TrustRadius Insights for SOLIDWORKS are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Recommendations
Users of Solidworks have made several recommendations based on their experiences with the software. The most common recommendations include evaluating other products to consider their benefits, especially for CAD software. Users also recommend utilizing Solidworks for 3D design work, highlighting its user-friendly interface and easy learning curve for new users. Additionally, users praise Solidworks for its active community and available support resources, which they recommend taking advantage of. Overall, these recommendations emphasize the importance of exploring different options, leveraging community support, and considering Solidworks for 3D design purposes.
We use SOLIDWORKS to view models sent to us from our customers, design fixtures and other tooling, and CAM. It has all of the tools and more that we need to manufacture our products.
Pros
3D Modeling
PDM
CAM
Cons
Very large files
I have a lot of issues with the fastener Tool Box
Cost
Likelihood to Recommend
Almost all of my customers use SOLIDWORKS, so it is nice to be able to open their files with a native software. But, if they use a different design software, I have not had any issues opening non-native files. From my experience, SOLIDWORKS is great for designing and detailing parts and assemblies.
The two areas that I have had issues with SOLIDWORKS are very large parts and curved surfaces, such as large stamping press dies. I have found other software that handles both better.
I have started using SOLIDWORKS during my college days, and from the experience I can say that it is the first software that a Mechanical Engineer requires to study for different mechanical components due to it's simple user-interface and placing of all the features in a concise manner that even a fresher can start without any prior experiecne. Using SOLIDWORKS we can make 3D design of parts from 2D, can make orthographic views from 3D model, we can make assembly by combining different parts. SOLIDWORKS also support various types of analysis like Static, Thermal, Flow, Fatigue, Linear, Non-linear, Drop test, Buckling, as well as Mold Simulation. With SOLIDWORKS Design Library, we can also import different standard mechanical components as per our design requirements based on different codes like ANSI, DIN, ISO, BIS, etc. Plus, we can also use the animation wizard of SOLIDWORKS to view the live results of deformation or stress distribution in the parts, hence allows us to study as per real time scenario.
Pros
Simple Modelling and Assembling of parts
Contains large database of materials
Design Library to import every important standard parts, hence reducing time in designing the same
Allows every simulation, with results as per the real time scenario
Animation wizard, to view the deformation and stress occuring in a precise way
No need of manual calculation in calculating the weight and inertia of the component, SOLIDWORKS can do the work for you
Cons
With increase in complexity of the mechanical components, the solving time also increases exponentially.
With SOLIDWORKS, I can't do manual meshing by selecting the face of the components, unlike Ansys
SOLIDWORKS is a high end software, hence requires system which can support the software.
Likelihood to Recommend
SOLIDWORKS is the best software for the Mechanical Engineers, who want to design and build real time 3D models and study them in a simple way. With SOLIDWORKS I can make every mechanical components and with the help of material database I can assign different materials to each parts of my model. With the presence of Design Library, SOLIDWORKS becomes the best software in terms of importing of standard components like gears, keys, nuts, bolts, pins, washers, and structural members directly in my design interface. However, there are some drawbacks like high loading time, and increase in solving time with the increase in complexity of the model. Hence, for complex design simulations I prefer Ansys Workbench over SOLIDWORKS.
