Connecting SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is as easy as activating the 3DEXPERIENCE add-in within SOLIDWORKS. The 3DEXPERIENCE navigation compass will then appear in the task pane on the right side of your screen. The window that appears is where you manage your CAD data and progress associated with all aspects of your manufacturing process. In addition to storing the data on the cloud, you can manage who has access to it and monitor all steps and phases to stay updated. This is also where you check files in and out by “reserving” the part to avoid having two people making changes and accidentally overwriting each other’s work files.
The problem we have in this case is that our new battery pack does not fit the old handle design. The battery is too big. In this blog we will walk through the steps to create a new SOLIDWORKS part from the xShape design that I will import.
First, I am going to open SOLIDWORKS. I will then locate the part file in the cloud which I can then drag and drop directly into my work window. It’ll take a few seconds for the part to open because it’s downloading a local copy and any changes will be pushed back up to the cloud, similar to PDM. We can see the SOLIDWORKS assembly and none of these files are reserved by anyone else. I can reserve the top level assembly so that I can make changes to it. You will see a green key icon which means it is now available for me to work on. 
Next, I will search for my new handle concept and drag the part into my work window to open. Now I can create a new part, we’ll save it in our 3DEXPERIENCE local area. This part will be called “New Finished Handle” and we’ll make sure it gets placed on the origin.
We can then take this part and insert it back into the full carving knife assembly and see how it fits. I can now make changes to my part using the SOLIDWORKS functionalities we all know and love.
The next step is to make an opening for the knife blade and hollow it out into a shell. On our top plane, I am going to add a rectangular sketch, which does not need to be too specific with dimensions. Using the Cut-Extrude tool, I will make sure we cut inward just in case there’s any overlap and we will now shell it out. We can take a look at a quick section view to see how that fits with the rest of our assembly.
The final step is to save the design to the cloud to allow other team members to use it to release final versions of the file. In PLM Admin, right click on the locally modified file and click Save. That is going to save the altered version of our carving knife, as well as the new finished handle component. Now that this save has been complete, I will unreserve it that anyone else can now make changes.
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