How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program

Have you ever wondered how 3D models are designed and wanted to try to model yourself? This article will teach you the basic skills needed to model a basic laptop design as well as many other shapes Open the SolidWorks program.

Part 1 of 3:

Creating the Basic Shape

  1. Open the SolidWorks program.
    1. Select "new part" in the new SolidWorks document menu and then press 'OK.'
      Picture 1 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  2. Set up the first sketch.
    1. Click on Sketch at the top left corner of the screen.
    2. Select any of the three planes shown (The top plane was chosen in this example).
      Picture 2 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  3. Begin the first sketch.
    1. Use the line tool at the top left side of the screen to create a rectangle.
      Picture 3 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    2. This rectangle will be used as the base of the laptop.
      Picture 4 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  4. Begin to dimension the rectangle and place it in a convenient position.
    1. Select the lower line of the rectangle and hold the 'Ctrl' button on the keyboard while selecting the predefined origin of this shape.
      Picture 5 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    2. By simultaneously having these two objects selected, a relation is able to be made.
  5. Add the first relation. Make sure the two objects are still selected.
    1. The left side of the screen's properties menu shows which lines are selected and contains a small sub-menu that says 'Add Relations.' The Midpoint button must be selected from this menu.
    2. The midpoint button will center the bottom line with the origin as well as move it to the origin.
      Picture 6 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  6. Dimension the rectangle.
    1. Select the "Smart Dimensions" button at the top left side of the screen.
      Picture 7 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    2. Then, click on two opposite corners of the rectangle to dimension the diagonal length.
      Picture 8 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    3. The length used in this design is 15 inches (38.1 cm).
      Picture 9 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  7. Dimension the top and bottom of the rectangle.
    1. This dimension is done using a very similar method as the previous step.
    2. Instead of selecting two opposite corners, the top and bottom lines are selected and dimensioned.
      Picture 10 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    3. The vertical length used was 8 inches (20.3 cm).
      Picture 11 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  8. Extrude the rectangle.
    1. Now that the rectangle is dimensioned, the Exit Sketch button at the top left of the screen is selected and the Features tab under that button is clicked.
      Picture 12 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    2. In the Features menu, click Extrude Boss/Base button after selecting your sketch from left menu.
      Picture 13 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 14 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    3. In this example, Sketch 2 is selected.
    4. From here, the rectangle that was made can be extruded to any desired length and the green check mark can be selected to confirm.
      Picture 15 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    5. In this example, the rectangle was extruded by 0.3 inches (0.8 cm).
      Picture 16 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
Part 2 of 3:

Adding the Hinges

  1. Set up the Sketch for the hinges of the laptop.
    1. The next step is to create the hinges for the laptop screen.
    2. First, select the side face of the laptop.
      Picture 17 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    3. Then click the sketch tab at the top left of the screen. In the Sketch menu, select the "Sketch Button".
      Picture 18 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    4. When the sketch is selected to be on the plane specified, click on the "Space Bar" on the keyboard to open up another menu.
    5. The orientation menu box will appear in which you are able to change the views of the shape. Click on the picture of an arrow sticking out of a flat plane (the normal button). The normal button is used to change the orientation to a view that is normal to the plane selected.
      Picture 19 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    6. When the normal plane is being viewed, the sketch for the hinges can begin.
      Picture 20 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  2. Begin the sketch for the hinges of the laptop.
    1. In this sketch, create a rectangle (in a similar fashion to the first sketch) on the left side of the plane as shown.
      Picture 21 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  3. Dimension and add relations to the rectangle created for the hinges.
    1. Like before, this rectangle needs to be dimensioned and certain parts of it need to be given relations.
      Picture 22 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    2. Below, the edge of the previous rectangle and the left side of the new rectangle are both selected. The relation added to them is co-linear (similarly to the last sketch). The same is done to the bottom of the rectangle and the top of the previous rectangle.
      Picture 23 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    3. When that is done, the width and height of this rectangle is decided by using the smart dimension button as done before.
      Picture 24 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    4. The dimension result should look something like shown below.
      Picture 25 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 26 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    5. When they are completed, you can select Exit Sketch.
      Picture 27 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  4. Extrude the hinge sketch.
    1. The hinge sketch can now be extruded in the same way as was done in the previous sketch.
      Picture 28 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    2. The direction of the extrusion can be changed with the button shown below.
      Picture 29 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 30 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    3. 'Through all' should also be selected from the left side menu in order to have the hinge extruded up to the other end of the laptop base.
      Picture 31 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    4. When everything is confirmed, select the green check box.
      Picture 32 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 33 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  5. Setup the sketch used to cut away parts of the extruded hinge.
    1. Select the inside face of the hinge and create a sketch.
      Picture 34 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    2. When the sketch is created, change the orientation to the normal face of the sketch.
      Picture 35 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    3. In this sketch, the cuts are going to be created to turn the long rectangle into two normal sized hinges.
      Picture 36 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    4. The rectangles that will make the cut should look like the picture shown below.
      Picture 37 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 38 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 39 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  6. Edit sketch used to cut away parts of the extruded hinge.
    1. A horizontal line should be created at the center of the object.
      Picture 40 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 41 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    2. When this line is created, the 'Trim Entities' (also around the top and left of the screen) button should be selected. This button allows you to trim away certain parts of the sketch.
      Picture 42 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 43 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    3. In this example, the entire bottom of the sketch was trimmed away as well as the lines in between the rectangles.
      Picture 44 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    4. When this is complete, the sketch is finished and the Exit Sketch button can be selected.
      Picture 45 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  7. Use the Extrude Cut command with the sketch that was just created.
    1. The features tab should be selected and the 'Extruded Cut' button should be pressed.
      Picture 46 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    2. This will cut through the piece and create the two desired hinges.
      Picture 47 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    3. The picture below shows the complete hinges.
      Picture 48 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
Part 3 of 3:

Adding the Details

  1. Create the screen part of the laptop. A very similar method to creating the hinges is used when creating this piece.
    1. The side plane is selected for the sketch and the orientation is changed to a view normal to the plane.
      Picture 49 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    2. A rectangle is then created and dimensioned to the shown specifications.
      Picture 50 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 51 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    3. The "Exit Sketch" button can be selected after this is done.
      Picture 52 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    4. The screen piece is then extruded exactly as the hinges were.
    5. This model now somewhat looks like a laptop as shown below.
      Picture 53 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  2. Create a cutout of the touch pad. This cutout will be made using the same commands as shown before.
    1. The top plane of the first rectangle is selected for the sketch and a rectangle is drawn as shown.
      Picture 54 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 55 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 56 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
    2. In this example, the touch pad was extrude cut 0.1 inches (0.3 cm) into the material after the Exit Sketch button was selected.
      Picture 57 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 58 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 59 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  3. Create the cutout of the keyboard.
    1. The cut-out for the keyboard is also made in a very similar way with the shown dimensions.
      Picture 60 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 61 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  4. Create the cutout for the screen.
    1. The screen is made similarly too (on the inside plane of the screen extrude) with the shown dimensions below.
      Picture 62 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 63 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 64 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
      Picture 65 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
  5. Finished.
    1. Now you are capable of completing more complex designs and can apply what you learned in this tutorial on other projects!
      Picture 66 of How to Create a Basic Laptop Design in the Solidworks CAD Program
Update 05 March 2020
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