SolidWorks Toolbox – Yay or Nay?

I’ve learned a lot in my time working with the SolidWorks tools. One thing I’ve learned is that stuff is easy to forget. I’ve forgotten and had to re-learn a lot of things. Plus, stuff just changes, so you generally have to relearn even if you don’t forget anything.

Another thing I’ve learned is that good information is worth repeating. I’ve been writing a blog in one form or another for 12 years, and kept a webpage with several user group type presentations on it for probably 10 years before that. I just assume a lot of people know all of this stuff, but on the SW Forums, I see a whole new generation of people who don’t know any of it. In a way it’s a little shocking to me, because writing about things I’ve already written about is just a little too easy. But maybe some of the old info could use a little freshening up.

So.

Toolbox. Toolbox now comes with a standard disclaimer.

Here’s the problem. Standard options are to use each screw type as a separate file, with sizes being configurations within that file. Screw types start out with only one size, with the rest of the sizes being stored in a database, and only created when used. The problem comes when one Toolbox user shares an assembly with another Toolbox user, but the 1st user has created new sizes that the 2nd user doesn’t have yet. So SolidWorks opens the assembly with the last used configuration, and people used to wind up with what we called “Huge Screws”, where every Toolbox part was replaced with the default configuration, which in many cases was the largest one. At least it made it easy to find the problem.

There are several remedies for this, but you have to know them ahead of time, so new users were very susceptible to Huge Screws:

• Use a network install of Toolbox where everybody uses the same library
• Copy a library around to all local users after a new size is added
• Just create all the sizes for all users
• Use the separate file option rather than configurations for sizes
• Use Toolbox to make the separate files and then turn it off
• Just uninstall Toolbox, and make your own library

The real problem was (and still is) that SolidWorks installs Toolbox with the most dangerous settings that you could come up with if you were a malevolent creep trying to sabotage someone else’s SolidWorks assembly data. Using configurations for sizes is very convenient if you are new and alone. But it’s like throwing a grenade in your data if you are working with someone else.

Going back to the Learn More link in the warning above, they just give you a list of options, without really helping you to interpret that information. You get the list of what the options are supposed to do without information about the potential downsides. This is why 3rd party documentation is so important. Manufacturers only shine light on the happy side of the street. Customers would be much better served with a complete view.

The real problem is that Toolbox is not just the library. The problem is that it actually does a lot of automated stuff that is conceptually really fantastic. If it were dangerous without a lot of benefits, it would be easy to just turn it off and be done with it, but there are a lot of great benefits of Toolbox that you really need to take advantage of:

• Hole Wizard and Smart Fasteners (automatic fastener sizing)
• Smart Components (sets of components and features added to assemblies as auto-sizing library parts)
• Customizable standards
• BOMs can identify Toolbox parts
• Automatic mating of parts
• Fastener stacks

So it really makes sense to try to make this work for you. The Toolbox Configuration tools allow you to modify the database, with the ability to add custom property data for better BOMs and PDM info (part numbers, descriptions, comments).

I would recommend trimming down the database to only the hardware you’re going to use (there is a Purge Inactive Data button), and then auto-populating the parts you’re going to use with the sizes/configurations that you use for your products. You can even use custom configuration names.

The command to pre-populate parts with configurations is well hidden. The cursor is over a small image half way down the right hand side of the Toolbox Options dialog. You may be able to read the tooltip in the image above.

Toolbox administration is an endeavor unto itself. You have a lot of homework to do to understand your company’s needs and how you currently document hardware, and what additional custom parts you may need. You have to establish part numbering and descriptions. While the Toolbox Options interface only seems to allow manual entry, you can export and re-import Excel data, so all of the heavy data organization can happen in Excel.

In summary, the default settings SolidWorks installs with Toolbox seem to be punishment for new customers. Still, Toolbox has some valuable functionality around automatic sizing and installation of hardware and coordination with the Hole Wizard, so it makes sense to put some effort into making it work.