SolidWorks® 2010 Bible

Chapter 18. Working with Library Features

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Understanding library features

• Creating, applying, and automating library features

• Turning off dissection

• Working with library features tutorial

Library features are features that you create once and re-use many times. They are intended to be parametrically flexible to fit into many types of geometry, but they can also be of a fixed size and shape. You will use all the information that you have learned in previous chapters about designing for change, and design intent in this chapter, as well as learn how to create, use, and store library features.

Using Library Features

Library features reside in the Design Library, which is located in the Task Pane to the right of the graphics window.

Tip

You can detach the Task Pane from its docking location and move it wherever you want, leave it undocked, or move it to a second monitor.

You can use library features for snap rings, grooves for o-rings, custom holes, mounting bosses for plastics, mounting hole patterns, electrical connector holes, and much more.

One very useful aspect of library features is that they can be driven by configurations and design tables. Once the feature is in the part, the configurations are still available, and so you can change the config of an applied library feature at any time.

You can also link a library feature to an external file. This enables you to change a feature, or a set of features in several parts at once if they are all externally linked to the file. ...