Sketch fillet and chamfer in Solidworks - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

👤 Your Role: You are a product design analyst working with the engineering team.

📋 Request: Your manager wants you to analyze how sketch fillets and chamfers affect the manufacturing time and cost of a product design.

📊 Data: You have data on different product sketches showing the number of fillets and chamfers applied, along with their manufacturing time (in hours) and cost (in USD).

🎯 Deliverable: Create a report with visualizations showing the relationship between the number of fillets and chamfers and the manufacturing time and cost. Provide insights to help the team optimize design for cost and time.

Sample Data

Product ID	Number of Fillets	Number of Chamfers	Manufacturing Time (hours)	Manufacturing Cost (USD)
P001	5	3	12	1500
P002	2	1	8	900
P003	7	4	15	1800
P004	3	2	10	1200
P005	6	5	16	1900
P006	1	0	6	700
P007	4	3	11	1400
P008	0	1	5	600

1

Step 1: Load the sample data into your BI tool.

Import the data table with columns: Product ID, Number of Fillets, Number of Chamfers, Manufacturing Time, Manufacturing Cost.

Expected Result

Data table loaded with 8 rows and 5 columns.

2

Step 2: Create a calculated measure for Total Features as the sum of Number of Fillets and Number of Chamfers.

Total Features = [Number of Fillets] + [Number of Chamfers]

Expected Result

New column 'Total Features' added with values like 8 for P001 (5+3), 3 for P002 (2+1), etc.

3

Step 3: Create a scatter plot with Total Features on the X-axis and Manufacturing Time on the Y-axis.

X-axis: Total Features; Y-axis: Manufacturing Time (hours); Each point represents a Product ID.

Expected Result

Scatter plot showing how manufacturing time changes with total number of fillets and chamfers.

4

Step 4: Create a scatter plot with Total Features on the X-axis and Manufacturing Cost on the Y-axis.

X-axis: Total Features; Y-axis: Manufacturing Cost (USD); Each point represents a Product ID.

Expected Result

Scatter plot showing how manufacturing cost changes with total number of fillets and chamfers.

5

Step 5: Add trend lines to both scatter plots to visualize the relationship.

Enable linear trend line for both plots.

Expected Result

Trend lines show positive correlation between Total Features and both manufacturing time and cost.

6

Step 6: Create a summary table showing average Manufacturing Time and Cost grouped by Number of Fillets and Number of Chamfers.

Rows: Number of Fillets, Number of Chamfers; Values: Average Manufacturing Time, Average Manufacturing Cost.

Expected Result

Table showing average time and cost for each combination of fillets and chamfers.

7

Step 7: Interpret the results and prepare key findings for the report.

Analyze the trend lines and summary table to identify how fillets and chamfers impact time and cost.

Expected Result

Insights ready to guide design optimization.

Final Result

Manufacturing Time and Cost vs. Sketch Features

Total Features -->
|
|      *       *
|    *   *   *  *
|  *      *      *
|________________________

Trend: Manufacturing Time and Cost increase as Total Features increase.

✓More fillets and chamfers increase manufacturing time and cost.

✓Each additional fillet or chamfer adds roughly 1.5 hours and $150 to manufacturing.

✓Designs with fewer fillets and chamfers are more cost and time efficient.

✓Balancing design aesthetics with manufacturing constraints is important.

Bonus Challenge

Create a dashboard that allows filtering by Number of Fillets or Number of Chamfers to see their individual impact on manufacturing time and cost.

Show Hint

Use slicers or filters in your BI tool to enable interactive selection of fillet or chamfer counts.