CAD (Assignment II)

Technological Educational Institute of Piraeus
MSc ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

Module: Integrated CAD/CAM
Assignment: CAD Practical Work Design of an Axial Fan
Module Leader: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Constantinos STERGIOU Students Name: Georgios G. ROKOS
Students Signature: ___________________________
Date: 14/06/2011
Technological Professional Institute of Piraeus
Preface Preface
This paper has its origins in the Integrated CAD/CAM Module of the MSc in Advanced Industrial and Management Systems, undertaken at the Technological Educational Institute of Piraeus, in cooperation with the Kingston University, under the aegis of Dr. Constantinos Stergiou. The assignments main goal is to trace the particularities of Solidworks modeling process. For this purpose, the development of an Axial Fan Assembly is explicitly illustrated, part-to-part, focusing on unexpected issues and errors that needed to be resolved. Information about the Assemblys form have been either distributed by the modules leader or attained from the web. The paper presents the features and the sketching tools and highlights the limitations of each one of them in practice. Moreover, this assignment revolves around Solidworks design intent. Following the conclusions of the Axial Fans modeling process, an attempt is made to evaluate the intelligence of the program. Being a parametric, history-based CAD system, Solidworks is expected to foresee a range of interventions and facilitate or even drive its users. Last but not least, a drawing file, after a part of the Assembly, is included. All the deductions recorded in this paper result from Solidworks usage by a novice CAD user. Hopefully, this paper will be a pleasant experience for its readers.
Georgios Rokos
PART I
1) Creating the Hub
The Hub is a part that was already provided in the Assembly.igs file. By right clicking on a hub in the History Tree, on the left side of the screen, it was possible to open the part and view its dimensions. Figure 1 displays the procedure followed to open a Hub part from the assemblys file. All Hub parts are supposed to be identical. Figure 2 illustrates the selected Hub part.
Figure 1: Opening a random Hub part
Figure 2: Viewing the parts dimensions

Having opened and measured the given Hub part, which will be referred to as Hub* from now on, the new Hub part could be developed. However, in order to commence sketching, a starting point for the first line of the sketch was required. This begot the measurement of the distance between the centerpoint (origin) of the Assembly and the starting point of the Hub*. Having in mind that a short of Revolve Boss Base feature would follow, so as to accomplish the circular result of the given assembly, mandated from the beginning the specification of a referential point upon which the circular formation would be developed. By selecting Window from the top of the screen, the transition from one file to the other has been an easy task throughout the modeling process.
Figure 3: Measuring the distance of the Hub from the center point of the Axial Fan
Figure 4: Sketching the first line
Since the sketching plane selected was the Front Plane, the first line should be aligned with the X-axis. Figure 4 illustrates how the dimensions of the lines were inserted during the development of the part. All the dimensions of the .igs model were to be multiplied by 0.78, the given scale factor. The second line, which was supposed to be coincident to the first one, was drawn from the ending point of the first line. After inserting the dimensions and the angular course of 150 the Fillet Sketch tool was selected. The radius selected was that of 10, same as Hub*, because the implication at that point was that maintaining the curvatures of the primary model would result in the desired result. The latter altered the dimensions of the first line. The fillet would start from a point on the left of first lines ending point, shortening thence the dimensions of the first straight line. As a result, the dimensions of the straight part of the first line needed to be reinserted (see Figure 5). The same issue occurred on the straight part of the second line and was dealt with redimensioning as well. The distance between the fillets starting and ending point was also inserted in alignment with the scale factor of 0.78 without causing any trouble for the moment.
Figure 5: Correcting the fillet-caused modification
Post to the completion of the first fillet and the second line, the third line and the fillet merging it with the second line were sketched. The third line was parallel to the first one and drawing it alongside the automatically projected (by the system) line triggered a parallel relationship between the X-axis and the third line. Namely, the line was automatically constrained as horizontal within the right plane. Since the dimensions of the lines and the first fillet were correct, the angular relationship between the second and the third line was locked by itself. The sketching of the fillet caused a problem which also highlighted a previous omission. The system would not accept the co-existance of the radius 10 and the distance between the fillets starting and ending point (multiplied by the s.f.). However, it would accept a 7.8 radius for that distance (viz 4.04 mm). The automatically implemented Horizontal constraint for the third line restricted the application of radius 10 concurrently with the calculated dimension of 4.04mm. Figure 6 demonstrates the course of the third line had the horizontal constraint not been implemented. Subsequently, the system indicated the error in the radius of the first fillet as well.
Figure 6: Direction of the third line without the Horizontal constraint
Figure 7 depicts the complete, corrected sketch of the new part Hub. Once the sketch is complete, the Revolved Boss/Base feature may be selected to create the part. It is already known from the .Igs file that 12 Hubs form a circular assembly of hubs. Thus, by imputing the equation 360 (the sum of of a circle) / 12 (the number of hubs) the system will automatically calculate the dimensions of the Hub part. The Thin feature determines the width of the new part. By imputing the equation 3 (the width of Hub*) multiplied by 0.78 (the scale factor), Solidworks calculated the proper width of the Hub.
Figure 7: Complete sketch of part Hub
Figure 8: Determining the Revolve-Thin feature
Following the formation of the Hub part, the holes were left to be modeled. Figures 9 and10 present the measurement of the dimensions and positions of the holes. Solidworks demonstrated by itself the midpoint of the upper edge of Hub* when the mouse pointed at the edge. Thus, there was no need to sketch ancillary lines to trace the midpoint in that occasion. 8

