Matt Lombard - Solidworks 2013 Bible

SolidWorks 2013 Bible

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-1-118-50840-4

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Credits

Senior Acquisitions Editor

Stephanie McComb

Project Editor

Martin V. Minner

Technical Editor

Edward L. Cyganik

Copy Editor

Gwenette Gaddis

Editorial Director

Robyn Siesky

Business Manager

Amy Knies

Senior Marketing Manager

Sandy Smith

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive Publisher

Barry Pruett

Project Coordinator

Patrick Redmond

Graphics and Production Specialists

Jennifer Creasey
Jennifer Mayberry

Quality Control Technician

Lauren Mandelbaum

Proofreading

Evelyn Wellborn

Indexing

BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services

Media Development Project Manager

Laura Moss

Media Development Assistant Project Manager

Jenny Swisher

Media Development Associate Producers

Josh Frank
Shawn Patrick
Doug Kuhn
Marilyn Hummel

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.

Acknowledgments

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 Eddie Cyganik, 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 is an immense topic, especially if you are new to the software. There is much to know and much to write about. Although I have made every effort to be complete in this book, I'm sure there are some niche topics that have gone untreated. The 2013 edition has been consolidated from two volumes into one, which led to some choices about content. In this edition, we rely more on video introductions for each chapter to demonstrate some of the basic concepts. You can find those video introductions on this book's website at www.wiley.com/go/solidworks2013.

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.

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.

Although the book does point out limitations, bugs, and conceptual errors in the software, 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.

The overall goal of this book is not to fill your head with facts, but to help you think like the software, so you can use the tool as an intuitive extension of your own process. As your modeling projects get more complex, you'll need to have more troubleshooting and workaround skills available to you. Along with best practice recommendations, these are the most compelling reasons to study this book.

Thank you for your interest.

About This Book

You'll find enough information here that the book can grow with your SolidWorks needs. I have written tutorials for most of the chapters with newer users in mind, because for them, it is most helpful to see how things are done in SolidWorks step by step. The longer narrative examples give more in-depth information about features and functions, as well as the results of various settings and options.