5 NEW Time-Saving Sheet Metal & Fabrication Tools: What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2024

SOLIDWORKS is widely used by sheet metal and structural fabricators to design, validate, and manufacture a huge range of designs that require welding, pressing, stamping, forming and punching processes.

SOLIDWORKS 2024 is the latest release of the popular 3D CAD software and offers some great enhancements to help sheet metal designers and fabricators work more easily and manufacture components even more rapidly.

1. TAB & SLOT IMPROVEMENTS

Propagate Slots is a time-saving enhancement that allows users to add slots to copied parts effortlessly, as we can now easily reuse the tab and slot feature in assemblies.

After copying a part with a Tab & Slot feature, right-clicking on the part gives us the option to ‘propagate slots’ within the right click menu.

We can choose individual slots to propagate, or simply choose all instances. This will copy the feature to adjacent parts as well as to the selected component.

The Tab & Slot tool sees a second improvement through the inclusion of a normal cut option in the feature property manager for extra flexibility.

2. STAMP TOOL

This brand-new tool has the potential to challenge for the title of ‘best new feature’ in SOLIDWORKS 2024.

A versatile addition to SOLIDWORKS 2024’s sheet metal design toolset, the Stamp Tool simplifies the creation of intricate features, such as wheel indents on a base plate.

Designers can easily add dimensions, define drafts, and control radii, providing a level of flexibility and precision that was previously unmatched.

The Stamp Tool proves to be a time-saving alternative to traditional forming tools, enhancing efficiency and complementing SOLIDWORKS’ user-friendly interface.

3. RIP COMMAND

SOLIDWORKS 2024 also introduces an enhancement to the Rip Command, to ensure it can flatten thin-walled cylindrical geometry.

Previously, thin-walled sections needed to be manually converted to sheet metal components. Now, the Rip tool is strengthened to accommodate this thin-walled geometry and generate flat patterns in far fewer clicks to save some valuable brain power and time.

4. AUTOMATIC CORNER MANAGEMENT

Structural design in SOLIDWORKS has been enhanced with improved corner management.

The tool launches after completing the secondary member selection, and now lets us group corners automatically. This is a huge time saver, as we no longer have to manually select individual corners – instead, SOLIDWORKS 2024 will group similar corners and apply collective corner treatments to them.

These treatments can still be modified individually to maintain maximum control over your designs.

5. CUT LIST UNITS

Fabrication processes have been streamlined further by adding the option to include units in Cut List properties.

This modification also extends to custom properties and will pull units through automatically to Cut List tables and BOMs in SOLIDWORKS technical drawings.

It’s a simple but powerful enhancement that gives users more flexibility and control over how they present designs for review, approval, and manufacture.

Take the Next Steps…

Our Sheet Metal and Weldments SOLIDWORKS training courses offer a great opportunity to get to grips with all of these tools and learn best practices from the SOLIDWORKS experts.

All of our courses can be attended online, or find a classroom near you.

Don’t forget that with a SOLIDWORKS subscription you gain access to our expert SOLIDWORKS Technical Support team.

If you find your workflow disrupted or just have a question about SOLIDWORKS, then give us a call on 01926 333 777 or drop an email to support@solidsolutions.co.uk and one of our expert Engineers will be in contact.