SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible - Matt Lombard [189]
Further, the *.sldhwfvt files do not have an entry in the File Locations list, but seem to always default to the lang\english subdirectory of the SolidWorks installation directory. Neither this location nor the Data directory makes sharing among multiple users very convenient, but both file types can be copied to other installations.
Best Practice
It is a best practice to create a folder for library type files that you want to save and use with a future version of SolidWorks. You can specify the locations for these files by choosing Tools⇒Options⇒File Locations. I recommend a location such as D:\Library. This moves the file off of the same drive as the operating system, in case you need to reformat, and it keeps it out of the Program Files area to prevent it from being lost or overwritten when SolidWorks is installed, uninstalled, upgraded, or changed in other ways
Confronting favorites quirks
Hole Wizard Favorites seem to have a couple of quirks that are possibly “suboptimal,” as they say. First, you can only see the favorites for a specific type of hole when that type of hole is activated in the interface. For example, if you have a number of favorites for countersunk holes, but you currently have the counterbored hole icon activated, you will not be able to see the countersunk favorites until you switch to the countersunk icon.
If you have a lot of favorites, this may be beneficial, but if you have only a few favorites, or you do not use favorites frequently, it may be confusing and can create some unnecessary steps to find all your favorites.
A second quirk occurs when you allow SolidWorks to name the favorites and you have fractional values such as 1⁄4 — which happens now and then in hole sizes — and then try to save the favorites. Each favorite is saved as a separate file, using the name that was automatically assigned to it by SolidWorks as the filename. Unfortunately, the character “/” is not allowed in a filename, so it fails.
Using the Hole Series
The Hole Series enables you to make a series of in-context hole features in individual parts that are connected by a Hole Series assembly-level feature. It is intended for a stack of parts where, for example, the top part has a counterbored hole, the middle part has a clearance through hole, and the final part has a blind threaded hole.
The Hole Series functionality is covered in more detail in the SolidWorks 2011 Assemblies Bible (Wiley, 2011), as it is only used when you have an assembly.
Using Library Features
Library features are features that you create once and reuse many times. They are intended to be parametrically flexible to fit into many types of geometry, but they can also be of a fixed size and shape. You will use all the information that you have learned in previous chapters about designing for change, and design intent, as well as learn how to create, use, and store library features.
Library features reside in the Design Library, which is located in the Task Pane to the right of the graphics window.
Tip
You can detach the Task Pane from its docking location and move it wherever you want, leave it undocked, or move it to a second monitor.
You can use library features for snap ring grooves, custom holes, mounting bosses for plastics, mounting hole patterns, electrical connector holes, and much more.
One very useful aspect of library features is that they can be driven by configurations and design tables. Once the feature is in the part, the configurations are still available, and so you can change the config of an applied library feature at any time.
You can also link a library feature to an external file. This enables you to change a feature or a set of features in several parts at once if they are all externally linked to the file.
Getting started with library features
Library features are simple to use and only slightly less simple to set up. For that reason I discuss using them first, so that