It is important for designers and engineers to be able to explain their 3D models to other teams or manufacturers. This could be for the purpose of reviewing the design at hand or manufacturing it. In this chapter, we will learn how to use SOLIDWORKS' drawing tools to do that. We will cover how to generate simple drawings with orthogonal views, how to communicate dimensions and drawing information, and how to export drawings as shareable images or PDFs.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to generate simple engineering drawings to explain your design to individuals or groups that are not SOLIDWORKS users. You will also be able to produce drawings that can be used for manufacturing, documentation, and archiving.
In this chapter, you will need to have access to the SOLIDWORKS software.
The project files for this chapter can be found at the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Learn-SOLIDWORKS-Second-Edition/tree/main/Chapter10.
Check out the following video to see the code in action: https://bit.ly/3m3UOvQ
In practice, whenever we want to create a drawing in SOLIDWORKS, the first thing we will do is open up a new SOLIDWORKS drawing file. This will have a different format than parts and assemblies. In this section, we will learn how to open a drawing file. This will be our first step when we start working with SOLIDWORKS drawings. To open a new SOLIDWORKS drawing file, follow these steps:
Tip
You can press Ctrl + N on the keyboard for a shortcut to open a new file.
This will open the following sheet and interface. We will be working with this throughout this chapter:
In the rest of this chapter, we will work together to create a simple engineering drawing and export it as a PDF file so that it can be shared. In order to follow along, make sure that you download the SOLIDWORKS part file that comes with this chapter. The following figure shows the drawing we'll have by the end of this chapter:
Now that we know how to open a SOLIDWORKS file, we need to generate the standard orthographic views and isometric projection for our model.
The drawing views that we will use the most for our drawings are orthographic and isometric. These views are the simplest to interpret. In this section, we will create a drawing file and input orthographic and isometric views into it. We will also cover the scales and display styles for our drawing. We will start by selecting our targeted model. Then, we will create and adjust the views so that we can coordinate our ideas.
SOLIDWORKS' drawing tools are based on parts or assemblies that have already been modeled. A drawing file will be linked to the parts or assemblies it communicates with. Thus, after opening a drawing file, our first step is to select the part or assembly file that we want to include in the drawing. Throughout this practical exercise, we will use the following model to create the drawing. To follow along, download the model that's linked to this chapter:
To start drawing, follow these steps:
This will open a link between our part and our drawing file. Next, we will generate our orthographic and isometric views.
Once we've selected the model from the model view, we can automatically input our orthographic and isometric views. Note that orthographic views are third-angle projections. After generating the third-angle orthographic projections, we will cover how to change them into first-angle projections. To generate the orthographic views, we can follow these steps:
Note
This is a dynamic way of inputting orthographic and isometric views. If we move the mouse in any direction, we will notice that the view changes. These additional views are referred to as projected views.
At this point, we should have a few orthographic views, as well as an isometric view, in our drawing canvas. Before we make further adjustments to our drawing views, we need to address how to change our orthographic projections from third-angle to first-angle and vice versa. In addition, we will address some principles that are related to our initial views, that is, parent and child views, another way we can insert views, and how to delete views. We will start by learning about parent and child views.
The orthographic projections made earlier in this exercise were third-angle projections. However, you might be requested to produce drawings in first-angle projections. If that is the case, we can simply change the projection style to match the requirements. To adjust the projection style, follow these steps:
Once the changes are applied, the existing views will switch from being third-angle projections to first-angle projections. The same procedure can be followed to change the projection type from a first angle to a third angle. Now, we can move on to exploring other drawing principles, starting with the parent and child views.
Note that in the preceding drawing, the right, top, and isometric views were created based on the front view. As such, we can understand the front view as the parent view of all the other views that it inspired in terms of their creation. The following figure highlights the parent view and child view of the drawings we just created. This allows us to propagate changes to more than one view at a time. When we move the parent view, we will see that all the child orthographic views move with it. Also, when changing aspects, such as the drawing scale in the parent view, they will be copied to all the child views:
By default, child views will copy the features of the parent view. However, we can stop this from the drawing view's property manager. Next, we will explore another way of adding views: by using the View Palette.
Other than adding views via the model view feature, we can add separate views more flexibly via the View Palette. We can access the View Palette via the Task Pane on the right-hand side of the screen. If the Task Pane is not visible, you can display it by clicking on View | User Interface | Task Pane, as shown in the following screenshot:
Now that we have the Task Pane visible, we can use it to insert views via the View Palette. To do it, we can follow those steps:
Using the View Palette to add views provides us with a quicker way to directly drag and drop specific drawing views from the side of the interface. The current view represents the last part of the orientation in the original .SLDPRT file. Next, we will learn how to delete views.
