Advanced Features Flashcards

In SOLIDWORKS, what does the 'Draft Analysis' tool display to help evaluate moldability of a part?

Answer: Positive draft, negative draft, and straddle faces relative to a pull direction

Draft Analysis color-codes faces as positive draft (face angles away from pull), negative draft (face angles toward pull), and straddle (face spans the parting line) to identify moldability issues.

The 'Scale' feature in SOLIDWORKS scales a body by a specified factor. What is unique about scaling relative to the centroid versus an origin point?

Answer: Centroid scaling keeps the body centered in its own bounding box; origin scaling moves the body relative to the origin

Scaling about the centroid keeps the part geometrically centered in place, while scaling about the origin moves the body because all points are scaled relative to (0,0,0).

Which option in the Fillet feature produces a curvature-continuous blend (G2) rather than a tangent-continuous blend (G1) between faces?

Answer: Face Fillet with curvature continuous option

The Face Fillet type includes a 'Curvature Continuous' checkbox that creates a G2 blend, meaning the curvature transitions smoothly across the fillet boundary instead of just the tangent direction.

When modeling a sheet metal part, the 'Flatten' command unfolds all bends to show the flat pattern. Which measurement does SOLIDWORKS use to compensate for material stretch during bending?

Answer: K-factor (or bend allowance table)

The K-factor (or an associated bend allowance/deduction table) accounts for how far the neutral axis shifts during bending, ensuring the flat pattern length is accurate for fabrication.

In the FeatureManager, what does a feature icon with a small yellow warning triangle typically indicate?

Answer: The feature has rebuild errors or warnings that do not prevent rebuilding

A yellow warning triangle on a feature means SOLIDWORKS rebuilt it successfully but detected a non-fatal condition (such as a deprecated option or a near-tangent edge) that the user should review.

What is the function of 'Intersect' as a feature tool (not the sketch tool) in SOLIDWORKS parts?

Answer: It creates regions from the intersection of selected solids, surfaces, or planes and lets you keep or discard each region

The Intersect feature (Insert > Features > Intersect) computes all the volumetric regions created by overlapping solids and surfaces, then lets you toggle which regions to keep.

Which SOLIDWORKS feature is specifically designed to add draft to already-modeled faces using a parting line rather than requiring draft at initial feature creation?

Answer: Draft feature with 'Parting Line' type

The Draft feature with the Parting Line option splits each selected face at the parting line and applies draft in opposite directions above and below it, ideal for adding mold draft after the base geometry is complete.