SolidWorks^® Training

Reuse SolidWorks Sketches and Save Time - Page 2

by Jonathan Cubero, SolidWorks Specialist, TEDCF Publishing

Extrude the Large Circle
Expand Boss-Extrude1 and select Sketch1 again. Once you’ve done that, click the Extruded Boss/Base command.

Click in the Selected Contours window, set the depth to 2 inches, and select the 2.5-inch circle.

Apply the command and your part should look like this.

Cut Smaller Circle Through the Part
Select Sketch1 from the Feature Manager a third time and click the Extruded Cut command.

In the SolidWorks Property Manager, set the End Condition to “Through All” and confirm that the arrow points through the part. If it doesn’t, click the Reverse Direction icon.

Select the 1.5-inch circle and then apply the command.

If all goes well the part should look like this.

This part consisted of 2 Extrudes and 1 Cut-Extrude using only one sketch!

Why is this Important?
Reusing sketches allows you to create parts with fewer sketches. This results in a less cluttered Feature Manager and makes editing easier. When you have to make a change you only need to edit one sketch.

I’d also like to add a word of caution about reusing sketches in SolidWorks: only reuse sketches on like operations. In this example, I showed you how to reuse a sketch in extrude operations along the same axis. When feature operations are more complex (such as a sweep operation) you may find that you can’t reuse the sketch. Reuse sketches whenever you can, but be aware that there are instances where you cannot.