Often, we may input a drawing view and decide to delete it later. For example, after inserting the trimetric view, which we did earlier, we came to the conclusion that it adds no value; thus, we would like to delete it. There are two methods we can follow when it comes to deleting a drawing view:
This concludes the two common methods we can follow to delete a certain view from our drawing's canvas.
In this section, we have added orthographic and isometric views to our drawing file. However, note that we still have lots of empty space in our drawing sheet, which means we can make our drawing views larger. We will address the drawing scale and display in the next section.
With SOLIDWORKS drawings, we also have the option of adjusting the size of our displayed view and what it looks like. In this part, we will continue working on our drawing by adjusting both the size and the display style.
When we input the drawing views into the drawing sheet, SOLIDWORKS automatically sets a certain suitable scale for our drawing. The scale refers to the size of the drawing as it's displayed in the drawing sheet. Regardless of the drawing that's displayed, we can change it. To highlight how we can change the drawing scale, we will adjust the scale for the front view (a parent view) and the isometric view (a child view).
To change the drawing scale for the front parent view for our drawing, follow these steps:
Note
After changing to the new scale, the views are very small in relation to the drawing sheet. It would be better if we were to enlarge the scale more.
Note that there is no right or wrong scale. The best way to find the best scale is to try different ones until you are satisfied with the size and proportion of your drawing views. Now that we've looked at the parent view, we will learn about changing the scale of a child view.
To change the drawing scale of the isometric child view, we can follow the same steps that we followed for the front view. However, there is one slight difference. Follow these steps to change the scale:
Tip
You can move the views around by clicking and holding the left mouse button. We usually do this to arrange our views.
Now, we have the final scale for our drawing set. However, before we move on to adjusting the display, let's talk about the scale ratios that are provided within SOLIDWORKS.
In the drawing we created earlier, we had two scales: 1:2 and 1:1. Let's take a look at what the first and second numbers refer to:
Now, let's put these two numbers together. If we were to manufacture the actual object and print the drawing sheet for our model, we would notice the following:
Now that we understand the scaling ratio and how to adjust our scales, we can start learning about the different displays and how to adjust them.
Apart from the drawing view scale, we can also adjust how the drawing is displayed. There are five different displays we can use with our drawing views. These are highlighted in the following table and relate to the isometric view we have in our previous drawing:
To change the display of our isometric view to one of the ones shown in the preceding table, follow these steps:
Similar to drawing scales, there is no right or wrong view. It all depends on us as designers and draftsmen. We have to make the best decision when it comes to which view communicates our message the best.
So far, we have our drawing views, along with our desired display style, in our drawing canvas. These are used to communicate the shape of the model. Next, we will learn how to communicate dimensions in the drawing sheet.
Now that we have different views in our drawing sheet, we can start adding information so that we can communicate the different elements of our drawing. In this section, we will cover how to add dimensions to our views and how to add different annotations, such as centerline and hole callout, to communicate our drawing in a clearer way. Having dimensions in our drawings is often necessary since we are often designing physical products. Dimensions help us communicate the size of our objects. Other annotations, such as centerline, notes, and hole callout, help us communicate the specifications of holes, centers of circles, and general notes we want to convey to whoever is viewing our drawing. We will start by learning how to display numerical dimensions using the Smart Dimension tool.
The Smart Dimension tool allows us to easily display dimensions in our drawings. We will continue working with our previous drawing and add the selected dimensions to our drawing sheet. We will add the dimensions that are highlighted in the following drawing:
To add dimensions, follow these steps:
This concludes how we can use the Smart Dimension tool in drawings. In addition to dimensioning line lengths and circle diameters, we can also dimension angles or any distance between two selected points.
Note
Using the Smart Dimension tool within drawings doesn't change the dimensions of the model. By default, it will display the dimension set in the 3D model itself.
If we mistakenly input a dimension we don't want, we can delete it. To delete a dimension, we can do one of two things:
Now that we have our drawing views dimensioned, we can start inputting additional annotations to make it easier for others and ourselves to understand the drawing. In the next section, we will input centerlines, notes, and the hole callout.
In addition to dimensions, we can further clarify our drawings by adding additional annotations, such as centerlines and notes. SOLIDWORKS drawings provide an array of annotations we can use. However, we will only be covering the following in this section:
As the name suggests, centerlines highlight the center of drawing entities. They can highlight the center between two lines. In the drawing we created earlier, we will add the following centerline, which is highlighted in the right-hand view:
To add a centerline, follow these steps:
This concludes how we can generate a centerline in SOLIDWORKS drawings. Centerlines can make it easier to interpret parts and design intents from drawings by indicting a central location between any two lines in the drawing.
Tip
We can extend the centerline as needed by dragging one end of it in a certain direction.
Next, we will address center marks.
