In this, our very first cadjunkie Premium tutorial series, we’ll be learning the fundamentals of SolidWorks by building the exterior geometry for an entire camera lens. This is a Level 1 beginner tutorial, so no prior SolidWorks experience is required. This tutorial emphasizes learning through practice and nuanced repetition.
Today we?re beginning an epic journey into the heart of the SolidWorks jungle. Our subject is a 50mm lens for an old 35mm hobbyist camera called the Pentax ZX-M?which was the computer-controlled successor to the legendary manual Pentax K1000. I personally own a ZX-M, so the lens for our SolidWorks model will be based on the 50mm stock ZX-M lens I have on-hand.
Even if you?ve never used SolidWorks before, this should be a great place to start. In the next video we?ll take a quick overview of the SolidWorks interface for you total noob?s out there. If you?re already familiar with the interface, you may want to skip ahead to video 3, in which we?ll begin the profile sketches for our lens.
This project will focus primarily on solid modeling techniques. It is aimed at industrial designers, not mechanical engineers, and as such we?ll be focusing on the visible external features of the lens, not the internals, fasteners, wall thicknesses, etc. That said, this is going to be a wicked-detailed model, so it should be a lot of fun for the sadistic among us, myself included.
By the end of this series, you’ll be well on your way to basic SolidWorks proficiency. Topics covered:
- Introduction to the SolidWorks UI
- Understanding the Sketcher
- Using Sketch constraints and dimensions to build design intent into your models
- Creating “fully-defined” sketches, and other best practices
- Understanding the Feature Tree, and techniques for staying organized
- Solid tools: Revolve, Extrude, Extrude Cut, Edge Fillet, and radial feature patterns
- Importing dimensionally-correct DXF art from Adobe Illustrator
- Advance Extrude Cut methods, and the Wrap tool
- Using Hole Wizard to rapidly create holes and fasteners
- Using the Helix tool to create create a custom tapped screw thread
If you have questions or comments, don?t hesitate to drop me a line at ?adam@cadjunkie.com?. Enough jibber-jabbin?, let?s get this show on the road!
More in this series:
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Adam O'Hern is an industrial design consultant specializing in visual brand languages, and has designed products ranging from laptops to power tools, classroom toys to bathroom fixtures, and robots to lint rollers. He has published with 3DWorld Magazine, CGTuts+, and Luxology, and works with Josh Mings of SolidSmack.com on EngineerVsDesigner.com. |
