Week 2 for SolidWorks
Things you need this week
 Textbook
 flashdrive
What’s going to happen next
 We are going to build a bunch of parts
 You will save these parts to your flash drive
 You don’t need to hand in or show your work for a
couple of weeks, but make sure you save all work
 Get comfortable with the software
Saving your work
 You need a flash drive
 Back up all your files to dropbox (www.dropbox.com)
or google docs or email them to yourself
 Your flash drive will be set to read-only to prevent any
virus-transmission – just re-save over your file
SolidWorks has no auto-save
 SolidWorks has an auto-nag – you will get a reminder
to save your work, but you have to actually hit ‘save’.
Files and Linking in SolidWorks
Solidworks uses different file extensions
Sldprt – part file
Sldasm – assembly file
Slddrw – drawing file
Templates have a different extension –
Sldprtdot
Sldasmdot
slddrwdot
SolidWorks uses Pointers between
files
ASSEMBLY
PART
DRAWING
On your flash drive
Create a folder called SolidWorks class
Underneath that folder create two folders
 One for homework
 One for templates- call it [Your Name] Templates
Refer to Page 1-7 in textbook
All parts, assemblies and drawings should be saved to
the homework folder
All templates should be stored on the templates folder
Today’s Templates
We will be creating two PART templates
One template will be used to make parts with inches
One template will be used to make parts with
millimeters
These files need to be saved to the TEMPLATES folder
They need to be saved AS templates
The TWO MISTAKES STUDENTS
MAKE
 They don’t save their template as a template
 They don’t save it to the right folder
If you do either – you won’t be able to see your template
to use it
You will be using your templates for the entire course – if
you don’t create your templates right you will spend
the entire course fighting with your file settings
Steps to creating a Part Template
 Open a new Part file
 Go to OPTIONS
 Set the UNITS to the desired units – MM or Inches
 Set the precision 0.1 for MM and .12 for Inches
 Set the Drawing Standard to ANSI
 Save as PART-IN.PRTDOT or PART-MM.PRTDOT
 Save to your template folder
Refer to Page 1-35 in textbook
Flight Check List
Create a flight check list to start every SolidWorks
session
As soon as you boot up SolidWorks:
1) Go to Options
2) Add your templates folder to the list of templates
available in the Document Templates list
Refer to Page 1-33 in textbook
As the class progresses, your flight check list will get
longer
If you don’t see your templates…
 Did you add the correct folder to the templates search
path using OPTIONS?
 Did you save your template file as a TEMPLATE?
(*.prtdot)
 Did you save your template file to the correct folder?
Today’s Tasks for Class
 Get flash drive set-up
 Create two part templates
 Create our first part – The Plate (in the textbook)
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAND ANYTHING IN FOR A
COUPLE OF WEEKS – BUT YOU WILL NEED ALL
PARTS WE ARE MAKING TO CREATE DRAWINGS
SO SAVE YOUR WORK!