[mplanchard]

A few more SolidWorks tips. Define the material in the part then the material will pass to the assembly, drawing and analysis.

1. Right click Material in the FeatureManager. Select the Material.
2. Click the ConfigurationManager (yellow icon on top of the FeatureManager)
2. Right click Default in the ConfigurationManager. Select Properties.
3. Click the Custom Properties button. Select Material from the drop downlist. Select Material from the Value Expression box. The material is now assigned.

When you go to the assembly the mass of each part will now be included. When you go to the drawing, the material will be displayed in the title block and the inserted Bill of Materials (use the BOM material template)

You can add many custom properties to your parts. Some of the ones that help with robot part design are part number, description, surface finish, and you can create custom properties such as cost.

Remember in millimeter-gram-seconds, you are calculating mass.

For a pretty photorealistic image, try Photoview 360. This is a seperate application outside of SolidWorks 2009-2010. Marie