Hi all,

Being quite new to SolidWorks, I have not yet grasped all techniques. I am working on a top-down design. There is Master Part, which contains some global variables, sketches, and reference geometry, and other parts are linked to this Master Part. The idea is that when I update the Master Part, all other parts update as well.

I have a problem with Global Variables. In Master Part, they contain information about properties of materials. For instance, Master Part has global variable named "Plywood thickness", set to 1.5cm. Some other parts are linked to this global variable (="Plywood thickness@Master Part.sldprt"), or with some equations (="Plywood thickness@Master Part.sldprt" *2 + 5).

Problem is that the rebuild times are increasing as the project gains complexity. I have heard that Solidworks has problems with Global Variables, and it is often better to use Design Tables for faster computations, as Excel is better at this.

However, after watching dozens of tutorials, I can't find a way to link a dimension to an excel file.

The idea goes like this:

1. There is "Materials.xlsx" Excel file, and cell named "Plywood_thickness" is set to "1.5".

2. In Solidworks, some part has a sketch with a dimension "=Plywood_thicnkness@Materials.xlsx/2 +5). Something like this.

3. A lot of parts link to that same cell.

How can I achieve this? Would this make rebuilds faster?