Designing furniture based on welded structures in WOODEXPERT

Designing furniture based on welded structures in WOODEXPERT is both possible and quite straightforward — you just need to keep a few key points in mind.
In this article, I’ll show you step by step how our add-in supports the design of this type of furniture, using a simple desk example.

Step 1. Designing the frame

We will not focus here on designing the frame itself. Instead, we’ll use a ready-made part designed in SOLIDWORKS using the Weldments feature, which is available in every software package. This feature allows you to create structures from profiles extruded along sketch lines — most commonly in 3D sketches.

Technically, this is a multi-body part in which each profile represents a separate solid body. At this point, it’s important to note that WOODEXPERT does not natively support multi-body parts. Therefore, we will need to process this part accordingly before we can continue working with it.

Figure 1. Welded structure designed in SOLIDWORKS.

Step 2. Importing the structure into a WOODEXPERT project

The next step is inserting the frame into the assembly defined as a WOODEXPERT project. You can use the Insert Components function or simply drag the file from the file explorer into the workspace.

Very important: the part must be fully fixed — either by using mates or the Fix function.

Figure 2. WOODEXPERT assembly with the inserted part.

The part inserted into the project must be converted into an assembly because — as mentioned earlier — WOODEXPERT does not support multi-body parts.

As a reminder, SOLIDWORKS allows you to design so-called multi-body parts, meaning parts that contain more than one solid body. According to the documentation, this is considered an advanced modeling technique that enables the creation of more complex geometries and faster assembly development.

Within a single part file, all features exist in the same context, which provides easy control over relationships between individual elements. This is the core principle behind the Weldments functionality in SOLIDWORKS.

The process works as follows: we start by creating a structural sketch — this can be a single complex 3D sketch or a set of multiple 2D sketches. Next, profiles are extruded along the sketch lines using the Structural Member feature. This is similar to a sweep operation. Each profile created in this process becomes a separate solid body, and the entire structure can be created in a single feature.

Figure 3. Example of a multi-body part – a box with a lid.

And it is exactly these types of parts that WOODEXPERT does not support by default. To proceed, we need to convert the multi-body part into an assembly in which each solid body becomes a separate part.

The Export to Parts function helps us here. To use it, simply select the multi-body part and click the function on the WOODEXPERT toolbar.

Figure 4. Launching the “Export to Parts” function.

Depending on the complexity of the structure and the number of profiles, this operation may take a moment. The function is based on the Split operation, which allows each solid body to be saved as a separate part and an assembly to be created.

The program will process each profile into an individual part and automatically assign names with a numbering system to avoid duplicate file names. The source part will be hidden in the project and replaced by the newly created assembly.

From this point on, we can freely assign materials to the resulting parts and generate drawings, while information such as profile lengths will be included in the production BOM.

Figure 5. Assembly created using the “Export to Parts” operation.

If, during the conversion process, a profile with identical dimensions already exists, any additional profile of the same type will not be saved as a new part. Instead, it will be added to the assembly as another instance of the same profile.

As a result, fewer files are saved in the project folder, and the items in the BOM are automatically grouped.

Step 3. Inserting additional components into the project

The welded frame assembly does not have to be the only element of our project. We can still insert additional parts and assemblies, as well as use WOODEXPERT library components.

In our project, the tabletop is missing, so in this case I will use the Free Panel component. The boundary faces used to insert this component can be the faces of the desk base profiles.

Figure 6. Configuration of inserting a Free Form into the WOODEXPERT project.

Since this project is a very simple example, I inserted the panel directly into the main assembly. However, good practice is to insert additional components into subassemblies — in this case, it would be the welded frame subassembly.

Once all components have been inserted, we can proceed to assigning materials.

Figure 7. Almost completed WOODEXPERT project.

Step 4. Assigning materials

The definition of a profile-type material contains only information about the profile stock length, allowance, as well as machinability and whether it is considered during drawing generation. Profile-type materials are ignored during CNC data generation and nesting.

Figure 8. Profile-type material definition window.

A finishing material — paint — can also be assigned to profiles. It can be defined separately, and the BOM will include information about the surface area that needs to be painted.

If the profile is not intended to be painted, we can disable the option to assign paint to profile elements. Once all materials have been defined, we can proceed with assigning them.

In the core material assignment function, I select the Profile option. If I want to assign the material to all profiles in the project, I can simply use the element search function. Profiles will be automatically selected based on their characteristic dimensions — the cross-section is usually much smaller than the length.

Figure 9. Assigning core materials.

I now assign the remaining core materials and edge banding.

Figure 10. Finished project with assigned materials.

Step 5 . BOM (Bill of Materials)

Let’s now move on to generating the BOM and to the BOM Manager application.

Figure 11. Generating the BOM.

Figure 12. BOM Manager application.

Let’s move on to the project cost estimation. The same profile-type material can be assigned to profiles with different cross-sections.

In the project cost estimation window, we see a single item because the project consists of profiles with identical cross-sections. In a different case, we would see multiple items for the PRO1 material.

Figure 13.  Material costing in the BOM Manager.

After entering all material prices, the cost estimation of the entire project is updated.

Figure 14. Complete BOM with cost estimation.

Finally, we can generate XLSX reports, CNC data, and drawings. These procedures are no different from working with other standard WOODEXPERT projects — this topic is covered in other articles and videos.

That’s all for this article. Let us know what other types of furniture we should design using WOODEXPERT.