Tuesday September 24, 2013 at 12:54pm
Whilst we don't want to spoil our up and coming 2014 launch events, there is one enhancement in particular that seems to be creating a bit of a buzz in the SOLIDWORKS Community. SOLIDWORKS 2014 now comes equipped with the Replace Sketch Entities tool which on the face of it seems a relatively minor enhancement, but digging deeper it will be of huge benefit to the customer base.
So what is and and how is it used?
First thing you could do is check out the
help documentation online for a run down of where the feature can be found and its description. But in summary because SOLIDWORKS assigns an internal ID to each sketch entity and in turn each edge, when geometry changes, the ID change can cause a knock on effect. Take a look at the secenario for SOLIDWORKS 2013. This model is taken from our Essentials course where the original sketch profile was changed from a rectangle with straight sides to one with curved sides.
Despite the original straight lines being left as construction geometry, the downstream features fail to rebuild successfully. This means frustrating rework to get things back to how they need to be.
In 2014, we can use the Replace Entities feature, and in this instance the fillet rebuilds successfully.
To help further your understanding on this new feature I have also put together a video on our
YouTube page. This will show once again a comparison between 2013 and 14, showing the steps involved to use the Replace function. We see this as not only a huge time saver, but one that will prevent a lot of frustration when previously you would have had to repair missing and dangling items.
One tip for using the feature- you must ensure you draw in the new entity and DO NOT delete the original- you must use the replace tool for any deletions. Then in the Property Manager you simply select the new and old item, and determine whether you want to delete the orginal or convert it to a construction line.
Be sure to register for one our our
UK launch events to see this and dozens of other great enhancements.
Adam Hartles
Training Manager