Ricky Jordan's Blog - Latest Comments

Re: SolidWorks Tip: Area/Hatch

Kyle Lee Tulk — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 17:25:23 -0000

images are very small and blurry, content is great though I was able to make the region method work

Re: The SolidWorks Secret Weapon: The Wrap Tool

Gary — Sat, 20 Apr 2019 06:02:28 -0000

I am trying to wrap a freehand wavey sketch (like a tentacle) around a rotated non analytical bottle neck shape - that is it over a section that has a line and arc on the neck. The tentacle wrap about 1.5 turns around the neck … any suggestions?

Re: DraftSight – FREE 2D For ALL

Tiffany Melton — Mon, 21 May 2018 14:42:33 -0000

im new to draftsight my company uses it for our 3D drawings for machine parts, our customers are under a privacy right so we use customer numbers, im having a hard time using the "bomb" tool icon to take away/cut certain names off our drawings for quotes, can you please better explain how to use the bomb feature for cutting out names, etc. on our drawings?! TIA

Re: The SolidWorks Secret Weapon: The Wrap Tool

Mohamed A. Elsayed (Abo Elsaye — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 03:35:46 -0000

SW programmers didn't enhance the tool yet.

Re: Mouse for SolidWorks?

dual mouse — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 10:39:30 -0000

The Solidworks is really effective to us. When it comes to mouse brand, this is really one that gives us efficient features. Good thing that you have posted some features of this new Logitech MX500. What an amazing features.

Re: Reinventing CAD – Where are we headed? – Part 3

Ryan — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 16:37:47 -0000

Rickey-
Thanks for the article.
There is one big concept, that I feel, you missed in this posting. These days, hardware is not the limiting factor and truly neither is multi-threading. The real issue is that most of the CAD packages are still using history-based (linear) solving of data. You are not going to get multi-threading when you have to solve geometry in designated chucks and in a specific order. You have to get rid of history. Now, that should scare the crap out of the vast majority of CAD users! "What how can I design and be precise and ensure my design doesn't update incorrectly?" Easy, because you told the system to only edit specific faces- so that's what it does.
Now, I am NOT advocating direct editing. Mainly because most people think they know what that terms means but when questioned they can't explain it correctly. Now I am an advocate of synchronous technology! And here again, most people can't explain that either. When you talked about new CAD I was hoping you were going to cover Solid Edge and synchronous technology. :-)

Re: Part Numbers and Configurations

nagashetty.k — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 13:43:07 -0000

your correct PLM data base one of the best tool which used for controlling the company data structure, like Product BoM configuration, rivisions if modification required. new drawing and related BoM creation. new parts replacing in assembly bom etc. can be easly do.

Re: Part Numbers and Configurations

nagashetty.k — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 13:37:36 -0000

Keep 11 digit drawing and part number, say example drawing no: xxxxxxP0001 Rev A and part No: XXXXXXP0001 Rev 001. if anything modification required then drawing and part can be revised or cloned.

Re: Reinventing CAD – Where are we headed? – Part 3

Richard Williams — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 20:56:39 -0000

I know you are too well rounded out as an Engineer and also very well experienced to not see the advantage of having a "Cloud Server" on premises. Here is a hypothetical question. How many times do you collaborate with someone on the other side of the world? Would that person be part of the company or just another designer or engineer you want input from? How many times does that happen. I can see it in the future when we start colonizing the Martian land scape. But right now there is a lot of attention being drawn to the "Cloud" computing for ease of just about everything. You are ahead of most others Ricky. You and I both see some holes in this "Cloud" thingy where the sun shines through. :) Take care my friend.

Re: Reinventing CAD – Where are we headed? – Part 3

Ricky Jordan — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 16:32:06 -0000

Hey Richard,

That's exactly what I was referring to in the article when I spoke about the server on premise. Companies doing server based CAD "could" make the cloud based software available for on premise installations. Offsite "Cloud Servers" are not going to be for everyone. If it ever came around - It would likely be trailing once a good performance cloud server comes into the field.

Ricky

Re: Reinventing CAD – Where are we headed? – Part 3

Corporal Willy — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 09:22:19 -0000

I'm still leery about anything leaving the computer or company's location to be stored and worked on in a remote location which could be on the other side of the world. Intellectual property rights could be compromised or even unavailable with an earthquake, huge storm, or even some sort of terrorist action. Yes I am stretching those points out but things like hacking do occur don't they? One of my engineer friends told me about her fellow workers being sent home because of the non availability of the off premise "Cloud" server.
Can we take this point or reason for the need of power computing a little further. Let me paint the scenario. A high tech company doing a mixed bag of Government and Private contracts where they have a large team of designers and engineers working on these different projects. The demand for more processing power is not always at 100% of the possible demand available but many times during the day there is a genuine need for such processing power. If the "Cloud" has such an excess of processing power why can't that "Cloud" be brought down to earth and installed in a special room that has "Local" access? I am not talking about remote storage. That is my two cents worth.

Re: My CAD Blog – Then and Now

gale — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 14:31:35 -0000

Yea, good news. I enjoy reading your posts.

