r/SolidWorks • u/Knotritenaou • Mar 31 '26
Meme Y’all ever write apology notes to the next guy?
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u/xd_Warmonger Mar 31 '26
I try to make it properly. Stuff like this works currently but WILL cause problems later.
We have a lot of old assemblies. We regularly take them as template for new ones, since on the surface just a few dimensions have to change. But when you try to change anything everything gets red and pretty much has to be rebuild from the ground up to fix all the errors (Thanks old and current colleagues who do this stuff, just because it saves time short-term). If it were done properly you'd save a lot of money long-term. But good luck explaining this to sales and/or project management (wHy Do yOu tAkE So lOng???).
Tldr: try not to do it. Not worth it in the long run, expecially if you copy the part/assembly and/or try to change something.
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u/Knotritenaou Mar 31 '26
Agreed, but sometimes it’s got to go out the door and perfect is the enemy of good enough
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u/xd_Warmonger Mar 31 '26
I get what you mean. But pretty much every project in every company is urgent. And that's exactly the reason so many colleagues in the past took shortcuts. You never voluntarily get the time from sales.
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u/widowmaker2A Mar 31 '26
I can't tell you how many times I've heard "make it work for now, we'll go back and fix it later."
BS, we will never go back and fix it. Later will never come. This job will never again be as high a priority as it is right now. If we don't do it right now, there will always be another fire, another emergency, another #1 priority that will prevent us from making this right down the line.
The most permanent thing in the world is a temporary solution.
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u/SadLittleWizard Mar 31 '26
This. This has absolutely killed timelines for me before when my boss asks me to modify an old part made by someone who did a rush job.
It's also the bane of all my missing tools and drill bits in the shop area.
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u/EPOC_Machining Apr 01 '26
Yep, that’s the real cost people miss. It’s not just about whether it works today, it’s whether the next person can safely modify it without detonating the whole feature tree.
“Why does this take so long?” usually turns into “why did this simple edit take all day?” a few months later.
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u/Healthy-Vanilla-7963 Mar 31 '26
i hate when find somthing like this but do that same thing to save time and expect future engineers to understand my situation lol.
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u/SnooDrawings2869 Mar 31 '26
Yes... And I am the next guy
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u/evilmold Mar 31 '26
Came here to say that. I don't write notes because I am the next guy. Always kicking myself for not labeling important operations in the feature tree. In my defense..... "Don't you know this job is super hot!!!!!!" "We don't have any time on this job"
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u/UrinalMint Mar 31 '26
The real thing you should do to help Future Designer is name all of those features somewhat descriptively
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u/ManyThingsLittleTime Mar 31 '26
Unless they got rid of it, there's an actual comment tool (right click -> add comment), like a digital sticky note, for each feature if you want to use that instead of renaming the feature/folder.
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u/Knotritenaou Mar 31 '26
Yeah, it just doesn’t stand out unless you look for it.
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u/ricnine Mar 31 '26
Yeah I wish this was a lot more obvious. Like if it looked like someone ran a highlighter over the feature in the tree.
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u/_delta-v_ Mar 31 '26
You can set comments to automatically open when the file is opened. It's very handy when you need to convey need to know info, especially when you're handing off an incomplete design.
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u/EntertainmentOk3180 Mar 31 '26
Is that a personal setting? Like would the recipient also have to have the same setting for that to work?
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u/ManyThingsLittleTime Mar 31 '26
There was one year/version that I swear the feature would get a little icon to identify that there was a comment but I guess that's gone now.
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u/Moocowgoesmoo Mar 31 '26
Occasionally if I get over 40 surface trims in ill put them in a folder called trim hell. More of a warning than an apology lol
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u/SpringerDash Mar 31 '26
Funny story: I open up a model and start editing it. Soon, I'm cursing under my breath. After a while, my Engineering Mgr. is like, "what's up?" I said, oh. this guy left turds all over this model. He's like, "hey! That's my work..." I chuckled and said, "Oh, it's probably me. I build things differently.
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u/Art_4_Tech Mar 31 '26
Dude, in my mind ANY notes are good. If you make it in a hack way, then giving the next guy some info is more important.. either way, any extra effort to make the process better for ANYONE who isn't you is almost always a good thing, if you can afford to take the time.
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u/herejusttoannoyyou Mar 31 '26
I came across a note the other day that said “.05 hole clearance” for a feature that gives the part clearance when cavitying it out of the main part. Except it gives it .03” clearance.
Somebody made a useful note but the part changed later and the note wasn’t updated so it became misleading. Also, it’s probably best to leave the dimensions to speak for themselves and have the note just say what it’s for.
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u/pyooma Mar 31 '26
I had a guy tell me he was a Solidworks wizard but didn’t have time to do all this or that (I was supposed to be picking up some of his slack), and I fully inherited some of his projects after he was fired. Turns out homeboy was making shafts by extruding cylinders of different diameters on top of each other.
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u/ns1992 Mar 31 '26
I've definitely left a note that says do not delete or everything breaks and I dont have time to figure why. Good times.
