Welcome to the first in a series of Meet the SOLIDWORKS Super Users Series
This series will feature Q&A with some of the incredible people that have been using SOLIDWORKS for years...and for some: decades!
Get to know them as they share their experiences, what they find to be valuable to their ongoing success, valuable pieces of knowledge and advice and how they are even engaging within our SOLIDWORKS communities here on 3DSwym.
Our first featured Super User to unmask is @EB!
I'm sure you have seen him engaged in this and many other SOLIDWORKS communities (ie: SOLIDWORKS User Forum, MAKERS | Made in 3D, MAKERS | Support - just to name a few) - Eric is an incredible fountain of knowledge and always very willing to give back to the community through his insightful answers.
Without further ado, I present to you:
Member Spotlight
| Name | Company | Title |
|---|---|---|
| @EB | OMAX Corporation | Senior Mechanical Designer |
Questions for Eric:
- How many years have you been using SOLIDWORKS?
- I first saw a demo of SOLIDWORKS 95 way back in January 1996. I was convinced that I'd seen the future and I rushed back to my campus department head to tell her we needed to be teaching this software. Two months later, we acquired our first licenses and in April 1996, I began teaching it to my CAD/drafting students. Flash forward almost 27 years and there hasn't been a day of my professional life since then that I haven't used SOLIDWORKS. I also also use it a lot in my non-professional life, being a SWUGN User Group Leader, a SOLIDWORKS Champion, a SOLIDWORKS Forum contributor, and a Maker.
- What do you do at work on a daily basis?
- I wear many hats on a daily basis. In addition to my main duties of design, modeling, and documenting abrasive water jet machining centers (where I routinely work with 15,000+ component SOLIDWORKS assemblies), I also serve as the lead PDM Professional administrator and the overall CAD systems administrator.
- How do you use SOLIDWORKS to solve challenges?
- Obviously, designing new machinery as part of my day job provides me with challenges aplenty that I can solve with SOLIDWORKS. However, the most fun that I derive from using SOLIDWORKS is when someone on the User Forum asks a question or seeks help for a modeling problem that has them absolutely stymied. For example, a fellow recently posed the problem of creating a "tiled wall" look on the interior of an elliptical tunnel section. He'd tried Wrap and Projected Curve features but they weren't giving the results he wanted. I took a different approach. I modeled the tunnel wall as a Lofted Bend and then Unfolded it. I added a pattern of cutouts that were the size, shape, and orientation of the tiles. The resulting part looked like a huge grid. In essence, it mimicked the "grout lines". I added a Fold feature back to this model to restore it back to its barrel vaulted shape, and lastly, used a Combine feature to boolean subtract the grout lines from the wall of the tunnel. Voila, the tunnel now had a tiled wall appearance that curved from floor to ceiling and back down again. It's unconventional approaches that really get my creative juices flowing - finding ways to make the software create the type of geometry or topology that, by most folks thinking, it should not be able to do!
- What is your favorite feature or the best thing about SOLIDWORKS that you love?
- No need for more than a moment's thought to answer this - the Flex feature! I genuinely cannot think of a practical application for it in my day to day workflows, but, by golly, I am totally in awe of what it can do to utterly manipulate, distort, and create geometry that you be hard pressed to model conventionally. Here's an example. A few years ago, I took a blacksmithing class at a local art center. We learned how to make a pineapple twist. You take a piece of square bar, chisel grooves along the length of each side, twist it in a spiral, pound the spiral edges flat, cut 4 more grooves down the lengths of these newly flattened sides, and then twist it back the opposite direction. The result looks like the skin of a pineapple. Using SOLIDWORKS and the Flex feature, I was able to duplicate the process 100% faithfully.
- What advice do you have for someone just starting out with SOLIDWORKS?
- First off, get yourself some basic training in SOLIDWORKS. In the next question, I link to a whole bunch of learning resources. Use them!! DO NOT try to learn SOLIDWORKS by the "by gosh and by golly" method. Once you've got the basic under your belt, find a SWUGN user group chapter (local/in person or online/virtual), attend their meetings and and ask questions, lots of questions. Join the SOLIDWORKS User Forum here on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and ask questions, lots of questions. Find a coworker or a fellow student who seems to be the "go to person" in your group and ask questions, lots of questions. Once you're feeling comfortable and competent with the basics, revisit my link below and start looking at the more advanced learning resources. In short, never stop learning.
- What learning paths or SOLIDWORKS certifications would you recommend for someone new to SOLIDWORKS?
- Funny you should ask that - I just happened to answer a similar question in the Makers|Support SWYM community a few months backs. Here's a link to the original post that contains my validated answer:
As for certifications - EVERYONE should go for the CSWA and CWSP in my opinion. There's no better way to validate and document your skills. It's one of those deals where "if you know, you know!" Anyone who has a SOLIDWORKS or 3DEXPERIENCE Certification knows what it took to achieve it for themselves and they automatically have a better appreciation for that person's abilities.
- Funny you should ask that - I just happened to answer a similar question in the Makers|Support SWYM community a few months backs. Here's a link to the original post that contains my validated answer:
- Do you engage in the SOLIDWORKS User Forum and how?
- My involvement on the SOLIDWORKS User Forum dates back to the original site, way back in 2008. I originally used it to learn new tips and tricks and find solutions to problems for myself and my co-workers. I eventually transitioned to answering more questions than I was asking or searching for. These days, you'll find me contributing as often as I can to all manner of questions. It doesn't matter to me if someone is asking a "total noob" question or if there posing a seriously difficult modeling challenge. My outlook is that I'm always going to do my darnedest to make them feel welcome and help them find the answer or resource they're looking for. I also spent a great deal of time on the MAKERS | Support community. It launched a little over a year ago to provide peer and technical support to users of the SOLIDWORKS Connected Maker edition. I've been championing an affordable version of SOLIDWORKS for the maker/hobbyist user for years now. So, when the MAKERS edition was announced at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2022, I made a promise to myself to promote it far and wide and help ensure its success. I suppose that I've voluntarily made myself the first line of triage for new subscribers having installation problems or wondering how to use the 3DEXPERIENCE features that are woven into the SOLIDWORKS fabric. In fact, I've been told by @SJ that I spend so much time on there, answering questions, that several interns this past summer were wondering which Dassault Systèmes/SOLIDWORKS department I worked for! 🤣
- Besides following you in 3DSwym, who else do you recommend as an expert/guru/pro to connect with and follow?
- Is there a quote that motivates you?
- Never, ever, ever would I liken myself to Albert Einstein, except in this regard. If someone presents me with a modeling problem or challenge, I going to go all out in finding them a solution.
