Gain insight into the concept of weldments, both in the real world and in the context of SOLIDWORKS. This includes the basics of weldments in SOLIDWORKS, including how profiles come together and how connection points and welds are designed, using practical examples.
Key Insights:
- Weldments, in real-world terms, are simply a series of metal pieces welded together. In SOLIDWORKS, they represent a structure made from a series of metal profiles, extrusions, or tubes that have been cut to a specific size and welded together.
- Profiles in SOLIDWORKS can take many forms and can be simple or complex in geometry. They can have different wall thicknesses, and can either be solid or hollow.
- SOLIDWORKS allows for designing how connection points in weldments interact, and what the welds will look like once these connection points are established. Even complex structures, such as the Eiffel Tower, can be represented as weldments in SOLIDWORKS.
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A weldment, in the simplest real-world sense, is exactly what it sounds like: multiple pieces of metal joined together with welds to form a single structure. That definition holds true in SOLIDWORKS, but the software approaches weldments through a more specific lens. Instead of starting with solid blocks that get cut and combined, weldments are typically built from structural profiles that behave like lengths of tubing, extrusion shapes, or metal members who are cut to size and assembled into a framework.
Thinking in Frameworks Instead of Solid Parts
To understand weldments in SOLIDWORKS, it helps to picture something like scaffolding or a fabricated metal frame. A weldment model is often a collection of members who intersect, align, and terminate in ways that mimic how real structural pieces are prepared for fabrication. Each member starts as a profile and becomes a length that can be trimmed, extended, and joined to other members.
- Weldment structure: multiple metal members assembled into one frame
- Building blocks: profiles applied to paths, then cut to length
- Fabrication mindset: think in terms of members and joints, not carved solids
What Counts As a Profile
A profile is the cross-sectional shape of a member. Profiles can be extremely simple or highly detailed, and SOLIDWORKS can work with both. A profile may be:
- Solid or hollow
- Simple (such as round or square tubing)
- Complex (with multiple flanges, channels, or internal features)
- Designed with uniform or non-uniform wall thickness
Simple Profile Examples
Common weldment profiles include circular tubing and square tubing. These typically have consistent wall thickness and often include an inside and outside corner radius that reflects how tubing is actually manufactured.
Complex Profile Examples
Some structural shapes include intricate geometry and may even have sections that vary in thickness. In fabrication and engineering practice, consistent thickness is often preferred because it simplifies manufacturing and performance assumptions. However, SOLIDWORKS does not require uniform thickness for a profile to function properly in a weldment workflow.
How Profiles Come Together
In weldments, members connect at joints where profiles meet, overlap, or terminate. Those connection points are where welds are placed in the real-world, and they are also where most of the design decisions occur in a weldment model.
SOLIDWORKS supports this by allowing you to define how members intersect and how their ends are treated. Instead of forcing every member to stop abruptly, the software can help create cleaner join conditions that reflect fabrication logic such as members trimming to each other in a controlled way.
Weldments Can Be Simple or Monumental
Weldments range from basic frames and supports to large-scale structures composed of countless members and joints. The concept remains the same regardless of complexity: a structure built from individual pieces that are cut, positioned, and joined together. Whether you are modeling a small bracketed frame or something as iconic as a lattice tower structure, the underlying weldment logic is still built on members, profiles, and joints.
