DriveWorksXpressConveyorBaseTutorial.pdf

8/11/2019 DriveWorksXpressConveyorBaseTutorial.pdf

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CONVEYOR BASE TUTORIALA DriveWorksXpress Tutorial for

SolidWorks 2011


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www.driveworksxpress.com

DriveWorks Ltd 2011 | All rights reserved 2

Table of Contents

An Introduction to DriveWorksXpress.......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Lesson 1: Basic Setup ................................................................................................................................... 5

Lesson 2: Capturing Models and Dimensions ........................................................................................... 6

Capturing Assembly Dimensions .................................................................................................................. 7

Capturing Model Dimensions ........................................................................................................................ 8

Capturing Drawings .................................................................................................................................... 10

Lesson 3: Form Creation ............................................................................................................................ 11

Lesson 4: Rules Building ............................................................................................................................ 14

Rules Builder ............................................................................................................................................. 14

File Name Rule Building ............................................................................................................................. 14

Dimension Rule Building ............................................................................................................................ 17

Lesson 5: Running the Project .................................................................................................................. 18


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An Introduction to DriveWorksXpress

This DriveWorksXpress tutorial is intended to give you hands-on proficiency of DriveWorksXpress. Upon

successful completion of this tutorial, you will be able to:

Drive SolidWorks part and assembly geometry with DriveWorksXpress

Create a DriveWorksXpress input form and link the input fields to the SolidWorks model

Generate rules to automate and run your project

In this tutorial, we will be automating a conveyor belt base stand.

Why Automate?

If you worked for a company that designed conveyor belt base stands, where each base stand you designed

was different, then using DriveWorksXpress could automate the process.

Lets take a look at this conveyor base stand.

As you can see, this conveyor belt base stand could be of any height, width or depth

(within reason). Therefore, each time a new job comes in with a different width for

the stand, the parts need to be re-designed and new drawings need to be produced.

This would require a custom design to be produced for each sales enquiry, which

could take days, and would be very repetitive for the engineer, which would in turn

effect the response time to a sales enquiry.

By automating the Conveyor Belt Base Stand design using DriveWorks:

The cost of custom designs is reduced

The sales enquiry response time can be shortened

The product quality is enhanced

Repetitive tasks are reduced

What does Automate mean?

By automating the design process of this conveyor belt using DriveWorksXpress, you will not need to change

the dimensions and properties of each model within the assembly of the conveyor belt base stand for each

new variation.

Instead, you will enter basic information, such as conveyor belt base stand height and width into a pre-

designed form already created by you. As DriveWorksXpress allows you to capture your design know-how and

incorporate it into your project, your project and form will be based on your design rules.

Rules allow the opening dimensions to be taken and used to calculate the size of each component that makes

up the Conveyor Belt Base Stand. DriveWorksXpress has an inbuilt Rules Builder which makes this process

easy.

You can set up your DriveWorksXpress project to automatically produce General Arrangement Drawings that

shows the exact requirements for each job.


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By following the step -by-step guide set out in the following tutorial, you will be automating your own designs

in SolidWorks in no time, thanks to DriveWorksXpress!

To begin this tutorial, you will need to download the SolidWorks project files for the Conveyor Belt Base Stand

Assembly from the DriveWorksXpress website:

http://www.driveworksxpress.com/index.php/training

The SolidWorks files are contained within a zipped file. Ensure you extract the files from this folder before

beginning the training.
http://www.driveworksxpress.com/index.php/traininghttp://www.driveworksxpress.com/index.php/training


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Lesson 1: Basic Setup

DriveWorksXpress is available within EVERY seat of SolidWorks, so you dont need to worry about installing

software or inputting license codes.

Open up SolidWorks 2011.

Click on the Tools tab in the SolidWorks

menu bar and select DriveWorksXpress

from the drop-down options.

This activates DriveWorksXpress, which

will open on the right hand side of the

screen.

The DriveWorksXpress Welcome Page gives you three

options:

Create / Change Database

This allows you to create a new project or load and

change an existing project

Add / Edit Models

Add more models to the existing project

Run Models

Jump directly to Run to specify a new variation using a

completed project

For this tutorial, click the Create / Change Database radio

button.

