© Copyright April 2014 Brian Halicki

Solidworks Belt Path Tutorial April 15, 2014

By: Brian Halicki

Sketching with Converted Entities Creates the Belt Path

In the design of a conveyor unit that is

connected with two or more idler

rolls, the conveyor belt we want is

attached to these rolls. Commands

in SolidWorks sketch can help us to

create or install this belt. For the

reason of this tutorial, I will be

indicating to you how to create a

'New Part' Conveyor Belt on an

assembly drawing, so if you would

edit a diameter of rolls or adjust the

position of rolls, the conveyor belt will

automatically update the changes.

The belt being used is Intralox Series

1100 that is 4 inches wide and .344

thick.

Intralox Belt Conveyor

Some steps to create a conveyor belt:

Hide all parts except the rolls. Invert Selection. Selection of all rolls (don’t forget to press 'Ctrl' on the keyboard)

and then right click and choose Invert Selection.

© Copyright April 2014 Brian Halicki

Inverted Selection Shown

Selecting Hide

© Copyright April 2014 Brian Halicki

Hide Invert Selection. The above command will select all the parts in except the rolls. Then at the drawing view, right

click and select hide. Then all the selected part will be hidden and visible only the rolls.

Creating a new Part in an Assembly

Insert New Part. Choose Insert> Component> New Part. The show will appear at the bottom-left of the screen "Select

the face or plane on which to position the new part". Then point the cursor on the Front Plane in the Feature Manager,

left click. Well, now you are ready to make a sketch of the new part.

© Copyright April 2014 Brian Halicki

Convert Entities. Choose one of the roll and then click edge circle of roll. Click Convert Entities on the Feature toolbar.

Dialog box Convert Entities will appear. Continue by selecting all edge of rolls. Finish by clicking OK.

Open Part. Make it easier for the process of making a sketch, I suggest you to open a new part. Click part1 on the

Feature Manager and selection box will appear. Choose Open Part. And now you're ready to make a sketch of the

conveyor at a new part.

© Copyright April 2014 Brian Halicki

Creating a profile sketch on new part

Edit Sketch. Now the new part has been opened and you are ready to make a sketch on the new part. In the Feature

Manager select Sketch1 then click Edit on the sketch dialog box that appears.

Offset Convert Entities. We know that the belt thickness is .344 inches, the edge of roll has been converted and needs to

be offset by .344 inches for 2 of the idler rollers. Choose the Offset Entities on the Sketch toolbar. In the dialog box enter

the distance of .344 inches and check the 'Make base construction'.

© Copyright April 2014 Brian Halicki

Line. Connect the circles with one circle to another by selecting the Line Sketch toolbar. Considering this is a meeting

between the lines with circles, then before you specify the start position and end position, first click on the Quick Snap

Tangent Snaps toolbar or choose Tools> Relations> Quick Snaps > Tangent.

Trim Entities. Use this command to delete the profile of the sketch that didn’t follow the belt path. In the dialog box

choose the 'Trim to closest' then click the deleted entity. Exit Sketch.

© Copyright April 2014 Brian Halicki

Belt Forming. This is the final command to create the look of this belt.

Extruded Surface. Use the Extrude Surface command on Surface toolbar. In the dialog box that appears under

parameter Direction 1, write the width of 4 inches and the End condition set in the Mid Plane. Click OK.

© Copyright April 2014 Brian Halicki

Thicken. Create a solid feature by selecting one or more surfaces. On the Surface toolbar choose Thicken.

Then in the dialog box select the surface and enter the thickness at .344 inches and click Thicken Side 1. OK.

The blue color is essentially a surface. Give the color with Edit Appearance command on View (Heads-Up)

toolbar

© Copyright April 2014 Brian Halicki

Save the Conveyor Belt and close the file. The Assembly will automatically rebuild itself.

© Copyright April 2014 Brian Halicki

Halco Design is a leader in design and engineering technology with expertise in CAD and process optimization for

the manufacturing, engineering, design and industries. To obtain exclusive offers, important updates and special

invitations to local workshops and online events, subscribe to Halco Design News at www.halcodesign.com - monthly

e-newsletters that offer a wealth of manufacturing/mechanical, design automation information from Halco Design’s

applications engineers.

About the Author: Brian Halicki About Brian Halicki

Email Brian Halicki