Solidworks/2014

L1

3D Modelling Tutorial

Mr Billington 2014

Learning Outcome; 6 Sided Dice

Skill Level; 1 - Beginner
3D;

Extrude Boss, Extruded Cut, Fillet (face/line), Render

2D;

Planes, Smart Dimension, Line tool, Circle Tool, Mirror, Trim

Hold SHIFT on the keyboard and select all

three work planes Front, Top, Back.
Hover over them in the History viewer and
click the Show button shaped like glasses

This will show all three planes in your

workspace; X, Y & Z

Practice using the scroll wheel in the middle

of you mouse to click and rotate around
your 3D world
Holding the left button on the mouse will
allow you to select a 2D view of your model

Why? This enables you to clearly see the virtual

constraints of your model much clearer and helps
you to sketch the designs required for your model

Why? To create a 3D model you must first always

sketch a 2D profile as a starting point. Sketches in 2D
have no depth and therefore must form a complete
(Closed loop) Profile in order to form a 3D object

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Mr Billington 2014

Select the Top Plane in the work area and

access the Sketch toolbar at the top left of
the screen
Click the Sketch button on the top left of
the toolbar
This will bring your workspace into a 2D
view of the selected Top Plane
Notice you will now be able to use the line
tool to construct 2D sketches as well as the
shape tools shown
Test these new tools by randomly drawing
on the workspace before moving to the
next step

Delete any practice sketches by click

dragging across all and pressing the delete
key on the keyboard
Select the Rectangle tool and click draw a
rectangle from the top left corner to the
bottom right of the plane intersections
To change its dimensions click the smart
dimension button on the top left
The tool allows you to select any 2 points
and create a dimension between them
which can be modified
Click the top line of the rectangle and the
centre plane line. A third click produced the
dimension
Type this as 50mm and Enter.

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Why? Although this may seem like a long process

all dimensions should be related to your design
planes. This make dimensioning later on in the
model much easier and ensures a more robust
model. *Alternatively you could double click any line
to change its dimension*

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Mr Billington 2014

Rotate around the newly created sketch

and notice it has no depth
Select the Features menu of the top left
and click Extruded Boss.
Select the newly created sketch and in the
depth box on the left type 100mm
Click the Tick to confirm the feature
You should now have a 3D cube in your
workspace which you navigate around

Why? The Extruded boss feature works in a similar

way to classic Playdoh toys. You set a profile (sketch)
and you pull that in a set direction for as long as your
design requires. Alternatively you can use the arrow
shown in the picture to manually adjust the depth of
your object.

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Use the Smart Dimension tool to further

dimension the rectangle so that it measures
100 x 100mm
Select the right side of the rectangle and the
centre plane line with a third click to place.
Type 50mm into the modify box and Enter
Select the right hand side and the left hand
side of the rectangle and dimension 100mm
Repeat this with top and bottom to
complete the 100 x 100 square for the dice.
Click Exit Sketch on top left of toolbar

Select any side of the 3D cube so that it

turns blue
Select the Sketch toolbar and click the
sketch button on the far left
Notice the workspace will not automatically
switch to a 2D view as before
Use the keyboard to orient the cube so that
it is normal to your sketch plane
Hold Shift and press 8 on the keyboard to
orientate your view.
This will bring you into a 2D view of the
model face you want to sketch on

Why? By selecting the face on the model first and

then clicking sketch you can access any face on your
model without creating a new plane every time.
When sketching it is good practice to be normal to
the face ie. In a 2D view.

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Why? Solidworks allows you to use other

dimensions in the model to quickly snap to when
sketching. You can use this to quickly dimension and
draw construction lines on your model. Selecting for
construction excludes it from the feature used.

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Mr Billington 2014

Select the circle tool in the sketch

toolbar which requires you to pick a centre
for the circle
Hover over the middle of the diagonal line
and notice a yellow square appears this is
the midpoint
Click to place the circle and type 10mm into
the radius box on the left menu
Click the green tick on the left to confirm
this action

Why? Mid-points are simply the middle of any line

or shape and are incredibly useful when drawing
lines for construction and accurate sketches.

