SOLIDWORKS pet peeves

[Glenn Schroeder]

Attached below.


Sorry not really
I am aware of the hierarchy (in fact it is showing the appearance at hierarchy level). It is a part file and only has one part appearance without any other appearance

I played with it a little bit. The only way I've been able to change the color for the whole Part was to apply an appearance to a single face, copy it, select another face and Ctrl+A to select all, right-click, and paste the appearance.

[JSculley]

sometimes the solidworks appearance is just driving me nuts

only one appearance apply at part level, but it is not showing in graphic

(seem to happen most frequently on part save from assembly, aka Save as Part from assembly)
image.png

This is because the imported body features have appearances, but they aren't listed in the Property Manager Pane. However, they are listed in the popout appearances panel:

You can remove them in one shot via the feature tree:

SPR 1217395 -- Appearance applied on a imported body 'Feature' cannot be removed

Not technically accurate since they can be removed.

[DanPihlaja]

This is because the imported bodies have appearances, but they aren't listed in the Property Manager Pane. However, they are listed in the popout appearances panel:

image.png

You can remove them in one shot via the feature tree:
image.png
image.png

SPR 1217395 -- Appearance applied on a imported body 'Feature' cannot be removed

Not technically accurate since they can be removed.

A technical correction:

That appearance in your picture is applied to the "features" that create the bodies. Not the bodies themselves. If the appearance had been added to the bodies, then the appearance would show up under the bodies folder.

[jcapriotti]

https://help.solidworks.com/2023/englis ... rarchy.htm

Each level overrides the one to the right.

Assembly Component > Face > Feature > Body > Part

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Looks the import model code has a bug that doesn't update the internal table that holds the appearances values in that tab.

[JSculley]

A technical correction:

That appearance in your picture is applied to the "features" that create the bodies. Not the bodies themselves. If the appearance had been added to the bodies, then the appearance would show up under the bodies folder.

Correct. I've edited my post to clarify.

[SPerman]

I just opened a part from a vendor that I need to make some modifications to. I'm going through the long history tree, figuring out what I can suppress and what needs to stay. There are 2 fans on the end of the unit, with protective grills.

The step cut into the end of the part was duplicated with a linear pattern.

However, the 25 features that create the grill was duplicated for the 2nd grill.

[Glenn Schroeder]

I just opened a part from a vendor that I need to make some modifications to. I'm going through the long history tree, figuring out what I can suppress and what needs to stay. There are 2 fans on the end of the unit, with protective grills.

The step cut into the end of the part was duplicated with a linear pattern.

image.png

However, the 25 features that create the grill was duplicated for the 2nd grill.

image.png

image.png

Maybe someone tried to pattern the grills also, but it didn't work because he or she didn't know to de-select "Features to Pattern" and select "Bodies to Pattern" instead?

[SPerman]

Based on what I am finding in the tree, whoever did the work wasn't very proficient in SW.

[SPerman]

On every single feature, I'm having to change this to "all bodies."

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[Glenn Schroeder]

On every single feature, I'm having to change this to "all bodies."

image.png

It sounds like a fun time. I'm so glad I almost never have to deal with anyone's models other than mine.

[bnemec]

It sounds like a fun time. I'm so glad I almost never have to deal with anyone's models other than mine.

Some of you never have to work with other people's models and it really shows.

[Glenn Schroeder]

Solidworks crashed on me in the middle of working on a drawing a little while ago. I had saved often while working on it, including not long before the crash, but it somehow wiped out everything I had done in the last 3 hours (it crashed around 2:00 pm, but the drawing shows it was last saved at 10:51 am). How's everyone else's Friday going?

I've had very few crashes with SW2023, but this was a bad one.

[AlexB]

Solidworks crashed on me in the middle of working on a drawing a little while ago. I had saved often while working on it, including not long before the crash, but it somehow wiped out everything I had done in the last 3 hours (it crashed around 2:00 pm, but the drawing shows it was last saved at 10:51 am). How's everyone else's Friday going?

I've had very few crashes with SW2023, but this was a bad one.

Are you me? I literally just lost everything I worked on with an assembly from this morning. I clicked save probably 100 times while working for several hours but apparently it wasn't behaving... Not a single thing I did was saved. (2021 here)

[TTevolve]

Solidworks crashed on me in the middle of working on a drawing a little while ago. I had saved often while working on it, including not long before the crash, but it somehow wiped out everything I had done in the last 3 hours (it crashed around 2:00 pm, but the drawing shows it was last saved at 10:51 am). How's everyone else's Friday going?

I've had very few crashes with SW2023, but this was a bad one.

39 minutes till it's a great Friday!

