I’m trying something new, just to see how it works out.  I want to feature at least three small videos a month, independent from the rest of the blog posts, with simple  tips and tricks, the kind of “How do I do this…”  stuff.  Hopefully, the videos can be useful for those visiting this blog. I would like to do this at least once a week, but we’ll see how it goes. The first featured ...

Given that I’ve been buried in HTML code for the last few days, trying to get this new blog started, I’m a little late in making this announcement, but  not too late, because there’s still plenty of time for you to vote for your favorite enhancements for  future releases of SolidWorks, and/or submit your own ideas for enhancements. This is the very first time for me, so I really have no i...

To all of you that read this blog in Typepad and to all of those that may stumble upon it, I want to announce that I’ve moved it to a new location. You can now find it at http://www.gabijack.com   Every single post, video and image ever published in this blog during the time it was hosted in Typepad is already available in the new location, so you won’t miss a thing, but I haven’t found a ...

This is really a post that began a few weeks ago, when I was kindly given the opportunity of trying out one of 3DConnexion’s new 3D mice for SolidWorks 2009, the SpacePilot. For those of you that haven’t heard of it or don’t know what the big deal of a 3D mouse is, this device allows you to manipulate 3D models and scenes using six degrees of freedom, which is practically impossible ...

I stayed up late last night watching a long collection of sheet metal related videos. Some were tutorials on how to bend metal by hand or with simple tools, with a hammer, a leaf brake or a box and pan brake; some others dealt with the design of tools and dies. I know this doesn’t replace visiting a real shop and (hopefully) getting a try at bending a piece of metal myself, but the videos we...

One thing I’m learning quickly about Sheet Metal product design is that coming up with a sheet metal part or assembly in SolidWorks (or even a hand-drawn pattern for that matter) is only the first part of the story.  The interesting part is now figuring out how it is going to be fabricated! This means that, besides a pattern, we also need to come up with a sequence of operations that takes into...

A few days ago I received a press pass invitation for SolidWorks World 2009. Ever since, I have been dying to climb a mountain and shout it to the world, but there aren’t any tall enough mountains around this area for the hike to be really worth it and,  to make matters worse, I’ve been saddled with a lot of work to do and little errands to run. Why does this have to be such a busy month? Eve...

This is meant to be just a quick post to answer Chris’s question about the color effect on the front of the Mach 4 image that was my entry for last month’s Rendering Contest.  In short, that effect is achieved by using a solid color as a decal and a mask, only instead of black and white the mask is a gradient of grey tones that act pretty much like a sifter, allowing more of the color to be ...

I’ve been asked this same question quite a few times, mainly from those who are coming from AutoCAD and/or getting started in SolidWorks for the very first time. I know the answer to this one is very obvious for those of you who have been using SolidWorks for a while, but since I’ve been there myself, I thought it would be a good idea to dedicate at least a few lines to it.  The question is ...

Unlike others, I was never introduced to sheet metal forming techniques while in high school or even in college. There was a class we all were required to take on manufacturing processes, where it was briefly discussed, and we also had a shop were we learned to use a few tools and machines, like the lathe, as well as several welding methods. I used to cut and prepare metal for welding, but I can h...