SolidWorks tutorial by: Gene DiMonte

Insert Model Items and other Drawing tips (15MB)
(Tip: RMB click the link and choose 'Save Target As..')

Inspiration: The Engineer knows the functional requirements and tolerance information at the time they design their product's components, and are more intimately involved with these 'critical to function' dimensions than anyone else on the planet. At the time of the writing of this presentation, it was still common practice to hand components to drafters to add 'driven' dimensions to the SolidWorks part drawings, and the drafter had to guess this important information (worst case) or interrogate the component's Engineer (inefficient case) to create an appropriate drawing.

All of the information required for the drawing is ideally captured within the features of the part at the time it is originally authored. Using 'insert model items' along with strong design practices during the part modeling stage, the DiMonte Group is able to insure that any Engineer in the organization (even those unfamiliar with the component and its function) can appropriately create a functional detail drawing of components from any other Engineer because the functional dimensions are captured at the part level at the time it's designed.

Hence the original title: 'Create a drawing without even trying'; if the part is modeled correctly, the drawing, from a dimensional and tolerance standpoint, is largely done if the designer knows how to include it when making the SolidWorks part and the drafter is educated on how to pull that information out of the part.

Note: At SolidWorks World 2006 we attended a presentation that, through an informal poll, showed that 50% of the attendees used 'insert model items' to create their drawings. It is good to know that the word is getting out, but we still need to continue posting this presentation until that number becomes 100%.