[bnemec]

Solidworks crashed on me in the middle of working on a drawing a little while ago. I had saved often while working on it, including not long before the crash, but it somehow wiped out everything I had done in the last 3 hours (it crashed around 2:00 pm, but the drawing shows it was last saved at 10:51 am). How's everyone else's Friday going?

I've had very few crashes with SW2023, but this was a bad one.

Would be going a lot better if I didn't care. Trying to focus on the positives.

[bnemec]

With the Save File dialog open...

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[TTevolve]

oh man, crashing while saving, that is the worst!

[bnemec]

oh man, crashing while saving, that is the worst!

After 1600 it's a toss, I just leave.

[Damo]

On every single feature, I'm having to change this to "all bodies."

image.png

Interestingly, I am often frustrated that by default this is usually set to "Auto-select." Which generally means All Bodies anyway.
I work with multi-body parts, a lot, and I almost always set a cut extrude to go "Through all." and only select the bodies I wish to apply.
This way, if bodies move because of changes I make, the cut continues through.

Another frustration I find is that when I pattern a cut extrude feature, it is again, by default set to "Auto-select" (Tacitly, All) bodies.
I musy ALWAYS change this setting to apply only to the bodies I require..

[SPerman]

I really hope someone actually reads these things.

[Frederick_Law]

That's circular reference and ZTG.
Of course SW crashed to prevent you from creating a blackhole.

[zwei]

I really hope someone actually reads these things.

image.png

ironically
a lot of the time, the error report crash on me too
so i get two crash from one crash ... wait... is this their one and two?

[Frederick_Law]

That's 2 for 1.

[zxys001]

That's 2 for 1.

or, a Three For..

[jcapriotti]

I really hope someone actually reads these things.

Dassault error report department

[SPerman]

Really. You can't process the other 1934 files because 1 has to be resolved? (PDM Checkin)

[KennyG]

Gotta love stuff like that. And how do you know which one needs to be resolved?

[bnemec]

And how do you know which one needs to be resolved?

Sort by the errors/warnings column, brings them to the top (or bottom).

[zwei]

Still scratching my head around this...

Why did they change the GD&T tool in SW2022?

The amount of mouse click needed in the new tool is just frustrating

Want to change your GD&T? Make sure to double click on the "correct" area
Want to delete or change your datum? Make sure to double click on the correct datum box tool!
Want to change two or more datum? Double click on the first datum, change it, then double click on the second datum, change it, repeat as needed yay!
Accidentally add a datum that is not needed? There is no back button, make two extra step to delete it!

Right click on the feature frame will show u both the rmb menu and gd&t window... because why not?!

[jcapriotti]

Want to change your GD&T? Make sure to double click on the "correct" area
Want to delete or change your datum? Make sure to double click on the correct datum box tool!
Want to change two or more datum? Double click on the first datum, change it, then double click on the second datum, change it, repeat as needed yay!
Accidentally add a datum that is not needed? There is no back button, make two extra step to delete it!

Right click on the feature frame will show u both the rmb menu and gd&t window... because why not?!

Not sure if this changed in 2023 but I only have to double click initially to put it in edit mode. After that, single click in an area activates and allows typing immediately. Seems to work ok although I'd like a picture with some of the menu text to assist selecting the correct option.

There also appears to more options than the old one. My GD&T standards knowledge is rusty, looks like new options have been added such as "Indicators". Also guessing the MBD stuff drove the change as well.

[zwei]

Not sure if this changed in 2023 but I only have to double click initially to put it in edit mode. After that, single click in an area activates and allows typing immediately. Seems to work ok although I'd like a picture with some of the menu text to assist selecting the correct option.

There also appears to more options than the old one. My GD&T standards knowledge is rusty, looks like new options have been added such as "Indicators". Also guessing the MBD stuff drove the change as well.

TIL something... Never thought of clicking it again after the window show up....

[SPerman]

Sometimes Solidworks is too smart for my own good.

If I wanted a hinge constraint, I would have picked a hinge constraint. For some reason SW decides any cylindrical feature should get this constraint. (Kind of like SW thinks all construction lines are centerlines.)

Click me! I'm a GIF.

[CarrieIves]

There isn't a good way to get a list of all the settings for a document or all the settings for a user. We are merging two divisions and I'm looking at our templates vs. theirs to see what is different. At least I have three monitors. An instance of SolidWorks with our template on the first, their template and the second, and the list of differences on the third monitor. (though as I look at some of the differences, I don't know why was have some of the settings we are using.)

[Glenn Schroeder]

Here is one I've run into a few times, but I don't remember if I've posted about it here before. I have the option turned on to allow me to set dimensions as I'm sketching. If the value I enter puts the end of the line, outside diameter of a circle, etc on or close to the location to establish a relation then that relation will override the value I entered and make the dimension driven. That shouldn't happen.

