SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible - Matt Lombard [89]
• Overdefining/Not Solved. Overdefined relations are any set of conflicting or redundant instructions that are given to a sketch entity, and appear in red. If a line has conflicting relations, but it can still meet the requirements, it turns red. If a line has conflicting relations, and it cannot meet the requirements, it turns pink. If solving the line would result in a zero length line or some other impossible situation, it turns yellow.
The Not Solved condition causes sketch entities to turn pink and often accompanies other entities that are overdefined. Not Solved typically refers to a dimension or relation that cannot be applied because of the conflict. The lower-right corner of the screen and the status bar show flags warning that the sketch is overdefined, as shown in Figure 6.2.
When an overdefined situation exists, all the relations and dimensions in a sketch often become overdefined. This can look like a daunting task to repair, especially when the entire problem is caused by a single relation. Do not automatically delete everything. Instead, try deleting or suppressing the last dimension or relation that was added, or a single relation that looks suspect. You can suppress a dimension by setting it to Driven in the right mouse button (RMB) menu, and you can suppress relations in the Display/Delete Relations PropertyManager.
Figure 6.2
An overdefined sketch
• External. External relations connect with an entity outside the active sketch. This includes the part Origin, or any model edges. The term external relations can also signify any relations outside of the part.
• Defined in Context. Any relation between features in one part in an assembly and another part is considered an in-context relation.
• Locked (Broken). External relations (outside the part) may be locked or broken to increase speed and to lock out parametric changes. There is no advantage of breaking relations rather than locking them. Both are ignored, but locked relations can be unlocked; broken relations can only be deleted.
• Selected Entities. Sketch relations are shown only for the selected sketch entities.
Cross-Reference
In-context design, also called top-down, as well as locked and broken relations are covered in detail in the SolidWorks 2011 Assemblies Bible (Wiley, 2011).
Caution
Some of the relations listed in the Display/Delete Relations dialog box may be colored to signify the state of the relation. Unfortunately, colored relations are typically placed at the top of the list to attract attention, but when you select them, they are always gray, and so the advantage of color-coding is always defeated for the first relation in the list. The only way around this is to select a relation other than the first one in the list. If there is only one relation in the list, you cannot see the state color.
A setting in Tool⇒Options controls the display of errors. You can choose Tools⇒Options⇒Feature-Manager to find an option called Display Warnings, where you can choose Always, Never, and All but Top Level. When a sketch contains sketch relations with errors, they display as warning signs on the sketch and will propagate to the top level of a part or assembly if you have selected the Always option.
Using SketchXpert
The SketchXpert, shown in Figure 6.3, can help you to diagnose and repair complex sketch relation problems. The Diagnose button at the top creates several possible solutions that you can toggle through using the forward and backward arrow buttons in the Results panel. The Manual Repair button displays all the relations with errors in a window where you can delete them manually.
By selecting the option at the very bottom of the dialog box (Always open this dialog when sketch error occurs), you can make the SketchXpert appear whenever a sketch error occurs. To display the SketchXpert manually instead of automatically, you can access it by right-clicking in a sketch.
FIGURE 6.3
The SketchXpert dialog box