GWS

Has anyone else had a problem with the nuts and bolts realigning themselves to the ground plane after reopening a saved file. They all seem to have rotated but kept their Z height.

Yes, I have had the same problem with 'imported' solid subtractions where the only thing visible is te bounding box. I was a little disappointed that the ungrouping/filleting situation hasn't been sorted out as it seems to be alomsot every mechanical part I design has filleted edges at some point. still I'm sure VW10 will deal with it as well as adding 3d dimensioning of course!! Kind regards Guy

Hi Tom Thank you for your help on this. I know it sounds ridiculous but when you're placing loads of bolts it can really slow you down. Those hints are really useful. Kind regards Guy

Thank you, gmm18 (and Pat) for a very comprehensive answer. Worksheets seem to be a very useful tool to employ and they look like they will make things a lot easier. Many thanks

I am just getting into worksheets and need a few pointers. I have looked at the VW help which is a start but could anyone tell me how I list and count the different nuts and bolts I have used in my design. Is this possible? i.e. 48 x M6 Cap Heads, 32 x M4 Csk Pan Heads etc.... Many thanks

I sometimes get this problem. If you convert to the polyline to polygons (modify>convert to polygons) and then look at the OIP somewhere near the bottom the is a check box that has 'closed' next to it. Click on this to close the polygon and the extrude becomes solid.

Hi Tom I really would like a definitive answer to my problem. I have noticed that in Isometric view using the 3D tool I can access the insertion point on the bolts and drag and drop to the correct location. It only seems to be a problem in the 'flat' views. Any thoughts Guy

Hi Tom I can select tapped 3d holes and drilled holes it only appears to be the bolt stuff....if that's any help. Guy

Hi Tom Just to let you know, I have just installed SP1 for VW2009 and the problems with the nut & bolt tool still persists. There seems to be no improvement with the 'selection at the insertion point', drawing Button heads or flange bolts and also the dialogue box still comes up blank. Any thoughts...? Kind regards Guy

....I can see the insertion point under the cursor but can't actual pick up the bolt from there. Guy

Hi Tomu I had those settings already on which is even more baffling.....also all sizes seem to be effected. Many thanks Guy

Hi Tomu I can't draw button heads or flange hex bolts. Both types revert to the cap head variety. When I try a force select at the centres in top/plan view it says there is nothing there. Any thoughts Guy

Here are some pics.

Have you got the snaps turned on from the contraints palette? Double Click on the top right button and you get a box come up. Click on Object on the left hand list and click all the options.

When I try to use the nut and bolt tool and click on the button to bring up the configuration dialogue box all the drop down menus are blank. I can drop a bolt on the drawing and then edit it through the OIP but not through the Configuration Dialogue box. When in top view I don't seem to be able to click and drag the bolt from the centre for postioning purposes.....and lastly, although there is an item for a Button Head bolt it only draws as a Cap Head. Are these bugs or is it just me?!

...ah, just found it in users/application support/vectorworks.......

I am having trouble locating my 2008 workspace in the workspace folder. I would like to import it into 2009. I have tried making a copy of it to see if that helps and I have searched the hard disk which shows up all the normal workspaces but not my adapted ones. Does anyone have any ideas? Many thanks

Yes, thank you.

When editing a polyline I can change the points on that line from a corner point to bezier control, cubic spline or arc point and there is an option to set a radius in the options. When I do the same with a NURBS Curve there is no option to set the radius. I'm sure there is something I'm not understanding here, but if anyone could clear up my confusion I'd be most grateful. Many Thanks

Alot of the stuff illustrated in the What's New section of MD doesn't really seem to be particularly Mechanically based....e.g. "3D Wall Improvements" and "Site Modifiers Applicable to Existing Site Models" which I'm sure are great but not specific to a Mechanical Engineer. A more 'tuned' MD section would be helpful.

You can select multiple lines by dragging a marque with the mouse while holding down the 'option' key (on a Mac). Anything the marque touches will be selected.

Although there have been many improvements to VW of the years I can't help thinking that the Machine Design side of things has rather been left behind which is a great pity. I too have been playing around with SW running through parellels on my Macbook Pro and have been very impressed. VW is a great program, but it would be nice to at least have 3D dimensioning if not 3D constraints.

I just spotted this from another thread: (Re: 2 question for 2009) 'The filleting behaves the same as all other versions, by that I mean in terms of once the fillet is implemented, one can't modify the underlying solid/3D object. One has to get rid of all the fillets alter the object as required then re-fillet. This goes against what the parasolid engine is all about. Weird.' This comment seems to contradict the one above. Could someone please clarify my confusion please Kind regards Guy

Thanks Markus, that works perfectly.

I am trying to create a title block and after watching the online video tech tip I have managed to do this. Unfortunately I having trouble formatting the text correctly. I have attached 2 files. 'Untitled 1' shows the wrongly formatted test and 'Title Block' is what I'm after. I'm probably missing something really obvious, but if anybody could help I'd much appreciate it. Many thanks