Need Help!- AUTO CAD TO SOLIDWORKS

[RAGE]

I HAVE NEVER USED SOLID WORKS AND HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS QUESTION I AM ASKING INTAILS. SO HERE IT IS...IS THERE ANYONE THAT CAN CONVERT A COUPLE DWG FILES TO SOLIDWORKS FOR ME? OR IS THIS SOMETHING I CAN DO MYSELF. ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT. X-PLANTION TO ANY OF THIS WOULD BE AWFUL HELPFUL.

THX
CHRIS

[DareBee]

SolidWorks will open a dwg just fine.
What exactly are you trying to accomplish?
Are you in need of making 3D models?
SolidWorks has a good tutorial for ACAD to 3D.
IMO in most cases it is quicker and easier for modeling most parts to start from scratch while looking at the paper drawing in front of you.

[ger21]

Or do you want a 3D AutoCAD drawing converted to Solidworks? You can export an .sat from AutoCAD and import it to Solidworks, but there's no easy way to convert.

[Mike Stevenson]

I agree with Gerry. What I do is to take the wireframes from the ACAD file and create a new solid in SW. Much better that way.

[Tugiyana]

Hi RAGE..
Follow this link and find same video tutorials in this site http://www.teksoft.com/camworks/camw.../CAMWorks.html

[lkiefer]

It will be a huge wast of time trying to import an existing acad file into solidworks. And when you finally do it there will be issues. The best thing to do, and this has already been advised is to start in solidworks from scratch. I have been a solidworks user for nearly 10 years and an acad user for nearly 20 years. Take my advise.

[marcus1]

Open your drawing in autocad and export it to DXF format. Start a new solidworks part file and highlight, for example the front plane on which to create the sketch. Next click insert, DXF/DWG and follow the default prompts and your profiles will be created on the sketch. Open the sketch for editing and clean up (delete) dimension lines, arrows, text and anything else not needed. Verify that a couple of line lengths are correct. If not, you may need to start over after correcting the model units. This is done under the tools tab, options, document properties, units. Once you have the proper profile, close the sketch. If the sketch has no errors, you should be able to insert a boss/base. I just now created a rather complex lathe part by trimming the sketch to the centerline and inserting a boss/base, revolve complete with I.D. and O.D. grooves, end chamfers and all features in about 10 minutes. It's quite easy with a little practice and considerably faster than starting from scratch as some would suggest. Hint: Make it easy on yourself and delete everything you don't need in the acad drawing before you create the DXF but then close the drawing without saving it so there's actually nothing lost.