SOLIDWORKS 2015 What’s New – Exploded Views #sw2015

SOLIDWORKS has the ability to show an assembly's components spread out. This is very useful to show how the components fit together when assembled. A customer request that has been asked for a few years is, "Is there a way to do a radial explode?" This is something that engineers need to do on a regular basis. Did you know that this can be done SOLIDWORKS 2015?

Radial Explode

Customers want to be able to, for example, pull a set of screws in an assembly out from an axis all at once. This could always be done, but you had to create separate explode steps for each screw and make sure everything is equally spaced. I have seen some very creative workarounds to get the job done. SOLIDWORKS has listened! Components aligned either radially or cylindrically about an axis can be exploded in one step. Radial Explode is located in the Exploded View PropertyManager under Explode Step Type.

So, all you really have to do is to pick Radial step, select the components you want to explode, and drag the manipulator in the graphics area. It is that easy to use. SOLIDWORKS 2015 is going to help a lot of people save a lot of time on a regular basis!

Another new feature that will be very useful is that you can explode radially by diverging along an axis.

Intelligent Auto-Space in Chain Step Exploded Views

SOLIDWORKS 2015 has added another time-saving feature to the Exploded Views command. This nice new feature is called Auto-space components on drag.

When you auto-space components in a chain-step exploded view, you can drag all the components simultaneously. With this new option, you can use the handle in the graphics area to move all the components. When you release the handle, additional handles become available to move individual components or component groups. In the image above, notice the slider. This slider will let you readjust the distance between components.

To better visualize this, take a look at the following. Components that are on the same plane remain parallel during the explode.

The model includes sets of components that are on the same horizontal plane.

During the vertical explode with auto-spacing, the components remain parallel. SOLIDWORKS 2015 Auto-Space enhances the Chain Step Exploded Views feature. Please check back every day as we will be releasing articles twice a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. For those of you who are looking to follow this series of articles, we will be tagging them under the category of SOLIDWORKS What's New.

Neil Bucalo, CSWP, CSWS-MD
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.
www.cati.com