Re: Reinventing CAD – Where are we headed? – Part 2

Corporal Willy — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 09:20:24 -0000

Here I am at a disadvantage. I do not work using SolidWorks or any other MCAD program in a collaborative way. I'm more of a self contained designer, tester and builder of my crazy ideas. I only deal in School Science Projects and I am getting quite good at doing that. However, I do believe in the importance of a collaborative effort in getting a product or creation ready for testing and or marketing. Time is of the essence as lawyers like to say but I would put a caveat here. I'm old enough to have seen plenty of cases where new was not actually better but just different. Rushing to the pretty white puffy 'Cloud' to promote easier collaboration often overlooks the dark threatening storm "Clouds" that are all over the world. I read somewhere that there is a lightning strike somewhere on the earth every second in time. So 'Cloud Collaboration' as a future way of working with others that are away from your own company, area or desktop, is and should be investigated but it needs to be done systematically and safely. Those lightning strikes could be considered the Hackers out there that would rather steal intellectual property then produce it themselves. There is no data on this question, but I wonder if that has already and successfully been done? Fingerprints along with Retina scans and special passwords could be set up for "ULTRA" top secret, extremely sensitive, important data. Am I over exaggerating this a bit? Think of this. The USA could be brought to a standstill if the wrong people get inside of its internet connected infrastructure and bring it down. Countries around the world are putting all of their eggs into this one basket. Ok, I already said too much here.

Re: Reinventing CAD – Where are we headed? – Part 1

Corporal Willy — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 09:57:17 -0000

Absolutely Spot On! I agree 100% in what you said about "CAD in the Cloud." If you were working on a very important project with a team spread out in the world and a storm is in the area and it knocks out some poles or structures with a bolt of lightning, there goes the day or maybe a couple of days. Not all communication lines are buried underground and is that safe from earthquakes? We have all experienced down times due to connectivity problems. So if there is going to be a safe and reliable "CAD in the Cloud" they are going to have to address it before trying to push it down the throats of those that collaborate on 'rush or sensitive' projects. Even the Federal Government Computers are not safe from Hackers. The way I protect my most important computers is to unplug them from the network and internet. Then a lot of updates are not necessary when you are not worried about intrusions into your most private spaces with sensitive information. Instead of having all computers connected to the "outside" you really need only one or two in a small company. Thumb drives can 'walk' information going out to the "Cloud" to that computer connected to it, like you would mail a letter. Sorry for being so verbose here, but it is a subject I have written about also. New is not always better and I'm simply not convinced yet.

Re: SolidWorks 2008: Inserting and Mirroring Parts

Ricky Jordan — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 20:00:23 -0000

I just tried this in SW 2017 Beta and I get the Break link option. Here is what I did: Open a part. Select the plane I want the mirror part to be mirrored about. Select Insert->Mirror Part from the pull down menu. What version of SW are you running?

-Ricky

Re: SolidWorks 2008: Inserting and Mirroring Parts

SDP — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 10:09:21 -0000

i'm not getting "BREAK the link to the original file" option when i try to create mirror part. is there any specific reason?

Re: My CAD Blog – Then and Now

Corporal Willy — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 09:34:35 -0000

It is great to have you back. I really mean that. The information I have gotten from your blogging helped me to learn this SolidWorks program well enough that I could finally teach it at the Community College that helped a lot of others get certified. Whatever you write about I will be interested in. There are only a handful of people that have blogs that I signed up for. Yours is one of them. Good luck on the new kick off. Bye,

Re: The SolidWorks Secret Weapon: The Wrap Tool

Ricky Jordan — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 19:25:15 -0000

Stay tuned this fall...some of the questions you left in your comment may have answers soon.

-Ricky

Re: The SolidWorks Secret Weapon: The Wrap Tool

Nguyen — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 18:01:59 -0000

Hi Ricky,
Thanks for the trick. I have another question that I'd like to ask: Do you know how to wrap a multiple curves (texture pattern) onto to multiple - non planar or cylindrical - surfaces?

Re: SolidWorks 2013: Mass Properties

Eyal siryon — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 02:28:04 -0000

I have just noticed that using over ride mass causes wrong calculation of moment of inertia at the assembly level. it seems that the component with one of the ever ride options checked is being ignored in the calculations

Re: Part Numbers and Configurations

Peter Truitt — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 11:13:02 -0000

In my opinion, controlling designs and design configurations is much different than controlling inventory. Designs can be archived, restored, sold, transferred to China and then come back, built by this subcontractor or by another. A good design package should be able to handle that sort of thing. With computers, the best way to relate design documents to items in inventory is to use a database that link them when the time is between a start date and an end date.

Re: SolidWorks 2013 on a Tablet?

Bryon Miller — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 11:08:18 -0000

Holy Crap! A practical tablet that I could actually use for something productive! I don't care about netflix streaming to a tablet, I hate typing on a tablet, I bought a galaxy 10.1 tab when it came out and the only thing I use it for is a password manager for the sites I log onto using my desktop. I use my desktop to do Solidworks Designs for my 3d printer. If I could use SW on a tablet, so long as the interface didn't totally suck, I'd actually use the tablet when I left the house. Of course this all depends on the performance compared to my I7 w/ 16gb ram. I suspect I'll be able to start something on the tablet and complete it on the desktop, but not so much the other way around....

Re: SolidWorks Tip: Converting Drawing Views

ved — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 07:57:30 -0000

and also thanks a lot for the video! :)

Re: SolidWorks Tip: Converting Drawing Views

Ved — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 07:56:38 -0000

very helpful!

Re: SolidWorks 2013: Mass Properties

solidworks edrawing viewer — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 04:44:30 -0000

Most will wait for Solidworks to give them the tools in a way that is “Solidworks simple".