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More than 3.2 million product designers and engineers use SOLIDWORKS worldwide. Fun fact: SOLIDWORKS crashed on me during a final exam once and my professor was not sympathetic — instead he decided to teach me a lesson in saving files more frequently. That lesson still haunts me over a decade later. Pro-tip: Always follow SOLIDWORKS […]

As an engineer, you probably have experience opening, reviewing, creating, or editing STEP files. During my freshman year at Rose-Hulman, I sat in a class with 30 other students who all seemed to have an enormous amount of knowledge about 3D modeling. Meanwhile, I had never created nor even opened one before, so the first […]

There are a lot of CAD (computer-aided design) file types out there, each with its own names, formats, and parameters. From STEP files to STL files, to IGES and more, it can be difficult to differentiate between them. This article will help you understand the difference between these file types, and which are best for uploading […]

Design guidelines for waterproof enclosure design, as well as IP68 waterproof rating design.

Say you’re 3D printing a robot, and you’re designing a sweet gearing system to make your robot move smoothly. You can choose to 3D print or CNC machine involute gears for simple and reliable incorporation in your robot design. What to do about the fact that most CAD programs don’t have a “create involute gears” button? Welp, you’ll […]

Like most SOLIDWORKS software users, you likely collaborate with other people on part designs or assembly projects. Collaboration is typically a good thing. After all, two heads are better than one, right? However, not everyone uses SOLIDWORKS, so the people you collaborate with likely end up sending you files with extensions like IGES, QIF, JT, […]

This article is a companion to Getting Started with CNC, an introduction to the different types of CNC milling machines and the software used to design the parts they produce. Here, we’re going to discuss CNC milling terminology, toolpaths, and common operations. Chip Formation You may have seen images like Figure 1, which show how […]

Computer numerical control, or CNC, is one of the most common and well-known automated processes in manufacturing. CNC machines help companies and individuals make manufacturing processes easier to inspect and control while reducing human errors. They’re used for milling, turning, plasma cutting, electrical discharge machining, water jet cutting, punching, drilling, laser cutting, and more. This […]

As an engineer, you’ve made many 2D drawings, because drawings are still essential to the manufacturing process. Given advances in design tool technology, you may also have wondered: “Why am I creating this drawing? Why aren’t we using CAD?”  Good questions! Computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) are amazing tools but they […]

The computer modeling world is a vast array of techniques and programs that can serve as tools in aiding professionals to create, simulate, and visualize their designs. This article will introduce some different types of 3D modeling software and then walk through a sample workflow in Solidworks to show you what you can do with […]