Things that drive me nuts ... 5

[jacek0841]

.
SW2005 SP4.0

- Open dwg, just for printing, PRINT , after that you want to close the file, without ANY changes - window pops up asking for saving changes ...... WHAT CHANGES ??? I haven't done ANYthing !!!

- Saving dwg with ONE sheet - window pops up saying Views on inactive sheets need updating ... bla ... bla ...

There in NO inactive sheets - there is only ONE sheet dammit !!!!

 

[ctopher]

I think both. Having zero dim on a dwg confuses machinist's and inspectors. Nothing to check to. For those who do not makes dwgs and just use models, same problem.
If you need a hole in line with the center, why not use relations?
There is more than 2 ways to create within SW.

Why are zero dims not allowed?, because that's the way the programmers made it. They are not engineers. Turn in an enhancement request.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks Pro 06/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[ongybill]

Ok, just thought of an instance where zero & negative dimensions would have been wonderful: An odd shaped cover plate that had a component with 4 possible mounting locations, all located from the center of a shaft pass through hole (shaft location also varied). No extra holes were allowed in the cover for asthetic reasons, so there were 4 seperate parts that could be built for each shaft location. This should be easily handled with a design table, but EVEN design tables won't allow zero or negative dimensions.

So, instead of simply specifying the hole pattern center at 0X,9Y; 0X,-9Y; 9X,0Y; and -9X,0Y I added a point that was 10" left and 10" below the shaft hole center, & dimensioned the hole pattern center off that point. Of course I had to remember to add or subtract from the desired dimension to compensate for the offset point. I ended up with 1x,10y; 19x, 10y; and 10x, 1y; 10x, 19y in the design table. All positive numbers, no zeros SW happy, me not.<G>

If my description is confusing, it should be. On a machining drawing zero dimensions don't usually make sense. In sketches and design tables they make all the sense in the world.

Guess I should do an enhancement request.

 

[ctopher]

I see your point. I would still use releations. Also, dims on the part should match as close as possible to the dims on the dwg. Makes it easier for any user to make mods to the model.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks Pro 06/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Distance mates, angle mates, surface offsets and offset planes all allow a "zero" input. Apart from ordinate "datums" I don't see the need for zero dimensions on drawings, but I can see a use for them in a part sketch to allow "flipping" sides (or quadrants) around a point. A simple workaround would be to constrain the hole centres to offset planes. No need to add unnecessary points or deleting/replacing dimensions.

CorBlimeyLimey (Mechanical) 1 May 06 13:01
... this would be a perfect example for using planes to locate the hole centres. Offset planes could be placed wherever needed with the hole centres being made coincident with them. Then, when a hole needs to "flip" into another quadrant, all that is required is to reverse the offset direction.

Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[dogarila]

CBL, how do you dimension the distance between the circumferences of two concentric circles? I would like to be able to dimension the distance between centres (in this case zero) then change, in the properties, min and max.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

dogarila;
Please clarify ... you want two circles to start off being concentric but then you want to be able to make them non-concentric?


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[dezignstuff]

personally to make a dim like that, I usually draw a construction line between the circles where I want the dim and dimension the construction line.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

If the circles are truly concentric, then selecting the two circumferences should return the "radial difference" dimension which can be placed anywhere around the circles.


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[dogarila]

I know there are ways to work around this zero dimension "limitation". If you can have a mate at distance zero why you can't have a dimension zero.

CBL, you are right but it wasn't always this way.

 

[ctopher]

A mate is not a measuring tool.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks Pro 06/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[smcadman]

Sorry, but this thread just doesn't want to die...
I got this alert this morning:

blank cannot be loaded. Either the Add-in or one of it's components is missing.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/4087/blankload4fn.jpg

Now that was helpful

Flores
SW06 SP4.1

 

[ctopher]

switch on safety, reload with 9mm


Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks Pro 06/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[SBaugh]

turn off your add-ins one at a time and see which one is causing the issue.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

What are you doing (trying to do) when you get the error message? I assume you don't know what "blank" refers to.


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[smcadman]

This happened whenever I started SW. My macros weren't running either. I found out IT uninstalled Mcafee antivirus and installed AVG antivirus (supposedly it's better). I did a system restore to yesterday morning, and all is well again in SW world with no funky alerts and all macros work again. This was actually not SW's fault and I can say that even though SP4.1 is not "rock solid", for the most part it has been very stable.

Flores
SW06 SP4.1

 

[jacksonm]

What really gets on my t!ts is having to rebuild a massive rolled-back model before I can see what effect my edit has had on an assembly it's in.

I also would like to be able to control the draft of each face in an extrude separately in the same way you can switch on multi radius fillet.

I have ERs for both these.

Just to stir you guys up some more I also find not being able to enter neg or zero figures into dimensions on a model iritating. During the early phase of a design I might dimension everything off an origin and mate up the planes of 2 halves of a enclosure so they are always centered. If I then drop some holes into a part to I'll dimension all those to the centre as well but I won't always know which side of the origin it will need to be.

I know you'll hate this but I-DEAS can do all these things.

Matt Jackson
Product Design Engineer

 

[ctopher]

Do you dim the dwg from the origin? Does the machinist start from the origin?
IMO, not a good practice. Dim the part how you want it made. Forget how other CAD software does it.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks Pro 06/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[ewh]

If I have a feature to the left of the centerline in a drawing view and want to dimension it relative to that centerline, I add a positive dimension. To achieve the same thing in modeling would require a negative dimension, which is the reasoning behind my opinion that negative values should be allowed in a sketch.

 

[ongybill]

I find it funny how anything even slightly negative about SW is met with a statement that says in effect: 'well you shouldn't do it that way anyway.'(followed by some justification) LMAO

Well, just because YOU don't want to draw it that way doesn't mean everyone feels that way. Simply put it diminishes the usability, flexibility, and usefulness of SW when it restricts you to drawing things the way they want them drawn.

Example, I find it inexcusable that SW doesn't allow negative and zero dimensions. It's something I've used hundreds of times in a half-dozen other CAD packages. It's as basic a tool as having a screwdriver bit for a cordless drill. The fact that hand screwdrivers exist in SW and will do the same job doesn't negate the fact that a screwdriver bit would do it faster, better, and easier.

 

[dgowans]

Forgetting how other software works is also no good. A lot of functionality makes it into software because people who switch from one package to another miss certain features and request them.

For example, I would benefit from the multiple draft angle functionality that Matt mentioned. In the interest of fairness, I have also used I-DEAS, which is how I know I would benefit from it. If I had never used I-DEAS and didn't know that something like this existed, would I miss it? Doubtful. Have I been unable to complete a part design in Solidworks because this feature was missing? Absolutely not. Would this functionality have helped me at some point? Of course it would have, which is why we as users need to keep submitting enhancement requests.

It's the same thing as companies that want to hire from outside. Keeps fresh ideas coming in the door......