Auto-Explode – why is this not in SOLIDWORKS?

Do you know, that… ?

When I started my adventure in SOLIDWORKS at the turn of the version 2001, there was a very useful feature. She was called Auto-explode (SW was only in English, and certainly there was no Polish version at that time, Czech or Chinese).

I really miss this solution now…

imagine, that it exists but only in eDrawings. They are activated by a button E, but assuming, that there are no other exploded views. If they are, they will be shot.

exploded view

I miss such a solution especially then, like i just want to explode the assembly to make all the components visible. This also comes in handy, if I receive an assembly file from someone and I need to see it pretty quickly, how it is built.

All right, but how and whether it is possible to do such self-destruction at all?

I was writing, that this function has not been available for many years. In a sense, you can try something called. chain, but it makes sense, when the parts are moved axially. My quick fix is ​​to insert an axis in the middle of the assembly. In this case, I will use the intersection of two planes, but the insertion technique can be anything.

exploded view

then choose Step radial, I mark all parts with a frame and in the field of direction I indicate the resulting one axis. Thanks to this, the program treats all parts as if they were arranged on a virtual perimeter. They can therefore be shot simultaneously in a radial direction from this axis outwards. It is not a perfect solution, but to some extent it reflects self-destruction.

exploded view

Read more about the practical applications of radial step explosion:

An exploded view with a radial step depending on the axis

Tilt of the axis position exploded view

And if you want to know more useful information about shooting – use the search engine on the site!

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