A Knowledgebase for all Die Designers…

There’s an awesome and often overlooked feature in SolidWorks that some of you know about and I believe others would really benefit from. It is the filter that SolidWorks added to the topmost part of the FeatureManager tree a couple of releases ago.

As you begin typing, the graphics area updates in real time displaying items that match.

Take note of the options that are available and also note that you can search for anything, including sketches, specific features, etc…

Check it out in the SolidWorks help.

SolidWorks tips & tricks

Hopefully, if you have the occasion to use locking tabs in your die designs you’ve taken advantage of the automated Punch Locking Tab function in Logopress3. If you haven’t, make sure you search the Logopress3 help file for “Punch Locking Tab”.

I’ve just realized today that the help file doesn’t document how to use a Punch Locking Tab with a round punch yet. We’ll get that updated, in the meantime, here’s how:

You need to edit the round punch first and add a flat area to the outer diameter of the punch at the same radial position that you want the locking tab to be at. (You might find that using a 3 Point Center Rectangle in your sketch is efficient for this and then using a CutExtrude…) This flat area will be what you will pick for the “groove face” selection. This flat area can be either at the base of the punch or at the cutting end of the punch and can be as little as 0.001” deep(Sketch dimension) x 0.001” deep(CutExtrude dimension). (Hint – make the depth of the CutExtrude 0.376” deep so you have a nice big target to select for your second pick, which is the groove face. Then, after applying the locking tab, change the 0.376” dimension to 0.001”.)

LP3 How-To's for users

Punch Mismatches are one of many really cool and fast automation tools in Logopress3. But first of all, they need a little room in order to complete properly and secondly, they don’t like extra entities getting in their way.

Below are my personal preferred settings for my punch mismatches. If you work on thinner material most of the time or thicker material most of the time, you may want something different for your default sizes. (These Logopress3 options are found in the SolidWorks Options box at the very bottom, the button that says Third Party…)

Rule #1 for Punch Mismatches is that the first pick is on the line where you want the mismatch to cut into(99% of the time this is on the sketch line or arc that is touching the part as opposed to the one that is in the skeleton/scrap), and the second pick is the adjacent line. So after selecting a punch mismatch style #2 and picking the left hand line first and the top line second I end up with this:

That’s not what I wanted! I realize now that the construction line that is 0.050″ away from the top line got in the way of the automation that took place when the mismatch was getting automatically put in and trimmed. So what if that contruction line would have been 0.080″ away rather than 0.050″?

That’s better, but there’s still obviously a problem.
So what if that construction line was trimmed to the main line as show below?

See the picture below – THAT’S what I wanted!
Also, keep in mind that similar rules apply if you are trying to put a mismatch in at an area that is too small to fit the default mismatch sizes that are in your Logopress3 third party options settings. So if you are putting a mismatch into a tiny area you may need to go into your third party options and make the sizes (radii sizes and, in the case of mismatches #2 & #3 the length of straight areas) smaller…

LP3 How-To's for users

You can read more about turning off vertical sync (VSync) if you like by searching on the Internet, but frankly it’s not very interesting reading. The bottom line is that you should definitely do this to increase performance. To turn it off on systems with NVIDIA graphics cards, follow the instructions below.

Computer performance

(Purchased on sale at Office Max for $25 for 3 pcs for one year, normally $60 for 3 pcs for one year.)
Way back in time, perhaps 10 years let’s say, Norton AV was known as the best there was. Gradually, over time, it became a real resouce pig and took forever to install and was nearly impossible to uninstall. Everybody recognized this as fact, as well as many other shortcomings.

That was up until Norton AV 2009 came out. Apparently Norton got the message and completely re-wrote the software. Installation takes just a few minutes at most and it is easy to uninstall now as well if you need to. I like it a lot since I find it is very unobtrusive, although it is a bit aggressive with exe files that it doesn’t recognize and that developers have not put on its white list.

One of the things I especially like about Norton AntiVirus 2010 is that it starts up FAST at computer boot up and lets you start using your computer seconds after it starts up. Previous to Norton I used ESET. I’d used it for less than a year. It is quite expensive but it worked very well. But it had some obtrusive issues and it took a little longer than I would have liked to start up. Before that I used Avast Professional on all of our computers, which we are phasing out. Avast really ties up your computer for a long time when you boot up before you can use it.

Software we use

Sometimes you find that after you’ve created a strip layout you are left with a sliver, or shniblet as they say, that that is sitting at die level in each station of the die. Often times, usually that is, the sliver is the result of an angular bypass mismatch on a radius. This would happen if your reference part and subsequent annex part has a full radius and then you add a cutting punch that does not go all the way around the radius but rather shoots off on an angle – an angular bypass mismatch. So you’ve got this teeny tiny sliver left with two straight edges and one radius edge. In the earlier stations of the die when this area of the part is still flat, the sliver is not a problem because it blends in with the part. But as soon as this area of the part gets formed down ninety degrees for example, then this sliver stands out like a sore thumb.

