SOLIDWORKS: Managing the Design Library

Course details

The SOLIDWORKS Design Library makes it easy to locate and reuse your sketches, notes, and favorite features—preventing you from having to complete the same work twice. In this course, discover how to increase your SOLIDWORKS productivity by storing commonly used elements in the Design Library. Elise Moss helps you get started by showing how to add a folder that contains your Design Library elements to SOLIDWORKS, and then link that folder to the Design Library. She then demonstrates how to use this helpful tool to manage features, patterns, annotations, forming tools for sheet metal, and other elements that you'll likely use more than once.

Learning objectives
Adding a custom library to SOLIDWORKS
Designing library folder locations
Creating custom annotations for drawings
Creating a grain direction annotation
Modifying an existing forming tool
Adding a forming tool to the Design Library
Creating a hole pattern for a circuit board component
Creating a feature to be reused
Saving a feature to the Design Library
Saving a block to the Design Library

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - Welcome
02 - What you should know
03 - Using the exercise files

1. Set Up

04 - Create and name a folder

2. Add a Custom Library to SOLIDWORKS

05 - Link the folder to the Design Library

3. Set Up the Folders for a Custom Library

06 - Library naming standards
07 - Design Library folder locations

4. Create Custom Annotations for Drawings

08 - Import a Word document
09 - Use an existing annotation in a drawing

5. Create a Grain Direction Annotation for Sheet Metal

10 - Create a grain direction annotation
11 - Add it to the library
12 - Use it in a sheet metal drawing

6. Create a Forming Tool for Sheet Metal

13 - Assign a library for forming tools
14 - Modify an existing forming tool
15 - Add a forming tool to the Design Library
16 - Add an emboss to a sheet metal part

7. Create a Hole Pattern for a Circuit Board Component

17 - Create a hole pattern block
18 - Add the hole pattern block to the library
19 - Add a hole pattern feature to a PCB

8. Save a Feature to the Design Library

20 - Create a feature to be reused
21 - Save the feature to the Design Library
22 - Add a Design Library feature to a model

9. Save a Block to the Design Library

23 - Create a block from a sketch
24 - Add a block to the Design Library
25 - Add the block to a sketch in a new model

Conclusion

26 - Next steps