SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Part I: SolidWorks Basics

Best Practice

You should use sketch patterns as little as possible. For many of the same reasons that fillet features are pre-

ferred over sketch fillets, pattern features are preferred over sketch patterns. Sketch patterns are not as edit-

able or as flexible as feature patterns. They solve slowly, especially when you pattern many entities. Best

practice is to avoid sketch patterns unless there is no alternative. n

Make Path is intended to help create machine-design motion in sketches, in particular, cam type

motion. Although it is helpful, you do not need to make a block of the cam first. You can then

right-click the block and select Make Path. A tangent relation to a path enables a follower to roll

around the entire perimeter.

Modify Sketch is one of my favorite sketch tools, but it has been falling out of favor in more recent
versions of SolidWorks because of the improvements to tools such as Move Sketch. The Modify
Sketch feature is flexible and powerful, and enables you to move, rotate, and scale the sketch, as
well as mirror about a horizontal or vertical axis or about both axes simultaneously. Figure 3.24
shows the interface, which consists of a dialog box, a special Origin, and a context-sensitive cursor.

FIGURE 3.24

The Modify Sketch interface

Both the left and right mouse buttons have special functions, which change when the cursor is

moved over the three knots on the special Modify Sketch Origin. The RMB enables you to mirror

or rotate the sketch, and the left mouse button (LMB), enables you to move the Origin or move the

sketch.

This function has some limitations when you use it with sketches that have external relations.

Certain functions may be disabled or a warning message may appear, saying that you need to

remove external relations to get a particular function to work correctly.

No Solve Move enables the moving of sketch entities without solving any relations in the sketch. If
you select this option and you move an entity with relations that would otherwise not allow it to