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Tutorial: Handheld Frother –

For this tutorial You will be creating an assembly of the handheld frother shown in the images
below. You need to download the zip file off the website. Extract all files from the zip folder
and place them in a new folder, these are the five parts to be used in this tutorial. PLEASE DO
NOT RENAME THE PART FILES WHEN BUILDING THE ASSEMBLY.

1. Click New (Standard toolbar) or File > New.

2. In the New SolidWorks Document dialog box, click Assembly and click OK.
3. A new window will appear, prompting you to begin inserting parts into the assembly. You should
click “Cancel” to close this window and click on the red X underneath Begin Assembly in the
Property Manager

4. Set the drafting standard and unit of measurements.

a.Click Options (Standard toolbar) or Tools > Options.

b.Select the Document Properties tab.
c.In Overall Drafting Standard dropdown menu, select ANSI.
d.Select the Units option from the left bar of the document properties window and set the
unit system to IPS (inch, pound, second). Click OK.
5. Save and name your assembly
a. Click Save (Standard toolbar) or File > Save.
b. Navigate to the Handheld Frother folder that the parts are saved in.

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c. Name your assembly file according to the ME 123 file naming conventions. Click Save.
6. Insert the first part into your assembly.
a. Click on Insert Components in the Assembly tab of the CommandManager.
b. In the window that opens, navigate to the location of the part files that you downloaded
and select Shell.sldprt. Click Open.
c. Click the green check to insert the Shell at the origin.
*THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT – MAKE SURE YOU USE THE GREEN CHECK
Since this is the first part in the assembly, it is Fixed. You can toggle whether a component
is fixed by right clicking on it and selecting Float, but since the Shell is already aligned at
the origin, it’s best to leave it fixed where it is.
7. Insert the remaining parts into your assembly.
a. Click on Insert Components in the Assembly CommandManager.
b. In the window that opens, navigate to the location of the part files that you downloaded.
c. While holding down the ctrl key on your keyboard, click Grip.sldprt, Seal.sldprt,
Switch.sldprt, and Whisk.sldprt. Click Open

d. Click once for each of the parts to place them one-by-one on the screen next to the Shell.
(It is suggested that you place the parts approximately in the locations shown below to
make it easier to follow the tutorial).

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8. Use Coincident and Concentric mates to connect the Seal to the Shell
a. Click on Mate in the Assembly CommandManager
b. Click on the widest cylindrical surface of the Seal (highlighted in the figure below). The
Seal will become transparent to signify that it is selected to mate with another piece, and
the selected face will appear under Mate Selections

c. Click on Concentric in the Mate Type category in the Mate Property Manager.
Occasionally, a part may move to an undesirable location while applying mates, you can
click-drag on non-fixed components to move them to a location that’s easier to manage.
d. Click on the inner cylindrical surface at the tip of the Shell. (orbit the assembly until you
can see the surface you want to select. You may need to orbit your assembly in the
following steps to access different surfaces).

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The selected face will appear under Mate Selections, the Seal will move so that it is
aligned with the Shell. Click the green check to finish this mate.
e. Click on the flat surface of the Seal to add it to the next Mate Selection.

f. Select Coincident as the Mate Type

g. Click on the flat surface at the bottom of the Shell. Click the green check to mate it to
the Seal.

9. Use Coincident and Concentric mates to connect the Grip to the Shell
a. The Mate Property Manager should still be open.
If not, Click on Mate in the Assembly CommandManager
b. Click on the curved cutaway face on the Shell and the interior curved face on the Grip to
add them to Mate Selections

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c. Click on Concentric in the Mate Type category in the Mate Property Manager
and the green check to complete this mate
d. Click on the top face of the Grip and to add it to Mate Selections

e. Click on the edge of the Shell that overhangs the lip. Select Coincident as the mate
type and click the green check to finalize the mate.

f. While the Mate Property Manager is still open, click the drop-down arrow to the
left of the Design Tree. (It will be named your file name instead of “frother”)

g. Click on the Front Plane in the assembly to add it to the Mate Selections

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h. Click on the drop-down arrow next to Grip in the Design Tree

i. Click on the Front Plane in Grip to add it to the Mate Selections. Select Coincident
as the mate type and click the green check to finalize the mate.

