SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Part VII: Working with Specialized Functionality

FIGURE 31.16

A foot plate added to the weldment

Using Sub-Weldments

From a modeling point of view, sub-weldments are generally used for either organizational or per-

formance reasons to group together elements of a weldment or to break a larger weldment into

more manageable pieces. This is in much the same way that subassemblies are created for the same

purposes within larger assemblies. From a fabrication point of view, sub-weldments are also used

to break a large weldment into pieces that can be transported or handled.

To create a sub-weldment, you can select several bodies from the Cut list, and then select Create

Sub-Weldment from the RMB menu. (You can also select the bodies from the graphics window if

you use the Select Bodies selection filter.) This creates a separate folder for the sub-weldment bod-

ies. You can then right-click the sub-weldment folder and select Insert Into New Part.

Using Cut Lists

The Cut list that is maintained in the model FeatureManager is simply a replacement for the Solid
Bodies folder. It has most of the same functionality as the Solid Bodies folder, as well as a few addi-
tional items. The Cut List folder symbol in the FeatureManager can show the folder symbol in one
of two potential states. These symbols are shown at the top left of this paragraph. When the Cut
list requires an update, the top image is shown, and after the update has been performed, the bot-
tom image is shown. Cut lists are updated automatically when a drawing that uses the Cut list is
accessed, but can also be updated manually through a RMB option or by the forced rebuild,
Ctrl+Q.

You can access the Update command by right-clicking the Cut List folder and selecting it from the

RMB menu. Figure 31.17 shows the result of the update. The weldment solid bodies are broken

down further into subfolders that reflect quantities of identical bodies. Notice that the weld beads

at the bottom of the list are not in a folder.