pySwTools

pySwTools is a combination of tools that I made to help me with my workflow when working with Solidworks. Sometimes it is not directly link to SW but more to what I do with the CAD models.

Installation

You can directly install it from pypi:

pip install pySwTools

Or you can install it from this repository:

pip install .

If you are on windows, maybe the directory where the script is installed will not be on the PATH but it can be added to directly be able to use the script from a command prompt.

Contributing

If you found a bug or if you have any idea for the project feel free to open a new issue on github ! And if you want to directly contribute, you are welcome.

List of ressources that can be helpful when starting with the solidworks API:

• Solidworks API
• Python examples

List of modules

• CLI: handle all the modules
• Config: handle the configuration
• Ready-dxf: Prep the dxf outputed from SW to be laser cutted
• Copy-full-assembly: Update the relative link from an assembly after a copy
• Auto-export: export all the parts to .stl or .dxf
• Stat: List all the parts from an assembly with their mass and density
• Clean: List all the unused files from an assembly

CLI

It is the main module of this project. It allows you to select the actions that you want to apply. To directly get help from the tool simply type:

pyswtools

Config

This command helps you handling your config. By default, the config is the following:

sw_version: 2022 # This is important to set the correct version

If you want to modify the config, you need to first create a file with :

pyswtools config init

And you can reset to the default config with:

pyswtools config init --force

If you want to get the current config:

pyswtools config dump

Or the path to the current config:

pyswtools config dump --path

Ready-dxf

Prepare dxf files from solidworks to be laser cutted:

• Remove the solidworks text from the output dxf file

How to use

You can use the following command:

pyswtools ready-dxf /path/to/file.dxf

It will output a clean.dxf file.

You can also provide the path to a directory with dxf inside

pyswtools ready-dxf /path/to/directory

It will output a directory_cleaned directory with all the cleaned dxf. Do not include the / or \ at the end of the path of the directory

Copy-full-assembly

This tool help you when copying multiple file or assembly. It will help you by updating path reference to new path reference:

• In the equation manager

How to use

pyswtools copy-full-assembly PATH_TO_DIR SRC_REPLACE TARGET_REPLACE

• PATH_TO_DIR is the path to directory with all the files to update
• SRC_REPLACE is the string in the current path reference that you want to replace (probably the name of the old directory)
• TARGET_REPLACE is the string in the current path reference that you want to replace (probably the name of the new directory)

Auto-export

This tool help you export a directory (or a part) to other file extensions. The current exrports are:

• DXF
• STL
• Auto

The Auto mode will use the name of the part and see if an extension is specified in it (e.g. DXF_my_part.SLDPRT)

The DXF export will only work when there is only one body in the part. Also the face that will be exported is a planar one with the biggest surface.

The STL export will consider the z axis as being the vertical dimension.

How to use

pyswtools auto-export PATH/TO/DIR MODE

With Mode being AUTO, DXF or STL. It will create directory with the extension used and the corresponding files in it.

Stat

This tool help you get stat on an assembly. It can gives you recursive information about the mass and the density of each component of an assembly.

How to use

pyswtools stat PATH/TO/ASSEMBLY OPTIONS

You can select the display mode with --type-output:

• tree: (default) It will follow the structure from the assembly file
• list: It will output to a single list

You can select the sort mode with --type-sort:

• mass: (default) sort with a decreasing total mass
• mass-part: sort with a decreasing part mass
• name: sort with alphabetical order

You can select the type of compoments to include with --filter:

• all: (default) get both parts and assemblies
• part: get only parts. Works only for list display
• assembly: get only assemblies

You can select the export that you want with --export:

• none: (default) no export, only the display
• csv: generate a bom.csv in the same directory as the solidworks project
• clipboard: put the bom in the clipboard. You can copy paste it directly in excel

You can get only the elements with a default density (1000 Kg/m³) with the option --only-default-density. This option only works with a type list`

Clean

This tool help you clean the directory of your project and remove unused files

How to use

pyswtools clean PATH/TO/DIR/PROJECT/ PATH/TO/MAIN/ASSEMBLY

It will output all the solidworks files in PATH/TO/DIR/PROJECT/ that are not used in the assembly.

Properties

This tool help you duplicate properties from a template to files

How to use

pyswtools properties PATH/TO/DIR/TEMPLATE_PART PATH/TO/FILE

It will add to PATH/TO/FILE the properties of PATH/TO/DIR/TEMPLATE_PART. If the target is a file, it will add the properties. If it is an assembly it will apply it to all its children instead.