SolidWorks Surface Design Basics – SolidWorks Tutorials for Beginners -part 2

In our previous post on this topic, we were solving a small problem regarding the creation of simple surfaces.

The question was as follows: “I’ve used the 3D sketch tool to create 2 joined triangles. One is on the top plane, and the other is on the front plane. The two triangles share a line. I want to convert them into two triangle surfaces. How can I do this?”

Like all design and engineering work, there are many ways to navigate this conundrum and solve this problem. What I’m going to do is create two more sketches, and copy the geometry into my first two sketches. I’ll start by inserting a sketch on the top plane.  Right-click on the top plane and then select the Sketch icon.

SolidWorks Surface Design Tutorials Basics – new sketch

Fig 07 – Create a new sketch on the front plane.

Now we’re going to convert some entities from our previous sketches into active geometry for this sketch. We do this with the Convert Entities tool. Activate the Convert Entities tool with a left-click and select the three lines of our first sketch, then click Accept in the tool property manager.

SolidWorks Surface Design Tutorials Basics – Convert Entities

Fig 08- The convert entities tool.

Now we’ll be able to create a planar surface easily!  But first, let’s try an experiment. In order to create the second triangle, I can also use the Split Entity tool. It’s located under Tools > Sketch Tools > Split Entities.

SolidWorks Surface Design Tutorials – split entities tool

 Fig 09- The split entities tool is located under Tools > Sketch Tools > Split Entities.

I’ll split this line as follows. Then I’ll grab this point you see below and snap it to where you see, below.

SolidWorks surface design tutorials for beginners – split line property manager

Fig 10- The split line property manager.

I’m actually going to undo these last two actions (using the keyboard shortcut CTRL-Z); I just wanted to show you how you could use the split line tool here instead. But let’s exit the sketch and get on with our second sketch.

SolidWorks tutorials surface design for beginners – save & exit your sketch

Fig 10- Exit the sketch.

So, let’s continue, and insert a second sketch, on the front plane:

Fig 11- Our second sketch, on the front plane.

SolidWorks surface design tutorials for beginners – new sketch

Then activate the Line Tool. Let’s sketch a triangle with a series of three lines that are coincident to the one beneath–so in effect, I’ve just replicated the triangle. 

SolidWorks surface design tutorials for beginners – second sketch

Fig 12- The second triangle.

Let’s exit the sketch by clicking in the confirmation corner (to save our work and exit). Then we’re back to the Surfaces tab. I’ll hide the 3D sketch by right-clicking and clicking on the Show/Hide icon (it’s the glasses).

SolidWorks surface design tutorials for beginners – hide the sketch

Fig 14 – Click the glasses button to hide the 3D sketch.

Now, activate the Filled Surface tool. Select Sketch 1, click Accept. Activate the tool again. This time, select Sketch 2, and click accept. 

SolidWorks surface design tutorials for beginners – Filled Surface Tool

Fig 15- The Filled Surface property manager. Creating our second Fill-Surface feature.

Take a look at the feature manager design tree–we’ve now got two surface bodies.

SolidWorks surface design tutorials for beginners – two Surface-Fill features.

Fig 16- Both the surface-fill features appear in the tree now.

They are Surface Fill 1 and Surface Fill 2. We’re going to knit these together. Activate the Knit Tool.

SolidWorks surface design tutorials for beginners – the Knit tool.

Fig 17- The knit tool – select both our surface-fill features to create a single surface body.

Select our surface bodies. Click accept.  Now we have a single surface.

SolidWorks surface design tutorials for beginners – one surface body now

Fig 18- Now we have a single surface body in the tree–the knit feature.

Thanks for taking the time to learn via these SolidWorks tutorials for beginners. I hope this was helpful and I look forward to answering more of your questions.

For a video tutorial of this html SolidWorks Surface Design tutorial, please visit our youtube channel at www.youtube.com/videotutorials2.

Here is the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCu9GWDqNpU&list=PLx-VY2mDlK2EHvtjEtTc64lT7FpqnkN3a&index=5

If you’re interested in our Surface Design tutorials and SolidWorks tutorials, which start at a beginner level and takes you through intermediate-advanced level surface design with many real-life projects, please visit this page: https://www.video-tutorials.net/shop/solidworks-video-tutorials/solidworks-video-tutorial-surface-design-modeling/. Don’t forget to enter “march” in the shopping cart at checkout to save 25%!

Thanks, Rosanna www.video-tutorials.net