How to Make a Funnel in SolidWorks

These instructions will teach you how to easily design a funnel in SolidWorks. This is an easy process, and many libraries have 3D printers, which means this funnel is between free and extremely cheap to make! The funnel is ideal for dry goods, like pouring powders into a bottle. The user should have SolidWorks downloaded on their computer, students can often download the software through their university. This process should take under 10 minutes and is easily customizable to fit your needs.

When opening SolidWorks, a box will appear which asks to start a new part, assembly, or drawing. Select "part" and click OK. The display will open. In the box on the left side, click Front Plane.

Near the top left corner of the screen, click the Sketch bar, as shown. This will start a sketch where a 2D cross section of the funnel is created. Up and to the right are the drawing tools. Click the arrow next to the line. The line is the top right drawing tool next to the mouse in the image. Select Centerline from the drop-down menu.

The red arrows in the middle of the screen show the center of the front plane which the drawing is on. Straight underneath the center, click to begin a centerline. Drag the mouse up, above the center. Press esc to finish using the centerline tool.

To the right of the centerline, draw two lines resembling the image. Exact proportions don't matter, dimensions will be added later. To close the line tool, press esc.

Select the Smart Dimension tool from the bar at the top of the screen. This will enable dimensions to be added.

To add dimensions to the bottom line, click the line segment with Smart Dimension on. It should already be on from step 5a. Drag the cursor directly to the right and click to place a dimension. A box will appear, set the height of this line to 1 inch. Then, click the bottom line then click the centerline. This will establish an angle, which will be the slope of the small part of the funnel. Set it to 15 degrees.

Tips:

• To change a dimension, double click on the number and put the new dimension.
• When setting the height of the bottom line, ensure the dimension is directly to the right. If it is under it will set a width, if it is at an angle it will set the length.

Similar to step 5b, add dimensions to the top line segment. Set the height of the segment to 2 inches, the angle to 45 degrees. Make sure the drawing looks just like the image. Finally, click on the Smart Dimension tool again to turn it off. Dimensions will remain even when the tool is off.

On the top bar, click on the Offset Entities tool.

With the Offset Entities tool on, click on of the line segments already drawn. A yellow line will appear next to the lines. This tool adds identical lines a set distance from the selected lines. Click the green checkmark on the left side of the screen to confirm.

Again select the line drawing tool from the top bar. Zoom in to the top of the line segments. To zoom, scroll with the trackpad or mouse. Hover the cursor over the top of one line, an orange dot should appear. When it does, click and put the cursor over the top of the other line. Another orange dot will appear. Click to complete the line. Repeat with the bottom lines to finish the sketch.

Tips: The line may try to snap to be a vertical or horizontal line. It may require moving the cursor a bit until the orange dot appears.

Next to the sketch button, click the features button. Notice the top bar will change when features is selected. Click the Revolved Boss/Base tool.

Warning: A funnel may appear, but another strange shape may appear. This is fine, it will be fixed in the next step.

Finally, with the Rotated Boss/Base tool on, click the centerline. This will create a funnel. Click the green checkmark on the left side of the screen to finish the part.

Finally, press ctrl S save the funnel. To print it, save it on a flash drive and take it to a library or other place with a 3D printer. Enjoy!