Side Flange profile sketches do not need the cross section drawn. The lines will be thickened and all the sharp edges will be turn into bends. Sheetmetal features are used so that the part can be flattened out to create a flat pattern

Modeled the way it is manufactured, the blades of this pastry cutter are cut in the flat pattern then folded to create the final shape. This creates smoother edges than other possible modeling methods. Sketched Bend forms all 5 blades in one feature.

To simplify references, all of the individual wires that compose the weldment are created within the same part but their bodies are not merged. Projected Curves are used to construct some of the 3D paths for the swept wire. The part also demonstrates that multiple bodies can be created in a single Sweep feature.

This nutcracker showcases multi-body modeling to create a simple assembly. Revolve and extrude features create the main shapes of the nutcracker. Positions of the handle are represented with configurations and Move Body. Split Lines are used to divide faces of the model for applying appearances.

This is an example of a “Y” intersection Thin Feature with an arc on the outside.Y and T type intersections were not allowed to be extruded as Thin features before SolidWorks 2013. Highlight the “Selected Contour” Box at the bottom of the Property Manager and select the multiple lines coming from a single point.

The projected curve was created using the Sketch on Sketch option. Note: This example shows that you may not always be able to get 100% of your desired shape from a single feature. The Projected Curve needed to be converted into a 3D Sketch to complete the necessary path. Learn how to create this part by downloading the item below.

The sketch for the thin-feature is oriented so the Flat Pattern is parallel to the Top Plane. The interior is stamped out to reduce the amount of material that needs to be removed during the grinding operation. The fillet tool will round the corners and the Mirror tool is used to mirror the pivot-tab and the corner fillets. The grinding operation is used to create the sharp slicing edges.

A standard Solid Body Revolve Feature is used to create the base geometry.This part will have multiple bodies (both solid and surface) combined into one body using the new for SolidWorks 2013 “Intersect” Command.

The “Intersect” Command was introduced in SolidWorks 2013 and has the ability to reverse engineer a model from cavity and core mold tooling.Two Imported Solid Bodies are used to show the new “Intersect” command functionality. This top half is the cavity. All the outside faces are transparent to see the inside cavity faces.

This new SolidWorks 2013 “Intersect” Command can cut a Solid Body into several different pieces using Planes to cut the bodies similar to the “Split” Command. Unlike the “Split” Command, “Intersect” can also leave adjacent bodies separated(unmerged) by turning off the “Merge results” option.This example shows five added Planes and the Front Plane going through the Center Axis, each rotated by 30 degrees used to cut the part into twelve pieces. Six pieces were kept with some touching the adjacent ones, but not being joined together (merged) like the “Split” command would do. The “Intersect” command can use not only Solid Bodies and Planes but also Surface Bodies and all at the same time to combine and remove geometry saving users several intermediate steps.