For your first lesson we'll start off with the basics. After this lesson you should know some basic techniques of CAD modeling and begin to understand the Solidworks interface. You might also be hungry, if we do a good job with our donut!

1. Start with a new part (File, New, Ctrl+N)
   
   
2. Click the ‘Extrude Boss/Base’ button
   
   
3. Now we will need to select a plane – TOP
1. If you hover over a plane, it will be outlined in red
2. Clicking on this plane will select it – if you make a mistake, we can exit the sketch and start over
   
   
4. The window will rotate to the top view, centered on the origin
   
   
5. Click on the ‘circle’ tool on the sketch toolbar
   
   
6. Click on the origin, then click again outside of the origin
1. While you are moving the mouse, you will see the circle being created
2. We will set the size later on
   
   
7. Now make another larger circle using the same technique.
   
   
8. Now our sketch is created, but we should put sizes on.
1. Locate the ‘smart dimension’ button on the dimensions toolbar
2. Click this, then click the inner circle
3. Drag your mouse away to see the different dimensions (diameter)
4. Click again to set the diameter
   i.      You can drag this dimension around at any point in time

9. BEFORE you put a value in, let’s get a dimension between the two circles
1. Find the “Smart Dimension” button on the toolbar and click on it.
2. Select both circles, one after the other – order doesn’t matter here.
3. Do this first so the inner dimension remains the inner circle.                                                              i.      Your initial drawing scale may be off enough that this matters.
4. We could get have used the offset dimension
   i.      Useful for more complex geometries

10. Set this to 1 inch.
1. SW will automatically convert dimensions for you if you are using the suffix (mm, inches, etc.)
2. You can change the mode (for this document) by going to tools (menu), options (menu), document properties (tab), then units (list), choose IPS
11. Now double-click on the first dimension, and set it to 1.0 inches
12. We will now click the “exit sketch” button to get the Extrusion options dialog
1. Type 1” for the height of the extrusion – the direction doesn’t matter
2. Click the Green Check (okay button)
13. You should now have a washer shaped 3D object – you can zoom, rotate, and scale the viewport (dimensions are constrained)
14. Let’s make a donut – click on the fillet button (rounded corner)
    a. Set the radius to 0.5” (1/2”); select both the top and bottom edge inside & outside edge of our model (4 selections).
    i. The inside and outside faces could also be selected (2 selections)
    b. Click the green check mark.

14. Now we have a donut!
1. You can set the color or texture
2. We can take a bite out of it….but that’s another lesson!

We could have made this several different ways – you could have made a cylinder, and cut a hole in the middle, then filleted. You could have started with a square and rounded the corners, cut out a hole, and then filleted. In general, the more you do with a sketch, the more efficient your model is.

Labels: 3d modeling, CAD, CAD lesson, donut, SolidWorks

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 7:50 AM.