#Solidworks toolbox setup install#
#Solidworks toolbox setup software#
#Solidworks toolbox setup series#

If your Toolbox is a fresh unused installation, the part that Toolbox is using has only a single size, which is most often the largest size in the library. Toolbox should orient it correctly, but if it doesnвЂ™t you can always press the Tab key to flip it 180 degrees.At this point, Toolbox asks you to choose a size and gives you some other options. After you get the standards set up, you drag and drop the type of screw onto the edge of a hole.If you have a shared install, it may take even longer because the database has to be opened over the network. Be aware that when you open the Configure Toolbox dialog, it may take some time, because SolidWorks is opening up that 88 MB database file in the background. From there you should just unselect any standards from the list that you donвЂ™t want to use. It turns out that you have to go to Toolbox, Configure Toolbox, Select Your Hardware.

Fortunately, itвЂ™s easy to do, but the hard part is first figuring out that it needs to be done at all, and then where you go to do it. You might even find after using it for a while that what you really need is a custom standard.

#Solidworks toolbox setup install#

True, you can, but why hasnвЂ™t it been done? This is the way it was installed, even though during the install you specified ANSI standard and Inch units.So you have to configure the standards a little. Yes, but you can trim down that list of standards so it isnвЂ™t nearly as irrelevant. (There are also other ways to get parts into an assembly.) But before you do that, this is what you are confronted with, shown in the image to the right: a list of standards. Toolbox is used by drag and dropping Items from the Task Pane into the Solidworks graphics window.This is the userвЂ™s first clue that Toolbox is not just a library, itвЂ™s also an application, software. What I am talking about here is mostly the Browser. It is really 2 add-ins, SolidWorks Toolbox and SolidWorks Toolbox Browser. Toolbox is an add-in, so you have to activate it using the Tools, Add-ins menu.You can browse and edit the file using Microsoft Access. The database is called SWBrowser.mdb, is typically located in a folder called C:/SolidWorks Data/lang/English, and for SW09 sp3.0 is 87.876 MB. By default the Toolbox database installs locally, but it can also be placed on a network for a shared install.There are many options during install in 2009, and IвЂ™ll talkВ about those in a futurearticle. By default Toolbox installs as a single user installation, where the library is local.So in a nutshell, here is how SolidWorks Toolbox works: So you could say that it helps some of the time, and just gives you something to undo some of the time. The problem is that it only really works that way in special situations. SF enables you to automatically place the correct sized hardware into holes automatically. It is better than just a library because of things like Smart Fasteners.

#Solidworks toolbox setup software#

So having software and extra data in a database is extra, and should be better, shouldnвЂ™t it? If you have a real library, all you have is #2.

Database вЂ“ contains all of the dimensional and вЂњmetadataвЂќ used in the finished parts.

Library of blanks вЂ“ SolidWorks parts used as templates, which contain all of the geometrical options available.

Toolbox application вЂ“ software that вЂњdoes stuffвЂќ.

This may or may not be an important distinction for you. With Toolbox, you tell it the class of thing that you want, and it builds it for you.

When I think of a вЂњlibraryвЂќ, I think of a place where I can go to get something that is there, something that exists. It may be picking nits, but strictly speaking, neither one of these statements is true. They call it a вЂњStandard Hardware LibraryвЂќ, and say that you have access to вЂњpre-built SolidWorks modelsвЂќ. The image to the left shows how SolidWorks describes Toolbox in their Product Matrix. Toolbox may not be exactly what you think it is. Toolbox is not a topic that you can talk about in a single long blog post, there is just too much there, if youвЂ™re gonna do the topic justice.

#Solidworks toolbox setup series#

It has started from the series on CAD Admin. This is part 1 in a series just on Toolbox.