SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial

“Imagine it, and if you imagine it is what makes it amazing”
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

Index

1. Chapter Objective ..................................................................................................................................... 3

2. What is SolidWorks? ................................................................................................................................. 4
3. Home Tab .................................................................................................................................................. 4
4. Recent Tab ................................................................................................................................................ 6
5. Learn Tab................................................................................................................................................... 7
6. Alerts Tab .................................................................................................................................................. 8
7. Menu Bar toolbar ...................................................................................................................................... 9
8. Drop-down menu .................................................................................................................................... 10
9. Right-click ................................................................................................................................................ 10
10. Design Library........................................................................................................................................ 11
11. Motion Study tab .................................................................................................................................. 13
12. An example ........................................................................................................................................... 14
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

1. Chapter Objective

With the collaboration of the student, this consulting manual is expected to be of help to
those people who want to increase their knowledge in the area of computer-aided design
and construction, thus ensuring that the student learns the basic functions of SolidWorks
step by step, so that in the future it will be able to carry out predetermined designs and
studies with great precision and efficiency.

On the completion of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Utilize the SolidWorks welcome dialog box.

• Comprehend the SolidWorks 2019 User Interface.

• Recognize the default Reference Planes in the Feature Manager.

• Zoom, rotate and maneuver a three button mouse in the SolidWorks Graphics window.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

2. What is SolidWorks?

SolidWorks is a CAD software (computer-aided design) for mechanical modeling in 2D

and 3D, the program allows to model parts and assemblies and extract from them both
technical drawings and other information necessary for production. It is a program that
works based on new modeling techniques with CAD systems.

The process consists in transferring the mental idea of the designer to the CAD system,
"building virtually" the piece or set. Subsequently, all the extractions (plans and exchange
files) are carried out quite automatically.

3. Home Tab

The Home tab allows you to open new and existing documents, view recent documents
and folders and access SolidWorks resources.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

Open a new document and the document is based on a template on the default templates
page of the system options dialog box.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

It generates the option of making an assembly with predetermined pieces for different
studies or projections

Generate a computerized drawing option to display measurement plans

Open the open dialog box, where you can select an existing document to open.

4. Recent Tab

The Recent tab lets you view a longer list of recent documents and folders, sections in
the recent tab include “Documents and Folders”.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

You can do the following:

 Click a thumbnail to open the document.

 Drag a thumbnail and drop it in the empty graphics area, an open part, assembly,
or drawing, or Windows Explorer.

 Hover over a thumbnail to see document information such as full path and last
saved date, and click to see more options and information.

 Right-click a thumbnail and click Remove, Pin, or Clear unpinned items.

 Click Browse to open the Open dialog box for the current folder.

5. Learn Tab

The Learn tab lets you access instructional resources to help you learn more about the
SolidWorks software.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

Sections in the Learn tab include:

Introducing SolidWorks Opens the Introducing SolidWorks book.

Tutorials Opens the step-by-step tutorials in the
software.
My SolidWorks Training Opens the Training section at
MySolidWorks.com.
Samples Opens local folders containing sample
models.

6. Alerts Tab

The Alerts tab keeps you updated with SolidWorks news, sections in the alerts tab
include critical, troubleshooting, and technical alerts.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

The Troubleshooting section appears if there are crash diagnostic messages or

recovered documents to display. If the software has a technical problem and an
associated troubleshooting message exists, the welcome dialog box opens to
the troubleshooting section automatically on startup. The Welcome dialog box opens
even if you select do not show on startup in the dialog box.

7. Menu Bar toolbar

The Menu Bar contains a set of the most frequently used tool buttons from the standard
toolbar, the SolidWorks menus, the SolidWorks search, and a flyout menu of Help
options; In this toolbar it is very effective and easy to find project tools, in this way the
self-control of software in general is promoted.

The menus are visible when you move the mouse over or click the SolidWorks logo. You
can pin the menus to keep them visible at all times. The toolbar moves to the right when
the menus are pinned

By clicking the down arrow next to a tool button, you can expand
it to display a flyout menu with additional functions. This lets you
access most of File menu commands from the toolbar.

For example, the Save flyout menu

includes Save, Save As, and Save All.