Using the Line tool hover over the top left

corner of the square and notice an orange
dot appears
This will allow you to snap to a point of the
model such as a corner or end of line
Using the orange dots draw a line from one
corner to the bottom right diagonally
Press the ESC key on the keyboard to end
the line tool
This will for the construction line for the
first number on the dice; 1
Click back on the line so that it becomes
blue and on the left hand side menu tick
For Construction

With the circle selected access the

Features tool bar at the top left of the
screen
Click Extruded Cut which should turn the
circle yellow and suggest a depth on the left
Type the depth as 4mm into the left box
and hit Enter
Click the green tick to confirm this feature
Use the middle mouse button to orientate
your model and you should see the hole
circle has created a hole in your cube

Why? Extruded Cut does the opposite to Extruded

Boss by removing material from a solid 3D shape.
The direction it removes the materials can be altered
by clicking the double arrow on the left and the
depth can be adjusted manually using the arrow.

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Why? Each circle must evenly space on the cube to

ensure an accurate model is created. Only 3 circles
are required to move to the next step.

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Once all three have been correctly

dimensioned they will now need to be
copied using the Mirror Entities tool.
If you do not have a visible plane going
vertically down the middle of your cube
draw a line again using the midpoints
Click and drag the mouse creating a
selection box over the three circles
Click the Mirror Entities button on the top
right of the sketch toolbar.
Select the mirror about option on the left
menu and select the middle vertical plane
or your drawn line to reflect along
If the preview matches the view on the left
click the green tick to confirm

Why? The mirror tool saves time when creating

repeating geometry and is perfect for any
symmetrical element of your design

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All opposite sides of a dice add up to 7 and

therefore 6 is going to be sketched on the
opposite side to the 1 just completed
Select this face as before and click Sketch
remembering to use CTRL + 8 to Normalize
This time each corner circle is 25mm from
the centre plane and edge as shown.
Draw a circle near the correct location with
a radius of 10mm again.
Use the Smart Dimension tool to set the
middle of the circle 25mm from both the
edge and the centre plane
The middle circle snaps to the middle plane
or if not visible draw a centre line using the
midpoint of the side edges.

If you sketched a and extra lines in the last

step select them and press the DELETE key
on the keyboard to remove them
Whilst still in the sketch select the Feature
menu and as before Extruded Cut
Set the depth to 4mm and confirm with the
green tick
If no change has been made to your model
repeat the action but change the direction
using the double arrows on the left menu

Why? Sometimes Solidworks can assume the

wrong direction for you feature to go. This can be
easily flipped by clicking on the double arrow on the
middle left of the features menu.

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Why? The fillet feature can make any model

appear more realistic as every product edge will
have a radius unless intended for cutting

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Repeat this process for the all other

numbers on the dice ensuring all opposite
sides add up to 7
Once complete select the Feature Menu
on the top left and find the Fillet button
near the middle of the toolbar
This will apply a round radius to any
selected edges/faces on the model
Move around the model selecting all of the
outside edges of the cube so that they
become light blue and add to the left list
If you make a mistake just click it again to
remove from the list
When all are selected type; 8mm into the
radius box on the left
If the preview looks correct confirm with
the green tick

Repeat this process but this time in the

Fillet tool select the inner faces of the
number holes all around the die
Set the radius in the left feature menu to
14.3mm
Click the green tick to confirm the feature
If filleted correctly the holes should now
become have dome shaped with no clear
face at the bottom

Why? This last step could be done in many ways

depending on the design of the die. Most real world
dice have a concave hole for the numbers however
this can be changed if required.

Now the model is complete you can apply

the correct materials and colours you would
like it made from
This process is called Rendering and is
started by clicking the edit appearance
button (multi-coloured sphere)
A library of materials will open up on the
left and by clicking the little + symbols you
can expand and explore into
To apply a material to the whole part simply
double click on the preview with the mouse
To apply to a face on the part select Select
Faces on the left menu and clear the part
file from the menu

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Why? Applying materials to a file through

rendering enhances the realism of your model.