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Locating Sub-Assembly part to Main Assembly part.

Locating Sub-Assembly part to Main Assembly part.

Locating Sub-Assembly part to Main Assembly part.

(OP)
I'm trying to mate a 90 degree connector of my PC Board Sub-Assembly to the chassis in the Main assembly.

Pick - PC Board SA > Edit Sub-assembly.  The main assembly turns transparrent.

I pick the connector > Add/Edit Mates.  I can pick the surfaces in the sub-assembly but not on the Main Assembly.

Does anyone have any ideas how to accomplish this.  I'm just trying to locate the connector to the assembly before I redefine it in the sub-assembly.

Solidworks 2005
SP0.0

PESOA

RE: Locating Sub-Assembly part to Main Assembly part.

You don't have to "Edit SubAssy".  Look up Mating in SW Help.

Just pick the surfaces or planes that you need to Mate in the main Assy and apply Mates.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Locating Sub-Assembly part to Main Assembly part.

This is a limitation of SW.
What I normally do:-
1) Place & mate the connector in the top level assy.
2) Use the Tools > Re-organize Components feature to move the connector into the required sub-assy. You can also use the Feature Manager & simly drag-n-drop it. Either way the mates will be lost or broken & can be deleted or suppressed.
3) Either Fix the connector in the sub-assy or create new mates to keep it in its position.


Making the best use of this Forum.  FAQ559-716
How to get answers to your SW questions.  FAQ559-1091
Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of.&nbs

RE: Locating Sub-Assembly part to Main Assembly part.

(OP)
Mad Mango,
This didn't work for me. When I applied the mates for the surface on the connector to the surface on the chassis, it over constrained my sub-assembly and didn't move the connector. I'll have to look into this further.

CorBlimeyLimey,
Thanks for the Re-organize Components tip.  I know a similar command from "some other CAD package" and was looking for it.

What I wound up doing was Edit > Disolve Sub-Assembly, Edited the mates on the connector in the top assembly and then re-created the sub-assembly using "Make new sub-assembly here." I did have to redefine the Mates for the connector. If it was a larger sub-assembly that may have been complicated and I would choose to use the Re-Organize Components command.

I'm pretty sure that I had seen a setting in options or somewhere else that allowed the choice of showing the main assembly to be shown as transparent or not when modifying a sub-assembly. I'm thinking that if the main assembly isn't transparent, the surface should be able to be picked. I hope I find that setting again some day.

PESOA

RE: Locating Sub-Assembly part to Main Assembly part.

Tools > Options > System Options > Display/Selection & in the drop down for Assembly transparency for in context edit select Opaque.


Making the best use of this Forum.  FAQ559-716
How to get answers to your SW questions.  FAQ559-1091
Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of.&nbs

RE: Locating Sub-Assembly part to Main Assembly part.

Check your Display/Selection - "assembly transparency for in context edit" - set it to something other then "Opaque assembly" - also you can adjust the slider for transparency if you use one of the other types of options.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376

RE: Locating Sub-Assembly part to Main Assembly part.

Re-visit your assembly mates & make sure you're not using "too much mate". In other words... can you replace a mating face with an edge or point? Can you use a parallel mate instead of a coincident? ...and so on. I find that you can get away with using "too much mate" 95% of the time - then when that 5% finally gets you - you don't understand what went wrong.

I can try to clarify more if this is confusing. It's a concept that you won't find in the manuals or help menus.


Windows 2000 Professional / Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
SolidWorks 2005 SP04.0 / SpaceBall 4000 FLX
Lava Lamp

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