There is a really quick way to hollow out a part in SolidWorks that you may not be aware existed. Most are familiar with the Shell command where you can remove a face or faces and shell the rest of the part. However what most don’t realize is picking a face to remove is optional. If you define a shell thickness but do not select a face to remove it will still shell, or hollow out, your part to a specific wall thickness.
Of course, remember eventually you still need to manufacture the part.
In SolidWorks there are several places to adjust the color or appearance of a face, feature, body, component, etc. One tip that will make life easier in SolidWorks is to use the Appearances button on the context toolbars. For those not familiar with the terminology the context toolbars (sometimes known as in-context) are graphical toolbars that only appear when you select items in the graphics area or FeatureManager design tree. Context toolbars appear and provide access to frequently performed actions for that context. To change an appearance just click on any face in the graphics area then click on the Appearance button in the Context toolbar.
You’ll notice that it lists the appearance in a hierarchy format. Think of this list as an interactive table and click on the area where you want to add or modify an appearance. For example, if you wanted to add color to just the face click to the blank area directly to the right of the face row. (red arrow in image)
Typically when most users want to move a table in a drawing they will select the table then grab the cross-hair symbol in the upper left corner of the table.
A quick alternative to using the cross-hair is to hold down the ALT key and then select anywhere on the table to move it around your sheet. This ALT drag technique also works on drawing views. Just hold down ALT and select anywhere inside the drawing view border to drag it.
Sketching is the core of everything we do in SolidWorks. For this reason shaving a few seconds off this functionality can add up to quite a bit of time saved over the course of our day to day SolidWorks activity. To quickly exit a sketch just double-click out in an empty spot of the graphics area with the select tool active. In case your not familiar with the terminology the select tool is the default tool when no other commands are active (hint: Esc key). However please note that this functionality only works if you have enabled Instant3D on the Features tab of the CommandManager.
In contrast you can also quickly entering an existing sketch by double-clicking on any sketch entity from the graphics area. Again its important to note the functionality described in this article only works if you have enable Instant3D.
Ever have a dimension that you want to move or copy to a different drawing view? If you find yourself in this scenario then there are a couple time-saving keyboard commands you should know.
To move a dimension: Hold down Shift and drag it to a different view.
To copy a dimension: Hold down Ctrl and drag it to a different view.
Keep in mind the target view should be of an orientation that is able to accommodate that dimension for this to work. In other words if you can select the same entities to dimension in the target view as the origin view then you can use the Shift or Ctrl drag to move or copy dimensions.
