SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D - Exercise 2

In this exercise, you unarchive an electrical project and insert ducts, rails, and components into a cabinet.

First, download the Exercise 1 electrical project, unzip it to a local drive, then unarchive it.

Inserting the Cabinet

  1. In the Task Pane, on the SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D tab, expand item 1, right-click the Cabinet assembly, and click Open.

    The SOLIDWORKS Electrical Manager opens in the left pane.

  2. Right-click 178864 (the cabinet) and click Insert.
  3. In the graphics area, drag the cabinet and click to position it, then click .

Inserting the Ducts and Rails

You first insert the five ducts, which are sized to the required value. The first three entities are horizontal ducts and the last two are vertical ducts. Place the ducts approximately as shown in the video and use mates to position them. You then insert three vertical rails.

  1. In the SOLIDWORKS Electrical Manager, right-click 36212 and select Insert as horizontal duct.
  2. Drag the duct to position it in the graphics area, then click in the shortcut menu and in the PropertyManager.
  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the first three ducts shown in the SOLIDWORKS Electrical Manager.
  4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to position the two vertical ducts. This time select Insert as vertical duct.
  5. In the SOLIDWORKS Electrical Manager, right-click 178864 and click Hide to display only the ducts.
  6. In the Assembly CommandManager, click Mate and create five coincident mates and one distance mate as shown in the video.
  7. Close the Mate PropertyManager and Show the cabinet.
  8. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the three rails. This time select Insert as horizontal rail for each rail.
    Insert the rails in order from top to bottom.

Inserting the Components

There are several tools available to insert the components.
To complete this exercise, you must have completed SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D Exercise - 1, which created the required connection points and determined the faces and mates.

To insert the components:

  1. In the SOLIDWORKS Electrical Manager, right-click T1 and select Insert.
  2. Drag the component to position it on the middle rail as shown in the video.
  3. In the SOLIDWORKS Electrical Manager, right-click KM1 and select Insert from file.
  4. In the Open dialog box, browse to select EW4SW_Exercise01.proj\Projects\2\SolidWorks\lc1d1210b7_ew.SLDPRT.
  5. Drag the component to position it on the middle rail next to the T1 component.
  6. In the SOLIDWORKS Electrical Manager, multiselect components Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, right-click, and select Insert.

    In the Insertion order dialog box, you can change the insertion order if required.

  7. Accept the default order by clicking OK.
  8. Drag to position the first component on the top rail.
  9. In the Multiple Insertion PropertyManager:
    1. Under Multiple Insertion, click Right for the direction.
    2. Under Spacing, enter 10.
    3. Click .

    The software inserts the four components from left to right and spaced 10mm apart.

  10. In the SOLIDWORKS Electrical Manager, right-click X1 and select Insert terminals.
    The X1 component consists of multiple terminals that you insert with a direction and spacing as you did in the previous step.
  11. Drag the component to position it on the bottom rail and click .
  12. In the Insert terminals PropertyManager, under Multiple Insert:
    1. Click Right.
    2. Enter 0 for Spacing.
    3. Click .

    The software positions seven terminals next to each other.

  13. Click Back .
  14. Insert the S1, S2, and H1 components on the cabinet door as shown in the video.

  15. Rotate the model to view the opposite side of the cabinet door.
  16. On the Assembly tab of the CommandManager, use the Mate tool to add coincident mates for the three components and their holes.
  17. Click Front .
  18. Use the Mate tool to add parallel mates between the three components and the cabinet door edge as shown in the video.

Keep this project open because you use it again in Exercise 3.