However, an ancillary centerline was needed to assure that the midpoint of the upper circle was indeed in the middle of the opposite edges of Hub*.
Figure 9: Calculating dimensions and position of upper hole.
Figure 10: Measuring positions and dimensions of bottom holes
After measuring the positions and the dimensions of the holes in part Hub*, it was easy to sketch the holes on the surface of the new part Hub, taking into account the scale factor. As shown in Figure 10, centerlines were designed to facilitate the positioning of the holes. 9

One of the two bottom holes was sketched using the Mirror option. Mirroring a feature or sketch entity necessitates a third entity of reference so as to determine the position of the feature or sketch that is to be generated. A centerline acted as line of reference at that point.
Figure 11: Sketching and mirroring holes
When the circles of the holes were sketched upon the surface of Hub, the Cut-Extrude feature was utilized to generate the subtraction of material. The system understood by itself the direction of extrusion. During the positioning of the holes on Hub, a miscalculation led to a failed assemblage later on. The error is explained later on.
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2) Creating the Blade
To create the new Blade part, Blade*, taken from the fan assembly.igs file, was used as pattern. This time, the dimensions were not converted directly during the modeling process. The part was modeled in the same dimensions as its pattern and the Scale feature was used at the end to adjust the model as a whole to the given Scale factor. To facilitate the development of the part Blade, a .sldprt part was provided as a construction basis. The latter consisted of sketches of curves at three different parallel planes.
Figure 12: The construction basis
The first step to model the new part was the measurement of the length of Blade* so that the distance of the parallel planes could be adjusted. However, the prototype had a curved starting and ending edges lengthwise. Thus, the curvatures of those two edges also needed to be assessed (Figure 13). After the dimensions and the curvatures were calculated, they had to be implemented into the new part. The distance between the planes and their containing sketches was adjusted and the Loft feature was applied to add material between the sketches (Figure 14, ) followed by the sketching of Centerpoint Arcs to apply the Cut-Extrude feature and create the requested curves in the opposite edges of the Blade (Figure 15). To design the curves, a parallel plane to the Top one had to be inserted (Reference Geometry), since the latter bisected the lofted material.
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Figure 13: Measurement of dimensions and curvature
Figure 14: Applying the Loft Feature
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Figure 15: Cut-Extruding the opposite edges
In the middle of the front edge of the Blade, a circle needed to be sketched so that a cylindrical component could be generated. The Extrude Boss-Base feature would add material to the circle.
Figure 16: Generating the cylindrical component
The Fillet feature would blunt the edges of the cylindrical part. To assess the mm of Fillets application, the straight lateral line of the cylinder in Blade* was measured. 13

On the front side of the cylinder, two parallel lines were sketched, both at a 20 accidence compared to the X axis. The distance of the lines would be 25 mm while each one of them would have equal distance from the center point of the cylinder on the Y axis. The two edges would be laterally united on their sides through the 3 Point Arc sketch tool, following the course of the cylinder, forming a closed sketch (Figure 17), ready to be extruded.
Figure 17: Closing the sketch
After the extrusion, two parallel lines were sketched on the edges of the new formation to remove material through Cut Extrude, offset from surface by 25cm.
Figure 18: Applying Offset Cut-Extrude, Up to surface
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Thereafter, the edges of the new formation needed to be blunted through the Fillet feature.
Figure 19: Blunting the edges
The extent of the fillets was assessed by measuring the straight segment of each edge of Blade*.
Figure 20: Measuring Fillets extent
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The fillet approach was selected to blunt the edges that were formerly Offset Cut-Extruded and generate a rounding result but Solidworks would not allow the specific intervention. Subsequently, the sketch of the Cut-Extrude feature was altered instead. The sidelong parallel straight lines were replaced by arcs.
Figure 21: Changing the sketch
On the longest surface of the formation, three holes needed to be designed. The path to form the holes started with circular sketches and finished with the Cut-Extrude feature.
Figure 22: Developing the holes
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The last step of the part was the development of a cone-like component on top of the cylindrical component and bisecting the wing of the blade. To model the specific component, two planes parallel to the surface of the cylinder were inserted. At first, opposite arcs were sketched on the surface of the cylinder and smaller arcs were sketched on the parallel planes. However, the arcs were not creating a closed sketch and thus the Loft feature was not applicable. Since the reason of the malfunction was not traced yet, the same procedure was attempted again, trying 3D sketching, but the Loft feature remained inapplicable. Finally, closed eclipses were sketched and this time Loft did work.
Figure 23: Lofting eclipses along planes.
Figure 24: The Blade part
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3) Creating the Impeller Assembly
The Impeller Assembly consists of two circular Hub assemblies, each of which compounds twelve Hub parts that cluster twelve blades arrayed in a circular formation. The first step to develop the assembly was the mating of two Hub parts as shown in Figure 25. Two sets of holes were configured to be concentric so that the parts would not move while the opposite faces of the Hubs, namely the front face of one part and the back face of the other part, were configured to be coincident. The design intent of Solidworks is worth mentioning at this point. When selecting the holes of the Hubs, the system sets as default selection the concentric mating.
Figure 25: Mating the Hubs
Mating two sets of holes and a set of faces was enough to fully define the Hub relationship. The remaining step was the introduction of the Blade within the gap between the two Hub parts. Once again, two sets of holes and a set of faces needed to be constrained. Concerning the holes, it did not matter which of the two Hub parts would be selected to mate, as long as the corresponding hole would be selected. Concerning the face, it was important to select the correct face of the Blade to mate it with the corresponding face of one of the Hub parts. When mating the sets of holes, a previous error emerged. The distance between the upper hole and the bottom ones of the Hub part was miscalculated. As a result, the upper holes between the Hubs and the Blade could not be mated post to the bottom holes mating. 18

