Just starting in SolidWorks

[LeeWay]

Hey guys.
New at this. I use Turbocad normally, so some of the terminology is familiar. Some actions are too. That is about it though.

I have watched several video tutorials. Mainly for specific functions.

That is where I actually have any trouble with trying to do something.

I have my part almost completed with threaded holes, correctly placed slots with fillets and chamfers.

I am now attempting to add text to be engraved onto what was not the original drawing plane. I am having trouble placing the text in the right spot as well as orientation.
I found the correct font to use for engraving. Same one I use in Turbocad basically. Just stick figure font.

I also attempted to first reorient the part before adding text.
I seem to be getting errors trying that too.

Both of these tasks are pretty elementary in the scheme of it. That means the tutorials seem to miss that.
Any hints or video links?
Thanks.

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[amish_rabbi]

placing text accurately kind of sucks in solidworks, but if you want to have it centered you need to draw a line or curve for it to follow. Then you can use dimensions like usual to place it/move it around. if you are going to place it based on the left side, no real need for a curve/line to follow

for your sketch, you need a plane, this can be a flat surface of the part, or you need to create a new plane using the reference geometry tools

[LeeWay]

Thanks for the info.
I did try a few guidelines. Looks like that will get me closer.
I did manage to put the intended surface on a plane.
I saw the rotate text tool as well, but it doesn't act on the text as a block, but rather individual letter rotations.
I should be able to get it to work correctly with a guideline or two. Construction lines in Turbocad.
I'll shout back when I get tripped up again and cannot find a specific tutorial.

[LeeWay]

I actually wound up drawing a centerline and applied text with it. Then the paragraph formatting symbols let me place it where it needed to go. Now I am trying to extrude cut for the engraving.

While I think the text tools in TurboCad are pretty fair, they aren't the best I have used. Most Photo and graphics packages excel at text manipulation. Something like that is what I was expecting to see in SW. I am pretty impressed with it otherwise though. Going from an Autocad format to solid modeling is a bit of a learning curve, but the basics of model building came quickly to me in it. Incredible how much faster it is than drawing and connecting stick figures in TC.

[amish_rabbi]

if you just want to single line engrave, using trace in HSM is much easier/faster/better than doing an extrude cut and 2d pocket, but it doesn't help if you want to render the engraving. with a single line you need to do an extrude cut as a thin feature (in the extrude cut feature options) and use the settings there to set your width ect.

solidworks can also use any windows font and it will show up as just the outline, easy to extrude cut and program with a 2d pocket. Alternately I have gotten in the habit of manipulating the text to what I want in illustrator and then exporting it as a DWG, then importing that into solidworks as a sketch.

[LeeWay]

All I ever do on the mill is straight line fonts for putting my logo on a few parts. Not really the logo. It just says "Shark Guard". I put a few letters and numbers on some SS parts I make, but those get done in SheetCam.
TurboCad allows me to nest parts by hand pretty easily,, so would probably stay with it for that machine. Not sure about the ease of nesting 2D drawing in SW. It can't be any easier than TC.
I have V-carve Pro so anything fancy that needs doing with text would be done with it.

I do think SolidWorks is better at placing it on variable surfaces. Then manipulating it afterward. That is pretty cool how it does that. TC can do that too, but definitely more difficult.

Now for HSMXpress,I just got my tools loaded in it yesterday. I am going to have to watch a video or two of it as well. I think I will pick it up quickly though. With my line text placed on the surface of my first part and all the tapped holes in place, HSM is next.

One question. When you use the hole wizard and make tapped holes, will SW actually show the threads? I know that takes up some power,, but just curious.I would imagine you would want that shown in a detailed rendering of a project or assembly instructions for a product.

[amish_rabbi]

That I can't help you with, I never use the hole wizard lol. For some reason I prefer to make all the pattern and pattern features manually

[LeeWay]

I only thought I was ready for some tool pathing.

No matter what I try, I cannot define the text in the part. It stays under defined. Sometimes it just disappears.

I have noticed most of the video tutorials are done on older versions. The same manipulation doesn't happen in 2014. I am thinking it may be this particular font, so will give some others a try.

