EGS India | Official Blog

One of the best sheet metal enhancements in SOLIDWORKS 2016 is the ability to add Cut Features to a Swept Flange and have those features map correctly to the Flat Pattern. Although the Swept Flange tool is a wonderful part of the Sheet Metal toolset, I have had many users comment about how frustrated they were that they could add Cut and Hole Features to their Swept Flanges and see them in their formed views but the hole features were missing in their Flat Pattern when it was time to send the part out to the Punch Press or Laser Cutter! SOLIDWORKS 2015 Sheet Metal Swept Flange Flat Pattern Above is a Sheet Metal part created in SOLIDWORKS 2015, the part is made using a Swept Flange and two Cut features. You can see when the part is flattened the two Cut Features do not propagate to the Flat Pattern and disappear from the view, this would usually result in having to add the Cut Features to the Flat Pattern separately which results in a potential loss in accuracy and adding valu...

To ensure greater accuracy for digital simulation or to produce a 3D printed prototype, it’s often necessary to model the physical threads on shafts and holes, among many other features. To create a thread in previous versions of SOLIDWORKS, we had to manually create a profile and a helix for creating a swept cut. This process has now been automated with a new Thread tool in SOLIDWORKS 2016 . The new Thread tool allow us to create helical threads on cylindrical faces using profile sketches. Now, this feature is very flexible, allowing us to specify the start thread location, an offset, end conditions, the type, size, diameter, pitch and rotation angle, and even choose options like right-hand or left-hand thread. We can also create our own custom thread profiles like weldment profile. SOLIDWORKS allow us to store our custom thread profile as a library feature. The default location where these are saved can be modified at Tools > Options > System Options > File Locations . ...