SolidWorks 2014 Favorites - Replace Drawing Model Reference

By Jordan Winger

Have you ever spent a good amount of time creating and detailing a drawing of a model, only to realize that you detailed a part model by accident when you were supposed to have created an assembly drawing? If so, there's good news for you in SolidWorks 2014!

New in the 2014 release is the ability to replace a model reference of a drawing view. You simply need to right click the drawing view and select “Replace Model”.

This replace function gives you the ability to select either a part or an assembly file to replace the existing model. You can specify which views will be replaced individually, or you can specify all views at once.

The best news is that if you are replacing a part with an assembly containing the original part, or with a part derived from the original part, all the dimensions, annotations, and sections are preserved! No more re-work!

This is a great new method to create drawings for similar models, without having to start from scratch each time!

The replace drawing model reference feature is an excellent way to save yourself some time when creating drawings. Check out this YouTube video made by Kirkwood Hines, a Hawk Ridge  Applications Engineer in our Seattle office - and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos on all the great new features available in SolidWorks 2014, plus useful tips and tricks for all of your design, analysis, data management, and technical communication software.