Customized drawing template is one of the best ways to maximize efficiency for design tasks in SOLDIWORKS. The purpose of this blog is to give you a deeper understanding of how SOLIDWORKS drawing documents and templates are structured, as well as the steps to create the drawing template.
A drawing document is consist of two primary pieces Drawing Sheet and Sheet Format, as well as drawing views and other properties.
Structure of a Drawing Document
Drawing Templates are the files used to begin a new drawing document. They have a file extension of *.drwdot.
Drawing Templates often include both a drawing sheet and a sheet format file. However, templates have the flexibility to be created without a sheet format.
Some of the drawing templates given below include a sheet format and some do not.
Now that we are familiar with the structure of drawing documents and templates, let’s take a look at the process to design a custom drawing template.
The following steps can be effective strategy for developing a full set of drawing templates and sheet formats.
Step 1: Start a blank new drawing via File > New
Step 2: Edit the Sheet Properties. Right-click on drawing sheet -> Properties and choose the sheet size (A, B, C, etc.), set the Sheet Scale, etc. Click OK.
Step 3: Edit the Sheet Format. Right-click on drawing -> Edit Sheet Format, customize the title block, border and anchors.
Step 4: Exit Edit sheet format.
Step 5: Save the Sheet Format file by going to File -> Save Sheet format. This will save a .slddrt file.
Specify the location of the drawing template in SOLIDWOKRS
Options->System Options->File Locations->Show folders for Sheet Format
Click add to add the current location of your customized sheet format (Refer to step6)
Step 6: Save as drawing template
a) Save the current drawing document (blank) as *.drwdot file.
b) Specify the location of the drawing template in SOLIDWORKS
Options->System Options->File Locations->Show folders for Document templates
Click add to add the current location of your customized template.