Here we have a concise yet comprehensive SOLIDWORKS Lip and Grove tool tutorial. Lip and Groove features are very common on plastic items like enclosures or cases where two or more parts have to fit together snugly. These simple features are an easy way to ensure that parts are correctly aligned without adding much complexity to the design or manufacture stages. Like many features in Solidworks Lips and Grooves can be manually modelled but there is also a specialist tool that speeds up adding these details.

Using the Lip and Groove Tool
As the name suggests – the Lip and Groove Feature can be used to add a Lip or a correspondng Groove. Either feature can be added independently and the process is very similar for both. First, select the tool from Insert>Fastening Feature>Lip/Groove.

The user then needs to select a body on which to add the feature, and they can choose to add either a Groove, or a Lip. A direction also be set for the Lip/Groove but often this isn’t needed because the exact edge is selected at the next stage.

Once the body has been selected the user then chooses a face to cut the groove into, or to add the lip onto, and also selects an edge to align the feature. The tangent propagation option can also be used to make the lip or groove automatically follow multiple edges.

Once these selections are made, all that remains is for the user to set the exact size of the lip or groove with reference to the visual guide.

Lip and Groove Top Tips
The Lip and Groove Feature is the simplest way to add lips and corresponding grooves to your parts. Follow these steps to use it:
- Select the tool from Insert>Fastening Feature>Lip/Groove
- Choose a body for the feature, and select either a lip or groove
- Select the face and edge for feature. Use tangent propagation, if needed, to easily select multiple connected edges
- Set the exact size of the lip/groove by following the visual guide
Happy modelling and rendering!
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About the Author: This is a guest post by Johno Ellison, a design engineer with over fifteen years or experience, who specializes in SolidWorks 3D CAD modeling. Johno is the author of the following online SolidWorks courses:
Master Solidworks 2021 – 3D CAD using real-world examples
Master Solidworks 2019 – 3D CAD using real-world examples
Master Solidworks 2018 – 3D CAD using real-world examples