Click Next at the top of the DriveWorksXpress Task

Pane.

You will automatically be asked to open a new database.

Browse to a specific location on your hard drive where you would like your database to be saved to, and

name your new project Conveyor.

Click Open to continue.

A database has been created and saved in your specified location.


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Lesson 2: Capturing Models and Dimensions

You now need to add your model.

Click to navigate to the new window within the DriveWorksXpress Task Pane.

This will allow you to capture your model and the parameters that will be controlled on that model.

There are three ways to select which models are to be captured and driven using DriveWorksXpress:

Browse for new model

If no models are open in SolidWorks, you can browse to

the location of the files you would like to be driven and

automated using DriveWorksXpress

Use current open model

If you currently have a part or assembly open in

SolidWorks, DriveWorksXpress can capture these models

to be driven and automated

Models already in DriveWorksXpress

If you have previously captured models within

DriveWorksXpress, these will be displayed in the

DriveWorksXpress Task Pane

In this tutorial, a Conveyor Belt Base Stand will be automated.

Make sure Browse for new model is selected and click

Browse to the location on your hard drive where you have saved your Conveyor Belt Base Stand files, open

the folder and select the SolidWorks Assembly Document called Conveyor Base Assembly. Click Open.

NOTE:Ensure the Conveyor Base Assembly is the .sldasmfile type

The Conveyor Base Stand assembly will now open in SolidWorks.

Once DriveWorksXpress knows the location of the files, well need to tell it which components we want to

capture dimensions and features from.

The DriveWorksXpress Task Pane will now show all of

the options for capturing model information.

At the bottom of the DriveWorksXpress Task Pane,

click on the Captured Assembly Structure tab.This

will then display check boxes next to each model within

the assembly.


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In this example, we will drive the following parts of the Conveyor Base assembly:

Leg Base

Adjustable Support

Wheel Assembly Wheel Base

Central Support Wheel Bolt

Check the check boxes next to the parts shown below:

Capturing Assembly Dimensions

The Dimensions and Features tab allows you to choose

which parameters from a model or assembly you would

like to capture and drive. You can then assign a descriptive

name to the dimension or feature you have selected to

make them easier to identify and create rules for.

Click on the Dimensions and Features tab in the

DriveWorksXpress Task Pane.

Using the SolidWorks Feature Tree that is displayed on

the left hand side of the screen, select the Mates branch

and double click the feature called Distance6.


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Select the dimension of 100 that appears on the model.

In the DriveWorksXpress Task Pane,

rename the dimension Support

He ight.

NOTE:The yellow warning triangle disappears once something has been typed into the Name box.

Click Add

The captured dimension can now be seen in the DriveWorksXpress Task Bar.

The next step will cover how to capture dimensions and features from individual parts of the Conveyor Base

assembly.

Capturing Model Dimensions

Click the Captured Assembly Structure tab to view the assembly tree.

Double click the Wheel Base model

to open it within SolidWorks.

Click the Dimensions and Features

tab.

The dimensions required on this

particular model are the width and

depth of the piece. These can both be

attained by clicking the feature

named Boss-Extrude 1 from the

SolidWorks Feature Tree.

Select the dimension of 150.


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In the DriveWorksXpress Task Pane, name the dimensionWheel Base Depth.

Click Add.

Next, select the dimension of 110 which appears on the Wheel Base model when Boss-Extrude 1 is

double clicked.

Name thisWheel Base Width.

Click Add.

In the Captured Assembly Structure tab, double click the Adjustable Support model.

Capture the following dimensions within the model as previously demonstrated above:

Feature Name Dimension Value DriveWorks Name Explanation

Boss-Extrude 1 500 AS Inside HeightThis will control the height of the

adjustable support

Boss-Extrude 1 90 AS Inside Width This will control the width of the adjustablesupport

Boss-Extrude 1 70 AS Inside DepthThis will control the depth of the

adjustable support

Boss-Extrude 1 10 AS ThicknessThis will control the thickness of the

material being used

Boss-Extrude 2 15AS Top Plate

Thickness

This will control the thickness of the top

plate

Boss-Extrude 2 50 AS Top Plate 1 This will control the length of the top plate

Boss-Extrude 2 50 AS Top Plate 2 This will control the length of the top plate

In the Captured Assembly Structure tab, double click the Leg Base model.