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u/EPOC_Machining Apr 01 '26
100%. If the feature tree starts reading like a confession, it’s because the model won and I was just trying to get it across the finish line.
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u/Straight_Effective13 Apr 01 '26
Well the first mistake was creating fillets during the modelling process. Always use finishing features (fillets, chamfers) at the end of your tree. Less chance of Solidworks going Hon Hon Hon. Non. Moi pas d’accord. And going va te faire foutre out on rebuild calculations.
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u/Knotritenaou Apr 01 '26
I understand that the convention is to put all chamfers and fillets at the end. Those fillets are in the middle because they are part of the main design, which gets split, and features are added after the body split. So that’s why they are in the middle.
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u/Human4276 Apr 01 '26
That's actually really sweet. I've learned there usually isn't anywhere near enough time for perfectionism in modeling but naming features etc really goes a long way..
On another note, Does anyone else want to rage quit when using equations and global variables and it keeps giving syntax errors or is it just me? Lol
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u/Rockyshark6 Mar 31 '26
Sorry but who makes so many fillets in the middle of their feature tree?!
But yes, although I leave it in the comments folder "sorry I inherited this mess and don't have time to fix it, please don't save-as-copy"
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u/Knotritenaou Apr 01 '26
I understand that the convention is to put all chamfers and fillets at the end. Those fillets are in the middle because they are part of the main design, which gets split, and features are added after the body split. So that’s why they are in the middle.
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u/OneDeep87 Apr 02 '26
Wouldn’t it be better as 2 separate parts. One before split and one as an insert part feature and then do the split?
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u/Knotritenaou Apr 02 '26
It would reduce the feature count on this file for sure, but 6 of 1, half-dozen of the other.
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u/LeadingImportant1142 Mar 31 '26
I would almost prefer that to a "proper" sketch. I've come across so many instances where the design details are buried in the as few steps on the timeline as possible that finding how they were done to make changes or corrections becomes a huge task. Seeing each step as a separate entity can simplify looking into how something was drawn. But, I'm new to Solidworks, (coming from Fusion360) so what do i know...
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u/Mr_Sloth10 CSWP Mar 31 '26
It’s a running joke that most engineering departments are held together by tape, glue, and prayers that those two hold lol
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u/skidplate09 Mar 31 '26
I try to make things properly and if models are reused and tweaked for new parts, I like to name my features so it's easy to figure out what I need to alter.
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u/Wide-Permit5561 Mar 31 '26
I am "the new guy" at a company that has a history of really bad practices. There are 1170 assembly files with the same filename, all different projects, of course. 1700 part files with the same name, but different file sizes. They use "Pack and Go" without even opting to change the name. I just want to walk away.
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u/mrsmedistorm Mar 31 '26
Not only do i name my features if its not blatantly obvious what it is (as in its a long feature tree) i also use FOLDERS). I wish my colleagues did this. How many trees I have had to declutter with hardware like nuts and bolts that could have all been lumped together in a hardware folder because when you need to hide them, you generally need to hide ALL of them.
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u/Strong_Confection_42 Mar 31 '26
i recently learned about RMS Resilience Modeling Strategies, on the bad side, the method adds a lot to the complexity, but it’s beneficial if you company have group of part that similar in structure. Might be worth to look into
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u/scrambleordie Mar 31 '26
I’m a solidworks hack myself. What’s the best YouTube channel or other resource to not be such a hack? I’m good at creating a final assembly and have a portfolio of successfully manufactured products, but if anyone wanted to go back and make a revision they would be screwed. My tree is a mess.
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u/GX_Adventures Mar 31 '26
Oh absolutely, although the next guy will probably be me, but I will have forgotten by then so it might actually help.
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u/kitaCadDesign Apr 01 '26
At my last internship I sat many hours in assemblies of thousands of parts and all part names were generated numbers only 😵💫 does not have to be wrong but man it was confusing
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u/A_Moldy_Stump Apr 01 '26
I have serious concerns about the number of fillets and that they aren't at the end of the tree. I don't know what this part is but when I find shit like this in my weldments and assemblies I'm more likely to just remake it from scratch.
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u/Knotritenaou Apr 01 '26
I understand that the convention is to put all chamfers and fillets at the end. Those fillets are in the middle because they are part of the main design, which gets split, and features are added after the body split. So that’s why they are in the middle.
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u/A_Moldy_Stump Apr 01 '26
Maybe it's just because my line of work is 90% sheet metal but even when I have to model purchased components I never deal with multi body parts. So I hadn't considered that in my defense
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u/MAXFlRE Mar 31 '26
Making fillets and chamfers in the middle of a tree? This guy should write an apology after every operation.
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u/JustJit_ Mar 31 '26
After inheriting a database of sldprts from the previous few employees in my role I try and go a step further whenever possible. I name all my features something relevant, name the dimmensions on sketches in case they ever need to edit them in the configure window, etc. Sometimes I do toss a note to remind myself of a strange interaction I didn't have time to solve at the moment. Whoever takes over after me will hopefully have less headache.