This sliver is in the skeleton part of course, as opposed to being in the annex part. So in the first station that you see this sliver hanging out in space all by itself, click on it. Assuming you have the SolidWorks option checked that is named “Scroll selected items into view” under System Options, Feature Manager, (99% of users do) then the “Strip Skeleton Linear Pattern” expands in the tree and the part in the pattern with the specific configuration that you just clicked on is highlighted within this pattern. Either click or right click on this highlighted part and Edit Part. If you expand this part, you will see that the Solid Bodies folder now has 2 solid bodies in it (assuming all other skeleton parts before this one have 1 solid body). Expand the solid body folder and you probably see the first body being called “Punch Cut…”. Clicking on this body at this point will highlight this small sliver and then hitting delete on your keyboard will put you into the Delete Body command. Validate this command and you will now see a Body-Delete feature at the end of the tree for this particular skeleton configuration and this body will no longer be visible.

Now stop editing the part and get back into edit assembly mode. Let’s say that for this example, this particular skeleton part was named “…Strip Skeleton 1<5> -> (Step 005)” and that after this skeleton part, there are 3 more skeletons in this pattern named 006, 007 and 008. These represent different configurations of the skeleton. So standard SolidWorks functionality causes this Body-Delete feature to show up in each of these following patterned skeletons, but it is SUPPRESSED in each of these following configurations. So you could expand each of these parts/configurations manually and unsuppress this feature in order to make them disappear, but the easier way, particularly if you have many skeleton configurations after this one, is to click on the feature that is at the end of the tree in the skeleton part/configuration that you had just created it in (005) and then go up to the Logopress3 pull down menu and select “Unsuppress on the following stations”. This of course will unsuppress this Body-Delete feature in the rest of the pattern, which represents the rest of the strip.

LP3 How-To's for users

Updating the flat blank geometry along with the cutting punches and all of the openings in the die is a very easy process if the correct steps are followed. Rather than try to explain it all here though, I will simply point you to our ten minute long video #9 on our “Logopress3 Strip Layout & Die Design” video series page.

Click here for the High Def video page as long as you have a fair connection to the Internet.

Click here for the Standard video page if you have problems viewing the HD page.

Tips to remember to make your update after development go smoothly:

1. Use the power and automation of Logopress3 to make the change. Don’t do it “manually”.
2. You must make your change to the Reference Part (the part that contains the Station marks) and NOT to the Annex Part.
3. Make your change at the proper place in the tree – it might need to be earlier than just before the final flat blank Station mark.
4. If possible, do a Move face to update the flat blank geometry. This will typically keep you from having to edit the punch sketch.
5. After making the change to the Reference Part before the correct Station mark, roll to the end of the tree and do a Ctrl + Q to update the body files.
6. Open the Annex Part and then click on the Logopress3 pull down menu and select “Update the stations of the Annex part used in the strip”.
7. Answer yes to the rebuild question – this causes the import feature to automatically re-import the newly created/modified body files into the Annex part.
8. Open the strip assembly. Do NOT concern yourself with the tool assembly at this point. Leave it closed to keep yourself from being tempted to modify it.
9. In the strip assembly, if you have modified geometry cut by the punches that involved new sketch entities as I did to the external punch in the video, it will have errors in the sketch.
10. If you did not add or remove sketch entities in the flat blank geometry, but only moved it via the Move face command or changing a dimension on a fillet radius, for example, then everything will update fine on that punch.
11. (It is a good idea to edit the punch that has errors in its sketch, then create a new sketch within this part file by selecting the front plane for example and converting entities (using the SolidWorks “Convert entities” command of course) from the face of the punch to capture the original geometry before you are about to make this change to it. Then, display the relations for that newly created sketch and delete all relations. Then, select all of the underdefined sketch geometry and add a Fix relation so that it is fully defined. Now this newly created sketch is no longer being parametrically driven and it is a good idea to move it to the top of the tree and name it “Original punch geometry before development” or some such thing so that you can remember what it is. This way, particularly if the punch and die have already been wire EDMed, you have this original geometry in the model in case you need to delete all of the sketch entities for the extrude of the punch that is being updated and then reconvert them from this newly created sketch that has no parent. (a dumb sketch, if you will) This is sometimes necessary if the geometry becomes overdefined…)
12. Use the Logopress3 command “Create/Edit a strip layout” and then select the punch that has errors in it and delete the dangling geometry. At this point, it is a good practice for convenience sake to switch the SolidWorks display style from “Shaded With Edges” to “Shaded” – this allows the sketch geometry stand out like a sore thumb from the cut edges of the solid model. It hides those cut edges, making sketch editing much nicer.
13. The “Blank section Sketch 1″ that is in the Strip Skeleton will be visible at this point. After deleting the dangling geometry, select the new geometry that had been changed in the flat blank and use Convert entities to convert them into the current sketch.
14. Validate the sketch and there should now no longer be any errors in this punch.
15. Now, when you switch to the tool assembly, the tool assembly should aut0matically rebuild all punch cuts through all plates.
16. If there were no errors in the strip assembly after following the steps above and in the video, and after switching to the tool assembly there are errors in the punch, you may have to edit this punch cut manually in the tool. The correct way to do this is to convert entities or offset entities from the punch sketch that is in the strip. But typically, correct updating practice will cause the tool to automatically rebuild itself.

