Gabi Jack's Blog

The SolidWorks Routing Manual not everyone knows about

As I had mentioned in my previous post, while looking for a SolidWorks Routing Manual, I came across the website of another SolidWorks user who created his own manual and was offering it for sale. Unfortunately, right at that moment he was out of town and not taking any orders, but today I’m glad to announce to all of you who may be interested that he’s back, his site is up and he’s taking orders again. In fact, I just ordered my own manual a few minutes ago. The author’s name is Wes Mosier and he’s Sr. Designer / Detailing Manager for Lortz Manufacturing in Bakersfield, California. He’s also a CSWP with over 18 years of experience in 3D design and solid modeling (among many, many other related areas), and president of the Bakersfield area user group.  He wrote the Piping and Tubing Design Guide for SolidWorks Routing, a very complete manual (perhaps the only one of its kind), with over 250 pages full of colorful illustrations and detailed instructions (just look at the sample pages in the tip and tricks section on his site), and that is offered through his website in pdf form.  The price of the manual is only 50 dollars, which is a really great deal, considering that for that same price you get access to a whole year of updates that may be made to it due to new releases or service packs coming out. You are also authorized to share your copy (ONLY) with those working with you in your same company. It seems amazing to me that not many people know about the existence of this manual. But now you know!  If you are interested, pay Wes Mosier a visit and get your Routing Manual today!

The kind of newsletter I like

If you have bought lessons from Solid Professor, chances are you receive their interactive newsletter “Ask Solid Professor” already.  Isn’t it the neatest thing? I have never bought any lessons from them, I’ve only sampled the freebies, but I receive the newsletter just the same, because it’s free for everyone. You don’t need to buy from Solid Professor to subscribe to it. Now, the really neat thing about it is that, unlike other newsletters, it features 3 mini-video lessons answering questions that were submitted by users, like you or me, who subscribe to the newsletter. You can even include files when submitting your question to them! Of course, it may take some time before you can get an answer to your question, so if you’re in a hurry, your best bet is still to get yourself a good reference book, try to get the help from your VAR, or head for the SolidWorks user forums or SolidMentor.  But if you are not in a hurry, or if you are just a bit curious and wish to learn something, then perhaps you should subscribe to it.  After all, it’s free! Searching through their archive of previous questions and answers isn’t free for everyone, though. I believe there is a nominal fee (something around $25 dollars) for those who haven’t bought learning materials from Solid Professor. I’m about to submit a question myself to see how long it takes for them to answer. Check out the newsletter and you may see my question there one of these days!

My experience with Inspirtech

My mother used to say that those born during a meteor shower, such as me, were destined to be tremendously lucky, and I guess she was right. I recently had the great fortune and pleasure of sampling and reviewing Inspirtech’s training materials; the complete SolidWorks 2008 fundamentals bundle, to be more specific.

For those that haven’t sampled the free lessons or at least seen the videos at CADJunky, Inspirtech is a relatively new SolidWorks training provider that offers high quality video lessons at incredibly affordable prices. And I really mean it: it’s dirt cheap! But don’t be fooled by the low price, because this is an incredible value for your money. All the lessons are very easy to follow, easy to understand, amazingly clear, and very well planned out.

Each lesson has been developed by a certified SolidWorks professional (CSWP), with plenty of real life experience, and includes examples and several exercises for you to solve together with the instructor, who will guide you in the process, step by step, and offer useful and creative tips along the way. Also included with each lesson are templates and start point files that you will need to complete the exercises. I was able to follow the lessons and complete the exercises, even with my 2007 student edition, because parasolid versions of the files were also available.

All the parts and assemblies presented in the examples and exercises are interesting and inspired in what you may find out there, real-life applications and real-life objects. This is something that I found particularly useful and inspiring, because many times you may learn the basic concept, but it isn’t until you see it applied that more ideas start to generate inside your head.

In addition to excellent training, you also get help right when you need it, with online chat assistance. Who could ask for more?

As I said before, the bundle of lessons I sampled is about the fundamentals of Solidworks and aimed at beginners, but keep an eye out for more lessons coming up soon. I’ve been told that there will soon be lessons for intermediate and advanced users and on topics such as weldments, sheet metal, routing, etc.

I see a great future for Inspirtech!

What a bargain!

While browsing around SolidMentor, I came across a couple of links to some really affordable online engineering training resources that are worth checking out. One of them is  i.get.it, the world’s most comprehensive online engineering training resource, where, among other courses in the catalog, I found a SolidWorks Premium Training Bundle with 68 courses, plus assessments, selling for $395. If you are on a budget, like me, you'll find that amount reasonable when compared to the thousands you would probably  have to pay at an authorized training center.

The second resource worth looking at is Inspirtech, with hundreds of courses that are also extremely affordable, easy to use and  easy to understand for beginners. Plus, a special offer for students involved in the SAE Collegiate Design Competitions: Inspirtech is offering FREE training to the students in the teams! How cool is that?