> Assemblies

Introduction

Administration

User Interface

SOLIDWORKS Fundamentals

Design Studies in SOLIDWORKS

Detailing and Drawings

Sustainability Products

Assemblies

You can build complex assemblies consisting of many components, which can be parts or other assemblies, called subassemblies. For most operations, the behavior of components is the same for both types. Adding a component to an assembly creates a link between the assembly and the component. When SOLIDWORKS opens the assembly, it finds the component file to show it in the assembly. Changes in the component are automatically reflected in the assembly.

The document name extension for assemblies is .sldasm.

Contents

The FeatureManager Design Tree in an Assembly
Basic Component Operations
Design Methods (Bottom-up and Top-down Design)

You can create assemblies using bottom-up design, top-down design, or a combination of both methods.
Top-Down Design

In top-down assembly design, one or more features of a part are defined by something in an assembly, such as a layout sketch or the geometry of another part. The design intent (sizes of features, placement of components in the assembly, proximity to other parts, etc.) comes from the top (the assembly) and moves down (into the parts), hence the phrase "top-down."
Mates

Mates create geometric relationships between assembly components. As you add mates, you define the allowable directions of linear or rotational motion of the components. You can move a component within its degrees of freedom, visualizing the assembly's behavior.
Subassemblies
Controlling Display and Appearance in Assemblies
External Files
Detecting Problems
Exploded Views in Assemblies

An exploded view shows an assembly's components spread out, but positioned to show how they fit together when assembled.
Other Assembly Techniques
Large Assemblies

Search 'Assemblies' in the SOLIDWORKS Knowledge Base.

Provide feedback on this topic

SOLIDWORKS welcomes your feedback concerning the presentation, accuracy, and thoroughness of the documentation. Use the form below to send your comments and suggestions about this topic directly to our documentation team. The documentation team cannot answer technical support questions. Click here for information about technical support.

* Required


*Email:
Subject:		Feedback on Help Topics
Page:		Assemblies
*Comment:
*		I acknowledge I have read and I hereby accept the privacy policy under which my Personal Data will be used by Dassault Systèmes

Cancel

Print Topic

Select the scope of content to print:

Just this topic

This topic and only immediate topics under it (up to 13 topics)

This selected topic and all subtopics (up to 449 topics)

Cancel

We have detected you are using a browser version older than Internet Explorer 7. For optimized display, we suggest upgrading your browser to Internet Explorer 7 or newer.

Never show this message again

Web Help Content Version: SOLIDWORKS 2015 SP05

To disable Web help from within SOLIDWORKS and use local help instead, click Help > Use SOLIDWORKS Web Help.

To report problems encountered with the Web help interface and search, contact your local support representative. To provide feedback on individual help topics, use the “Feedback on this topic” link on the individual topic page.