By right clicking on the Hub and selecting Open Part, the Hub.sldprt file was opened and modified. Even without saving the modification, while having the Hub part file open, the Assembly file detected that changes occurred and asked for regeneration. The modification was completed and Hub part was saved and closed. The Assembly was regenerated and the Hubs could now be mated with the Blade.
Figure 26: Mating the Hubs with the Blade
By selecting Insert Component Pattern Circular Pattern and setting the number 12 for instances, 30 (=360/12) for angular distance and the temporary axis along the origin of the Y axis for point of reference, the circular assemblage could be formed. This procedure was followed three times, one for each of the opposite Hubs and one for the Blade (Figure 27). Although the mates were not patterned as the parts themselves, the assembly would be fully defined (Figure 28). Before ending up on the procedure described above, a different order of steps was applied. The Circular Pattern was implemented to the parts prior to the mating task. In fact, the three circular dozens of parts were attempted to be directly mated (faces, holes). However, when mating a set of holes, the circular pattern would fall apart. Only the part containing the selected hole would move to perform the mate, getting detached from the circular formation it belonged to. Hence, it appears that the sequence of configurations is crucial in the mating process of Solidworks.
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Figure 27: Applying Circular Pattern on Hubs
Figure 28: The Impeller Assembly, fully defined
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4) Creating the Drive Motor
Apart from the Hubs and the Blades (from now on identified as Impeller assembly), an axial fan assembly consists of the following elements: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Motor Front Cover Duct Sleeve Struts (3 pieces) Terminal Box
MAICOs DRZ 35/4B model was used as pattern to model those parts. The Drive motor is requested to be modeled as a block, although in reality it is an assemblage of smaller parts itself. The parts modeling started with a circular sketch and its extrusion.
Figure 29: Circles extrusion
The cylinder should have vertical humps alongside. Thus, over its front face, a hump was sketched. Then the Extrude Boss Base feature was selected to add material along the cylinder. In order to make the part similar to its pattern, the hubs starting and ending point should have a distance of about 10 mm from the faces of the cylinder. Hence, the extrusion was configured to be done offset from the face by 10 mm, at a distance equal to the length of the cylinder minus 20.
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Then the circular pattern feature was selected to create similar humps alongside the face of the cylinder. However, three instances needed to be skipped, so that the Struts could be mated with the motor later on, as in MAICOs pattern. At first, an effort was made not to skip those instances, but to edit them instead. Since they were circular patterned Solidworks would not allow changes outside the pattern. Consequently, after completing the pattern of the extrusion, in lieu of the skipped instances a sketch was designed for the socket of the Struts. In reality, three features were applied to form the socket. First, a sketch was drawn and an extrusion was performed, both identical to those of the humps. Then, a second sketch was drawn on the top face of the extruded component (Figure 30). Finally, a hole was placed in the middle of the though sketching a circle and Cut-extruding. The component was then circular patterned to fill in the three instances skipped by the precious Circular Pattern.
Figure 30: A socket
The following step was the blunting of the front edges of the humps through Fillet. By editing the first hump, the one used to pattern the rest, Solidworks would not understand that the Fillet feature should be applied to the patterned humps as well. Nor was it possible to include the Fillet feature in the Circular Pattern command, as it was applied post the command and the History Tree was de-activated for the features under the Circular Pattern. Only selections over the Command were active. Therefore, the Fillet feature was dragged between the hump extrusion and the Circular Pattern. This way, the Circular Pattern would allow the inclusion of the Fillet feature.
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Figure 31: Editing the Circular Patter - Including Fillet
Since the Motor was to be developed as a block, the back cover ought to be designed on the Motor. A semi-spherical component should be included on the back face of the cylinder. This was attempted to be done through the Dome feature. Nonetheless, two issues impeded Domes application. At first, Dome needed a whole face to add the semi-sphere. When trying to select a sketch drawn on the back face of the cylinder, the Dome feature declined the sketch and added the face instead. Note that the semi-sphere was not intended to cover in total the back face. To overpass this issue, the circular sketch was Cut-extruded by an imperceptible amount of mm, so that a new face at the dimensions of the sketch would be created for the Dome feature. The solution to the first issue did allow the development of the hemisphere. But the model also needed a rectangular box that would start from the back face of the cylinder and end at the same distance as that of the hemispheres crest, passing through the hemisphere for some part of it. After sketching the rectangle on the back face of the cylinder, the Extrude Boss Base feature could not be applied as the rectangular solid would have to pass through the Domed hemisphere, which Solidworks would not allow. Consequently, the hemisphere needed to be developed using another Solidworks feature. Both the Dome and the formerly applied Cut-Extrude feature, which was applied on the back face of the cylinder, were deleted. On the right plane, a quarter of a circle was sketched and through the Revolve Boss Base feature the hemisphere was developed again (Figure 31). This time the rectangular solid that would pass through the hemisphere could be developed without problems (Figure 32).
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Figure 32: Applying Revolve Boss Base
On the front face of the cylinder, a smaller cylindrical tube that would act as linking tool to the Front Cover part needed to be developed. Thence, a circular sketch was drawn and extruded in the middle of the front face of the cylinder. On the front face of the new, smaller cylinder a hexagonal sketch was inserted, circumstanced by the circular shape of the face. Within the same sketch, a second, smaller hexagon was sketched inside the first hexagon. The edges of the two hexagons were restricted to be parallel. The sketch including the two hexagons was then extruded.
Figure 33: Creating the Front Cover link
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The newly developed hexagonal reception needed holes in the middle of the each of its edges. The holes were planned to act as screw receptions. This time, instead of cutextruding sketched circles, the Hole Wizard was utilized. The specifications for the screws that would be mated were inserted (standard, type, size) and the positions were left to be selected. To select the positions, centerlines were sketched on the hexagons faces before using the Hole Wizard. However, sketches deployed outside the Hole Wizard feature could not be used for constraint-related reasons. Only sketches developed during the positioning process of Hole Wizard feature were allowed to be used to set constraints and relationships (i.e. midpoint) for the positioning of the holes. As a result, the centerlines sketched before the Hole Wizard utilization were replaced by identical centerlines drawn in the frame of the Hole Wizard.
Figure 34: Using the Hole Wizard
The last step of the Drive Motors development was the creation of a hemisphere on top of the rectangular box. The procedure followed was the same as that of the first hemisphere. A quarter of a circle was sketched so that the Revolve Boss Base Feature could be applied. A centerline, perpendicular to the rectangular boxs face, was also sketched to be used as line of revolution.
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Figure 35: Developing the second hemisphere
It is worth mentioning that after the application of the Circular Pattern on the humps, the model got too heavy for the host-computer. For instance, every time the model was rotated, the computer was stalling, most likely due to the complexity of the model.
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5) Creating the Front Cover
The Front Cover was supposed to serve two needs in the assembly. First, it should cover the Hubs and second, it should link the Hubs, the Blades and the Motor so that the latter was enabled to rotate the Blades. To begin with the first need, the dimensions of the Hub Circular Pattern was needed. By entering the Impeller Assembly, a concentric and coincident circle to that of the Hub Circular Pattern was sketched and estimated through Smart Dimensions. Then, a new part file, named Front Cover, was created. The first sketch to be drawn was that of circle in the same dimensions as the Hub Circular Pattern. Then the sketch was extruded.
Figure 36: Circles extrusion
Thereafter, the Dome feature was applied on the front face of the cylindrical shape to make it look like a part of a sphere.
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Figure 37: Applying the Dome Feature
The Dome feature on the front face was followed by the Shell feature on the back face to remove material, leaving a constant 1mm wall to form the part.
Figure 38: Applying the Shell feature
After the Shell feature, the initial sketch of the part was extruded again, backwards this time. This way the spherical front face would remain spherical and cavernous while the back face would allow further interventions for a distance equal to the extrusion distance. The order of the features has been critical for the formation of the configuration of the part. 28
Figure 39: The backwards Boss Base Extrusion
A sketch of a circle, concentric to the back face, forming an equally sided cross within it, was Cut-Extruded by the same amount of mm as the precedent Boss Base Extrusion.
Figure 40: Cut-Extruding the cross-divided circle.
Subsequent to the back faces formation, holes were created to serve the second role of the part; the mating capacity of the Impeller assembly with the front cover. A circle was sketched on the back face of the part, after assessing its position by opening the Hub part
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and viewing the position of the top, large hole. The circle needed to be equal to the aforementioned hole and at the same distance from the Hubs top edge.
Figure 41: Assessing the position and distance via examining the Hub part
Once the circle was fully defined, the cut-extrusion task could take place, developing a hole. This hole was destined to be pierced by the same screw that would pierce a random Hubs top hole. This way, the front cover and the Impeller Assembly would be fastened. The hole was then subject to Circular Pattern, to develop 11 more identical and equally distributed holes, all of which would be corresponding to the Hubs top holes.
Figure 42: Patterning the Cut Extruded sketch Hole
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At this point, it was noticed that the dimensions used as pattern were calculated after the Hub* part and the .igs file. Hence, the Scale feature needed to be applied. Afterwards, a way to link the Front Cover with the Motor needed to be implemented. That was accomplished by constructing a tube on the back face of the part, and on top of the latter a hexagon destined to penetrate the hexagonal slot of the Motor. The tube was developed by sketching a circle in the middle of the back face and on top of the cross. The circle would be then extruded to add material and create the cylinder. On the back face of the cylinder, a hexagon was sketched (from the midpoint of the face). Its dimensions were assessed after those of the slot and the accidence was adjusted by adding a parallel constraint between an edge of the hexagon and an edge of the cross.
Figure 43: The part after the hexagons construction
Holes destined to be mated with those of the Motor were the last touch on the part. By sketching an auxiliary centerline, the corresponding position of the hole on one of the hexagons face was assessed. A circle, in the same dimensions as those of the holes of the Motor part, was sketched and Cut-Extruded. The extrusion depth was set to be 10 cm, to match the difference between the length of the selected screw (the slots holes were inserted using the Hole Wizard) and that of the slots thickness.
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Figure 44: Creating the first hole
Following the development of one hole, the remaining five were patterned via the Circular Pattern command.
Figure 45: Applying the Circular Pattern feature
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6) Creating the Duct Sleeve
The Duct Sleeve is destined to contour the Impeller. Thus its diameter should be larger than that of the Impeller (in particular of the Circular Blade Pattern). The diameter was set at 1550 mm and the depth of the contouring material at 15mm. Two concentric circles were sketched and extruded.
Figure 46: Applying Extrude Boss Base
In the front of both the faces of the part, the Duct Sleeves sheet iron needed to be a bit broader for a few mm. Thus a third circle, greater than the previous ones, was sketched. The extrusion of the third circle covered the ensemble of the face. A fourth circle, identical to the second one had to be drawn within the same sketch, so that the system could understand and apply the required, partial extrusion (Figure 47). To repeat the extrusion on the opposite face of the part, a new plane was inserted (Insert Reference Geometry), detached from the Front one, which had been the first sketchs plane, by as many mm as the first extrusion was and towards the same direction (Figure 48). On the new plane, the last extrusions process was repeated. Prior to inserting a new plane, the Mirror feature was attempted to be applied. A centerline was drawn in the middle of the distance of the two faces but it turned out that Mirroring is available only when its point of reference (the entity around which it is to be performed) is a plane or a face. In the case above, neither of the two existed in the middle of the extrusion distance.
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Figure 47: Applying the Extrude Boss Base feature on the second sketch
Figure 48: Inserting a new plane
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Figure 49: Repeating the extrusion on the new plane
The next step was the construction of the sockets, inside the part. Those sockets were to be used to link the Duct Sleeve and the Motor through the Struts. Evidently, three sockets, equally distributed along the inside of the Duct Sleeve were required. On the front face, a new concentric circle was sketched, smaller than the inside circle of the part by 30 mm. Thereafter, two lines were sketched from the origin, through the new circle, to the inside circle of the part. The distance between the endpoints was delimited to 15 mm, a much as the distance between the starting points of the sockets of the Motor part. Then the useless entities were trimmed and the shape of the first socket was ready to be extruded. Following the extrusion, the Circular Pattern feature was applied.
Figure 50: Sketching the socket
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The following step was the construction of a reception for the Terminal Box, which needed to be placed on top of the part. To make the sketch, the 3D Sketch tool was tried out. One would believe that this particular sketch tool would enable sketching on non-planar surfaces, but it turned out that he/she would be wrong. The 3D sketch tool was available when selecting the curved surface as the sketching face, though, when drawing, the sketch would be formed on the planar plane under the surface. Thence, the sketch was drawn on the top plane, in the middle of the part, and the extrusion was chosen to be applied Offset by the amount of mm of the radius of the part plus 30 mm, downwards, Up to Surface.
Figure 51: Offset extruding Up To Surface and downwards
A cube was then developed, but that was not enough, since the goal was to construct a case/reception. Thus, on the top face of the cube, a square was sketched and Cut-Extruded, so as to generate the space that was intended to be filled by the Terminal Box when assembling the parts.
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Figure 52: Applying Cut Extrude on the Terminal Boxs reception
