Generic question about weldments and assys
Generic question about weldments and assys
(OP)
The stuff we do at work is very basic. Heavy steel plate, structural tube and angle welded together and bolted onto trucks.
I'm intrigued with the "weldment" functions. I've dinked with the tutorial a little. I've turned a wire frame into steel tubes and all that. And it's neat and all, but do people actually use this functionality?
Coming from a CATIA v4 backhground, I know it had a lot of features which were sort of cool....but a little on the gimmicky side and I never really used in day to day life.
So far the few models I've built have just been individual parts that I've made and then mated them together so that they are fully constrained and called it good. However I'm having a hard time making weld symbols in the drawing.
Are actual weldments really the way to go?
I'm intrigued with the "weldment" functions. I've dinked with the tutorial a little. I've turned a wire frame into steel tubes and all that. And it's neat and all, but do people actually use this functionality?
Coming from a CATIA v4 backhground, I know it had a lot of features which were sort of cool....but a little on the gimmicky side and I never really used in day to day life.
So far the few models I've built have just been individual parts that I've made and then mated them together so that they are fully constrained and called it good. However I'm having a hard time making weld symbols in the drawing.
Are actual weldments really the way to go?






RE: Generic question about weldments and assys
The new weldment feature is kind of the best of both worlds. It may not be exactly perfect, but for us it is definitely the best option. Your milage may vary.
RE: Generic question about weldments and assys
Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
RE: Generic question about weldments and assys
So it's sounding like the weldment function might not be the best way, eh?
RE: Generic question about weldments and assys
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RE: Generic question about weldments and assys
If this is what you need, the weldment feature will be a pain.
Although, I guess you could save the multi-bodies out as an assembly of parts. If your frames are fairly simple the assembly (from scratch) method would still be your best bet.
Some of my frames have been very large multi-level platforms with openings for hoppers and equipment. These tend to have a lot of growing and shifting during design. The assembly method was way too cumbersom for this.
Our drawings just show the total weldment with callouts for each member. We also have our own in-house fabricators who know how to cut the tube to make it work from the main drawing.
RE: Generic question about weldments and assys