solidworks - CourseReps/ECEN489-Fall2015 GitHub Wiki

#SolidWorks Solid Works is a CAD program (Computer-Aided Design) that is generally used to design parts and has all the tools you need to do so. The trick is finding the right tool. #History The company SolidWorks was founded in 1993 by MIT grad Jon Hirschtick. They released their first version of SolidWorks in 1995 and in 1997 SolidWorks was sold to Dassault for $310 million.

#Download and installation As a student getting a copy of SolidWorks is quite easy just head to TAMU's software website. It is free and once you have gone through the TAMU website you will receive an e-mail with a link to SolidWorks website to go download and input your student information. #General Uses SolidWorks is a perfect tool for making parts to specifications. Once you have finished making a part you can prototype it easily by exporting your file to a 3-d printer to print it or if you are finished with your part you can also export it to a CNC machine and watch the magic as the CNC machine mills out your part.

#References for use SolidWorks while extremely useful has a bit of a learning curve. The program has a ton of built in tutorials to walk you through how to use each tool and do what you need to. They are located just after you hit new project. They also have a manual that has anything and everything you will use and a lot of stuff you wont.

#Mini Tutorial Once SolidWorks is open in the upper toolbar you can hit new project. This shows you the types of schematics you can make as well as the tutorials button. We are just going to do a simple model. After you have created your project hit sketch in the menu to create a new sketch. There are many tools to draw whatever you want. Once done hit exit sketch and we can go use the extrude tool to give our project some dimension. Those are the bare minimum basics for getting started.