SOLIDWORKS Electrical offers design flexibility when needing to create a cabinet layout. This blog, as a companion to the recent webinar on the topic, will lay out what you need to know about taking your wire schematics off of the page and into the real world, either in a 2D cabinet layout in SOLIDWORKS Electrical or a 3D cabinet layout in SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D.
2D Cabinet Library Requirements
Your symbols library is going to have to grow to accommodate your use of this functionality. Not only will this have to include components in your library, but accessories like cabinets and rails should also be included so that they can be placed down in the layout drawing. 2D footprints can be added in a variety of simple ways to your library though, so it doesn’t need to be an arduous process. Just like other symbols, you can import a DXF/DWG file of a 2D footprint or leverage the electrical content portal to download the library data that was sourced directly from the component’s manufacturer. For rails, be more concerned with the profile rather than the length, as inserting a rail will prompt you for the length you’ll require to fit your components.
The dialogue for inserting 2D footprints Into a 2D cabinet layout
Creating a 2D Cabinet Layout
Once your library has the prerequisite items, you can create a new 2D cabinet layout under the process tab. You will be immediately prompted with all of the locations in your project, which are checked off by default. Select those which you would like to create layouts for, and include the location for the page if you don’t want it to be top-level in the workbook. You’ll then have a blank sheet on your screen where you can create your layout using the list of components in the pane on the left. You should also see the “Cabinet Layout” tab appear at the top of your screen next to the process tab, which has tools specific to the creation of these layouts. You can insert 2D footprints of components in multiple ways: hitting “insert 2D footprint”, right-clicking components in the lefthand pane, or using the commands “Add cabinet”, “Add rail”, and “Add duct”.
There are several features you can take advantage of here to simplify the layout creation process as well. Utilize filters in the lefthand pane to clear out components that are already inserted in the layout. If you have multiple components that need to be inserted simultaneously with equal spacing, just select them all, right-click, and select insert to begin the dialogue for multiple insertion. Rather than replacing rails that are of an improper length, use the “update rail or duct command”. 2D layouts also benefit from component callouts to a matching BOM, and with changes in SOLIDWORKS 2024, this has become much more automated. You can now automatically balloon cabinets and insert the BOM to the desired location. Other annotations for dimensions can also be inserted as needed.
A ballooned 2D cabinet layout
3D Cabinet Requirements
3D cabinet layouts will similarly require expansion to your existing library. Rather than 2D footprints, this is done through the SOLIDWORKS Routing Component Wizard. This topic is a little more complex than the 2D components, and we show you everything you need to know about it in our SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D and Electrical Routing Training Course. In summary, though, these parts get small entities called “connection points” added to them, which correlate to contacts on the component and on the 2D schematic. This intelligence is what separates the 3D layout capabilities from the 2D layouts – the ability to automatically route wires from component to component, quantify each wire’s length, and put that number into your reports for you. Just like 2D footprints though, 3D models of many components can be acquired on the Electrical Content portal to be added to your library.
A component in our Routing Library – notice the connection points sticking out
Creating a 3D Cabinet Layout
Routing components can snap to rails, and similar to the 2D layout, have automatic insertion of multiple similar components to ensure consistency in placement on the rail. Using the “route wires” command, reference geometry and sketches act as “highways” inside of the cabinet. These will assist in drawing either 3D splines or 3D wires of appropriate thickness between connection points on components that are on your 2D schematic. This 3D file can be shared like any other SOLIDWORKS assembly file can be and provides a greater understanding of where you may experience manufacturing issues like exceeding a bend radius or wire bundles thicker than your ducts.
Once wires are routed, their lengths are also included in your reports
Once your cabinet is complete and you’re ready to move to having a 2D layout file, simply go to the SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D tab and select “Create 2D Drawing” to create a drawing file of the cabinet assembly.
Creating a 2D drawing will make an assembly drawing in SOLIDWORKS CAD for the cabinet layout
From here, since you are operating in the SOLIDWORKS Drawings interface, you are able to add dimensions, annotations, balloons, bills of materials, and more. A key distinction here as well is that you can place multiple views of the cabinet quickly and easily, which would require different 2D footprints in the 2D cabinet layout tool in SOLIDWORKS electrical.
SOLIDWORKS Drawings support multiple cabinet views, as well as other features present in SOLIDWORKS Electrical 2D Cabinet Layouts
If you are interested in learning more about the different approaches SOLIDWORKS can support for electrical systems designs, reach out to us so that we can help point you in the right direction for your company.
