Matt Lombard - SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible

SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible

Matt Lombard

SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible

Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
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Copyright 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-1-118-00275-9

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Matt Lombard is an independent engineering consultant specializing in plastic parts and complex shapes. He also writes a blog on SolidWorks, which you can find at www.dezignstuff.com/blog. Matt lives in the picturesque Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where he enjoys reading the classics and fishing.

Credits

Senior Acquisitions Editor

Stephanie McComb

Project Editor

Jade L. Williams

Technical Editor

Charles Culp

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Editorial Manager

Rosemarie Graham

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I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the staff at Wiley for their dedication in editing the text of these books. It can be a difficult job making sure that a technical subject is treated properly. I'd also like to thank Charles Culp, the technical editor, for taking the time out of his schedule to make sure the material is accurate. Thanks also to Kim and Zoey, who help with the details in life allowing me to do this kind of work.

Introduction

SolidWorks as a topic of learning is a huge, sprawling expanse. There is a lot to know, and a lot to write about. While I have made every effort to be complete in this book, I'm sure there are some niche topics that have gone untreated. New in 2011, I have taken this book from a single volume of an immense scope to two individual volumes, each still fairly large, one covering parts and part drawings, and the other covering assemblies and assembly drawings. There is some overlap and some gray area between these topics, but I have tried to divide the material in the way that makes the most sense and divides the material evenly. It is certainly recommended for you to get both volumes for your reference.

This book is primarily meant as an encyclopedic desk reference for SolidWorks Standard users who want a more thorough understanding of the software and process than can be found in other available documentation. As such, it is not necessarily intended to be a guide for beginners, although it has elements of that. Nor is it necessarily intended as a classroom guide, but I have seen people use it for that as well.

Possibly the most controversial aspect of the book is that it is not filled with step-by-step tutorials (although there are some). Tutorials have their place, and I believe they are best suited for beginners. You are only a beginner for a short period of time, so this book tries to aim more at intermediate users, and it does so with a more conceptual approach to explaining functionality. I attempt to help you make the decisions about how to apply the tools to your tasks rather than demonstrating simple tasks that you will never need to do again. You will not learn to model a teapot in this book, because in your work, knowing how to model a teapot will probably not help you. You will, however, learn how to make decisions which should enable you to model just about anything you want, including teapots.

To keep the size of the book down, I have tried to avoid topics found only in SolidWorks Professional or Premium, although some discussion of these topics was in places unavoidable.

While the book does point out limitations, bugs and conceptual errors in the software, and from time to time ventures into the realm of opinion, in every case this is meant to give the reader a more thorough understanding of the software and how it is applied in the context of everyday design or engineering practice.