SolidWorks Lesson Template for Teachers to Contribute Cover Sheet for Exemplary Lessons/Units Project Faculty Member Name:

Brian Moravec Date: August 29, 2007 School District: Oregon University System Teachers School email address: brian.moravec@oit.edu Title of Lesson/Unit: Determining the mass of an object. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) STEM Concepts Addressed: This lesson uses Solidworks to determine the mass of an object. Variations of the same object will be drawn, and the lightest object the meets the design requirements will be chosen. Length of instruction period: 1 hour How many periods needed to implement lesson unit: 1 period Grade Level(s) for use: All Objectives: 1. Create a mounting plate that conforms to a given set of requirements.
2.

From the original design, create a series of plates using a design table.

3. Determine the mass of the plates, and determine which design is the lightest. Materials: Solidworks, Microsoft Excel, paper and pencil. Procedures: Create a new part in SolidWorks with millimeter units (located under: Tools, Options, Document Properties, Units; set to MMGS system) Using the Sketch command, select Rectangle to sketch with. Now, select the Front plane to sketch on. Create a rectangle that is 15 mm wide and 10 mm high (this can be done by drawing an approximate rectangle and then using the Smart Dimension command). Now, Extrude the rectangle 2mm. Next, we will assign a material type to the plate. Do this by selecting: Edit, Appearance, Material. Assign the plate to be: Iron, Gray Cast Iron. Determine the mass of the plate by selecting: Tools, Mass Properties. (Note, if you are requested to rebuild the model, select OK). The mass should be shown as 2.16 grams. Note that a lot of additional values are shown; these will be useful for advanced design projects. Insert a 2.0 mm hole through the center of the plate (you may use the Hole Wizard, or Extrude Cut).

Determine the mass of the plate again; it should be 2.11 grams now.

Now, we will make a Design Table for our plate, which will allow us to vary the dimensions. In the design table we will change the height and width of the plate, all-the-while keeping the hole centered in the plate (at least for now). To do this we will assign names to the height and width dimensions. Select Options from the Standard Tool Bar; then under the Systems Options tab select Show Dimension Names, and click OK. You should see the names of the dimensions (some may be the same). To rename a dimension from its default do the following: Right click the dimension, and then select Properties. Under properties you will see Name with the default name (such as D1). Type in the new name and then select OK. Set the name of the width to Width; height to Height; and rename the hole dimensions to Center Height and Center Width. Finally, click OK (the check mark) to close the dimension property manager. Now, insert a design table. Do this by selecting: Insert, Design Table. Under Source, select Blank to insert a blank design table. Under Edit Control, select Block model edits that would update the design table so you are not allowed to change the model if these changes would update the design table.

Under Options, clear New Parameters and New Configurations so that any changes you make to the model do not update the design table. Select OK (check mark). An Excel spreadsheet should now appear. Now, to add the dimension names to the design table do the following: With the curser in cell B2, double click the Width dimension name on the drawing; it should appear in the table. Moving to cell C2 (which should happen automatically) repeat this by selecting Height. Repeat for Center Width and Center Height. If you accidentally get out of the spreadsheet, select Design Table from the Feature Manager Design tree; and then select Edit Table. By adding the center height and center width to our design table, we leave open the opportunity to place the hole off-center if the need arises. Now, the current drawing dimensions should show up on the spreadsheet listed next to the title of first instance. To add more configurations, we type in our configuration names under the first instance heading (I have used 2,3,4,5, and 6 as the configuration names). Then, we type in our dimensions under the Width, Height, Center Width, and Center Height headings. If you know how to use Excel, you may use formulas to keep the hole centered; if not, just determine the dimensions. For my example I have randomly changed the width between 10 and 12 mm; and the height between 11 and 15 mm) all-the-while keeping the hole centered in the plate).

To exit Design Table, just click anywhere in the drawing. You should get a message that your new configurations were made. Now, view your new configurations (and determine their masses) by the following: Click the Configuration Manager tab at the top of the Feature Manager Design tree. A list of your configurations should appear. To display you new configurations, double-click the name of the configuration of interest. The selected configuration should appear. When each new configuration appears, determine its mass by following the procedure at the start of this exercise (Tools, Mass Properties). Finally, save your drawing.

Assessment: On their own, have the students create a steel plate (AISI 1020) that meets the following requirements: Maximum width of 7 inches, minimum of 5 inches. The plate thickness will be 0.500 inches. Maximum height of the plate is required to be11 inches, with a minimum height of 6 inches. The plate will have 5 mounting holes, 0.50 inch diameter, located such that the center of any hole will be no closer than 2 inches to the center of any other hole, or to any edge. Have the students determine the mass of the plate, and determine the minimum weight possible. Resources Used: None. Copyrighted Materials: None. What materials did you employ from published sources? None.