SolidWorks CSWA Exam using Onshape

frank26080115

I just passed my CSWA exam. The questions were basically

• here's the drawings for this shape, CAD it up and tell us how much it weighs
• open this zip archive of parts, assemble it like this, what is the distance between these two points and what is the center of gravity

The exam software doesn't interact with the SolidWorks process at all. So this got me to think... What if people started to do the exam with Onshape? Poor people can put a nice certificate onto their resumes.

I figured out how to use the mass properties tool in Onshape but I can't figure out how to set densities. This is the only missing feature stopping me from using Onshape to pass the CSWA exam.

3dcad

@frank26080115 You need material properties for densities. They are not here yet, but should be coming soon (I hope).

3dcad

@frank26080115 You need material properties for densities. They are not here yet, but should be coming soon (I hope).

brucebartlett

+1 I hope too

andrew_troup

Onshape gives you the volume; multiply that by the density to give you the mass.

frank26080115

Andrew_Troup said:

Onshape gives you the volume; multiply that by the density to give you the mass.

if a question involves finding the center of gravity of a multi-part assembly, and the different parts have different densities, then it would be very time consuming to calculate. The answers needs to be within two decimal places of accuracy in millimeters.

chris_mcandrew

Frank and others,
I know this is outdated but Onshape has added some features including the Mass properties. The limitation now is that they are not yet customizable, which is required for exact measurements. It's possible to select a similar material and then guess, or as others noted simply multiple the volume by the density. I've confirmed this works using one of the sample exams, and was able to get all of the answers done correctly. The model for it is now public and a quick write-up for modeling the part is posted here. The free access and public files are actually a great study tool for this, or simply for teaching best practices (which I did not use in the model) since it is so easy to share among users. Good luck.

Felix_Westerinen

I took the CSWA with Onshape yesterday. It was really easy because you don't have to modify parts to get answers, only put them in assemblies.