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10. Use Concentric and Distance mates to connect the Whisk to the Assembly
a. The Mate Property Manager should still be open.
If not, Click on Mate in the Assembly CommandManager
b. Click on the cylindrical rod in Whisk to add its face to the Mate Selections
c. Click on the inner cylindrical surface of Seal to add this face to the Mate Selections

d. Click on Concentric in the Mate Type category in the Mate Property Manager
and the green check to complete this mate
e. Click on the red X to exit the Mate Property Manager
f. Right-click on Shell. A small menu of icons will appear. Click on Change Transparency

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g. Now that the Shell is transparent, re-open the Mate Property Manager by clicking on
Mate in the Assembly CommandManager Click on the top face of Shell and the top
face of Whisk to add them to Mate Selections.

h. Select Distance as the Mate Type. Type “3.00in” into the Distance box. If the
Whisk handle is sticking out of the shell as shown below, use the “Flip dimension” to
reverse the direction. Click the green check to complete this mate.

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11. Use Tangent, Coincident, and Parallel mates to connect the Switch to the assembly.
a. Click on the red X to exit the Mate Property Manager
b. Right-click on Shell. A small menu of icons will appear. Click on Change Transparency

c. Now that the Shell is no longer transparent, re-open the Mate Property Manager by
clicking on Mate in the Assembly CommandManager
d. Click on the curved surface on Switch and click on the flat surface in the slot on the side
of Shell to add these faces to the Mate Selections

e. Select Tangent as the Mate Type. Click the green check to complete this mate.

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f. While the Mate Property Manager is still open, click the drop-down arrow to the
left of the Design Tree. (It will be named your file name instead of “frother”)

g. Click on the Front Plane in the assembly to add it to the Mate Selections

h. Click on the drop-down arrow next to Switch in the Design Tree

i. Click on the Front Plane in Switch to add it to the Mate Selections. Select Coincident
as the mate type and click the green check to finalize the mate.

j. If necessary, click & drag the switch so that it is lined up vertically middle of the switch.

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k. Click on the outward-facing surface of Switch and the flat surface on the inside of the
slot on Shell to add these faces to the Mate Selections. Select Parallel as the Mate
Type and click the green check to complete the mate. You should still be able to slide
the switch up and down (It is not fully constrained/there is one degree of freedom).
Select the red X to exit the mate toolbar. A Width mate would be a good choice to
constrain the switch to the flat surface. Width mates is an Advanced mate and will be
covered in a later lab.

12. Apply color to the Grip using the Color Property Manager
a. Click on Grip in the Feature Manager Design Tree to highlight it.
b. In the center top of the screen, click on Edit Appearance
The Appearances, Scenes and Decals Task Pane Tab might fly out from the right side of the screen. Hide
it by clicking on the model background

c. In the Color Property Manager, click on the Apply at part document level checkbox
and select Part for the Selected Geometry

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d. Select a shade of blue as the color for the Grip by selecting a color from the standard
color palette, by, or by clicking in the Pick a Color box or dragging the RGB sliders to
select a custom hue. Click the green check to finish recoloring the Grip.

13. Repeat step 12, substituting the Grip for the Switch to recolor the Switch to a shade of red.

14. Check for interference and address any interferences.

a. If necessary, click & drag the switch to not interfere with the upper or lower slot edges.
b. Click on Interference Detection in the Evaluate CommandManager. Make sure
the assembly is listed under the “selected components”.
c. Click Calculate to begin the interference calculation.

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d. Any detected interferences will be listed under Results and highlighted in pink and red
on the model. To view which parts are interfering, click the drop-down to the left of
Interference1.

e. The Seal and the Whisk are interfering. The through hole in the Seal is too small.
f. Right-click on Seal in Results and click Open in the menu that appears.

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g. When the Seal part file opens, right-click on Revolve1 and then click on Edit Sketch

h. Change the inner diameter from 0.06 to 0.08 by double-clicking on the dimension,
typing in the larger value, and pressing the Enter key on your keyboard.

i. Now that the hole width has been increased, use the ctrl + b keyboard shortcut to exit
the sketch and rebuild the part. Save and close the part file by using the ctrl + w
keyboard shortcut to exit the part file, and clicking Yes when prompted to save the part
file and rebuild the assembly. You should be returned to the Frother assembly.

j. Click on Interference Detection in the Evaluate CommandManager and click

Calculate to begin the calculation. If no interferences exist, then the hole re-sizing was
successful.

This is the end of the Introduction to Assemblies Tutorial.

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