Part I: SolidWorks Basics
FIGURE 3.35Creating a new plane from a set of selections and constraints
Note
When you start using the new Plane functionality, it may be best to try to ignore the new interface and simply
make the same types of selections that you made in the past. The new Plane functionality will work perfectly
that way. As of this writing, there is not a lot of common user experience with the tool and its available func-
tionality is completely undocumented. n
Working with axes
Axes are less popular than planes, but equally important. You can use axes to create pivot points in
a part where you do not have any hole type geometry for mating with other parts. Axes are used to
establish direction frequently. Figure 3.36 shows that the first three features in a plastic part are
axes established from the standard planes.
Consider using axes set up in this way as standard features in your template files. They can be
effective in assemblies for moving parts in orthogonal directions and in parts for pattern or draft
directions.