Using Bounding Box to get Overall Dimensions Immediately

dateJune 27, 2020

After the product designing process is done, the next step we normally do is designing the packaging. So what is the size?

For SOLIDWORKS, you can easily get your overall box dimension for your product ( both assemblies or component level) that will speed up your packaging design process.

In this article we will show you how to use bounding box and what will you get from it. We will use this model for this example.

Guide to creating Bounding Box:

  1. Go to the assembly tab > reference geometry > pick the bounding box
  2. The bounding box property manager is open, you can choose either best fit option or Custom plane option
  3. Best Fit: Smallest volume possible for this particular model.

Custom Plane: You can pick in which plane the bounding box will refer (i.e Top plane)

 

  1. You can also pick to include hidden components etc. below the option menu.
  2. After that, hit OK.
  3. The bounding box will be populated in the feature manager.
  4. You can check the bounding box property using File> Property, or the simplest way is to move over your mouse to the bounding box features and it will automatically show the bounding box property as shown below.

 

You can directly use these data for the overall dimension of the packaging. This bounding box features work for both assembly and part files. In this way, you can immediately get your product's overall dimensions for packaging purposes.

 

In assembly environment if you have bounding box associated for the part, sub-assemblies and top level assembly, it will be shown in different color.

Grey: Top Level Assembly bounding box

Blue: Sub-Assemblies bounding box

Orange: Part Level bounding box