SOLIDWORKS

Weldments

Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation

175 Wyman Street
Waltham, MA 02451 U.S.A.
© 1995-2022, Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Restricted Rights
Corporation, a Dassault Systèmes SE company, This clause applies to all acquisitions of Dassault
175 Wyman Street, Waltham, Mass. 02451 USA. Systèmes Offerings by or for the United States
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SolidWorks Corporation (DS SolidWorks). documentation and any other technical data
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or as a "Commercial Item" as defined in FAR
The software discussed in this document is 2.101(a) and as such is provided with only such
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copied only in accordance with the terms of the standard commercial end user license agreement.
license. All warranties given by DS SolidWorks Technical data is provided with limited rights only
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in the license agreement, and nothing stated in, or or FAR 52.227-14 (June 1987), whichever is
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the license agreement. States government's use and disclosure of this
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to the Legal Notices in the SOLIDWORKS inconsistent in any respect with United States
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following additional statement applies only to
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(October 1988): "Restricted Rights - use,
duplication and disclosure by the Government is
subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph
(c)(l)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and
Computer Software clause at DFARS 252-227-
7013 (Oct. 1988)."

In the event that you receive a request from any

agency of the U.S. Government to provide
Software with rights beyond those set forth above,
you will notify DS SolidWorks of the scope of the
request and DS SolidWorks will have five (5)
business days to, in its sole discretion, accept or
reject such request. Contractor/ Manufacturer:
Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corporation, 175
Wyman Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02451
USA.

Document Number: PMT2307-ENG

 Contents

Introduction
About This Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Course Design Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Using this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Conventions Used in this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
About the Training Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Training Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Use of Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Graphics and Graphics Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Color Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Finding Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
More SOLIDWORKS Training Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Local User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

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Contents SOLIDWORKS

Lesson 1:
Weldment Features
Weldments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Weldment Feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Weldment Configuration Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Structural Members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
The Default Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Weldment Profiles from SOLIDWORKS Content. . . . . . . . . . . . 12
What is a Structural Member Profile? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Inserting Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Weldment Profiles Folder Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Corner Treatment Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Individual Corner Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Profile Position Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Groups vs. Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Trim/Extend Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Sketch Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Trim Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Adding Plates and Holes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Gussets and End Caps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Gusset Profile and Thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Locating the Gusset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
End Cap Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Using Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Advantages of a Multibody Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Limitations of a Multibody Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Exercise 1: Sign Holder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Exercise 2: Weld Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Exercise 3: Suspension Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Exercise 4: Evaporator Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Lesson 2:
Working with Weldments
Managing the Cut List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Cut List Item Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Accessing Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Cut-List Properties Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Structural Member Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Adding Cut List Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Bounding Boxes in Weldments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Editing a Bounding Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

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SOLIDWORKS Contents

Options for Generating Cut List Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Manually Managing Cut List Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Creating Sub-weldments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Using Selection Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Custom Structural Member Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Modifying a Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Transfered Information from Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Defining Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Creating Custom Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Standard or Configured Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Inserting Existing Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Locate Part and Move/Copy Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
When to Use an Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Exercise 5: Weld Table Cut List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Exercise 6: Picnic Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Exercise 7: Insert Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Lesson 3:
Configuring and Detailing Weldments
Weldment Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Adding Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Post-Assembly Machining Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Feature Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Weldment Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Drawing Views of Individual Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Select Drawing View Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Using Display States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Isolate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Using Relative View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Cut List Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Representing Welds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Weld Symbols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Other Weld Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Fillet Beads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Weld Bead Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Weld Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Exercise 8: Detail Picnic Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Exercise 9: Representing Welds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

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Contents SOLIDWORKS

Lesson 4:
Working with Bent Structural Members
Working with Bent Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
3D Sketching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Using Reference Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Space Handle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Subset of Sketch Entities and Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Creating a 3D Sketch Plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Active Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Visibility controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Merge Arc Segment Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Optional: Finishing Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Exercise 10: Chair Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Exercise 11: Bent Tubing, Sheet Metal, and Assemblies . . . . . . . . . 175
Lesson 5:
Introduction to Structure System
Structure System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Primary vs. Secondary Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Primary Member Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Secondary Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Corner Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Exercise 12: Shed Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Lesson 6:
Working with Structure System
Managing the Cut List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Gussets and End Caps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Bounding Boxes in Structure System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Exercise 13: Table Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Lesson 7:
Defining and Inserting Connection Elements
Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Define Connection Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Feature Propagation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Dimension Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Insert Connection Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Cut Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
L Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Mid Plane Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Patterning Connection Elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Beam Splice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Exercise 14: Intersecting Column & Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

iv