Capture the following dimensions within the model as previously demonstrated:


Boss-Extrude 1 150 Base Depth This will control the depth of the base

Boss-Extrude 1 110 Base Width This will control the width of the base

Boss-Extrude 1 15 Base ThicknessThis will control the thickness of the

material used in the baseBoss-Extrude 3 300 Stand Height This will control the height of the stand

Boss-Extrude 3 70 Stand Inner Width This will control the width of the stand

Boss-Extrude 3 60 Stand Depth This will control the depth of the stand

Boss-Extrude 3 10 Stand Thickness This will control the thickness of the stand

LPattern2 50Adjustment Hole

Distance

This will control the distance between each

of the three adjustment holes on the stand


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In the Captured Assembly Structure tab, double click the Central Support model.

Capture the following dimensions within the model as previously demonstrated:


Boss-Extrude 1 900

Central Support

Length This will control the length of the support

Boss-Extrude 1 90Central Support

WidthThis will control the width of the support


DepthThis will control the depth of the support


Thickness

This will control the thickness of the

material used in the support

Capturing Drawings

DriveWorksXpress is capable of inputting SolidWorks engineering drawings, meaning that when a new version

of the model is made using DriveWorksXpress, the engineering drawing of that component is also updated to

match it. This capability is located on the Drawings and Configurations tab in the DriveWorksXpress TaskPane.

Click the Drawings and Configurations tab.

Click the Browse button to search your hard drive for the

corresponding SolidWorks drawing file.

Perform this process for the four components with provided

engineering drawings. These are:

Adjustable Support

Leg Base

Wheel Base

Central Support

NOTE: The engineering drawings are in the .slddrwfile format


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Lesson 3: Form Creation

In DriveWorksXpress, you can create an input form for entering the values for your new parts and drawings.

This form can be used again and again to specify and generate all the new parts and drawings, based on therules you set, and the values you enter.

Adding Controls

To access the form designer, click

Each control on the form requires three things:

Name

You must provide a descriptive name for the form control. This name will be the description the user sees as they

fill in your form i.e. Customer Name

Type

Choose from five types of controls (inputs)

- Text Box: Input text directly by typing

- Numeric Text Box: Input numeric values and specify a minimum and maximum value

- Drop Down: Provide a list of options to choose from

- Spin Button: Select from a range of numeric values. A maximum and a minimum value can be set,

as well as the incremented value

- Check Box: Places a checkbox on the form

Required

Enforces a value to be entered

In this example, a Customer Name and Order Number will be created. This can be done using a Text Box. Later

we will build a rule to append the Customer Name and Order Number to each set of new files in a specification

so it can be easily identified.


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Type the name of the input you wish to create into the Name text box. In this case, type Customer

Name.

Make the input type a Text Box by selecting this option from the drop down list.

Tick the Required check box to ensure a Customer Name is entered for each new specification.

Click

You will notice that the form control has appeared in the form designer within the DriveWorksXpress Task

Pane.

NOTE:As you create your form you can edit and delete

controls, as well as change the order of the inputs by using

the Up and Down arrows.

Click Add

To create the Order Number input for your Conveyor Base

form, follow the above procedure, naming the inputOrder

Number.

Click

To specify most dimensions within the model, you will need to use

Numeric Text Boxes. Numeric Text Boxes allow a maximum and a

minimum value to be enforced. Use the Numeric Text Box control for

the inputs shown in the table below.

Click Add to enter each input shown below:

Control Name Type of Control Required? Minimum Value Maximum Value

Height ofFrame

Numeric Text Box Yes 500 1200

Width of theBase Stand


Depth of theBase Stand


Overall Width Numeric Text Box Yes 600 1400

Length of theTop Plate Numeric Text Box Yes 100 400


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To allow a user to see an entire range of options available for a particular

input, a Spin Button can be used.

Use a Spin Button control to add the following inputs:

Control Name Type of Control Required? Minimum Value Maximum Value Increments

Thickness of the

MaterialSpin Button Yes 5 17 1

To allow a user to specify whether wheels are a necessary component of the conveyor belt base stand, thecheck box input can be used.

