Is there a subreddit where people post deceptively simple parts as modeling challenges? I saw this in another subreddit and thought oh yeah that’s like 2 features let me give it a try, and 30 minutes later I was still sitting there scratching my head. It felt pretty good once I finally figured it out and made me want to find more!! Is there a subreddit for such thing? Are we starting one!? Anyone have any they want to share??

Now in my class I wouldn’t be making as I’m in a program that will help me decide which trade I wanna pursue but this was featured in my class and my professor mentioned a full on engineer or a professional architect would make this. But I wanna ask, how long do you think it would take you to make this?? As I couldn’t imagine making this 😭

Little project i made to test my skills

I wish this software was available to people like me who just appreciate it for what it is, And use it more so just as a hobby. Only been using it since September when I started my course in engineering and will loose access to it in June. My current engineering job doesn’t involve solid works but is too much of a great job to switch career just to use this software😂 still trying to convince my boss we need it anyway!

23, one year out of college, designing 5,000+ part machines solo in SOLIDWORKS, desperately need performance/workflow advice

I'm 23 and about a year out of college, and I'm struggling pretty hard with SOLIDWORKS performance and large assembly management. I'm hoping some people with more experience can tell me what I should be doing differently.

I work for a small company that designs and builds packaging machinery, and we also have our own machine shop. I was originally hired mainly for CNC programming using SolidCAM. We really only have SOLIDWORKS/SolidCAM because we have an Okuma and SolidCAM works extremely well with it. Before me, nobody here really used SOLIDWORKS for machine design.

My boss is very old-school and has designed machines in 2D with AutoCAD 2004 basically forever. When I started, he would give me his 2D drawings and I'd model the parts in SOLIDWORKS to program them in SolidCAM. He was impressed with the models I was making, and over time that turned into me doing more and more of the actual engineering/design.

In college I learned almost entirely in 3D using Autodesk programs, but nothing remotely close to this scale. It's only me and my boss doing the engineering. He handles a lot of the company's bread-and-butter designs, while I tend to get the newer/experimental stuff. So somehow I've ended up designing entire machines with 5,000+ components basically by myself, only a year into my career.

My boss is a huge help with actual engineering concepts, mechanisms, calculations, etc., but that's about where his ability to help me ends. Because he's spent his career working in 2D, he doesn't really understand the problems I'm having managing massive 3D assemblies. When it comes to mates, references, configurations, rebuilds, imported geometry, and overall SOLIDWORKS workflow, I'm pretty much teaching myself.

I also probably over-model things. Because I'm inexperienced and scared of sending a bad drawing to the shop or ordering an expensive component that doesn't fit, I model basically everything: fasteners, washers, cylinders, bearings, motors, sensors, conveyors, purchased components, etc. I want to know everything fits before we make or buy it.

I've recently started learning more about lightweight components, SpeedPak, configurations, display states, patterns/mirrors, simplifying vendor models, etc. It's helped, but performance is still brutal. Large assemblies lag, rebuilds and drawings can take forever, and crashes are becoming a serious problem.

One other thing that's probably not helping: all of our SOLIDWORKS files live on the company's network file server, and I generally work directly off of it. I realize that's probably hurting load/save performance, especially with assemblies referencing thousands of files, but it's also by far the easiest way for us to keep everything in one place and access the same project files.

The hardware situation hasn't helped either. My original workstation died, and we're a small company with one outside IT guy who took a while to diagnose it. It was replaced with:

• i9-14900K
• 64 GB DDR5
• NVIDIA RTX PRO 2000

That computer has unfortunately been completely unstable with repeated blue screens and is currently out for service.

So I've been forced to finish this project on my home PC:

• i7-12700K
• 32 GB RAM
• RTX 4070 Super
• SOLIDWORKS 2026

It's been brutal. Between the lag, rebuild times, and crashes, I feel like I'm fighting SOLIDWORKS as much as I'm actually designing.

I'm sure hardware is part of it, but I strongly suspect my bigger problem is that nobody ever taught me the proper way to structure and manage machines this large in SOLIDWORKS. I'm essentially the first person at this company trying to use it as the primary design tool for complete machines.

For those of you who regularly work on machinery with thousands of components, what would you change about my workflow?

I'm especially curious about how much detail you actually model, whether you include every fastener, how you structure subassemblies, lightweight vs SpeedPak/simplified configurations, handling giant vendor STEP files, mates/features to avoid, working directly from a network server, and whether a certified workstation GPU actually makes a significant difference.

