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Contents

• Force a Rebuild (Ctrl-Q)
• Switch Between Open Documents (Ctrl-Tab)
• Collapse Feature Tree (Shift-C)
• Midplanes
• Don't use "fix"
• Mouse Gestures
• Keyboard Commands
• Width Mate

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Force a Rebuild (Ctrl-Q)

Whenever a something looks wrong with a model hit Ctrl-Q. This is by default bound to "force rebuild" which means it will make SOLIDWORKS rethink the model.

Some common uses:

• Things showing as under defined when they shouldn't be
• Unexpectedly broken mates
• Models not updating when features or mates are changed.

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Switch Between Open Documents (Ctrl-Tab)

Use Ctrl-Tab to quickly switch between open models. Hitting Ctrl-Tab and releasing will switch to the last open model. Holding down Ctrl opens this window where you can hit Tab to cycle through all the open models or click the one you want.

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Collapse Feature Tree (Shift-C)

This command collapses all the items in the feature tree. Great when working with assemblies and you have to start scrolling in the feature tree.

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Midplanes

Always use the "from midplane" option when making the first extrusion of a part. This automatically gives you a midplane which can make mating things in assemblies easier. If you center the first sketch around the origin you can start with up to 3 midplanes.

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Don't use "fix"

Never use the "fix" option to lock a part or assembly in place when making an assembly. Instead use coincident mates between the reference planes (front, right, top) of the component and the assembly. This ensures that all the standard view orientations are correct and makes it easier to import the assembly into other assemblies.

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Mouse Gestures

Mouse gestures are a great way to speed up how you use SOLIDWORKS. The setup for mouse gestures is shown below. For each file type you set up a wheel with commands. When you are modeling hold down right click to bring up the wheel and drag you curser in a direction to select the command you want. As you get more familiar with you mouse gestures you can quickly select commands without looking at the wheel. This lets you focus on the model when using common commands rather than looking at the tool bar.

Recommendations:

• Start using Mouse gestures ASAP. They take time to get used to. If you're just starting with SOLIDWORKS best to start the habit early.
• I recommend including the following commands
  • "Normal to"
  • "Measure"
  • "Extrude"
  • "Extrude Cut"
  • "Move"
  • "Mate"
• You can have up to 12 commands on a wheel. I've stuck to 8 because with 12 they are hard to select.
• Commands that are on multiple wheels should be in the same place
• Put commands in places that are easy to remember based on the motion to select them (cutting motion to the right for "Cut Extrude" pulling a plane down toward you for "Normal to"

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Keyboard Commands

You can bind keys on your keyboard to different commands to access them quicker.

Some suggestions

• D for dimension
• L for line
• R for rectangle
• C for circle
• P for point
• M for midpoint line

I use keyboard commands for sketches because I used to use AutoCAD which uses lots of keyboard shortcuts and is primarily used for 2D drafting. Bind you keyboard however you like although I highly recommend using d for dimension.

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Width Mate

Use the width mate when centering two parts with respect to each other.

Here the belt is centered within the pulley by selecting the two side faces of the pully in the first (or second) selection field, and the two side faces of the belt in the second (or first) selection field. The width mate essentially makes a midplane in each part between the two selected faces then mates the two midplanes together. Very handy!