SolidWorks Intro Part 4

REVOLVE

1. Make a new part.
2. Select the Revolved Base feature on the Front Plane.
3. Draw the cross-section of a goblet.
4. Select the midline as the axis of revolution and complete the feature.
5. Apply a large fillet to the spot where the stem meets the cup.
6. Apply smaller fillets to other edges, as desired.

LOFT and SHELL

1. Make a new part.
2. Switch to the Sketch tab and click on "Sketch" to create a naked sketch; put your sketch on the Top Plane.
3. Draw a hexagon centered on the origin.
4. Give the top line of the hexagon the Horizontal property.
5. Dimension the hexagon to a 2 inch diameter.
6. Exit the sketch.

7. Switch to the Features tab.
8. Under Reference Geometry, make a new plane.
9. Open the feature tree in the main window to reveal the existing planes.
10. Specify that your plane is relative to the Top Plane, with an offset of 6 inches.
11. Click OK to complete the plane.

12. Go to the Sketch tab.
13. Click on your new Plane 1.
14. Click on the Sketch button to make a new sketch on Plane 1.
15. Draw a hexagon centered on the origin, concentric with but larger than the earlier one.
16. Give the matching edge the Horizontal property.
17. Dimension the hexagon to a 5 inch diameter.
18. Exit the sketch.

19. Go back to the Features tab and notice that Lofted Base is un-grayed.
20. Select Lofted Base.
21. In the Profiles box, click on the top left point in each of your two sketches.
22. Click OK to complete the loft.

23. Click on Shell in the Features tab.
24. Click on the large hexagon face.
25. Click OK to complete the shell.

26. Right click on Plane1 in the feature manager tree and select Hide.

27. Color the Loft feature, not the whole part.
28. Color the Shell feature a different color.

29. Click on the Section View button and drag the arrow.
30. Click OK to complete the section view.
31. Click the Section View button again to return to a normal view.

32. Save your part as Vase.SLDPRT.

The Flex Tool: TWIST

1. Start with the vase you created in the previous exercise.
2. Click on the Flex feature in the Features tab.
   • If you don't have Flex in your features tab, go to the top pulldown menu and click on Insert, select "Features", and then select "Flex".
3. Notice that Flex can do four different things: twist, bend, taper, or stretch.
4. Click anywhere on the vase.
5. Click on the "Twisting" radio button.
6. The twist axis is shown as a dashed blue line.
7. You can use the triad (three rings) to rotate the twist axis, but you probably don't want to do this.
8. Click on the red trim plane and drag it to apply a twist of about 120 degrees. You can read the twist angle in the parameter box on the left.
9. Click OK to complete the twist action.
10. Edit the feature again and try some other twist values: 180 degrees, and 520 degrees.

The Flex Tool: BEND

1. Create another Flex feature.
   • If you don't have Flex in your Features toolbar, you can add it by selecting Tools from the top pulldown menu, then click on "Customize"; select the "Commands" tab; click on the "Features" menu item; and finally, drag the Flex icon onto the Features toolbar. Then click "OK".
2. Click anywhere on the case.
3. Select the Bending radio button.
4. The bend axis is shown as a dashed red line.
5. Move the bottom trim-plane one third of the way up the vase.
6. Right click on the Triad and select "Move triad to Plane 1" (the bottom plane).
7. Click on the red trim plane and drag it to bend the vase to about 75 degrees.
8. Click OK.
9. If you get a self-intersection error, move the trim plane down or reduce the bend angle.

More Flex Tool

1. Make a new part.
2. Make an extruded base on the top plane.
3. Draw a circle centered on the origin. Dimension the diameter to 0.4 inches and extrude to a depth of 0.1 inches.

4. Create a new Extruded Base on the Top Plane.
5. Draw a 1.5 inch centerline upward from the origin.
6. Draw a diagonal line starting to the left of the origin and extending up and to the left; dimension it to 0.25 inches.
7. Make sure the bottom point of the line is horizontal to the origin.
8. Add a short horizontal line connecting the bottom point of the diagonal line to the origin, and dimension it to 0.05 inches.
9. Dimension the angle between between the diagonal and horizontal lines to 100 degrees.
10. Add a three-point spline whose first point is the top of the centerline, and whose other two points are to the left of the centerline.
11. Snap the bottom point of the spline to the top of the diagonal line.
12. Adjust the spline control points to make a leaf shape.
13. Mirror the spline and the two lines about the centerline.
14. Uncheck the "merge" box and extrude to a depth of 0.1 inches.

15. Add a fillet with radius 0.10 inches to the edge between the vertical line segment and the spline, on either side.

16. Go to Insert > Features and insert a Flex feature.
17. Set the flex type to "bend".
18. Click on the extrusion.
19. To position the bend axis, set the triad y angle to 90 degrees.
20. Move the trim planes in by 0.18 inches so we don't bend the edges of the leaf.
21. Set the bend angle to -120 degrees.
22. Click on the green checkmark.

23. Insert another Flex feature.
24. Set the type to "bend" and click on the extrusion.
25. Move the red trim plane up by 0.19 inches.
26. Right click on the triad and select "Move Triad to Plane 2".
27. Set the bend angle to -120 degrees.
28. Click on the green checkmark.

29. Make a circular pattern. Select "bodies" and select the leaf as the feature to pattern and the edge of the circle as the direction. Set the number of instances to 5.

30. Create a third Flex feature.
31. Set the type to "Stretch".
32. Select all the leaves as bodies to stretch (use shift-click to add each leaf).
33. Set the triad X angle to -90 degrees and the Y and Z angles to zero.
34. Move the green trim plane up so we stretch only the leaf portion, not the stems.
35. Right click on the triad and select "Move Triad to Plane 1".
36. Drag on the red trim plane to stretch the flower a bit.
37. Click on OK to complete the stretch.

38. Color the flower. Color the inner face of each petal a different shade.
39. Save your part as Flower.SLDPRT.

Embossed Text On A Curved Surface

1. We're going to emboss our initials onto one petal of the flower.
2. Go to the Features tab, and under Reference Geometry, click on Plane.
3. Choose as the three reference points the midpoints of the top and two side edges of the petal body.
4. Click OK to complete the reference plane.
5. Make another reference frame offset from the first one by 0.3 inches so it lies outside the back of the petal.
6. With the plane selected, go to the Sketch tab and click the Sketch button to make a new sketch on that reference plane.
7. Draw a horizontal construction line as the baseline for your text.
8. Click on the Text tool.
9. In the Curves box, select the construction line.
10. Type your initials in the Text box.
11. Uncheck the "Use document font" option.
12. Click on the Font button and set the font size to 18 points inches, and the face to Bold.
13. Leave the font name as "Century Gothic". Not all fonts work for embossing, but this one does.
14. Click OK to complete the text object.
15. Adjust the line endpoints as necessary to position the text.
16. Exit the sketch.
17. With the new sketch selected, create a Wrap feature by either doing Insert > Features > Wrap, or by typing "Wrap" in the command search box in the top right corner of the title bar.
18. Set the Wrap Type to Emboss (it's the default).
19. Set the Wrap Method to Spline (second choice).
20. Choose the back of the petal as the body.
21. Set the extrusion depth to 0.05 inches.
22. Click OK to complete the text wrap.
23. Color the wrapped text yellow.
24. Save your part.