Mastering SolidWorks: The Design Approach, Second Edition is entirely updated for SolidWorks 2014 and presents SolidWorks as a design system rather than a software program, using design, modeling, and drafting concepts as the building blocks, instead of focusing on menus and commands. It describes design approaches, methodologies, and techniques to help CAD designers/engineers and draftspersons achieve their engineering tasks in the fastest, easiest, and most effective way. It develops command sequences to achieve CAD and modeling tasks, providing SolidWorks syntax and details. Starting with a CAD task to accomplish, the book then goes about how to accomplish it, motivating students to learn more than simply going through layers of menus and commands.

Intended for design courses, the book uses a minimal amount of mathematical concepts, covering basic math in Chapter 8 (Curves), Chapter 9 (Surfaces), and Chapter 13 (Analysis Tools). 

Intended for design courses, the book uses a minimal amount of mathematical concepts, covering basic math in Chapter 8 (Curves), Chapter 9 (Surfaces), and Chapter 13 (Analysis Tools).  

•    Shows concepts to those who are curious about how CAD/CAM systems work "under the hood."

•    Broadens the book appeal to many students, professors, and readers. 

•    The coverage of math in chapters 8, 9, and 13 may be ignored without affecting the continuity of the material in those chapters.

Step-by-Step instructions help students learn SolidWorks as a design system rather than a software program.

•    Ample illustrations guide students as they learn. 

Tutorials offer comprehensive coverage of a full design task.

•    Each tutorial ends with a hands-on exercise that both challenges the student’s understanding and extends it. 

Examples with Solutions cover a single concept in detail.

•    Each example offers a hands-on exercise that builds on the previous example, ensuring the student has gone through each example.  

Each chapter includes challenging modeling and design examples and problems.

•    The book’s unique approach covers the theoretical concepts behind the various functions of SolidWorks.

•    This sheds light about why things work the way they do, as well as explains their limitations and uses.