Creating an exploded view in SolidWorks is a great way to showcase the individual components of an assembly and how they fit together. This visually appealing representation helps viewers understand the assembly’s structure and aids in communication during design review meetings or manufacturing processes. In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to create an exploded view in SolidWorks step by step.
Step 1: Open the Assembly
To begin, open the assembly that you want to create an exploded view for. You can either create a new assembly or open an existing one. Once you have your assembly open, make sure you are in the ‘Assembly’ workspace.
Step 2: Activate the Exploded View Tool
In the SolidWorks menu, navigate to the ‘Assembly’ tab and click on the ‘Exploded View’ button.
Step 3: Define Explode Steps
After activating the ‘Exploded View’ tool, a dialog box will appear. In this dialog box, you can define how you want to explode your assembly.
- Select Components: Using this option, you can choose which components of the assembly you want to explode.
- Select Step: This option allows you to specify whether you want to define your explosion by dragging components or using specific distances.
- Create New Explode: By selecting this option, a new explode step will be created for your exploded view.
You can repeat these steps for each component or subassembly that you want to include in your exploded view.
Step 4: Define Explosion Motion
Once you have defined all your explode steps, it’s time to define the explosion motion. With the ‘Exploded View’ tool still active, click on the ‘Motion’ button in the dialog box.
A new dialog box will appear, allowing you to define how you want your components to move during the explosion. You can set translation distances, rotation angles, or both for each component.
Step 5: Customize Appearance
Now that you have defined your explosion steps and motion, you can further customize the appearance of your exploded view.
- Display Modes: SolidWorks offers various display modes like shaded, wireframe, or hidden lines visible. You can choose the one that suits your needs.
- Component Lines: You can add lines to connect exploded components or hide them if desired.
- Drawing View: If you want to create a drawing of your exploded view, you can select ‘Create drawing view’ and specify the sheet and scale for your drawing.
Step 6: Save and Close
Once you are satisfied with your exploded view setup, click on ‘OK’ to save and close the dialog boxes. Your exploded view will now be displayed in the assembly workspace.
In conclusion, creating an exploded view in SolidWorks is a straightforward process that adds visual clarity to your assembly designs. By following these steps and customizing various aspects like explode steps, motion, and appearance, you can effectively showcase how different components fit together. This feature proves invaluable during design reviews or when communicating assembly instructions in manufacturing processes.
I hope this tutorial has helped you understand how to create an exploded view in SolidWorks. Start exploring this feature today and enhance your design communication!