CSWP Segment 2: Flow

I like to have fun with this section in my presentations, please read this post knowing that I am smiling and laughing with you.  They say that 72.8% of all statistics are made up on the spot.  Segment 2 is 93.478% about configurations.  There are some questions involving a shell at the end, but in my opinion, that section is mainly about design intent.  I'll touch on it at the end.

Let's talk about how this segment flows.  This segment starts of with one of the easiest questions I have ever had on a certification.  IMO, even easier than 'Are you ready to begin'...

You are going to load a part that they provide to you.  You are going to change to the configurations tab and tell them how many configurations there are.  And to make it even easier, it's going to be a multiple choice question.  I deal with configurations all day long, this one was so easy for me, it scared me.  Be calm though, it is not a trick question.  :-)





The second question will ask you to switch to another configuration and enter the mass as a fill in the blank question.  If configurations aren't your cup of tea, it's as simple as double clicking the configuration you want.  So far, it's been simple, right?  Let's start cranking up the heat.



Now let's add a new configuration.  The test will tell you to switch to a certain configuration.  It will then tell you to make a new configuration based on the active one.  You accomplish this by right clicking the part name at the top of the configuration tree and selecting 'add configuration'.  Give your new configuration a name and hit the check mark.  Now you are going to need to make a change to this configuration.  You will need to find the mass and report it on the test.  This is a multiple choice question.


So the next question is what I like to call suppression control.  It's going to ask you to suppress/unsuppress the new feature from the previous question in another configuration, change to that configuration and report the mass.  It is a fill in the blank question.  You can switch to the configuration and make the change or you can use the configure feature function in the design tree by right clicking the feature and selecting 'configure feature'.




The final question on the configurations portion involves design tables.  A lot of people freak out about this question.  Design tables are nothing to be scared of.  They are very easy to create and are an incredibly powerful tool for creating multiple configurations very quickly.  The test will ask you to create a design table, this is done by going to insert, table, design table.  The test will tell you what options to select and when you have, just click the check mark.  SW will find all the configurations present and automagically (that's Biz Markie reference, not a typo) populate all dimensions that are different in any two configurations into an Excel table in your UI.  To make a new configuration in a design table, just copy the entire row they designate and paste it at the end.  Change the configuration name to what they tell you and modify the dimension value the tell you to.  Then just click outside the Excel table window and SOLIDWORKS will start jumping through hoops (seriously, it starts jumping around) and a new configuration is born.  The only thing you have to do now is fill in the blank on the mass.

The last questions on this segment deal with design intent.  It's also the most difficult topic to explain to someone.  There are entire college courses on this topic.  The easiest question to explain this on is this one:  They give you a part that is shelled.  They then ask you to put an angular cut on the part.  If you put the cut at the end of the design tree, it cuts a large hole in the part.  This is obviously not what they want given the pictures.  You have to understand the design intent is for the shell to be a uniform thickness all the way around the handle.  The solution is to put the cut before the shell operation.  You have to understand how the part is built to accurately modify this part.

Before

After

I'll cover my tips on this section next time.

Have fun,

Bryan