To complete the reception, the positions and the type of the fasteners that would bind the Terminal Box in the case needed to be determined. Using the Hole Wizard, two receptions were created on the Front and the Back face of the case. The positions of the receptions were determined using sketch entities within the Hole Wizard.
Figure 53: Using the Hole Wizard
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To simulate MAICOs pattern, small holes needed to be developed around the front and the back face of the part. A circle was sketched between the edges of the sheet iron on the front face (Figure 54). The sketch was then Cut-Extruded and Circular Patterned (Figure 55)
Figure 54: Cut-extruding the circular sketch
Figure 55: Applying the Circular Pattern Feature
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The same procedure was followed to develop holes on the back face of the part. Though in theory the Mirror feature could automatically pattern the holes on the opposite face, in practice there was no feature or plane between the faces to mirror about.
Figure 56: Isometric view of the part
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7) Creating the Terminal Box
The Terminal Box was supposed to fit in the gap of the reception on top of the Duct Sleeve. Consequently, its surface area should be equal to the area of the Cut-Extruded square sketched on the reception. A new part file was opened and an identical square to the above-mentioned was sketched. The Extrude Boss Base feature was selected to add material to the sketch and generate a rectangular box.
Figure 57: Creating the rectangular box
The terminal box in the MAICON pattern includes buttons. On the top face of the rectangular box, a smaller square was sketched so as to apply the CutExtrude feature and place cylinders buttons in lieu of the removed material.
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Figure 58: Removing material through Cut-Extrude
Explicitly, on the top face of the Cut-Extruded Area a circle was sketched. After determining the dimensions and the position, Extrude Boss Base was applied to the circular sketch, to generate a cylinder-button.
Figure 59: Creating the first button
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The Linear Pattern feature was applied to the cylinder, so as to make copies throughout the face. Through this feature, the distance between the copies, their direction and their number needed to be determined.
Figure 60: Applying the Linear Pattern
The last step of the parts modeling was the inclusion of holes, in two opposite external sides. Through those holes the fasteners would bind the Terminal Box with the case of the Duct Sleeve. Thus, the radius of the new holes needed to be equal to the radius of the holes on the case-reception, while the positions of the holes on the Terminal Box should match the positions of the on the reception, when they would be mated.
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Figure 61: Sketching a circle to generate a hole
The holes were modeled using the Cut-Extrude feature. At this point, it is worth mentioning that when the sketch was drawn on one of the opposite sides and the second sketch was under drawing, the first sketch was discernible (on the back). By selecting the center point of the opposite circle and dragging up to its circumference, the system understood and automatically marked the new circle as fully defined, creating a relationship between the two sketches by itself.
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8) Creating the Strut
To create the Strut part, a different modeling approach was put forward. The Strut was supposed to bind the Motor and the Duct Sleeve. Subsequently, an Assembly was created, in which the two parts were inserted. The circumferences of the front faces of the Motor and the Duct Sleeve were then mated, setting Concentric as their relationship type.
Figure 62: Configuring the concentric mate type
Thereafter, the straight lines of the sides of the sockets were mated. The default relationship would be coincident. The sockets were then aligned and the assembly in order.
Figure 63: Mating the sides of the sockets
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From the Front view and on the Front Plane, the Sketch tool was selected. The ouline of the Strut could then be drawn. At first, lines parallel to the edges of the sockets, linking the two parts, were sketched. Then, two pairs of circles, all concentric, were sketched. Each pair would be tangent to the opposite sides of a socket, as in the Figure below.
Figure 64: Sketching the sockets outline
By trimming the entities, the sketch of the strut would be left on the screen. Then, by selecting Edit Copy, the sketch was copied and pasted to a new file. An extrusion was the only required task to generate the Strut. The extrusion depth would be same as that of the socket of the Motor.
Figure 65: Extruding the pasted sketch
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9) Creating the Screws
Prior to assembling the parts, fasteners needed to be modeled so that all parts could be buckled. To begin with, the most popular hole in the assembly was the one corresponding to the ANSI Metric Hex Screw M3. To model the corresponding screw, a new part file was opened and a sketch was designed, aligned with the dimensions of the selected screw. The Revolve Boss Base feature would add material to the sketch and generate the solid part. The Chamfer feature was then applied to the top circular edge of the part.
Figure 66: Applying the Revolve Boss Base Feature
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Figure 67: Chamfering the edges
Finally, a polygon was sketched and Cut-Extruded on the top face of the part to create a reception for the screwdriver.
Figure 68: Creating the screwdrivers reception
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Then one more type of screw was sketched after the dimensions of the bigger holes of the Impeller Assembly, which did not belong to a standard due to the random Scale Factor. To create the new screws, the dimensions of the first screw were modified and the resulting files were saved with different names. The length of the screws was subject to the overall depth of the parts they would drive through.
Figure 69: Editing the first sketch of the screw to modify the dimensions
Figure 70: Cut-Extruding the new modified polygon
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Afterwards, a third type of screw was developed, accompanied by a nut destined to the smaller holes of the Impeller. This time, the Helix/Spiral feature was used to mate the Screw with the Nut. At first, a hexagonal sketch entity was inserted and extruded.
Figure 71: Extruding the polygon
On the back face of the polygon a circle was sketched and extruded.
Figure 72: Extruding the circle on the back face
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Then, a second concentric circle was sketched, matching the diameter of the small holes of the Impeller. The circle was then extruded by a depth equal to the depth of the holes plus the depth of the Nut that would be created later on.
Figure 73: Creating the cylinder
The edge of the resulting cylinder was chamfered.
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Figure 74: Chamfering the edge-circumference of the cylinder
The Helix-Spiral feature was then selected and a circle equal and concentric to that of the cylinder was sketched on the back face of the part.
Figure 75: Applying the Helix/Spiral feature
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The Helix-Spiral feature options opened and the definition of the feature by height and pitch was selected, with a pitch size of 1.35mm and a height equal to the extrusion depth of the Nut that was to be constructed. Then a triangle was inserted on the right plane. The center point of the polygon was set to be coincident to the extension of the circumference of the cylinder, as shown in the Figure below.
Figure 76: Inserting the shape of the Cut
Then, the Cut-Sweep feature was applied selecting the triangular sketch as profile and the Helix/Spiral feature as path.
Figure 77: Applying the Cut-Sweep feature
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Finally, a circle was sketched on the front face of the part and the Cut Extrude feature was applied, flipping the side to cut and inputting a draft of 60.
Figure 78: Cut-Extruding the vertices of the part
After completing the Screw, its corresponding Nut needed to be designed. The same hexagon as that of the Screw was designed, adding a circle within the same sketch equal to the circle that formed the cylinder of the Screw. Then the Extrude Boss Base feature was applied.
Figure 79: Extruding the outline of the Nut
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Post to the extrusion, the Helix-Spiral feature was selected and an equal and concentric circle to that of the resulting hole was sketched on the back face of the part. A triangle equal to that of the Screw was then designed and set as coincident to the ending of the hole, as shown in the Figure below.
Figure 80: Inserting the Cut shape
Thereafter, the Cut Sweep feature was applied selecting the Helix Spiral feature and the triangle.
Figure 81: Applying the Cut-Sweep feature
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Finally, the Cut-Extrude feature was applied to both the Front and the Back face of the part using the same configurations as in the Screws Cut-Extrusion.
Figure 82: Cut-Extruding the vertices
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10) Assembling the Parts
Having all parts modeled, the assembly was left to be generated, starting from the Impeller Assembly, with which the front cover should be mated. A new assembly file was then created and the Impeller assembly, as well as the Front Cover part, was inserted. Setting two mating relationships was sufficient to fully define this assemblage. A couple of holes was defined as Concentric and another couple of holes was defined as Coincident.
Figure 83: Setting the Concentric constraint
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Figure 84: Setting the Coincident constraint
Then, the first screw was added to the assemblage. Having selected Concentric as mating type between the circumference of the screw and that of the large hole, the first relationship was applied. Then a second relationship, Coincident, was added between the faces that were to be abutted. The screw was now in the required position.
Figure 85: Setting the coincidental relationship
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The Feature Driven Pattern was tried out by selecting the screw and the Circular Pattern applied to the Hubs, but the system would not temporarily allow it. Namely, the Circular Pattern could not be inserted in the Driving Feature tab post to the insertion of the Screw as patterned component. Later on, the Circular Pattern was selected as the Driving Feature prior to the Screw selection as patterned component. The second order of selections could be applied and screws were inserted in all the intended holes.
Figure 86: Applying the Feature Driven Pattern
Afterwards, screws were added to the smaller holes of the Impeller Assemblage. Those screws would not bind the Impeller with another component. Their goal was to boil down the parts of the Impeller. For this particular bondage the spiral screws were selected for one side of the Impeller and the nuts for the opposite side. To apply the mate screws were restricted to be concentric to the holes and while the faces that were to be abutted were restricted to be coincident. Two screws were inserted and in each Hub part. On the opposite side of the Impeller, the nuts were positioned using the same relations as those of the screws. Having inserted a couple a Screws and a couple of Nuts, the Circular Pattern was applied to fill in the remaining holes.
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Figure 87: Inserting the Coincident restriction
Figure 88: Inserting the Concentric restriction
To insert the Nuts, the Front Cover part needed to be hidden, by right clicking on the part and selecting Hide. The Front Cover was covering the holes of the front side of the Impeller.
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After the first assemblage, the part Drive Motor was inserted. Two pairs of vertices of the Motor and the Front Covers hexagons were constrained to be coincident as shown below.
Figure 89: Mating the Front Cover with the Drive Motor
Then, a screw corresponding to the holes of the hitch was inserted. The mating relationships were once again Concentric and Coincident and the Circular Pattern feature filled in the remaining five holes.
The following Parts that needed to be inserted were the Strut and the Duct Sleeve. The Strut had to be mated with both the Drive motor and the Duct Sleeve. In fact, it was supposed to bridge the gap between the two parts. When modeling the Strut, the holes for the reception of screws that would joint together the Struts and the sockets were not developed as the Hole Wizard is applicable within Assemblies as well. At first, the circumferences of the Drive Motor and the Duct Sleeve were set to be concentric, to position the parts.
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Figure 90: The Drive Motor concentric to the Duct Sleeve
However, by restricting the two parts to be concentric, the Drive Motor would no longer be able to move across the Duct Sleeve. The Motor needed to be positioned in the middle of the Duct Sleeves depth but the concentric constraint would allow the backwards motion of the first, although, if allowed the parts would virtually remain concentric. Then the Strut was inserted, but its reception for the socket of the Duct Sleeve could not be restricted to the required spot within the Duct Sleeve, because the socket of the latter was continuous throughout the part. It did not have any vertices or other characteristics to mate them with the Strut. Thence, the Duct Sleeve part was opened and holes were developed in the required positions, in the middle of the extruded area, onto the sockets. After regenerating the assembly to update the models, holes equal to those of the Duct Sleeve and the Motors sockets were developed via the Hole Wizard feature. The mate would still be impossible, because the holes sketched outside the Assembly had a different accidence from the holes sketched within the Assembly, despite the fact that the sketches of the holes and, subsequently, their drilling points were aligned. As a result, all the holes were deleted (on the sockets of both parts and on the Strut) and after mating the vertices of the Struts reception with those of a socket of the Motor, the Hole Wizard was selected again to generate a collinear hole along the mated components, as shown in Figure 91.
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Figure 91: Creating a hole through the Hole Wizard
The Strut was still unable to be mated with a point in the middle of the Duct Sleeve since the holes were removed. To solve this issue, the Duct Sleeve Part was opened and the continuous extrusion of the socket was interrupted at one point, by breaking the previous extrusion into two, having an imperceptible distance between its other. That was accomplished by cutting in half the former extrusion depth and by sketching on the opposite face an identical socket outline which was extruded up until 1mm from the end point of the opposite extrusion.
Figure 92: Inserting the depth of the opposite extrusion
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The second extrusion was then added to the Circular Pattern of the first extrusion, the part was saved and the assembly was regenerated. As a consequence of the interruption of the extrusion of the sockets, the Struts second reception could be mated with a socket of the Duct Sleeve, in the middle of the part, where the 1mm interruption begot vertices that were set to be coincident to the vertices of the reception .Holes were added again, similarly to those on the conjunction of the Drive Motor and the Strut, and screws were added and mated with the Holes, using the same relationships as in the mating process of the other parts.
Figure 93: The mates of the Strut part
A Circular Pattern was then introduced, compounding the Strut, the Holes and the Screws and the assembly was fully defined.
Figure 94: Introducing the Circular Pattern
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The remaining part that needed to be inserted and mated was the Terminal Box. Its vertices were mated with the vertices in the reception on top of the Duct Sleeve. Then the screws corresponding to the holes were introduced and mated under the same process as the rest of the screws and the Assembly was ready and fully defined.
Figure 95: Mating the Terminal Box with its reception
Figure 96: The fully defined Assembly
It is worth mentioning that the modifications of the parts within the assembly did not pass to the files they stemmed from. Nor did Solidworks pose a question to regenerate the parts. 64

