SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Part II: Building Intelligence into Your Parts

On this part, I have used the Split Line feature to split out areas of the bottom face around the bolt

holes to represent sections of the part that will not move regardless of how much force is applied

to the part.

The dark blue underlined text in the Task Pane are links to simple animations showing some pos-

sibilities for assigning Fixtures. Clicking the Add a fixture link in the Task Pane brings up the

Fixture PropertyManager, shown in Figure 11.17.

With early versions of SolidWorks 2010, the display of the Fixture symbols seems erratic and

incorrect depending on the rotation angle of the part.

FIGURE 11.17

Assigning fixed faces using the Fixture PropertyManager

Applying Loads

You can apply forces or pressures to model faces. Forces are normal to selected faces by default,

but you can select an axis, edge or sketch element to specify a selected direction for the force.

Again links in the Task Pane enable you to see small video hints or tool tips. Figure 11.18 shows

the Loads interfaces.