SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible - Matt Lombard [166]
Figure 11.35
The model after Step 9
10. When you double-click to change configurations, the SolidWorks interface now shows a part with a different color and a different number of holes and ribs. After the first change between configurations, the changes should happen quickly because SolidWorks has stored the geometry.
11. Choose File⇒Properties and select the Configuration Specific tab. Set the Apply To drop-down list to Default, and type a Property Name of description and a Value of Gray Vent Cover. Now change the Apply To drop-down setting to Size 1 and type a description for the new configuration using the name of the color that you applied to this config. Figure 11.36 shows the two states of the data.
Figure 11.36
Setting the Configuration Specific custom properties
12. Exit the Custom Properties dialog box. Now that you have made a few changes manually, the following steps guide you through bringing these changes into a design table and using the design table to make additional changes.
13. Choose Insert⇒Tables⇒Design Table from the menus. Use Auto-create as the Source, allow model edits, and select all three options in the Option panel. Click OK to create the design table. Figure 11.37 shows the design table that you have automatically created.
Figure 11.37
The automatically created design table
14. Use the striped border to move the window without closing it. This may take some practice. If the window closes, right-click the design table in the FeatureManager and select Edit Table. Move the window to a place where you can see the model clearly.
15. If a cell in the second row of the design table is selected, select a different empty cell that is not in the second row (this prevents data from automatically populating cells until you have the correct data). Now double-click the Extrude1 feature in the FeatureManager. Find the .500" (D1) dimension on the screen. Right-click the dimension and rename it BaseThk.
16. Click the next open cell in the second row, and double-click the .500" dimension that you just renamed. You may have to use the handles at the corners and side midpoints to resize the Excel window to see everything. Add another configuration row and the additional values in the cells, as shown in Figure 11.38. The color number is determined by a formula that you can find in the help section under the topic Color Parameter.
17. Remember that this part needs to have the number of ribs always equal to the number of holes. This is simple to do in Excel. Click in the first row value for the Rib# number. This is cell F3 in Figure 11.39. Type the equal sign and then click in the cell to the left, E3. You can also simply type =E3 in this cell. This links the Rib# cell to the Hole# cell.
18. Use the Window Fill feature by selecting the dot at the lower-right corner of the selected F3 cell and dragging it down to include cells F4 and F5, as shown in Figure 11.39.
Figure 11.38
Make additions to the design table
Figure 11.39
Copying the equation to other cells
19. Click in a blank space to exit the design table. Double-click through the configurations in the ConfigurationManager to see the results of your efforts.
Summary
Configurations are a powerful way to control variations of a design within a single part file. Many aspects of the part can be configured, while a few cannot. Manually created configurations are useful for making a small number of variations and a small number of configurations, but they become unwieldy when you need to make more than a few variations of either type.
Design tables are recommended because they enable you to see all the changes more clearly that have been made for all the configurations. Having the power of Excel available enables you to access many functions that are not shown here, such as using lookup tables and Concatenate functions to build descriptions or configuration names.
Chapter 12: Editing, Evaluating, and