Chapter 2

Spring Assembly
A. Create New Assembly.
Step 1. Click File Menu > New, click Assembly and OK.

Step 2. Click Cancel in the Begin Assembly Property

Manager.

B. Enable Toolbox Browser.

Step 1. If necessary, turn on Toolbox Browser, click the flyout of
Options on the Standard toolbar and click Add-Ins.

Step 2. Check SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Browser to place a check

in the both check boxes, then click OK, Fig. 1.

C. Design Library.
Fig. 1
Step 1. Click the Design Library tab in the
Task Pane (right side of graphics area), Fig. 2.

Step 2. Expand the Toolbox

expand ANSI Inch folder
expand Bolts and Screws folder

click Hex Head folder

Step 3. In the lower pane, right click Hex Finished

Bolt and click Insert into Assembly, Fig. 2.

Step 4. In the Property Manager set:

under Properties, Fig. 3
Size 1/2-13
Length 2.5
Fig. 3
click OK .

Fig. 2
Fig. 4

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SOLIDWORKS 15 A ssembly SPRING MOTION STUDY P age 2-1
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Step 5. Right click the hex finished
bolt in the Feature Manager and
click Fix from menu, Fig. 5.

Step 6. Over in the Task Pane ,

Fig. 6:

minimize Bolts and Screws folder

expand Nuts folder
click Hex Nuts
Fig. 5
Step 7. In the lower pane, click Hex Nut, Fig. 6 and
drag nut onto the shaft of the bolt, Fig. 7. When Release nut
the nut snaps into bolt and the cursor changes to when cursor
changes to
concentric mate , release the nut.

Step 8. When done, click OK

and Cancel .

Fig. 6
Step 9. Click Zoom to Fit
(F) on the View toolbar. Fig. 7

Step 10. Grab the nut and slide it off the bolt, Fig. 9.

D. Save as "SPRING ASSEMBLY".

Step 1. Click File Menu > Save As.

Step 2. Key-in SPRING ASSEMBLY for the filename and press ENTER.

E. Insert Spring.
Step 1. Click Insert Components on the Assembly toolbar.

Step 2. Click Browse in the Property Manager, Fig. 8.

Fig. 8
Step 3. Select SPRING file and click Open.

Step 4. Place Spring as positioned in Fig. 9.

Fig. 9

SOLIDWORKS 15 A ssembly SPRING MOTION STUDY P age 2-2

F. Mate: Screw.

Step 1. Click Mate on the Assembly toolbar.

Step 2. In the Mate Property Manager:

under Mate Selections, Fig. 10
click cylindrical face of Bolt shaft and cylindrical inside face of
Nut hole, Fig. 11.

Rotation
expand Mechanical Mates arrow
select Screw
Revolutions/in
Revolution 20
uncheck Reverse
the rotation arrow
should point clockwise
around the bolt head, Fig. 11
click OK
Fig. 11

Step 3. Click OK in the Property Manager. Fig. 10

Step 4. Spin nut on bolt and check out the screw mate threads.

G. Mates: Bolt and Spring.

Step 1. Click Mate on the Assembly toolbar.

Step 2. Click line of Spring sketch and cylindrical

face of Bolt shaft, Fig. 12.

Step 3. Click Concentric mate in Mate pop-up Fig. 12

toolbar and Add/Finish Mate , Fig. 13
and Fig. 14.

Fig. 13

Fig. 14

SOLIDWORKS 15 A ssembly SPRING MOTION STUDY P age 2-3

Step 4. Click inside face of Bolt head, Fig. 15.

Step 5. Expand the flyout Feature Manager design

tree (click +) in the top left corner of the
graphics area, then expand SPRING and
click Right Plane , Fig. 16 and Fig. 17.
Fig. 15
Step 6. Click Add/Finish Mate
in Mate pop-up
toolbar to add a Coin-
cident mate.

Step 7. Click inside face of

Bolt head, Fig. 18. Fig. 17

Step 8. Rotate view to view

inside face of Nut
as shown in Fig. 19.
To rotate, hold down
Fig. 16
middle mouse button
(wheel) and drag. Fig. 18

Step 9. Click inside face of Nut, Fig. 19.

Step 10. Click Distance in Mate pop-up,

Fig. 20. Set distance to 1.9 and click
Add/Finish Mate to add the Dis-
tance mate. Fig. 19

Step 11. Click OK in the Property Manager.

Step 12. Save. Use Ctrl-S.

Fig. 20

Fig. 21

SOLIDWORKS 15 A ssembly SPRING MOTION STUDY P age 2-4

H. Coincident Relation: Line Endpoint and Nut Edge.
Step 1. Click line in Spring sketch in the graphics
area and click Edit Sketch on the Con-
tent toolbar, Fig. 22.

Step 2. Ctrl click endpoint of line closest to Nut

and edge of nut to select both. Release Ctrl
Fig. 22
key and click Make Coincident on the
Context toolbar, Fig. 23.

Step 3. Click Edit Component on the

Sketch toolbar to turn off edit component
and return to the assembly file. Fig. 23

Step 4. Save. Use Ctrl-S.

I. Hide Sketch1.
Step 1. Click line of spring sketch in the graphics
areas and click Hide on the Context
toolbar, Fig. 24. Fig. 24

J. Motion Study.
Step 1. Click the Motion Study 1 tab at bottom of the display, Fig. 25.

Step 2. Drag the Time Bar to 4 seconds, Fig. 25. The Time Bar is the gray vertical line at 0 sec-
onds.

Step 3. Expand Mates in the Motion Study tree, Fig. 25.

Drag Timebar ...to 4 seconds

from here...

Fig. 25

SOLIDWORKS 15 A ssembly SPRING MOTION STUDY P age 2-5

Step 4. Right click Distance1
Mate and click Edit
Dimension, Fig. 26.

Step 5. Key in .95 in the Modify

box, Fig. 27 and Fig. 28.
Click OK .

Step 6. Drag the Time Bar to 8

seconds, Fig. 29.
Fig. 26
Step 7. Right click Distance1
Mate and click Edit
Dimension, Fig. 29.

Step 8. Key in 1.9 and click OK Fig. 27

, Fig. 30 and Fig. 31. Fig. 28

Drag Timebar
from 4 sec...
...to 8 seconds

Fig. 29
Step 9. Click down arrow
next to Playback Nor-
mal , click Loop
and Play , Fig. 30
Fig. 31
Fig. 32. Click Stop .

Fig. 32
SOLIDWORKS 15 A ssembly SPRING MOTION STUDY P age 2-6
K. Create Animation Movie.
Step 1. To save Motion Study as a movie file (AVI), click Save Animation in the Motion
Manager toolbar, Fig. 33.

Step 2. Key-in a file name in the Save Animation to File dialog box. Also, the frames per second
can be controlled. The more frames the larger the file size. Click Save. Click OK in the
Video Compression dialog box.

Fig. 33
Step 3. Click the Model tab at bottom of the display to return to model and turn off
Motion Study, Fig. 33.

SOLIDWORKS 15 A ssembly SPRING MOTION STUDY P age 2-7