Surf and Code: Industrial Robotics & Solid Edge 2

...From Part 1

Workshop: Linking Excel and Solid Edge

Step 1 :

On the Windows Start menu click Start > Programs > Microsoft Office > Excel

Step 2 :

This will start Excel with an empty spreadsheet open.

Step 3 :

Enter some values in the cells as shown below :

Save the Excel file.

Step 4 :

Start Solid Edge and create a simple box by extruding a rectangle.
When sketching, apply dimensions to the rectangle. Solid Edge will apply the height dimension for you.

Step 5 :

Save the Solid Edge file also, preferably in the same folder as the Excel file.
In Solid Edge, select Tools > Variables > Variables…
This will open a small window with a tabular format like Excel.
This is called the Variable Table for the model.
The Variable table maintains a list of all dimensions and other user-defined variables for the currently open file. Also it serves as a facility to link an Excel spreadsheet with the Solid Edge model.

Note that when you click a particular dimension in the Variable Table, the corresponding one is highlighted in the Graphics Area.
You can also change the name of a dimension variable in the Variable Table.

Step 6 :

Initially, Solid Edge would name the dimensions randomly, for eg. V411.
In the variable table, click on the name of a variable and type a new name Length.
Similarly, rename other variables to Width and Height.