Top products from r/SolidWorks

Copy-pasting my post from a similar question in /r/CAD:

>Pretty much any quality Intel-Based laptop will be fine. Most engineering stuff (outside of FEA/rendering) runs better on intel processors due to the higher single-threaded demand, and intel mobile offerings are a bit more widespread and better than comparably priced AMD options.
>
>I recommend a 13" Ultrabook for carrying around/going to class. Ideally, pair with a Thunderbolt dock at your desk that is hooked to a desktop-sized monitor/mouse/keyboard. Or have an Ultrabook/nice tablet + a desktop machine.
>
>https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-windows-ultrabook/
>
>A dell XPS 13 or 15 is a good quality option. Get at least an i5 and ideally 16GB of RAM.

Regarding GPU: A quadro is nice to have, but not necessary for small assemblies/single parts. IF you get into more complicated stuff (unlikely for a student laptop), they can make a huge difference, though. If you're playing games, though you probably want to get a gaming laptop. This ASUS ROG Strix is a good laptop but boy it looks extremely "gamer"

Its gonna be hard to find a laptop in your price range with a graphics card and current gen processor. Personally I have a preference for new stuff. I'd just watch stores sales and wait until a well reviewed laptop with min. i5,256GB SSD, and light-weight goes on sale.

Just from a quick search look into these if your adamant on a dedicated graphics card, just keep in mind Solidworks can be picky which graphics card they consider "supported."

(Probably the best deal of the bunch if you don't mind manufactured-refurb, just act quick if your gonna buy)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/371831416733?rmvSB=true


https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-E5-575G-53VG-Laptop-Windows/dp/B01DT4A2R4/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1484243786&sr=1-1&refinements=p_n_feature_seven_browse-bin%3A3012497011


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Description=laptops%20with%20dedicated%20graphics%20card&Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=-1&LeftPriceRange=200%20600

no-graphics card but great laptop overall (ment to link to Lenovo Flex 4)
http://weeklyad.staples.com/StaplesSD/WeeklyAd?storeid=2396840#!/store/2396840/category/5227337

Just to give you an idea of what a class would be like, this is the textbook for my local college's SolidWorks classes (year adjusted). I would suggest starting with the included tutorials first as they are quite good, however. There's not much difference between the two, so unless you preview the book and prefer that style of writing, there's no compelling reason to buy any additional material at the beginner level. As I've progressed, I've found certain topic specific texts like The Solidworks Surfacing Bible to be helpful, but that's probably a ways down the road for you. There are tons of tutorial videos online as well, but be warned, the quality can vary from really good to terrible. I would suggest grabbing a beverage of your choice and watching a few of them to see which person makes the most sense to you. Besides those, many of the various Value Added Retailers usually make their webinars available online, and there are some nice tips and tricks in them once you get the basics down; just as an example, I really didn't spend a lot of time setting up the Shortcuts menu before, but having seen how much quicker it is when used by someone who has spent some time learning it, I've become a convert.

these are the normal ways to avoid undercuts with snap hooks.

Bump off tooling is also an option.

You can also use living hinges to get undercuts on parts from a straight pull tool.


Plastic Part Design for Injection Molding: An Introduction By Robert Malloy is a great intro to IM part design and gives a basic intro to snap fits.

[The First Snap Fit Handbook]
(https://www.amazon.com/First-Snap-Fit-Handbook-3E-Attachments/dp/1569905959) by Bonenburger goes into a lot more detail.

Check second hand book sites for cheaper used copies (Abebooks.com is good).

There are free design guides online (of varying quality...) which give a brief intro but are usually just a few pages so obviously don't have the detail the books above do. This guide by Bayer is OK. (pdf link).

I mentioned this in a similar thread here - one of my big projects in school was modeling a kids balance bike, pretty much this exact one:

https://www.amazon.com/Wooden-Balance-Toddlers-Toddler-Glider/dp/B0032JDTWC/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=wooden+balance+bike&psc=1&qid=1572458767&s=toys-and-games&sr=1-4

Most pieces are pretty simple and assembly is straightforward, but for newer users it's a good challenge. You can pull the hardware off of McMaster Carr.

