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Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks
3

Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

(OP)
Has anyone done electrical diagrams in Solidworks or know of any threads discussing this? Right now I've started the diagram on a Drawing file and using blocks to move and copy. Creating some of the blocks in a Part file. This is cumbersome. The company is using version 2001+. Any Ideas or thoughts would be helpful.
Thanks,
Nate

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Do a search in this forum. There are plenty of threads that cover this. MS Visio will do the trick.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

(OP)
Thanks Ctopher, but I'm stuck with Solidworks. It would be nice to use other software more suited for this application. I'm still searching for other Forums.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

At one time SW gave visio away for free - I think that was in Jan. of 2001. I still have my copy.

Maybe you can talk to SW about this or search there website regarding information about this.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.scottjbaugh.com

FAQ731-376

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

You can in the dwg: RMB, lock sheet focus, then draw your schem sketch. Unlock sht focus to go back to editing the views. Is also cumbersome.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

(OP)
I logged onto SW site and had no luck with the Visio download. I'll have to check the company I work for and the help on this. Visio works pretty good for diagrams/ flow charts. I'm going to play with creating the symbols as a part and drawing a tube as my wire in an assembly drawing. A lot of work still but easier to manipulate.
Thanks both of you for the ideas.
Nate

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

It would help if you could upgrade to 2004. Blocks work alot better and snap better to other geometry or blocks.

Jason Capriotti
ThyssenKrupp Elevator

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Just a thought, does anyone have any electrical symbols created to share with rest of us? Either as blocks or created from Visio?

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

(OP)
Jason,
This isn't an option at the present time. They've had a real slow rebuild since 9-11. Now my real job, we're at 2004 SP2.1. I'm waiting for more reviews on SP3 before loading.
Ctopher,
Great question. I'm probably re-inventing the wheel!

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Our previous cad software was Cadkey and we still use it for 2D things like schematics. When we need to incorporate a schematic onto an assembly drawing we create it in Cadkey and then import via DXF. We may (or may not) then make a block of the schematic for ease of placement.
"Freestanding" schematics are still purely Cadkey. While I would surely like to see Solidworks improve the 2D tools to the point we could use it as our only tool we seem to have become comfortable with this dual tool approach.
I haven't been able to force myself to devote enough time to get comfortable with Visio.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

What kind of electrical symbols are you looking for?



Remember...
       "If you don't use your head,
                       your going to have to use your feet."

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

I have found that after 9 years of CAD, that attempting to do any complex 2D schematic work in Visio is painful at best. Lines that automatically jump over each other is a neat feature, but when they "automatically" route themselves, you may find a readable schematic turn into a rats nest REALLY easily.

Don't get me wrong, visio has some nice features for the advanced Microsoft office crowd, but for those of us doing serious CAD, it's pretty flimsy.

My current setup is Solidworks 2004 for 3d; AutoCad 2004 for all 2D (especially for anything with wires and circuitry); and Adobe Illustrator for anything that needs to look pretty. I would consider Visio to the the slightly disabled child of AutoCad and Illustrator.

I hope this is helpful, and that Mr. Gates doesn't send some goons out to deal with my insubordination.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

(OP)
Motors, solenoids, fuses, terminal blocks, gages, switches, curcuit breakers, etc. Right now I've been creating them with a part file and bringing them into an assembly drawing and connecting the features with a sweep. A little cumbersome, but easy to manipulate. Looks cool, too in isometric view.

Like I implied before, Solidworks is the only software at my disposal at this facility.

Cadkey is one of my favorites. Did a lot of tubes for turbine engines with it and fixture design, but it and Autocad won't do me any good here.

Visio I use for outlining my manufacturing processes on more complicated assemblies, some of the management can interpret this easier, but the line jumping can be a pain if you're in a hurry.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

I was thinking of ANY elect symbols.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

(OP)
I'll look around. I know there's a ton of dwg's and dxf's for Autocad. Maybe I can do something with them.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Even buying a copy of some cheap 2d software like AutoCad LT or something similar will save you and your company a lot of time. Talk your employer into a $200 purchase.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

I have electrical and fluid power symbol libraries that I have ammassed.
However, they are about 8 meg each so they may be difficult to email. Perhaps someone out there has a website they could be uploaded to?

Ray Havermahl
Independent Engineering Labs
www.ielinc.com

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

(OP)
That's cool. Try zip'ing them and see how big the files are.
Nate

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Yes, thank you. If you can zip them, I am interested. I do not have a web site right now.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Nate101 & ctopher,
I zipped the files but I don't see your email address's in your profiles.

Ray Havermahl
Independent Engineering Labs
www.ielinc.com

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Thanks Ray, I sent you an email.
Chris

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

(OP)
Ray,

I didn't notice how my email address came out. The underlined email address shows blank spaces but are really underscores( TROUT_FISH_1 ). I'll also get my email in my profile.

Thanks
Nathan

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Nathan,
I have tried a couple of different ways to contact you, including the address in your profile, but have been unsuccessful.
Send me an email using the address in my profile, and I will reply to you with the files attached.

Ray Havermahl
Independent Engineering Labs
www.ielinc.com

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

testy
Did you get my email I sent you on Friday?

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Fellas,
I have a dxf file of blocks of Fluid Power Symbols per USAS Y32.10. If anyone would like a copy they can email at
cfitzpatrick@meggair.com
The block filenames follow the specification, so you'll need to get a copy of that for referencing.
Also, if someone has a copy of electrial schematics in block form, I'll take a copy of that.

Best,

Colin Fitzpatrick

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

(OP)
Thanks Ray,
I can use them. They will work fine in Solidworks. I tried creating some  of these in solids and imported them into an assembly. They looked good especialy in the iso view, but the computers at the shop I'm doing the work at were real slow. Some of them are still using NT and 600Mhz. So I deleted the solids and brought the parts into the assemblies as 2D parts. Not as cool looking but gets their files in Solidworks format and will open in a fare amount of time on their computers.
Thanks again,
Nathan

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Why would you want to? Use the proper tools for the job. AutoCad would be my chioce for this instance.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

The proper tool for this post is SolidWorks.
I would still like elect symbols to paste into SW dwg if anyone has them.
thank you

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Another one to try is http://www.cadregister.com/ & registration is free

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

If you choke a smurf,   what color does it turn?

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

(OP)
Thanks CorBlimeyLimey. Cadresource.com is like Ray's, they're mostly Autocad files, which I've been opening them as a Solidworks part and manipulating them as required. The second site I'll check out.

Ctopher, did you get a chance to check out Ray's files?

Nathan

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Nate101,
No, I emailed him on Friday...no responce

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

(OP)
Ctopher,
The file size is about 3.5 meg. It exceeded my allowance on my yahoo email. I can split it and send it to you. Send me your address if you want.

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

ok..thank you

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

ctopher,
I did not recieve your email, could you try again? or add your address to your profile and I will contact you.
Sorry, I was sure I sent them to you, but it was someone else from this forum who contacted me.

Ray Havermahl
Independent Engineering Labs
www.ielinc.com

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

testy,
I added my email and also sent you an email.
thanks

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Good work testy. They look great!

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Thank you testy for the fluid power and electrial symbols!

RE: Electrical Diagrams in Solidworks

Glad I could help

Ray Havermahl
Independent Engineering Labs
www.ielinc.com

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