Solidworks parts

wexie

Guys,

Is there any way in Solidworks to 'explode' a model into it's individual components? As in I've created a simple model that I'd like to make out of plywood, is there any way I could get Solidworks to show me the individual pieces like a cutting list?

Or should I just start with the individual pieces? (that'd be a lot more work I'd imagine?)

thanks!!

CatFromHue

Yup you can do exploded views

If you do a google search or even look in the help files there should be a good bit of info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx0fustMYBA

KAGY

wexie wrote: »

Guys,

Is there any way in Solidworks to 'explode' a model into it's individual components? As in I've created a simple model that I'd like to make out of plywood, is there any way I could get Solidworks to show me the individual pieces like a cutting list?

Or should I just start with the individual pieces? (that'd be a lot more work I'd imagine?)

thanks!!

If you haven't got an assembly of parts you won't be able to explode. Unless you can separate out the different features into bodies (try right click on the feature in the tree). Don't know if that works with ordinary parts, I've only used it with weldments.
Btw. Creating individual parts in an assembly isn't much more work as you can relate features on one part to dimensions of another. It's the idea sw is based on

LMK

Start with the individual pieces (parts) then create an assembly by mating the parts together, then you can generate a bill of materials from the assembly (list of all the parts and their quantities) and an exploded view if its useful showing how the whole thing goes together.

BASHIR

If you have one solid body, you can split it into smaller sections using the split tool in the direct editing tab. To do this you will need to create planes where want to split the part.
when this is done a new folder will appear in your design tree showing you how many solid parts you have. You can then right click and select insert into new part, then save it as an individual part. (these parts will have no feature tree though)
to get a better explanation use search "split" in your solidworks help bar

Turbulent Bill

In almost every case, you're better off defining things in the same way they'll be used - if it's an assembly of components, design it as a SW assembly. You can do bottom - up design (make all the parts independently, then assemble), top - down (define the assy, then split into parts) or some combination of both.

wexie

I've been messing around with your suggestions guys, very helpful thanks!
I now realise that while I was quite happy with what I'd drawn, I hadn't actually put much thought into how I was actually going to build it.
This is definitely helping me think in somewhat more practical terms.

wexie

I've been messing around with your suggestions guys, very helpful thanks!
I now realise that while I was quite happy with what I'd drawn, I hadn't actually put much thought into how I was actually going to build it.
This is definitely helping me think in somewhat more practical terms.