I’m trying to model this suspension arm to see if it’s usable with a car chassis, I’m struggling to blend the circular connections with the arms.
Idek if it’s possible, the cylinders are 11mm wide, the arms both have a 20mm diameter.
What I have right now isn’t great but it will do because we just need these models to test sizing but I’m invested in learning how to make them look seamless, I’ve tried a loft but there isn’t clear boundaries and things. I can get around SolidWorks but I’m not super experience with advanced stuff. Any help and steps to follow will be appreciated

I was trying to quickly put a point on a cylindrical part this morning and couldn't get a Cut-Revolve to work. I swear I've been able to do this before!

The sketch is closed, doesn't cross the axis, and terminates at a single point on the axis. SolidWorks gives me the usual "Sketch is open, self-intersecting, or intersects the centerline" error.

• If I add a short line along the axis so the profile shares a segment with the axis instead of just touching it at a point, it works.
• Revolutions under 360° show a valid preview but fail when I accept the feature.

I'm running SolidWorks 2026 SP4.1, and don't have an old version to test this on.

Anyone running 2025 or earlier willing to try it?

Thanks!

I’m looking for some advice from people who work as mechanical designers/engineers, especially those who have made a similar transition.

After high school, I went directly into working instead of going to university. I now have around 5 years of experience as a Technical Designer in Italy, where I designed metallic building structures from scratch using SolidWorks.

I also worked with PDM/PLM systems and was responsible for things like 3D modelling, assemblies, drawings, BOMs, production documentation, and solving technical problems.

Since I didn’t go to university, I always felt that I had to work harder to teach myself as much as possible. I learned a lot through experience rather than through formal education.

Eventually, I moved to Stockholm, Sweden. I quickly discovered that finding a CAD/Mechanical Design job without a university degree and without being fluent in Swedish was very difficult.

So I made a plan

I decided to move into CNC/CAM programming and manufacturing. I thought it would be a good way to strengthen my understanding of how parts are actually manufactured.

For the last 2.5 years, I’ve been working with CNC milling and CAM programming, mainly using Fusion 360.

Honestly, I’ve learned an incredible amount during this time. CNC taught me a completely different side of mechanics and manufacturing.

I’ve learned about machining strategies, tooling, workholding, feeds and speeds, material behaviour, tolerances, and what actually makes a part manufacturable.

I currently make fairly complex aluminium parts, including 5083/6082, with very tight tolerances. I’ve become one of the more trusted people in the company for difficult parts and manufacturing problems.

However, I’ve realised that the workshop environment isn’t where I want to stay long-term.

So I decided to move forward and have accepted a position as a Mechanical Designer.

And this is where my concern starts.

I know I have a lot of useful experience, but I also know there are things I don't know yet.

For example, I understand GD&T concepts and the symbols, but I haven't had much practical experience applying GD&T to mechanical drawings. I don't always know why a particular tolerance should be 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, etc., or when something should have perpendicularity, position, flatness, profile, etc.

I'm hoping to learn these things properly in the new company.

My biggest concern is the first 6 months. I really want to prove that I’m good enough and pass the probation period.

I’m not expecting to know everything from day one. I’m prepared to ask questions, learn from the engineers around me, study in my free time and put in the work.

But I’m wondering:

For people who work as mechanical designers, does my background sound like a reasonable foundation for the role?

How much would you expect a new mechanical designer to know independently when starting?

And especially for those who moved from manufacturing/CNC into mechanical design:

What were the biggest things you had to learn when making the transition?

I’d really appreciate honest opinions even if there are things you think I should work on before starting.

Thank you

There's really no way around it, huh?

Just started my mechanical design job two months ago and I got the assembly and drawing jobs. For the current one I'm at 3,000 parts in the assembly and around 1800 mates.

But my GOD this program takes forever to load anything since I got to around 30 pages. The title wasn't an exaggeration, if anything an understatement.

And it's not like there's anything else I can do in the meantime. Might as well go take a shit while it does its thing.

I'm using SOLIDWORKS 2025. When I select ANSI → Square HSS under Weldments, all the available sizes are labeled "CHANNEL SQR" and the profiles are U-shaped instead of square hollow tubes.

I checked the `square hss.sldlfp` file, and it also shows a C-channel profile.

Is this a bug in the default SOLIDWORKS library, or is something wrong with my installation? Has anyone else experienced this?

I have an issue on certain projects. When I try to flatten a sheet metal body that I mirrored using the face of another sheet metal body, it won't unbend (the mirrored part).

However, if I create a reference plane manually, mirror the sheet metal bodies across that plane, and then flatten them, it works fine...

How is this possible????

Hola a todos, tengo una duda enorme.

Tengo una pieza en 3D realizada a partir de coordenadas en excel, ahora necesito mostrar las cotas en un plano pero al no tener puntos de referencia no sé como hacerlo, ¿alguien tiene alguna idea?

I attended the Ask The CEO Webinar yesterday and have already received the free CSWA and CSWP vouchers. For those who know, or have taken it already, can I take the CSWP 3 segments separately or is the provided voucher just for one segment? I don't want to try and take the exam without knowing this.

Thank you!

This was my 3rd attempt of CSWP exam. Basically this time I didn't practice at all :) . But this time I could solve most of the problem without any problem. But I don't know how I messed up in the assembly section.
BTW thanks to this subreddit. It helped me a lot.

Any recommended courses, tutorials, or practices to get into surfacing? In all honesty, I’m quite intimidated and don’t know where to start