Solidworks Mechanical Assembly Review

SolidWorks Mechanical Assembly Review

Origin and purpose

Apply this skill as the reusable mechanical-CAD operating guide distilled from the E-task puzzle-device assembly work. It combines:

• repeated procedures that produced valid SolidWorks parts and assemblies;
• errors encountered during COM automation and the verified corrections;
• mechanical issues discovered in the assembly, including belt penetration, pin interference, thin-edge support, missing rail holes, and weak gantry beams;
• successful validation and delivery practices for SLDASM, SLDPRT, STEP, previews, and archives.

Use it to convert conceptual SolidWorks layouts into mechanically plausible, machinable, reviewable assemblies while preserving user work.

Required workflow

1. Confirm the mechanical module currently in scope.
2. Inspect the active document path, type, component references, transforms, suppression states, and relevant bounding boxes.
3. Back up the assembly before material changes.
4. Diagnose load path, fastening, alignment, stiffness, assembly access, collision, and motion range.
5. Look up uncertain standard-part dimensions in a primary manufacturer source.
6. Create a corrected derivative part rather than overwriting the only known-good part.
7. Preserve or deliberately update the component transform.
8. Rebuild and verify actual geometry, not only feature-call success.
9. Classify bounding-box overlaps as unintended interference, intended insertion, face contact, or false positive.
10. Check the full motion range, including both mechanical limits.
11. Save the assembly and export STEP plus isometric, front, right, and top previews.
12. Report what changed, how the mechanism operates, and only the next bounded mechanical step.

Scope rules

• Design and correct mechanical structure only unless the user explicitly expands the scope.
• Explain how motors, servos, belts, springs, cams, electromagnets, and slides should operate; leave electrical-control implementation to the user.
• Complete one module per turn when the user requests incremental work.
• Inspect before asking for information already available in the assembly, drawings, problem statement, or prior deliverables.
• Preserve unrelated user changes and stable artifacts.

Mechanical review priorities

Check these conditions before modifying geometry:

• Transfer loads through supported faces, not through a plate's thin edge.
• Provide real holes, tapped engagement, edge distance, and tool access.
• Align rail, slider, support-plate, shaft, bearing, pulley, and belt centerlines.
• Keep belts within pulley faces and clear of sliders, rails, plates, and fasteners.
• Strengthen centrally loaded long beams with larger sections, paired beams, joining plates, or ribs when required.
• Ensure pins and shafts do not protrude into adjacent moving parts.
• Ensure slots provide the intended usable travel after subtracting pin radius.
• Ensure parts can be assembled in a feasible order.
• Check both current position and travel extremes.

Hole and counterbore workflow

1. Establish the component-local coordinate system.
2. Calculate every hole center explicitly.
3. Confirm pitch, end distance, diameter, thread, and depth from a primary source when uncertain.
4. Create through holes first.
5. Select the actual accessible outer face for counterbores or blind tapped holes.
6. Add matching holes to the supporting plate in its local coordinate system.
7. Transform both patterns into assembly coordinates and compare global centers.
8. Extract sketch-circle centers and diameters to verify the pattern.
9. Inspect cylindrical-face extents to verify blind depth and cut direction.

Model tapping-drill diameter in the threaded component and clearance diameter in the removable plate when representing a real threaded joint.

Interference workflow

Use AABB overlap only to find candidates. For each positive overlap:

1. Identify both parts and the overlap dimensions.
2. Check for a real hole, slot, bore, or bearing seat.
3. Compare the inserted diameter with the opening diameter.
4. Inspect actual sketch or face geometry when necessary.
5. Classify the result before changing geometry.

Report no unintended interference when intentional shaft-in-hole, pin-in-slot, or screw-through-plate overlaps remain.

SolidWorks automation guardrails

• Operate on SolidWorks serially.
• Verify active document title, path, and type immediately before every Save As.
• Expect Save As on an open component to update its reference in the open assembly; verify the component path afterward.
• Avoid hardcoded localized feature names when shell encoding is uncertain.
• Prefer COM-reported paths and titles, ASCII-stable filename fragments, and feature-type enumeration.
• Treat zero-argument COM members as possibly exposed properties rather than callable methods.
• Use typed interfaces when dynamic dispatch cannot access a method.
• Record the entire original transform before editing any component position.
• Use a SAFEARRAY of doubles for transform creation and verify the resulting bounding box immediately.
• Use the stable SolidWorks save tool when direct Save3 output parameters fail.

Read failure-derived-guardrails.md before mutating files, component transforms, or assembly references.

Read solidworks-com-methods.md when using Python COM, selecting planes or faces, extracting sketch geometry, or repairing a transform.

Validation and delivery

Read validation-checklist.md before declaring a correction complete.

At minimum, verify:

• corrected files exist and have the expected SolidWorks type;
• assembly references point to the corrected files;
• component positions and bounding boxes remain correct;
• hole counts, centers, diameters, and depths match the design;
• contact faces touch without positive material penetration;
• intended motion and mechanical limits remain valid;
• no unintended interference remains;
• assembly rebuild, save, STEP export, and preview generation succeed;
• a modification-before archive exists.

Deliver concise links to the assembly, STEP, archive, and representative preview.