11) Creating the Blades Drawing
After configuring the Documents Properties and the Sheet Format, the most important views of the part Blade were inserted. From the Design Library, the part was dragged into the sheet and the views were selected.
Creating an Auxiliary view was indispensable as the Blades head was leaning. On each of the parts view, the dimensions were inserted using the Smart Dimensions tool. By letting the program calculate the dimensions by itself, it would disclose those prior to the Scale feature. A detailed view was also required because the number of the dimensions that needed to be illustrated was important. The parts Drawing is presented in the following page. Solidworks allows the inclusion of various tables within a drawing, such as a Bill of Material in Assemblies or a Revision Table when changes occur (which do not in this case).
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PART II
1) Review of Features
Solidworks is a program equipped with a vast amount of features. A recording of the features utilized in this paper, as well as their characteristics, is presented below: Extruded Boss/Base: Adds material to a sketch towards one or two (through the Thin choice) directions. The draft choice may enable linear accidence in the materials addition. It can not generate concave additions. Extruded Cut: Removes material from a sketch. It is the opposite of the Extruded Boss/Base feature. It shares the same limitations. Revolved Boss Base: Adds material in a revolving course around a predefined entity. Revolved Cut: Removes material in a revolving course. Swept Boss/Base: Sweeps a closed sketch entity around a predefined course, such as a spiral, adding or removing material. Lofted Boss/Base: Adds material from a closed sketch entity up to one or more profiles. Contrary to Extruded Boss/Base, it can generate complex concave faces. Fillet: Rounds the intersection of surfaces, after a predetermined radius Chamfer: Replaces the abrupt intersection corner of two faces with a third intermediate face which, in turn, generates two intersections that share the accidence the first. Shell: Removes material from the inside of a solid body, leaving a thin, balanced surface outline instead. Draft: Adds accidence to the course - direction of a face/edge. This feature can be both stand alone or be part of another feature, such as Revolve Boss/Base. Hole Wizard: Enables the direct insertion of a hole in a body. Some patterns are predetermined and available, while the possibility to model and add a new pattern is guesstimated. Linear Pattern: Enables the automated linear recurrence of a feature within a part or even of a part within an assembly. Circular Pattern: Enables the automated circular recurrence of both features and parts. Scale: Multiplies the ensemble of a part/assembly, including positions and dimensions, by a specific factor. As a result the solid subject shrinks or expands uniformly.
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Dome: Adds material from a face up (or down) to a predefined distance in a spherical/concave course. However, its application field may not be compounded with the application of another feature. Reference Geometry: Helpful reference tools (points, axis, planes, origins) may be inserted to help delimit or define a particular feature or component of a part. The placement of those tools may be accomplished using faces, existing planes, lines, points or even curves. Helix/Spiral: Using a sketch entity (namely a circle), the Helix/Spiral feature develops the course of a spiral. This feature does not actually add material by itself. It needs to be combined with the Swept Boss/Base feature and its sketch entity. Curve through XYZ Points: Points on the XYZ axis may be inserted in a table which will generate a Curve after the points.
2) Constraints in parts, assemblies and Design Intent

