CG location assignment
CG location assignment
(OP)
I'm new to solidworks and I'm attempting to manually assign the CG location of a part. I would also like to assign a mass to the part. The part was imported in the iges format and was saved as a part. I've tried to modify the values under tools->mass properties, but when i change the values and click okay the location doesn't change to what I want it to be.
Does anyone know what I might be doing wrong?
Thank you for your time!
Does anyone know what I might be doing wrong?
Thank you for your time!






RE: CG location assignment
Dan
www.eltronresearch.com
Dan's Blog
RE: CG location assignment
You need to change the part to move the CG.
Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion
RE: CG location assignment
Yes, you are trying to change the laws of physics.
The CoG is determined by the shape and mass of the object.
You need to adjust the distribution of the mass by altering the shape if you want to re-position the CoG. You cannot just arbitrarily set the CoG wherever you want.
RE: CG location assignment
This is not really very clever, as the moments of inertia will be wrong, even if you get the mass and cg location right.
I susect that it might be quicker to find out why the calculated cg and mass is wrong.
Cheers
Greg Locock
SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: CG location assignment
I agree with CBL and GregLocock and others that you shouldn't be messing with the laws of physics and the solid model should reflect the real world, so if it's a simple model, finding out where the geometry is wrong is the way to go.
However, if the solid model represents a bought in manufactured item that contains many items of different materials, then getting the Mass and CG correct can be a frustrating and time consuming business. Thankfully, SolidWorks does allow you to easily handle these circumstances.
Go to Tools > Mass Properties and Tick the third checkbox "Assigned mass properties" then manually enter the total Mass of the assembly and the co-ordinates of the center of gravity relative to the planes, in the pop-up box.
Hope this helps.
Trevor Clarke. (R & D) Scientific Instruments.Somerset. UK
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RE: CG location assignment
Cheers
Greg Locock
SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.