Solidworks Guidance

[mark_mcd]

Hi,

I am soon to be creating the chassis for a car and would like a bit of help regarding the best way to go about it via Solidworks. I have been told creating the car with the help of the 'Weldments' feature is the way to go and have searched but not found much on it? Can anyone offer me any hints/tips?

Thanks in advance.

[Mike Macie]

Originally posted by mark_mcd:
Hi,

I am soon to be creating the chassis for a car and would like a bit of help regarding the best way to go about it via Solidworks. I have been told creating the car with the help of the 'Weldments' feature is the way to go and have searched but not found much on it? Can anyone offer me any hints/tips?

Thanks in advance.

Use the solidworks help feature and search weldment. Also there is a wedment tutorial in the the tutorial section under the help tab.

[Hector]

Using that handy little "Find" feature at the top of the page will take you a long ways here on the forum. Modeling chassis in SolidWorks/ProE/Inventor has been discussed many, many times and multiple methods have been suggested for each. I typed "SolidWorks Chassis" and got some pretty solid hits.

[Jersey Tom]

The Solidworks help file is generally pretty good for anything, and includes tutorials I think. Check it out.

And yes, Weldments are THE way to go.

[L B0MB]

using sketch planes for roll hoops and bulkheads comes in handy for shifting them about in 3D space http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[Bazanaius]

As far as sketches go, I used a combination of 2D sketches for the roll hoops and bulkhead (assuming they are vertical of course), and then inserted points for things like suspension nodes, rocker mount points and other bits.

Then it was just a case of joining it all together with a 3D sketch. I'd recommend a number of 3D sketches actually, as it makes it easier to modify stuff later on if it's all got useful names.

The weldments feature is awesome. First job is just to go through and select each sketch line, and give it a profile. It will then extrude the tube along it for you. Once all your tubes are done, you can then go through and use the trim feature to profile the ends of the tubes automatically. This requires a bit of thought as to how you're actually going to assemble it.
you might need to create your own tube profiles for the weldments feature.

From there, you just need to find a way to make all the tubes...

B

[fixitmattman]

In all honesty, as easy as the weldment method is I prefer to build the frame as an assembly instead. It's longer to do, but gives a good reality check in terms of manufacturing methods. Mating the whole frame together is almost like a manufacturing review.

[Wes Burk]

If you make the chassis as an assembly do you individually trim the ends of the tubes with extruded cuts?

[fixitmattman]

Yes, each tube is trimmed individually.