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Tips for Optionally Using SolidWorks to Build Upon Sensor Designs

Use our sensor designs in SolidWorks at least as a starting point.

  • Use one SolidWorks part file (.SLDPRT filename extension) for the body of the sensor(s) and one for each sensing element – except, of course, for sensing elements that are the same. For example:

    Part of a Strain Sensor

    Filename of SolidWorks Part

    Sensor body

    mid_str_4T_sensing.SLDPRT

    Sensing element

    mid_str_4T_sensing_elem.SLDPRT

    Multibody parts or assemblies do not need to be created.

  • Under Tools > Options > Document Properties > Units > Unit system, select MMGS (millimeter, gram, second). We used millimeters in our project development. Furthermore, 3D printer slicing software such as Ultimaker Cura uses grams.


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  • Under Tools > Options > Document Properties > Grid/Snap > Grid, enable the Display grid and Dash options. Set the Major grid spacing to 1 mm, Minor-lines per major to 2 if deemed necessary (1 otherwise), and Snap points per minor to 1. Creating and modifying SolidWorks sketches will be easier and faster.


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  • Optionally, insert a ‘mask layout’ raster image to trace in a SolidWorks sketch using Tools > Sketch Tools > Sketch Picture. Ensure that the pixel grid lines up with the sketch grid.

  • As odd as it sounds, do not dimension or constrain sketches where snapping to the grid will suffice. Creating and modifying them will be easier and faster, and they will be simpler and less ‘busy’. There are many other ways to set and measure lengths. To delete all constraints in a sketch, whether they are automatically-created or not, select Sketch > Display/Delete Relations > Relations > Delete All.


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  • Use linear sketch patterns, as under Sketch.

  • Properly name each SolidWorks sketch and feature (e.g., each extruded boss/base or extruded cut, fillet, chamfer, pattern, etc.). For example:


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  • Create parts right-side-up even if they are designed to be printed upside-down against the build plate.
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  • Create design features from the ‘perspective’ of a 3D printer. For example: Create SolidWorks sketches on the Top Plane and extrude them away from it. Note that SolidWorks uses an engineering coordinate system in which the \(y\)-axis points up and the \(z\)-axis is normal to the vertical \(xy\)-plane. Whereas, 3D printing software such as Ultimaker Cura uses a more conventional coordinate system, in which the \(z\)-axis points up, normal to the build plate, whose surface is the horizontal \(xy\)-plane.

Note: SolidWorks is not forward compatible. Files cannot be opened or edited using a version of SolidWorks that is older than that with which they were originally created. The reverse works, albeit by converting them to the newer version.

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