Input the following into the DriveWorksXpress Form Designer:

Control Name Type of Control Required?

Wheels Check Box N / A

NOTE: Click Test within the DriveWorksXpress Form Designer to preview the form you have created and testit out for yourself. As you fill out the form, the text boxes will change from pink to white, and the yellow

warning triangles beside each input will disappear. If values are entered into the input controls that are

outside the acceptable range enforced by the comtrol, the yellow warning triangle and pink text box

background will remain and the user will not be able to proceed.


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Lesson 4: Rules Building

The Rules Tab that is present in DriveWorksXpress allows you to input rules that will allow you to automate

your designs. The Rules are created based on Excel syntax.

To navigate to the Rules tab, click or

A summary of the rules within your project will be displayed. This

summary includes how many of each rule type there are, as well as

how many rules are missing and need to be defined before the

assembly can be automated.

Rules Builder

Before you begin to create rules within this tutorial, here is a quick summary of the DriveWorksXpress Rules

Builder.

There are four tabs available within the DriveWorksXpress Rules Builder:

Inputs

Lists the available controls that can be

used in your rules

Recent

This becomes populated with commonly

used text strings or equations

Math

Shows common mathematical operators

such as divide, subtract and add

Logic

Shows logical operators such as IF( , , ),

and =

File Name Rule Building

File Name rules allow different sets of files that are generated for each new specification of an automated

design to be easily identifiable.

Check the Edit check box next to the File Name rule type and then click

Each of the files being driven will be for a unique project and therefore will require a unique set of file names.


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To create the same rule for multiple models, select each model you wish to create the file name rule for

while holding down the CTRL key. Multi-select all models except

Wheel Assembly and Wheel Bolt.

Click Build

The DriveWorksXpress Rules Builder will now open.

All the file names that are going to be created for these models

will need to be unique to that particular specification and

therefore the file names should be populated with information

that will allow the files to be easily identified. For this tutorial,

this will involve using the customers name and their order

number within the file name.

The file format will show the component, customer name and order number in the following format once the

rule is created:

Component Customer Name Order Number

To create a file rule for the selected models in the above format, start by selecting the Customer Name

input from the Inputs tab.

To ensure a hyphen is shown in the file name between the Customer Name and Order Number, type the

following after the Customer Name input:

& -

Using the ampersands around the hyphen is necessary as Customer Name is one text string, while the hyphen

is another text string (just like in Microsoft Excel).

Now type&and then select Order Number from the Inputs tab to complete the file name rule, which

should now look like this:

An example of this rule when put into practise will look like this:

Conveyor Base Assembly Canned Foods Inc.- DW006

Click OK to create the file name rule for the selected models.

There should only be two models remaining which still require File Name Rules. The Wheel Assemblyand

Wheel Bolt rules will differ from the other model file name rules, as they will be based around a logic

function. The file name rules for these two models will allow the Wheel Assembly and Wheel Bolt files to be

saved if wheels are specified as being required within the form users specification.


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Click Wheel Assembly and then Build to take you back into the DriveWorksXpress Rules Builder.

In the Logic tab, select the IF ( , , ) function then fill in following parts so the rule looks like this:

IF ( Wheels = TR UE , Cu st ome rName & - & OrderNumber , Delete )

This rule ensures that if the user ticks the check box to add wheels to their conveyor belt base stand, then theCustomer Name and Order Number will be displayed at the end of the appropriate files . If the Wheels check

box is not checked, then the model will not be included in that particular specification and will be deleted

when the project is saved.

Click OK to view the final model requiring a file name rule.

Click on the Wheel Bolt model and click Build.

Within the DriveWorksXpress Rules Builder, input the following rule:

IF ( Wheels = TR UE , CustomerName & - & OrderNumber , Delete )

This rule ensures that if the wheels are not specified in the form then the Wheel Boltmodel is not shown

within the model and the Wheel Bolt file is not saved for that project.

Click OK to return to the file name rules summary.

As there are no models left that require file name rules, click to return to the Rules summary page.

Deselect the Edit check box corresponding to the File Name rules.


