SolidWorks Premium is in most cases an investment worth making. With additional functionality and an entire toolbox full of amazing add-ons, we love SolidWorks Premium. However, luckily, if SolidWorks Premium proves to be cost prohibitive, SolidWorks Standard has begun to include quite a few tools that have trickled down from Premium. One such tool is the FloXpress tool. Although not as robust as the tools in SolidWorks Simulation (found in SolidWorks Premiere), the FloXpress tool is nonetheless a helpful tool for a top-level flow analysis. This video shows you how to utilize the FloXpress tool found in SolidWorks Standard.

SolidWorks gives you many reasons to upgrade to SolidWorks Premium. The Simulation functionality is just one of them. In this video, we take a look at the Simulation tools found in the Simulation add-on available to SolidWorks Premium users.

In addition to producing industry leading hardware, NVIDIA also provides some of the best end-user support in the business. To ensure their graphics cards are operating at maximum efficiency, NVIDIA is constantly updating drivers to help us take advantage of every ounce of power. As evidence of this commitment to end-user support, NVIDIA has just recently released the newest driver update for all Quadro cards, as well as Tesla and Grid series GPUs.

As you can imagine, we were excited to find out what kind of boost in power SolidBox customers should expect from this updated driver. Our initial tests on nearly identical systems (images below) are very positive, showing a nearly 5 second differential between the previous driver latest release, driver 311.50. According to the Development Team at NVIDIA, users with the Kepler (K) series of graphics cards will experience an even greater bump in performance because of the Kepler’s streaming multiprocessor architecture.

Since that first test, we have teamed with NVIDIA and SolidWorks to perform a true apples-to-apples test that will pit two identical machines, one with the old driver and one with the new, in a head-to-head battle to obtain more conclusive data. The image below clearly shows a boost in graphics performance with Driver 311.50 over the previous driver. This is all part of our commitment to ensure that your individual SolidBox workstation is integrated with ample consideration given to even the smallest part of the finished product. More information about the new driver can be found at the links below.

 NVIDIA Driver 311.50 Download Page for Desktops               NVIDIA Driver 311.50 Download Page for Notbooks

There are tons of operations you probably will never execute in SolidWorks just because your designs will never call for it. If you don’t work much with sheet metal, then you’d probably not be very familiar with the Sheet Metal functionality in SolidWorks. However, there are some tools that just go under the radar even if you’re a pro. Adding bend lines to a bended loft between two non-parallel sketches had never come up in my modeling, so I was interested to learn how when it came up. This video walks you through the steps of this little hidden nugget.

This week we are taking a look at a little used feature in SolidWorks called Feature Paint. In this video, we break down when and how to use this powerful feature-changing tool. With the Feature Paint tool, you can “paint” the attributes of any feature onto any like feature.

The good people at SolidWorks are seemingly working around the clock to bring you more functionality, more tools, and more ways to save you time. The Vents tool is a perfect example of this dedication to efficiency. Again, SolidWorks has combined many different tools into one handy property manager. No matter how complex or simple your vent sketch may be, SolidWorks allows you to create it with the greatest of ease. This video walks you through every step of how to use the Vents tool.

As is the case with most things in SolidWorks, there are many different ways to thread a part. However, what if you need to apply a thread to a part with a larger diameter? What if that thread isn’t a standard size? Well, luckily, you can create your own threaded part rather easily with this combination of tools.

SolidWorks allows us to unleash the power of design with seemingly bottomless functionality. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, another great way to accomplish your goal pops up. SolidWorks has been adding functionality to the way we Dimension sketch entities in each new release since the beginning. This video explains the newest and greatest options to dimension on the fly, as you sketch. This new feature is sure to save us time in our designs.

Sometimes we’re asked to design some pretty strange things. Our good friend, Tom Smith at CHL Systems once designed a motorized bar stool. What do you do if you’re asked to create a part with a specific and complex picture embossed on the side? Well, there’s an excellent way to convert a raster image (JPG, TIFF, PNG, etc…) into sketch entities in SolidWorks. This is accomplished by using the SolidWorks Add-in Auto Trace function. This video breaks down how to find and use the Auto Trace function in SolidWorks 2013.

Using the Hole Wizard is pretty standard fair for most SolidWorks users. However, when used in conjunction with the Sketch Driven Pattern, creating holes with relations to other holes is a cinch. Then editing the location and number of holes further into the design process is equally simple. This video breaks down when and how to use the Hole Wizard in tandem with the Sketch Driven Pattern Tool.