Top Enhancements in SOLIDWORKS 2022

In SOLIDWORKS, every design engineer knows that we create reliable designs, those designs get produced. To elegant and accelerate the product development process from concept through manufactured products. SOLIDWORKS 2022 contains new, user-driven enhancements focused on.

· Work Smarter                            

· Work Faster

· Work Together

 

Work Smarter

Create better products in steps with new workflows and feature enhancements in part design, assembly, drawing detailing, simulation, and product data management. Benefit of user interface enhancements.

Work Faster

Get more, in less time with significant quality and performance improvements when working with large assemblies, importing IGES, STEP and DXF/DWG files, detailing your drawings, and managing your product data.

Work Together

Improve innovation and decision making by connecting to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and leveraging its collaborative capabilities. Increase your competitive advantage by tapping into the power and breadth of the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE Works portfolio. These expanded tools help your entire enterprise across the design and engineering, simulation, manufacturing, and governance domains.

Search commands in the Shortcut bar

We already had an option to maximize our productivity by accessing the shortcut bar using the S – Key. Now the shortcut bar is more powerful, as you can search commands in the shortcut bar and add them to favorites, so you can access them next time with a single key.

Bi-Directional Draft Across Parting Lines

In Previous versions, the draft along part line could be made symmetrical, only with two separate draft features. But in SOLIDWORKS 2022, Bi-Directional parting line Draft has made this task much easier. You can create draft in both directions, when using a parting line under a single feature, rather than having to create two separate draft features, and here’s a short glimpse how to use the tool.

· Create a parting reference plane

· Using split line tool, intersection option, create parting line on the faces to be drafted.

· Using the draft Feature, Under Manual draft, select parting line option

 · Select the face for direction of pull and the parting line created 

· Set draft angles for both directions

Section Views using axis

Section views are a great way of visualizing and inspecting components or assemblies.  Generally, we could specify section views using the default planes and rotate across them, or create new reference planes, but suitable planes are not available at all times.

Now, you can specify a section view, from any cylindrical face, conical face, axis or even temporary axis of any feature, regardless of default planes.

 

Mirror across two planes

This feature is going to be Mirroring features and components is a very commonly used feature. Now in SolidWorks 2022, you can mirror across two planes or faces. This saves some space on your feature manager design tree with only one mirror feature, rather than having two individual Mirror features. This also helps in making your design less complex and saves your time.

Here’s a brief step to use this feature.

· Select the primary Plane/Face as usual for mirroring.

· Select the secondary plane which you want to mirror about.

· Now select the Features/Faces/Bodies to mirror

Now, you will be able to mirror the desired Features/Faces/Bodies across two Plane/Face

and see four instances using a single mirror feature.

 

Hybrid Modelling

SOLIDWORKS 2022 is equipped with new hybrid modelling capabilities. Now, Mesh Brep files can directly be edited, same like working in native geometry files. Creating features like Chamfers, Extrudes, and reference planes and more, no longer require itermediate bodies and boolean operations.

Symmetric Linear Diameter Dimension 

With the enhancement of SLDD user can create one sided dimension to symmetrical features across a centreline so drawing views don’t get crowded with extra leader lines. It can be used on any drawing view but are best suited for views that only need one side of a leader, such as cylindrical faces. SLDs save space on the drawing and detailer’s time with the “Multiple” option. This allows the detailer to choose one common centreline and multiple faces or features consecutively to create an SLD to those entities shown in below

 

Radius/Diameter Dimension Switch

It’s the way we switch between radius and diameter. Previously, switching between diameter and radius would require digging through right click menus. Now, with SOLIDWORKS 2022, the switch from radius, diameter and linear dimensions is available from the context toolbar. Below figure shows actual difference saved with the commands being in the context toolbar.

MOVE COMPONENTS WITH PRECISION

Moving Components in SOLIDWORKS 2022 Assemblies is easier with a new Triad.

Take the guesswork out by moving components precisely in the X, Y, and Z directions.

The triad only shows up when a Part is selected, so selecting faces or edges will not cause the triad to show up. You can quickly select the part by using the breadcrumbs toolbar.

The Triad appears automatically when selecting components. Hold Ctrl as you drag to create a copy of the component along the specified direction.

QUICK MATES CONTEXT TOOLBAR

There is now an option to always show the Finish Mate button on the quick mates context toolbar. The option replaces the option to show flip alignment and lock rotation which are now always. You can find the option in the Customize dialog window. Note this is not the Options dialog.

With the option off, the mates will always be created/added as you select the type of mate on the toolbar. If you enable the option, then the system will pause and wait for you to click the OK button before adding the new mate. The advantage there is that you can flip rotation or select a different mate if you accidently chose the wrong one before it is actually created.

THANK YOU FOR READING!