Center marks mark the center of circles, fillets, and slots to make them easier to identify when evaluating a drawing. The following figure indicates a center mark of a circle:
To add a center mark, follow these steps:
The Center Mark PropertyManager also has the option to auto-insert a center mark in our drawing views. This can save us time if we intend to add center marks to all circles, fillets, and slots. The Auto Insert option is highlighted in the Center Mark PropertyManager in the following screenshot:
Tip
You can have SOLIDWORKS insert center marks automatically with holes, fillets, and slots as you are inserting the drawing views. To enable this, you can go to Tool | Options | Document Properties | Detailing. Then, under the Auto insert on view creation title, you can check the options for center marks. This can save you time and effort if you are inserting center marks all the time.
Next, we will learn how to add notes to our drawings.
Notes are text indications that we can add to our drawings to highlight any specific aspect of it. We can understand it as an open text box for us to write anything that we are trying to convey. To highlight how can we use notes, we will add the indicated notes to the following drawing.
To add a note, follow these steps:
Tip
While inputting a note, if we move the cursor toward lines in the drawing, SOLIDWORKS will automatically generate an arrow pointing toward that location for the note.
This concludes how can we add notes to our drawing. Next, we will learn how to use the hole callout command with holes.
The hole callout feature allows us to easily present information related to a particular hole in our model. This information includes the diameters of the hole, the length of the hole, and any standards related to the creation of the hole. To demonstrate this feature, we will use it on the hole shown in the right-hand view of our drawing. Note that the following figure also highlights the difference between the normal Smart Dimension we used earlier and the Hole Callout feature:
To add a hole callout, follow these steps:
Note that in this example, the information that's linked to the hole is its depth, marked as THRU, which indicates that the hole goes through all the models. If the hole has more information linked to it, such as a different hole type, it will be displayed within the callout as well, as shown in the following drawing:
This concludes how we can use a hole callout. At this point, our drawing has all the required views, display types, dimensions, and annotations. Next, we will learn how to adjust the information block, which contains information that's relevant to us, such as its name, number, company, and designer.
In this section, we will cover how to edit the information block that's located at the bottom of our drawing sheet. This information block displays information such as material, mass, drawer, reviewer, and drawing number. The information block in our current drawing is highlighted with a red box in the following screenshot. We will cover how to edit the existing information and how to add new information to the block:
Now that we know what an information block is, we can start adjusting it.
In this exercise, we will make the following edits:
To edit the information in the sheet, follow these steps:
The output is shown in the following screenshot:
Tip
When in editing mode, we can modify the location of a text box by dragging it.
This concludes how we can edit information in our drawing information block. However, we've only learned how to edit existing information. Next, we will learn how to add new information boxes to the information block.
In addition to editing information and filling in existing text boxes, we can also add new text boxes to our information block. In this exercise, we will add the following text under COMMENTS: This drawing was a practice.. To do this, follow these steps:
This concludes how to add additional text to our drawing information block. At this point, our drawing is complete for the purpose of this exercise. You can always add more edits and information to the information block to meet your requirements.
To share the drawing with other individuals, especially if they don't have access to SOLIDWORKS, we will need to export the drawing as an image or PDF so that they can view it. We will learn how to do this next.
Now that we've completed creating a drawing with SOLIDWORKS' drawing tools, we need to export it as a PDF or image file so that we can share it with individuals who don't have access to SOLIDWORKS. This is what we'll do in this section. First, we will export the drawing as a PDF file, and then as an image.
To export a drawing as a PDF file, follow these steps:
This concludes how to save the drawing sheet as a PDF file. Next, we will learn how to export it as an image.
Exporting the drawing as an image is similar to exporting the drawing as a PDF. Follow these steps to do so:
This concludes how to save the drawing sheet as an image. We can now share our drawings with others as an image or a PDF. These formats can be accessed by larger groups of people without them needing access to special software such as SOLIDWORKS.
Note that, throughout this chapter, we have focused on generating a drawing to communicate a SOLIDWORKS part. However, the same principles apply when communicating an assembly.
Engineering drawings are what engineers and designers use to communicate their designs to other parties, such as manufacturers. SOLIDWORKS provides us with comprehensive tools that we can use to generate those drawings. In this chapter, we learned how to input the most basic drawing views, that is, orthographic and isometric views. Then, we learned how to adjust the drawing scale and display style for a particular view. After that, we learned how to add dimensions and different annotations, such as centerlines and hole callouts. Finally, we learned how to adjust the information block and export the drawing as an image or PDF file.
The skills we learned about in this chapter allow us to communicate our designs to external entities. Drawings present the link between us as SOLIDWORKS users and others who don't have access to or expertise in the software. This is what makes the topics in this chapter important.
In the next chapter, we will discuss how to add a Bill of Materials (BOM) to our drawings to highlight the different parts that are used in an assembly.
Answer the following questions to test your knowledge of this chapter:
Important Note
The answers to the preceding questions can be found at the end of this book.