SolidWorks 2016 Bidirectional Sweep

There’s a new enhancement to the sweep function in SolidWorks 2016 that will allow you to create sweeps for a mid-path profile in either direction or bidirectional. In previous versions of SolidWorks, a profile had to sweep the entire length of the path, no matter the location of the profile sketch. This is no longer the case. Now mid-path profiles can be swept using direction 1, direction 2, or both directions. This simple part (below) contains both a profile and a path sketch.

SolidWorks 2016 Bidirectional Sweep

Go to Insert > Boss/Base > and select Sweep. In the Property Manager under Profile and Path, click Sketch Profile.

SolidWorks 2016 Bidirectional Sweep

And then, in the fly-out Feature Manager design tree, select a sketch for the profile and a sketch for the path. Select Bi-directional and click direction 1 and direction 2 to toggle the sweep display.

SolidWorks 2016 Bidirectional Sweep

For profile orientation, click Follow Path and accept the changes.

SolidWorks 2016 Bidirectional Sweep

This enhancement to creating sweeps will give you more control over the sweep behavior and more flexibility in your design method.

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