Constraints may be very helpful during the modeling process of a part/assembly. Being a parametric modeler, Solidworks allows the inclusions of a number of constraints which may protect the operator from errors, discharge him from having to insert a number of dimensions, or even maintain some characteristics of the model when changes are applied and the model is regenerated. For instance, by restricting a line to be equal to another line, the length will need to be determined for only one of them. In addition, if the length of one line gets modified for some reason, its constrained to be equal line will be automatically regenerated as well. What constraints add to a model is, in fact, the chance to lock specific relations and offer security. In engineering, a tiny aberration may lead to the total disablement of a lot. The automotive industry has been behind the evolution of CAD/CAM systems from the beginnings of computerization, due to the importance attributed to accuracy. In the example of the Axial Fan, there was a miss between the holes of the Duct Sleeve and those of the Struts because accidence was not taken into account. The concentric constraint could not be added and the holes needed to be regenerated. Had some sort of concentric constraint been applied when the parts were developed it would not be necessary to arrive to the mating stage and detect the problem. Constraints are not delimited to the modeling of a part. They are also critical for the mating process of an assembly. Positioning a part where it should be in comparison with another part is not enough in Solidworks. For instance, placing a screw within its corresponding hole would not signify a fully defined mate. Relationships need to be included, since an imperceptible miss may provoke a series of problems. A screw has to be concentric to its hole, while the bottom face of its head has to be coincident to the surface from which the cut originates. Setting constraints in mates is not only vital for security and accuracy reasons (see under Figure 25) but also for practical reasons. Instead of dragging a part to position it 68

