Noob Questions

I've got a pretty good background in freehand 2D drawing tools, but Solidworks is my first attempt at 3D. Not sure if it's just a different interface, or I'm doing stuff wrong.

Take this sample part:
http://www.wanttaja.com/sw1.jpg
It's basically a flat disk with two vertical features.

1. I want to move the features atop the disk, and rotate them about their axes...but don't seem to be able to find the way. The EAA Tutorial has Tip and Trick #9, but right-clicking the feature only allows the "Move" function on the face.

2. Is there a way to alter edit the locations of points numerically, rather than just physically by dragging the mouse? I can edit the rectangle that forms the base of the extruded tower, but would like to do that by entering x-y-z coordinates. I'm able to enter the coordinates manually when actually drawing the rectangle, but can't seem to get the same interface for an existing component.

3. Is there a simple way to duplicate existing features (which would then be moved, rotated, etc.)? I have used the linear/circular patterns for some examples, but would like a bit more flexibility.

4. I've generated extruded featuring using a polygon with multiple lines connected. While the vertices of the polygon can be edited, is it possible to ADD lines between other lines to produce a new edge? Or do delete one of the lines?

Ron Wanttaja

Ron,

What do the sketches look like that define those features? Depending on how they are dimensioned you should be able to simply change some dimensions to re-position the features. All your sketches should be fully defined and the entities driven by either constraints or dimensions or relations to other features.

Patterns are pretty flexible in that you can hide/show instances in the pattern or drive the pattern with a sketch (which can be easily altered to change the pattern's output).

If I understand #4 correctly, you can't add lines to a closed polygon without removing other lines or changing them to construction lines. SWx will only recognize a single closed profile or multiple closed profiles that do not intersect in a given sketch.

Thanks... think I've figured much of this out. Tutorials really help....

Ron Wanttaja