Solidworks

Installation

Follow the COE SolidWorks Student Installation Instructions.

If you run into issues with Solidworks, we also are tracking some of our own tips and tricks:

File Organization

Top Level - When you open the Vault, this is what you see:

Open

Top Level File Organization in the PDM Vault

NER 17, 22, etc. - These are the folders where the actual car CAD files are kept. On the top level, they are organized by car number. Within the car folders there is a folder for each system, which can be seen below. Each system folder will then have folders for all of its respective projects. Within each project, the project lead organizes their files how they see fit.

The scheme is as follows: Car # > System > Project > …

Hardware - This is a folder where all communal hardware lives. Within the Hardware folder, there is a folder for each type of hardware (nuts, bolts, washers, etc.). All users can add to and pull from here whenever using hardware in their projects.

SW Electrical Data - This is where a lot of files for testing out SolidWorks Electrical live. We tend to not use it.

Weldment Profiles and Sheet Formats - This folder contains templates for our manufacturing drawings, as well as tube profiles. The folders can be linked seamlessly with SolidWorks to allow you to directly use these profiles when creating a weldment feature or pick the NER template when creating a drawing.

Part Numbering

In order to make files easy to find, all files uploaded to the PDM Vault must be named in accordance to the part numbering guidelines.

A Sharepoint doc with all of our part numbers can be found at the link below:

https://northeastern.sharepoint.com/:x:/r/sites/northeasternelectricracing/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc=%7BB3251D7D-88F1-4CBF-9E3F-54E37A4CC0FC%7D&file=NER%20Part%20Numbers.xlsx&action=default&mobileredirect=true

Parts & Assemblies

The “NER Parts” section of the sheet applies to everything except hardware ordered from a website. When you input the Car, Subsystem, and Common Name into the sheet, it will provide you with a correctly formatted file name on the right. The format is as follows:

Index: Pulled from the sheet, unique to each part.

Common Name: A short descriptor of the part. Should be named with NoSpacesAndFirstLettersCapitalized.

Car Number: Which car the part is for.

Subsystem Designation: Essentially corresponds to project. A list of all acronyms can be seen below.

Hardware

Hardware includes items like nuts and bolts that would be purchased online (typically from McMaster Carr). The “Hardware” portion of the spreadsheet will also format your file name correctly when you give it your desired inputs. If you need to use something other than nuts and bolts, that can be added to the sheet. The format is as follows:

Type Designation: Nut or bolt?

Specification: More specific details about your hardware

Diameter: Characteristic diameter of the nut or bolt.

• The 6 or 8 for 6-32 or 8-32 bolts

• 0.25 for 1/4-20

• M8 for M8-1.25

Thread: How the thread pitch is characterized.

• English: Number of threads per inch (20 for 1/4-20)

• Metric: Length of one thread (1.25 for M8-1.25)

Length: How long the bolt is. Omit for nuts.

• English: 3in for a 3 inch bolt, 0.75in for a 3/4 inch bolt

• Metric: 8mm for an 8 millimeter bolt, 40mm for a 40 millimeter bolt

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