to the corresponding place compared to another part, constraints may be added directly and result to the positioning. Solidworks labels a mate as fully defined when the parts can no longer be dispatched. The following table demonstrates Solidworks constraint options in both mates and sketches. Constraint Type Coincident Concentric Fix Pierce Midpoint Tangent Perpendicular/Vertical Horizontal Parallel Distance Angle Patterns Mirroring Aligned/Antialligned
Table 1: Solidworks constraint types
Sketches Through smart dimensions Through smart dimensions Both in sketches and in features Both in sketches and in features x
Mates x x x x Including feature driven
During the development of the Axial Fan Assembly it had been noticed that constraints were often added by the system itself. When sketching a line from a point close to another line, the system added the Coincident constraint arbitrarily. Furthermore, when a circle was sketched from the midpoint of another circular surface, the system added the Concentric constraint and when a rather perpendicular line was sketched from another line the Perpendicular constraint was automatically included. The ability of Solidworks to predict the operators will is called Design Intent. Moreover, the ability of the system to allow or even present (in sketches) only possible constraints may also be included in its intelligent comportment. Under Figure 61, an example of Solidworks Design Intent is provided. Solidworks is a very convenient, user-friendly CAD system and its dominance in the global market is rather rational.
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CAD (Assignment II)

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Technological Educational Institute of Piraeus

