delancy827/solidworks-skills/sw-designer

SolidWorks Designer

Use this skill for design decisions, parameterization strategy, design review, manufacturability checks, and pre-automation planning. If the task requires writing or executing SolidWorks API code, switch to solidworks-automation.

Design workflow

1. Clarify intent. Identify the deliverable: part, assembly, drawing, mold, sheet-metal part, weldment, or review only.
2. Collect constraints. Record dimensions, material, manufacturing process, tolerances, units, standards, and any downstream drawing or simulation requirements.
3. Choose a modeling strategy. Prefer native基准面 and robust sketch profiles. Avoid sketching on inclined faces unless no orthogonal strategy can represent the geometry.
4. Parameterize. Use an explicit parameter table or class. Do not bury dimensions in scattered literals.
5. Validate design intent. Check feature order, body count, symmetry, wall thickness, fillets, chamfers, hole counts, and mating references.
6. Hand off cleanly. Produce a dimension ledger and validation checklist before automation begins.

Design rules

• Fully define sketches when the geometry allows it.
• Prefer orthogonal基准面 and stable references over face-dependent selections.
• Use design tables or explicit parameter dictionaries for families of parts.
• Keep feature order editable: base geometry, secondary features, holes, fillets/chamfers, then appearance or metadata.
• For assemblies, count repeated instances before modeling and prefer standard interfaces or named references over fragile face picks.
• For drawings, check projection, annotation order, hole callouts, and tolerance stack before export.
• For molds or forming tools, compute process dimensions before CAD; do not treat part geometry as tool geometry.

Reference routes

Read only the reference that matches the task.

• references/design-manual.md — full 17-chapter design guide. Search with rg -n "keyword" references/design-manual.md, then read the relevant section rather than the entire manual.
• ../solidworks-automation/references/drawing-to-3d-lessons.md — drawing interpretation and geometry validation.
• ../solidworks-automation/references/materials-forming-mold-lessons.md — forming and mold process checks.
• ../solidworks-automation/references/assembly-debugging-lessons.md — assembly intent and repeated-instance rules.

Boundary

Use cad-automation for AutoCAD work. Use solidworks-automation when the user wants scripts, COM calls, live SolidWorks control, or model generation.