We’re jumping back into our What’s New series with another in-depth look at SOLIDWORKS 2015 features. Part 1 and Part 2 covered the 2015 interface and its updated sketching capabilities. In Part 3, we’ll dive into its fillet features, surface commands, patterning and more.
Fillet Type Display
The latest update has a new way of displaying filets. Instead of a vertical list of words, SOLIDWORKS 2015 now uses a horizontal row of icons.
Asymmetric Fillets
Now, you can create elliptical shaped fillets, otherwise known as asymmetric fillets. This feature is available for constant, variable and face fillets.
Surface Curvature Combs
You can now display curvature combs on any face of the part. You can view the combs for both the selected face and adjacent faces. You can also adjust the scale or density to get a better preview.
Using Open Profiles For Cut Features
Previously, if the sketch was open and you wanted to make a cut, the cut would go all the way through. Now, you can control the depth of that cut with a blind cut.
Creating Planes Parallel To The Screen
Maybe you want your section view cut at a certain orientation. With 2015, you can create a plane parallel to your screen. Then, you can use that plane to create a specialized section view.
Splitting Surfaces
You already have the ability to split a solid body into multiple bodies in SOLIDWORKS. In 2015, you can now do the same with surfaces.
Flattening Surfaces (available for SOLIDWORKS Premium only)
Simply select all the faces you want flattened and pick a point where the flattening will begin. You can show a deformation plot to see the percentage of stretching or compression.
Move Face
This is a command typically used with imported files. In addition to a blind distance, you can move a face up to a vertex, to a surface, offset it from the surface or up to the body.
Linear Patterns
In 2015, you can set the number of instances and spacing you want independently from one another. Instead of spacing by instances, for example, you can now go up to a reference and give it an offset distance. It’s then controlled either by the spacing or the number of instances.
Changing Features/Faces to Bodies in Patterns
Features and faces have been combined in 2015, while bodies have their own selection box. In addition, you can switch from patterning a feature or face to a body without having to recreate the pattern.
Fill Patterns
Fill patterns now display the number of instances as a result of the pattern. If you make any modifications, the number updates automatically.
Hole Wizard
If you make sheet metal parts, the Hold Wizard now supports PEM standards.
Now that you know what these features do, watch how they work in our on-demand “What’s New In SOLIDWORKS 2015” webinar!