Though not free but I can highly recommend this book "Mastering SolidWorks" by Matt Lombard

​

This is a kind of book that you can keep using for many years :)

The Solidworks Bible is still a great reference, but it hasn't been updated since 2013. Solidworks changes so fast that it's not cost effective for the publishers to put out a new version every year. Check out YouTube, GrabCAD, or the Solidworks forums for more up to date info. Attending Solidworks World or training classes through your reseller could be helpful as well. When you take a class a manual is included that covers everything from the training.

In drafting class we use Engineering Graphics with SOLIDWORKS 2019: A Step-by-Step Project Based Approach (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1630572306/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6H9FDbHWADY9N) and I have found it pretty useful so far.

This one will probably work.

It's not up to date, but there hasn't been that much change to the basics since 2015.

Get used, all of the examples can be downloaded for free online.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1585039160/ref=tmm_pap_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1572480938&sr=1-5

I got this book, and passed my exam a few months ago. It's a great guide on how the format of the exam will be like. It doesn't go in depth on how to model the parts or make configurations and assemblies, as it assumes you know the basics. Working through the book will probably take you a couple hours.

As for the content, you'll want to be able to quickly read the drawing as the dimensions can sometimes be oddly defined. Most of the questions are just the same part you created in question 1 but something slightly different added, removed, or the dimension changed, so you'll want to be able to change feature properties fast too.

~~Solidwork 2014 Part I - Basic Tools: Parts, Assemblies and Drawings

One of my instructors recommended both parts of this book, especially after I mentioned the Solidworks Bible which is more of a reference than a learning guide than these books by Paul Tran. He also knows that I want to go for my CSWA certification very soon, and try progressing through the CSWE.

I'm going to try getting through the first book in the next week or two. Let me know if you have any questions.~~

EDIT: Now that I'm actually scanning this book, I realized it's not the same book. It looks like this book.

It's been 1 year since I took CSWE. Questions were not very different from CSWP ones but more detailed and focus driven.


This books has question examples nearly same type like in exam


https://www.amazon.com/CSWE-Certified-SolidWorks-Preparation-Materials/dp/158503763X/ref=sr_1_21?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1501560555&sr=1-21

The test prep books from David and Marie Planchard are very good.

Official Certified SolidWorks Professional (CSWP) Certification Guide with Video Instruction: SolidWorks 2012-2014 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1585038997/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_6Rc6ybPSHGH0T

More like this:
Bicycle Design https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1905005687/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_AcNwCbW6F41B0

When I was in school a we used this book when working on projects.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/007007139X?pc_redir=1396175388&robot_redir=1

Here is the mobile version of your link

https://www.amazon.com/SOLIDWORKS-2017-Basic-Tools-Paul/dp/1630570583/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503517217&sr=1-1&keywords=solidworks+sdc

Any Paul Tran book actully.

Get this book, go through the disk content:
http://www.amazon.com/Official-Certified-SolidWorks-Professional-Certification/dp/1585036587/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348141498&sr=1-1&keywords=cswp

I aced the exam with a 100% score after reading it and going through the tutorials.

Here is the desktop version of your link

http://www.amazon.com/Certified-SolidWorks-Professional-Certification-Instruction/dp/1585038997/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453952795&sr=8-1&keywords=cswp

I don't think they have a 2015/2016 edition, but as far as I know the exam hasn't changed much.

Honestly, the K2000 is too middle-ground. Get a K620, much cheaper. If you're working on something complex enough that it makes the K620 crap its pants, then a K2000 isn't going to be worlds better and it'll still stutter.

I went from an old crappy Quadro 600 (not even K600...) to a K5000 and the difference in SW wasn't life-changing. Like, the super-heavy assemblies that bogged the Quadro 600 to a snail's pace are still slightly choppy even on the K5000.

I think SW very quickly reaches a point where scene complexity skyrockets; anything less and a K620 is just fine, anything more and even the $4000 beast that is the K6000 won't be butter-smooth.

For less messy amazon links you can extract the part after "/dp/" in

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-E5-575G-53VG-Laptop-Windows/dp/B01DT4A2R4/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1484243786&sr=1-1&refinements=p_n_feature_seven_browse-bin%3A3012497011

and make it:

https://amzn.com/B01DT4A2R4

Or via smile link:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01DT4A2R4

BEEP BOP

Plz send any recommendations via PM