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Dimension Rules Building

To start creating dimension rules, check the Edit box next to Dimensions.

Dimension rules are created in the same way as File Name rules, by highlighting the item(s) you would like to

create a particular rule for and then clicking Build.

The table below shows the name of each dimension and the rule that should be created for that dimension:

Rule Name Formula

AS Inside Height = HeightofFrameThickness oftheMaterial( ThicknessoftheMaterial * 1.5 )20.245

AS Inside Width = WidthoftheBaseStand

AS Inside Depth = DepthoftheBaseStand

AS Thickness = ThicknessoftheMaterial

AS Top Plate

Thickness= ThicknessoftheMaterial

AS Top Plate 1 = ( LengthofTopPlate( WidthoftheBaseStand + ( 2 * ThicknessoftheMaterial) ) ) / 2 )

AS Top Plate 2 = ( LengthofTopPlate( WidthoftheBaseStand + ( 2 * ThicknessoftheMaterial) ) ) / 2 )

Support Height= ( ( HeightofFrame ThicknessoftheMaterial( ThicknessoftheMaterial * 1.5 )

20.245 ) / 100 ) * 15

Base Depth = DepthoftheBaseStand + ( 2 * ThicknessoftheMaterial ) + 40

Base Width =WidthoftheBaseStand + (2 * ThicknessoftheMaterial )

Stand Inner Width = WidthoftheBaseStand( 2 * ThicknessoftheMaterial )

Stand Depth = DepthoftheBaseStand ThicknessoftheMaterial

Stand Height= ( HeightofFrame ThicknessoftheMaterial( ThicknessoftheMaterial * 1.5 )20.245)

/ 1.8

Stand Thickness = ThicknessoftheMaterial

Wheel Base Width = WidthoftheBaseStand + ( 2 * ThicknessoftheMaterial ) + 40

Wheel Base Depth = DepthoftheBaseStand + ( 2 * ThicknessoftheMaterial ) + 40

Central Support

Length= OverallWidth( 4* ThicknessoftheMaterial )

Central Support

Width

= WidthoftheBaseStand

Central Support

Depth= WidthoftheBaseStand / 2

Central Support

Thickness= ThicknessoftheMaterial

Base Thickness = ThicknessoftheMaterial * 1.5

Adjustment Hole

Distance

= ( (HeightofFrame ThicknessoftheMaterial(ThicknessoftheMaterial * 1.5)20.245)

/ 1.8) / 3

Click to return to the Rules Summary page.

All rules types should have been created for the assembly now and there should be no missing rules.


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Lesson 5: Running the Project

All the dimensions, features and drawings of the Conveyor Belt Base Stand have been captured, and the

relevant rules have been created. New specifications of the conveyor belt base stand can now be created.

Click to navigate to the Run tab in DriveWorksXpress.

Within the Run task pane, you will now be able to see the nine

different controls you created earlier in the DriveWorksXpress Form

Designer. Hovering over any of the controls will cause a message to

appear showing the range of acceptable values for that control.

All of the controls which require a value will appear with a pink

background, which will turn white once a suitable value has been

selected.

To run your project, enter suitable values for each control and click

or Create.

DriveWorksXpress will now run the project according to the values

entered into the form and generate the files required.

A generation report is produced which shows activity on all of the

driven values within the Conveyor Belt Base Stand. Any errors in the

project will appear with a red cross next to them, while all successful

actions will be shown by a green tick.

The model with the dimensions and features specified by you in the

form will now appear in SolidWorks.

To view the modified SolidWorks Drawing File for this new model

specification, open the folder where you decided to save the project files

on your hard drive. The SolidWorks Drawing of the modified model will be saved under the Customer Name

Order Number specified in the form filled in before the project was run in DriveWorksXpress.

In this folder, you will also see all the part assembly files that have been generated and saved for that

particular project.


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Congratulations, you have now completed this DriveWorksXpress Tutorial for

SolidWorks 2011!

There is lots more downloadable content available at:


Now youve tried DriveWorksXpress, GO AUTOMATE yourown SolidWorks

projects!
http://www.driveworksxpress.com/http://www.driveworksxpress.com/

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