0
$\begingroup$

I am fairly new to Solidworks but know basics of it (basic only). The have made a shape (which I have 3D printed as well), but I need to change the dimension of the protrusion now. Here is the design

enter image description here

The problem is when I enter into sketch mode as shown in the bottom right corner above, the protrusion of which I am interested in changing the depth, completely disappears. I designed this a while ago so I am not exactly sure if I cut this part out or added this as protrusion. I want to fix it but I don't know how? I do not want to create the drawing from scratch, I just want to edit this one. Any help would be appreciated. Below is where you can see the protrosion completely disappears. Is there a way to combine them or is there any way to change the dimension of the protrusion? What have done wrong here?

enter image description here

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
4
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Looks like the cutouts are missing too. Make sure you're clicking on the right portion of your draw history, you could be looking at the initial shape only. $\endgroup$
    – Farris
    Commented Mar 1, 2022 at 13:46
  • $\begingroup$ Farris is correct - the face you are clicking was created in the first feature. Try clicking the side instead of the bottom of the tab $\endgroup$
    – Jonathan R Swift
    Commented Mar 1, 2022 at 19:56
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks all. I came to know you can only edit the selected feature, so if you have a design which has 3 features/protrusion, only one feature or protrusion can be edited. $\endgroup$
    – TheTechGuy
    Commented Mar 1, 2022 at 23:48
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Hi Hammad, that's not correct. You can edit any sketch or feature at any point. Although it is true that if you make a bunch of features based on eachother and then change an early one it might break everything. $\endgroup$
    – Drew ♦
    Commented Mar 2, 2022 at 4:40

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1
$\begingroup$

I have recreated your situation to show you how to resolve it:

Here is your first feature - it is a simple thin extrude enter image description here

You then added the tab in a later feature enter image description here

The highlighted face here was created by the very first feature enter image description here

Once the tab is added, this is still seen as the same face by SOLIDWORKS, even though its boundary has changed a bit enter image description here

Clicking on this side face (which was created by the tab sketch) and clicking edit sketch, will allow you to edit the sketch you are interested in enter image description here

The easiest way to do it, however, is to find the relevant feature in the history tree, and click edit sketch over there. enter image description here

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks a ton. I will explore the things you have explained. I did learn, if you select the feature in the assembly section, that will allow you to edit that feature. I think solidworks does not allow to edit the whole design at once, you have to select feature and can only edit that one feature at a time. $\endgroup$
    – TheTechGuy
    Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 6:16
  • $\begingroup$ If you want to "edit the whole design at once" then you could use the direct editing tools like adding a "move face" feature $\endgroup$
    – Jonathan R Swift
    Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 8:00
0
$\begingroup$

What's happening is that you're accidentally editing an extrusion from earlier instead of the feature you want to edit.

Your features disappear because solidworks "rewinds time" when you edit an early sketch and shows you the model as it looked when you made the sketch.

I recommend selecting the sketch or feature you want to change from the list on the left, instead of using right click -> edit sketch like you're doing.

As your part gets more complicated 1 face does not equate to 1 sketch, so when you click a face -> edit sketch, you're basically getting a sketch selected at random.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ That makes sense, I will see what I was doing wrong. $\endgroup$
    – TheTechGuy
    Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 6:17
0
$\begingroup$

I am fairly new to Solidworks, I was told you can only edit one feature at a time. This is what I did resolve and you can say a workaround.

  1. First identify the name of the part by click on it enter image description here

  2. Next select that part on the left side and the click on edit sketch on level below the extrude, should bring up the sketch plan that you want to edit.

enter image description here

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.