As it's a poll and therefore a question and I'd like to have as many answers as possible, I'm taking the liberty of posting here. If moderation thinks that it should be put elsewhere, so be it!
What is your use of library functions in SolidWorks ?
I told myself several times that I should test the functions of the AltiTech library (link: http://bib.altitech.free.fr) but I haven't done it yet.
Am I missing something?
Are there any other free utilities of this style that I pass by?
But before answering here, please answer the survey:
Yes, you're missing something, the bib functions, once well configured are magical, you can do almost anything with it. On the other hand, to have a bibi function that holds up, you have to take time to configure and test it before making it operational!
Personally, I use them in mechanically welded parts, it also allows me to get the nomenclature of these bib fct out of the nomenclature of mechanically welded parts. Afterwards, it also works very well for the pipes, I made tt my elbows, tee, reducers, round-squares like that.
I had made, a while ago, a little tutorial to explain the principle of creating a bib fct if you are interested? The example is a very, very simple piece but you can do anything with it!
EDIT: On the other hand, for the altitech bib, as the creator created his bib fct on quite old versions of SW, if you try to break them down, sometimes the design method is quite inconsistent in view of the SW novelties
@Joss: A quick question about your tutorial: wouldn't it have been more interesting to take a single reference, the edge, instead of taking a face and an edge? The insertion of the function would have been easier, wouldn't it?
It could be nice to share library functions and profiles where you could vote for each, and sorting out their popularity, see directly which ones are useful!
For my part, I mainly use the toolbox for everything standard. but also a personal library that I evolve over time. I added many standard elements that were very practical during the concept phases (e.g. dummy, vehicle...) but also all sizes of shackle, lyre and lifting ring... I also have tooling (all sizes of combination wrenches, pipe wrenches and Allen wrenches, it's very practical to check the accessibility for assembly!)
And of course I downloaded a complete library of standard profiles for mechanical welding, because SW's is rather ridiculous...
@PL, uh, here like this, I'd say it's because if I only take one edge, my piece might go in the wrong direction. Afterwards, I had done a lot of different tests on this part before doing the tutorial and it's the best solution I found
The best thing is to create useful functions in your job / company.
In our company we do similar series of holes on almost all our assemblies: a library function (with configurations) later and a drag and drop you create 4 or 5 solidworks functions, you are sure that the dimensions are the right ones by default, a right click and you change the size/positions of your holes.
To validate your function you have to make a test part in real 3d (i.e. not on the 3 basic planes) because it happens that your function works on the front plane, but not on the right plane ...
We also created our bookcases for flanges, common sketches...
You lose a little time creating your functions at the beginning but afterwards it's really a time saver.
If you're into it, you create smart components that generate the machining in your parts when you insert your smart component into the assembly: the top...