Chapter 36: Creating Weldments and Weldment Drawings

Weldments are based on either a single 3D frame sketch or a set of 2D sketches, usually denoting the centerlines or edges of the various structural elements. This creates a special type of part in the same way that the Sheet Metal commands create a special type of part. Structural profiles are placed on the frame sketch to propagate and create individual bodies for the separate pieces of the weldment. Custom profiles are easily created as library features; you can add custom properties to the library features, and then the custom properties will propagate to the cut lists.

• Master It The first step in being able to model welded structures effectively is to have access to good libraries of structural section shapes. Whether you use the default installed libraries, use Toolbox libraries, or download individual structural shapes, building your library is key.

  Move all of your library data into an area that is not affected by SolidWorks...