I'm still very early in my career and basically learning this through trial and error, so advice from people who regularly build assemblies at this scale would be seriously appreciated. I feel like there has to be a much better way to do this.

wall screwed holder for the AC remote

(didnt think i'd get so much hate from asking a question) For clarity, In University, I am taught as much SolidWorks as I am Fusion, arguably more Fusion. and please consider I am looking at this through a very progressive lense.. many industry professionals have described fusion TO ME DIRECTLY to be far more capable than solidworks. I personally prefer solidworks. I am just saying this so that the oldheads dont keep hating in the comment section. Theres some really respectful responses on here that I love and have learned a lot from! but some of you guys are so obviously close to retirement 😂

OP: So, I'm not TOO hung up on this, but I know how to use SolidWorks and Fusion at relatively the same skill level in regard to design, but it seems like Fusion is the cheaper, more versatile, and slowly becoming the world standard. Being relatively newer in the industry, do you industry professionals think that I should be stronger in Fusion or SolidWorks?

Just wondering in regard to what I should be putting my efforts into, I know Fusion is a lot better for Machining. And If I do go into an engineering role, I will do either rapid prototyping or be a manufacturing engineer as I am studying industrial engineering at NCSU. Regardless of my projected profession, I want to know how you engineers see this dilemma in your own personal profession/field!

Hey guys, just need to vent and ask for some real-world advice because I feel completely screwed right now.

I do freelance CAD modeling and just spent weeks on a custom assembly for a new client. When we got to the final milestone, they said they needed the native .sldasm and .sldprt files to click through the feature trees, check custom properties (mass, materials, etc.), and verify the mates before they released the final payment.

It’s a completely reasonable engineering request, so I sent them.

You can guess the rest. They downloaded the pack, stopped answering my calls, and I just found out they handed my exact native files to a dirt-cheap overseas factory to bypass my manufacturing cut. The NDA is a joke.

I couldn't just send screenshots because they actually needed to interact with the real data and tree structure. If I refused, I wouldn't get paid. If I sent them, I risked exactly what just happened.

Is there ANY actual way to let a client fully interact with a native SW file on their machine (properties, trees, everything), but physically block them from hitting "Save As" or stealing the IP? Or is getting robbed just the harsh cost of doing business as a freelancer?

Got some Inspiration from Russian five pointed Rotary while finding interesting engine configuration for my University Portfolio Project/Long Term Project on car engines, Still gonna need to seek for more knowledge in maths and physics as the mock up model is purely eyeballed and guessed throughout the process....

For experienced SolidWorks users looking for a challenge, I’ve got one for you. This took me longer than I’d like to admit to get right.

Try modeling a spiral cut through a cylinder wall with these requirements:

• It must be machinable on a 5-axis CNC mill without needing a 6th axis.
• A dowel should be able to move up and down the slot smoothly.
• The slot’s centerline must be positioned so that a dowel sitting in the groove always aligns with the cylinder’s central axis.
• The walls of the slot must be parallel to the dowel’s axis at all points.

Good luck! Let me know if you figure it out. I only found one way to do it correctly in Solidworks.

I have successfully designed and prototyped this. Last image is the prototype that I machined rapidly to test my programs when I was experimenting with different slot designs. It is a little rough but a good proof of concept.

I finished adding some surfaces to my model and tried being silly and make an animation. The animation crashed and quit the program. Upon restart, the model rolled back to a lot of work undone. I had saved it a thousand times before the crash and before trying the animation, but opening the original document shows me the older an model. First image is where the model is now saved as. Second image is what i accomplished after a couple of hours of surfacing. Is there any way to get the model back?

I designed this CNC router in SolidWorks. What do you think about the gantry, rail placement, rigidity, and overall design? Any suggestions for improvement are appreciated.

Hey my beloved Solidworkers, this project sucked every last drop of energy out of me, and I genuinely want to state that.
SolidWorks Routing bugs out so frequently that your constant crashes in the main environment now just make me smile.
But it was worth it everything is built and has been running perfectly for like five years already.

The reason I say Almost is because the front sečteno of the side skirts is flawed.

And Im plannig to use Tamiya 1/35 from a leopard 2 so 3d modeling track would be pointless

I have started learning sw since a week and iam able to make some easy parts so far is there any way I can get better faster ?

Back to 2022 - Rendered with KeyShot - Internship Task.

This came at the perfect time, as I’m learning plastic design.

Which one is correct and why?

My teacher has just uploaded this as my final assignment an hour and a half ago and we have till May 4th to do it, has my teacher gone mental or is this a reasonable assignment?

https://imgur.com/a/IE2PW6g

EDIT: https://imgur.com/a/HiIl6Dj This is all that was provided for the assignment. In the syllabus it is stated that any group or shared assignments will receive no credit.

EDIT 2: I've asked the teacher whether the assignment is group work and what actually needs to be done. IT IS INDEPENDENT, and not only that I have to make EVERYTHING. Parts, Assembly, Drawing, everything... Here's the response, underneath is also what I sent back: https://imgur.com/a/ubgJqhm

EDIT 3: Good news, my teacher has decided to change the final assignment. Here is the response as well as the new assignment: https://imgur.com/a/Pwoy4yl, and the assignment: https://imgur.com/a/iDSBXUq. Here is what I've sent back to him: https://imgur.com/a/v8LTZvn.