Drawing Standards and Best Practices for Solidworks

[dmctiernan]

Hi All, I was recently handed the nasty task of creating our company's manual for drawing standards and best practices for Solidworks. Not 100% sure where to start and what sort of info needs to be included. Just hoping some of you guys may have done a similar task and may be able to share some information or give suggestions.

Thanks in advance,
DMcT.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

There's some info in
thread559-186721

 

[TateJ]

I think a CAD manual should be as short as possible... maybe something like this...

I made you some document templates. Use them, don't alter them up, or go back to using AutoCAD!

Right-click. It's friggin' magic!

FAQ376

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

For "Best Practices";
Here's a couple of sites which list some "Rules of Thumb". You may be able to incorporate some of them into your standards.

http://mysite.verizon.net/mjlombard/

http://www.lennyworks.com/solidworks/default.asp?ID=22

Remember that many "rules" cannot cover every single situation. Sometimes they will need to be broken.
e.g. Stating that a Feature Pattern MUST be used to create patterns would be too restrictive. Sometimes Sketch Patterns are better. Similarly, specifying Revolves to create Lathe-turned parts may not always be the most efficient method.

For "Drawing Standards";
Just specify the applicable ISO or ANSI/ASME or whichever standard prevails for your country.

 

[macduff]

dmctiernan,
Keep it as short as possible as TateJ mention. Have your SW templates: part, assembly and all your drawing sizes formated to your company perferences. Then reference industry standards, like ASME, ANSI and MIL documents. I don't know what SW suite your using, but could say something about using the SW Design Checker.

All in all, it's hard for people not to screw around with standards, it happens all time. I remember years ago working with a designer fighting over standards, and he said to me, "Who are you to tell me what colors I can and cannot use in the CAD program". "I'll make them to whatever colors I want..." Let's say he did't last long....

Macduff
Colin Fitzpatrick
Mechanical Design Engineer
Solidworks 2007 SP 4.0
Dell 390 XP Pro SP 2
Intel 2 Duo Core, 2GB RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB

 

[fcsuper]

"...manual for drawing standards and best practices for Solidworks"

There is some good information on the linked posting above (some of which is from yours truly lol). In addition to my comments in that other message chain, I'd just had to not rewrite drafting standards. Simply refer to the standards you need when it comes to how to detail drawings, such as ASME Y14.5M-1994 (dim and geo tol) and ASME Y14.35 (rev control), etc. Then have those standands referenced in your procedure. Out of my entire drafting procedure, I have only two short paragraphs that talk about detailing content because we rely on sources that are already written. Most of the drafting procedures 3 pages is "I've made templates, use them!"

Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
sw.fcsuper.com
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group

 

[TheTick]

Do NOT:

[ul][li]Be too restrictive.[/li]
[li]Blindly copy what you did at the last place.[/li]
[li]Use configurations to track revisions (save old copies in an archive if you have no PDM).[/li]
[li]Force drafters to use model dimensions. Not all parts are modelled as they are manufactured. What is important is that dimensions on a drawing are associative (dimensions change when model changes).[/li]
[li]Create any standard based on minimizing file size due to storage limitations.[/li][/ul]

DO!
[ul][li]For manufactured parts... One part: one file! Over the life of a product, this is better for the true owner of the data, your employer. You have no control over what hack will be modifying an over-configured monsterpiece in the future and what accidental changes he may cause.[/li]
[li]Train everyone often. Standards, practices, techniques, mistakes should all be reviewed frequently.[/li]
[li]Recruit carefully. Don't believe anyone's hype or reputation. Test everyone. The best test of a CAD jockey isn't "What can he make?", it's "What can he change?"[/li][/ul]

Honesty may be the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

-SolidWorks API VB programming help