MSc ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

Assignment: CAD Practical Work Design of an Axial Fan

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Figure 1: Opening a random Hub part

Figure 2: Viewing the parts dimensions

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Figure 4: Sketching the first line

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Figure 5: Correcting the fillet-caused modification

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Figure 6: Direction of the third line without the Horizontal constraint

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Figure 7: Complete sketch of part Hub

Figure 8: Determining the Revolve-Thin feature

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Figure 9: Calculating dimensions and position of upper hole.

Figure 10: Measuring positions and dimensions of bottom holes

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Figure 11: Sketching and mirroring holes

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Figure 12: The construction basis

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Figure 13: Measurement of dimensions and curvature

Figure 14: Applying the Loft Feature

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Figure 15: Cut-Extruding the opposite edges

Figure 16: Generating the cylindrical component

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Figure 17: Closing the sketch

Figure 18: Applying Offset Cut-Extrude, Up to surface

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Figure 19: Blunting the edges

Figure 20: Measuring Fillets extent

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Figure 21: Changing the sketch

Figure 22: Developing the holes

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Figure 23: Lofting eclipses along planes.

Figure 24: The Blade part

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Figure 25: Mating the Hubs

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Figure 26: Mating the Hubs with the Blade

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Figure 27: Applying Circular Pattern on Hubs

Figure 28: The Impeller Assembly, fully defined

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Figure 29: Circles extrusion

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Figure 30: A socket

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Figure 31: Editing the Circular Patter - Including Fillet

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Figure 32: Applying Revolve Boss Base

Figure 33: Creating the Front Cover link

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Figure 34: Using the Hole Wizard

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Figure 35: Developing the second hemisphere