Greetings,

Total newbie, here. I searched the forums and didn't find this info, which could mean I didn't search well enough, so if it IS already available, please just point me in the right direction. If you respond with an explanation, remember: I'm a newbie, so don't be afraid to use small words and explain things you think I should already know.

The kicker on this is step 4, so you can just skip to there if you want. The rest is background/setup.

I'm on the 4th tutorial in Solidworks 2006, trying to draw an oven rack.

1. Drew the 135 mm line along X, then used properties to make it exactly 135.00 mm. Line Properties shows Fully Defined. The tutorial says to click on the start point, make sure it's coordinates are 0, 0, 0, and then click Fix (anchor) so it says Fully Defined, and it does.

2. Drew the 15 mm line along Y, and Line Properties says Under Defined. I check the 'addititional' parameters and it starts at 135.00, 0, 0 (right on the end of the first line) and it ends at 135.00, -15.00, 0 (15.00 mm down), so I KNOW it's EXACTLY where it's 'supposed' to be. But remains undefined. So I click "Fix"

So, I click "Fix" (The anchor) and proceed on:

3. Drew the 15 mm line along X, and Line Properties say Under Defined. I check as before, and it's where it's supposed to be. I Fix as before (We're up to Fix 4, according to the Line Properties).

4. Drew the 240 MM line along Y, and Line Properties say Under Defined. I check as before and Fix as before. Now a dialog appears saying we're OVERdefined and asks me to delete some defining dimensions or relations.

Basically, if I go through clicking on the start point of each line, making sure it's on the end point of the previous, then using Fix to make them "Fully Defined" I end up with a sketch that's OVER Defined inside of a few steps. In all honesty, the tutorial didn't say to Fix it for any step beyond the first, so I'll try it with no fixing, but it made me wonder:

What, exactly, is "Fixing" and how critical is it? I thought it basically 'connected' the lines by establishing a relationship, but if so, then why is my sketch OVER Defined inside of 4 or 5 lines?

I tried doing things without fixing except on the first step, and everything looks OK so far. No idea what affect it'll have later. :-)

Any info on what Fixing is would be appreciated,

Jeffrey