You can customize this toolbar in the same way that you customize other toolbars.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

8. Drop-down menu

SolidWorks takes advantage of the familiar Microsoft Windows user

interface, to communicate with SolidWorks through drop-down
menus, context sensitive toolbars, consolidated toolbars or the
command manager tabs.

A command is an instruction that informs SolidWorks to perform a

task. To close a SolidWorks drop-down menu, press the Esc key.
You can also click any other part of the SolidWorks graphics
window or click another drop-down menu.

9. Right-click

A right click gives the designer a tab which contains quick options for a better
development of the project, such as quick dimensions, selection tools, zoom, extruded
entities and many options where the student can define their solids with more
specifications.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

In some circumstances and in more advanced projects the student can fix pieces or even
delete them, this will depend on the requirements and specifications previously limited.

10. Design Library

The Design Library tab in the Task Pane provides a central location for reusable elements
such as parts, assemblies and sketches. It does not recognize non-reusable elements
such as SolidWorks drawings, text files, or other non- SolidWorks files.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

Design Library Subfolders populated by SolidWorks with reusable items

such as parts, blocks, and annotations; you can add folders
and content.
Toolbox To access the content, install and add in the SolidWorks
Toolbox Library.

3D Content Central 3D models from component suppliers and individuals in all

major CAD formats.
SolidWorks Content Additional SolidWorks content for blocks, Routing,
CircuitWorks, and weldments; Ctrl+click to download .zip
files.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

11. Motion Study tab

You can access or create a motion study from a Motion Study tab at the lower portion of
the graphics area.

If the Motion Study tab is not visible, click View > User Interface > MotionManager.

There are two types of tabs you can use when working with parts or assemblies:

 Model. Selected by default when you open a model. Use this tab to edit the model.

 Motion Study <n>. Animations are listed on their own tab numbered 1
through <n>. Motion Study 1 is the default name for the first animation. There are
no key frames for a new study.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

To create or edit a motion study for a model:

 Click a Motion Study tab at the lower portion of the graphics window.

 The graphics area splits horizontally.The lower area splits into three sections:
 The Motion Manager toolbar across the top
 The Motion Manager design tree on the left
 The timeline with the key points and the time bar on the right

12. An example

Now it is time for all the theory learned to be practiced, in the following section a practical
example will be shown in which the procedure for making a construction piece will be
indicated step by step and at the same time that it becomes a solid through of the
structure.
We are going to do the next piece to practice a little what I learned theoretically.

1. Now, at this moment we have just opened the SolidWorks, in this case we are on
the main page, you must make sure that you do not mark any error when opening,
in case you mark any error you can visit the official SolidWorks page
(solidworks.com).
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

2. Once SolidWorks has started, move the mouse to the home tab, this will open the
options menu.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

3. Now you are in the home menu remember that you can select any project option.

4. In this case we are going to select the part option, since we are going to design a
solid.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

5. Once selected, SolidWorks displays the following window, which is a working

window.

6. We must select the sketch window to start designing.

SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

7. Select the sketch tab (literally).

8. When selecting the sketch window, we must select the plane in which we want to
design it, there is the front plane, right plane and top plane.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

9. Once the plan is selected, the following window displays.

10. In the upper left we have a menu of tools and options for the development of the
project.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

11. According to the plans of the piece, we have to draw circles, so we select the
circle option.

12. We draw a large circle of 80mm in diameter, an intermediate circle of 28mm in

diameter and three of 10mm in diameter at the height from the center of the
28mm circles.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

13. Once the circles are made, we need to make a union with two parallel lines at the
ends of the medium circle.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

14. Now, since we don't occupy certain lines marked in our piece, we need the trim
entities function to cut those extra lines.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

15. We return to the features window and select at the option of extruded, since the
piece is solid, in this part and according to what the plans of the piece tell us, we
need to add a thickness of 5mm.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

16. In this way the piece is ready, and ready to be saved for certain studies or
processes.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 Tutorial By: Oscar Mendoza Llaven

These tools are very basic and very helpful when designing a project, so everything is
based on knowledge and practice, in the attached folder there are several exercises to
do, this will help you as a student to practice.
Remember that practice makes perfect, and you decide how far to achieve your own
success.