SOLIDWORKS REPETITIVE PROCESSES AND STRUCTURAL METHODS

Below is a list of issues found when working with SOLIDWORKS alone and how we have resolved them by either removing the option all together or adding a batch automated process to speed up repetitive tasks. You may relate to them as being painful or should be aware of them before going down the road of SOLIDWORKS for structural steel detailing and large mechanical designs.

PROBLEM - MULTI-BODY PARTS GET SLOWER WITH MORE FEATURES

On large projects when using a multi-body part, as the feature tree grows it is inevitable that it will get to a point where it will slow down in opening, rebuilding and saving times.

If you happen to be working on small frames with less than 100 bodies that do not bolt to anything else (apart from onsite bolting) and also are not required to be broken up and bolted back together for transport purposes, then SOLIDWORKS may work for you.

Otherwise it will require you to be inventive with your processes in order to get the best out of SOLIDWORKS.

We have proven through testing that assemblies made up of single body parts rebuild and save faster than multi-body parts of similar complexity with the difference becoming greater as the feature tree grows.

Steel Designer Pro uses a top down modelling approach. A project Zone consists of Welded Member assemblies with connection sub-assemblies and section, plate and vendor parts. Changes to any part require rebuild of the changed part and not every other unchanged part.

PROBLEM - MULTIPLE MULTI-BODY PARTS CAN NOT BE CONSOLIDATED

So you have decided that breaking up the project into multiple parts with multi-bodies was a better solution for the large projects. Now you cannot collect correct totals of plates or sections in 1 part with another. Your cut lists are only related to that single part and not the total project.

Then there are indented detail bills of material that can be added to an assembly drawing which does not total all of the same bodies in separate parts. Same issue with no solution within SOLIDWORKS.

Steel Designer Pro’s consolidation process combines identical files on one drawing with a BOM totaled for the project or zone. Welded Member BOM’s then have the Marks for the consolidated parts.

PROBLEM - MULTI-BODY PARTS REQUIRE EACH ITEM TO BE DETAILED MANUALLY

Now you are in a situation, where creating drawings is a manual process. Each item needs a detail, whether you detail with multiple items on 1 sheet or 1 sheet for each item. It is slow and laborious. After the first project, you will be left wondering if there is an easier way to detail.

Also you may have Welded Members as configurations in 1 part that show only the components for the welded members. Take a brace for instance, the brace is added to a drawing on a slope and the drawing view needs to be rotated to make it horizontal on the view. This view requires rotating again if the brace slope changes. Another slow repetitive process.

Cut Lists are great for a solution where the frame is simple for a bill of material on a drawing. Try getting quantities of welded members, oh yes that's manual. We know, we've been there also.

Or maybe you have decided to export the bodies and their custom properties out as parts to form assemblies. Which is a great idea. Now each part still needs to be added to drawings and detailed manually. Oh and do not forget that it's going to be very difficult for you to change the project after you have issued the drawings for review. It's not a bi-directional backwards process of splitting bodies into parts. Making a change will require splitting of the bodies and managing those bodies into parts again.

Steel Designer Pro’s Consolidation process combines identical items with a BOM on a single drawing. The parent drawing of multiple parts is the only one that needs to be checked and detailed. And if the part came from your library then most or all of the detailing is already done.

PROBLEM - ASSEMBLIES MAY HAVE THE SAME PART USED MULTIPLE TIMES

So you have decided to go down the path of using Assemblies and Components to complete your projects and the files are added and attached manually within the assembly. Have you accidently copied over another component because it's a manual process. You will soon find out that your model has fallen over because the component that was there is now something else.

Have you got a spreadsheet that you keep for the filenames that everyone on the project can access so that the above does not happen only to find that it did?

Steel Designer Pro names and organizes your files for you. Our consolidation process places Marks on all components and members according to your settings.

PROBLEM - MANUAL ADDITION OF COMPONENT CUSTOM PROPERTIES

Is everything about adding custom properties a pain. Manually added properties such as the Grade, Section Size, Length and Description need to be checked over and over again to ensure the drawings’ Bills of Material match the Model.

Have you ever been in a situation where your customer has decided on a change on 1200 drawings that requires you to look for a macro to insert multiple custom properties in all of your project’s components?

What about changing the entire project’s materials... Each component one at a time.

Steel Designer Pro Tools allow you to add Batch Custom Properties and to Change Material throughout the project. With the interface select all or as many parts or assemblies as you desire.

PROBLEM - MANUAL DRAWING HANDLING & REVISION CONTROL

You have just started a large project and you have hit 1200 drawings and now you are looking for a macro that will revise and make pdf’s of all of your project’s drawings?

What about changing all of the title block’s custom properties, keeping the revision status, keeping a history of revisions, exporting a list of drawings to excel?

Steel Designer Pro’s Document Manager gives you complete control over your drawings. Open multiple drawings for review and clean up, change custom properties, drafting standards, revisions or sheet templates. Update BOM’s or save to PDF, DWG or DXF formats. You can put a macro in the project’s Macro folder and have it run over each drawing as it is processed automatically.

PROBLEM - CLIENT REQUIRES DSTV CNC .NC1 FILES

SOLIDWORKS does not export this file! Sorry!

Steel Designer Pro Premium has an exporter that exports sections and plates modelled using the Steel Designer Pro and its libraries.

PROBLEM - THE FABRICATOR NEEDS DXF FILES FOR THE 150 + PLATES

SOLIDWORKS exports DXF files one at a time.

Steel Designer Pro can export all plate DXF’s including flat patterns to their own folder with a backup copy of the plate. This usually runs at 5-12 files per minute.

PROBLEM - LARGE PROJECT IS SLOW

Have you ever been in a situation where your team has been working away on a project's model to find that when opening a drawing, it take 3hrs to open as it is trying to rebuild the model in the views?

Are you struggling with sluggish General Arrangement\Marking erection drawings?

We have processes built into Steel Designer Pro that can reduce load times and remove sluggish drawings.

We have developed techniques over years of experience that drastically cut load times for General Arrangement and sections view drawings. Each SOLIDWORKS created section view requires loading the complete model a second time, we load only a fracion of the model.

PROBLEM - SOLIDWORKS 2020\2021 DETAIL MODE NEEDS ACCESS TO THE MODEL FOR LINKED ANNOTATIONS

Detailing Mode is a wonderful feature to be able to open a drawing and change some annotations and move some notes, create some details and sections, but when trying to link an annotation to the component's custom property you are out of luck in detail mode. If the model has changed and you need to see the changes you have to resolve the model in the views. To apply a component custom property to a component in detail mode is not possible as the model is not loaded.