circle. In the PropertyManager for each dimension, rename the dimension