[cygnus x-1]

One question. When you use the hole wizard and make tapped holes, will SW actually show the threads? I know that takes up some power,, but just curious.I would imagine you would want that shown in a detailed rendering of a project or assembly instructions for a product.

There is a setting in the hole feature where you can show the hole as the drill diameter, the tap diameter, or a cosmetic thread. In the modelling environment I find the cosmetic holes annoying so I normally use tap diameter. This is also helpful when you have tapped holes close to the side of a part or to other features. You can get a idea how much material is left before the threads break through.


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[LeeWay]

I was using the cosmetic tapped hole.

It looks odd when seen from the top. Kinda like there are starter threads showing. I kinda like that part. It differentiates between a bored or tapped hole. I have both in some parts. I haven't tried any render yet, so the threads may show up there.

[LeeWay]

What I was neglecting to do with the text was to put it somewhere. I could not figure out how to get it to stick to the surface. This is what I do in TC. Then decide in CAM what depth to make it.
IN SW, if I extrude it just below the surface, say .001", then it works as it should and will continue forward with the CAM side.

I did see them doing something similar in some of the tutorial videos, but they also used stuff like Wrap and split line and those items were always turned off when I looked.
It will take a little getting used to what it's looking for, but I really like it so far.

[LeeWay]

Here is a link with some info about the stick fonts and perhaps why they act differently than normal fonts.
Stick Font (What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2014)

I cannot get the stick font to extrude or become fully defined.
Next I will try using a regular font and explode it to see what I get. I have a feeling it will not work as expected. Rather how I would like it to.

[cygnus x-1]

Text manipulation in SW is kind of a pain (you would think they would have something better by now). It's best to place it with a line and then constrain the position of the line in the sketch.

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[LeeWay]

That is how I have been doing with regular fonts that will machine the outlines of the fonts. It will take twice as long to machine the simple text that way.
I am not sure that I will even machine my production parts using SW and HSMXpress yet. Just learning the software. I am interested in seeing the HSM tool paths and how that part works on some of my parts. These parts were programmed initially with SheetCam, so kind of rudimentary, but works.
HSM should optimize those types of machining for me.

So, now I know SW needs to work on their text applications. For software like this that is so nice and easy and much faster than Autocad, text just should not be that difficult. Especially since it is so powerful in it's own right for extrusion, wrapping etc. I just knew I was doing something wrong with it or something I wasn't getting, but that isn't the case.

[cygnus x-1]

For machining the text you shouldn't need to extrude it at all. Use the trace tool path and set a negative stock to leave for whatever depth you want. Make sure to set the compensation to "center". With a stick font this should be pretty fast.

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[LeeWay]

Okay. But with that stick figure font just laid on top, it won't let me proceed into CAM. The Sketch stays under defined. I have even imported my solid model from TC with the stick font present on it. The model imports as expected, but the font, even though a series of lines (actually exploded text), still will not allow me to define it further. Odd.

[LeeWay]

The error that I get when trying to use the stick font and defining it is this.

"Extruded cuts require at least one closed or open contour which does not self-intersect"

I am "Not Unlike" misunderstanding what that means?

I take that to mean that is leaving an island that it doesn't like or know what you want to do with it?

[cygnus x-1]

The error that I get when trying to use the stick font and defining it is this.

"Extruded cuts require at least one closed or open contour which does not self-intersect"

I am "Not Unlike" misunderstanding what that means?

I take that to mean that is leaving an island that it doesn't like or know what you want to do with it?

That's why I mentioned not extruding the text. You might get that error. Any chance you could upload your model for me to take a look (or just a simplified example of what you're trying to do)?


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[LeeWay]

Thanks for the offer to look at it.
I am using the Academic version of SW, so I am not sure I can load that file.
Here is a Turbocad rendering though. The red block is what I am making.

[amish_rabbi]

yea easiest is to just use a stick font and the trace function with negative stock. If it doesn't like trace with under defined sketches then just select everything in the sketch and make it fixed (in the show relations area or it will show up when you select the sketch entities). For stuff like text (and splines IMO) using actual dimensions to completely define the sketch is a waste of time.

don't extrude cut it. I just tried to use the OLF stick font and thin extrude isn't supported. so with that font you are SOL on cutting it into the part for a render