-IMPORTANT- info for LP3 users, LP3 How-To's for users

After writing about the Magnifying Glass previously, I felt compelled to immediately post this tip about what I feel is a very efficent means of zooming in and out of areas of your model. While the Magnifying Glass is interesting, I don’t think it’s as efficient as this.
First of all, F is for Fit – “Zoom to Fit” technically speaking. It’s about the first SolidWorks command I ever learned and I think it is the first most people should learn. It is basically the equivalent of “zoom extents” in that 2D program most of us used to use.
The next most important command, I think perhaps, is “Zoom to Area”. I’m not certain, but this one might not have a shortcut key associated with it when SolidWorks ships “out of the box”. I associate my W key with this command because it is the equivalent of zoom window in that one 2D program I referred to earlier.
The third command that I think is very interesting is “Previous View”. I’m pretty sure this one is not associated with a shortcut key out of the box – and if it is, I’m pretty sure it’s not associated with the P key, because that is Pan out of the box I believe. But my brain likes P for Previous – besides, there is a better way to Pan than with the Pan command I think. (hold down the Ctrl key and the middle mouse button simultaneously and Pan away…)
So, assuming your keys I’ve discussed above are set to F and W and P, this is how I use SolidWorks a lot, particularly if I am just checking or interogating a model: F zooms all the way out. If you want to look at a certain area or work on a certain area, then press w and zoom in on that area. Now, you can hold down the middle mouse button and rotate the model, or “roll” the model to look at it. Press the P key to zoom previous, which will take you back to the “pre-rotated” state, and then press P one more time and you will be back out to the zoomed to fit state. You can repeat this over and over again very quickly and “accurately”, again, particularly if you are only checking a model.

SolidWorks tips & tricks

The Magnifying Glass is new to SolidWorks 2009 as I recall. I think it’s a tool that slipped under the radar for a lot of people, including myself. It was not until I started writing this tip that I realized I was missing out on some of its key features.
You’ve already got the Magnifying Glass at your fingertip – just press the G key! (assuming you don’t have it customized for something else)
Before you press the G key, have your mouse pointer pointing to the place you want to magnify so that you don’t have to drag the magnifying glass to it.
Scroll the mouse wheel to change the magnification level inside the glass – while the model remains stationary.
If you drag your pointer inside of this magnifying glass, when it reaches the edge of the round glass, you will then be dragging the glass with you. It might feel more natural though, to hold down the Ctrl key and press the middle mouse button as you drag / pan the magnifying glass around your model.
To close the command, either click (without holding down the Ctrl key) or press G again or Esc.

SolidWorks tips & tricks

Here’s a great and fast way to help determine what your stretch webs should look like. Some folks have been doing this for many decades and others have never heard of it. I can assure you, most people are very skeptical the first time they hear it, but I can also assure you that it works great! Unfortunately there are only one or two places in the country I am aware of that you can buy it, but fortunately it is extremely inexpensive so you can buy a bunch of it. I purchased dozens of 8″ x 12″ sheets of various thicknesses a couple years ago and it was only about $150 total.

The wax has a light adhesive on one side of it and it is relatively transparent. So you simply print out your best guess of what you want the stretch web to look like and then peel back the adhesive paper and place it on the paper printout of the stretch web. Then, take an X-ACTO knife and carefully cut around the pattern, being careful not to nick the wax, which of course would cause it to fail prematurely. The cover of an old plastic 3 ring binder works great for a cutting surface. (The width of the web isn’t really critical that it is extremely precise because what you’re really looking for is the “length of line” when stretched.)

If the wax doesn’t break when you stretch it to the same place (X, Y and Z) that the actual strip will stretch, then the strip most certainly will not break. In the last picture below, you can see if you look closely that the wax looks like it is close to breaking, but that’s because it’s been stretched a number of times already. It doesn’t have the durability of steel!

A great use for WAX (stretch webs)