[SPerman]

This is very minor, but....

The symbol to rotate a drawing view points clockwise.

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The number entered in the dialog rotates the view counter clockwise.

I am a GIF.

[bnemec]

This is very minor, but....

The symbol to rotate a drawing view points clockwise.
image.png

The number entered in the dialog rotates the view counter clockwise.

I am a GIF.
rotate.gif

That is irrelevant as long as the icon is aesthetically pleasing and fun to click.

[Glenn Schroeder]

This is very minor, but....

The symbol to rotate a drawing view points clockwise.
image.png

The number entered in the dialog rotates the view counter clockwise.

I am a GIF.
rotate.gif

I'm sure you already know this, but for those who don't, if you enter a negative value it will rotate that much clockwise. I'm not making excuses, by any means, but maybe this will help someone's frustration level.

[JSculley]

This is very minor, but....

The symbol to rotate a drawing view points clockwise.
image.png

The number entered in the dialog rotates the view counter clockwise.

I am a GIF.
rotate.gif

Easy fix. NEVER ROTATE DRAWING VIEWS. I've been using SW since 1997 and have never needed to rotate a drawing view. I have come across drawings by others where rotated drawing views caused various weird problems though.

[SPerman]

Easy fix. NEVER ROTATE DRAWING VIEWS. I've been using SW since 1997 and have never needed to rotate a drawing view. I have come across drawings by others where rotated drawing views caused various weird problems though.

I follow that advice for any view with a child view. But for a single assembly view, with no dimensions, the chances of a problem are pretty low, imo.

[Damo]

One I hate is the suppressing of mates within the assembly when I create new configurations..!!
I cannot seem to get my head around the logic of why this happens, or which components will be affected.
It just feels so random.

[Ronan]

One I hate is the suppressing of mates within the assembly when I create new configurations..!!
I cannot seem to get my head around the logic of why this happens, or which components will be affected.
It just feels so random.

This might help with your confusion.
Check in the configuration properties. See if "check new features and mates" is ticked. The basically controls the suppression of mates when new parts/mates are added in another configuration.

Also if you RMB on a mate and select configure feature you can set the configs. the mate is active/suppressed in.

There is the similar RMB for components

[Glenn Schroeder]

Easy fix. NEVER ROTATE DRAWING VIEWS. I've been using SW since 1997 and have never needed to rotate a drawing view. I have come across drawings by others where rotated drawing views caused various weird problems though.

I've only been using SW since 2009, but I occasionally rotate views. Most of the issues I've heard about involve one user rotating a view, and then another one comes along who isn't aware of it and problems ensue. For all general purposes I'm the only user here, and I haven't had any problems with it, so I don't see any reason to add a view in the model instead.

[SPerman]

There was a problem back in 2017 or 2018 where ordinate dimensions for a child view of a rotated view had vertical and horizontal dimensions swapped.

[SPerman]

Also this (2019 was a disaster of a release, IMO.)

[Uncle_Hairball]

This might help with your confusion.
Check in the configuration properties. See if "check new features and mates" is ticked. The basically controls the suppression of mates when new parts/mates are added in another configuration.
image.png

Also if you RMB on a mate and select configure feature you can set the configs. the mate is active/suppressed in.
image.png

There is the similar RMB for components
image.png

If you create a new configuration, the Suppress new features and mates checkbox will match the configuration that is active when you create the new one.

[DanPihlaja]

Beautiful

[SPerman]

There are 2 things that really bug me when using the "replace component" command in an assembly.

1. I wish I could disable the "missing mate" popup. As often as not, I'm confused on which mate is trying to be repaired, and I make things worse instead of better. Because of that, I typically close the pup up immediately, which usually requires moving other windows out of the way to find the "X".

2. It takes a "maximized" document and un-maximizes it. I can't come up with any reason why this is necessary. I know it pisses me off that I have to go back and re-maximize the window again.

before:

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after:

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[DanPihlaja]

There are 2 things that really bug me when using the "replace component" command in an assembly.

1. I wish I could disable the "missing mate" popup. As often as not, I'm confused on which mate is trying to be repaired, and I make things worse instead of better. Because of that, I typically close the pup up immediately, which usually requires moving other windows out of the way to find the "X".

2. It takes a "maximized" document and un-maximizes it. I can't come up with any reason why this is necessary. I know it pisses me off that I have to go back and re-maximize the window again.

before:
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after:
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Re: #2
I mentioned that to Solidworks one time when I was with them, and they told me that it was a windows thing and not a solidworks thing.

[SPerman]

Re: #2
I mentioned that to Solidworks one time when I was with them, and they told me that it was a windows thing and not a solidworks thing.

I'm calling BS, but even so, you can't keep track of which window was on top and re-maximize it at the end?