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Modeling soft goods

Modeling soft goods

Modeling soft goods

(OP)
How do you model soft goods?

I have a few tips and tricks that I use, but I'm curious how others do it.

For example, let's say that I have a wire rope and I add my part number to it in order to cut it to length.  The wire rope raw material is cut to multiple lengths and therefore I add configurations to my part number showing the different "stock" lengths.

Let's say I then take this wire rope and use it as a lanyard in an assembly that holds onto a pin.  That pin is used to align holes in a telescoping pole.  Depending on the location of the pin, the wire may be bent in all sorts of directions, yet I only have the one solid model of a straight piece of wire that I used for the drawing to show the cut length.

The same problem applies to things like seat belts, garden hoses, pneumatic and hydraulic lines, electrical wire routing, or any other bendable part.

Right now, I create another file of the wire that is bent specifically for that assembly.  My file name is "assembly number_part number".  This works fine for drawings, assemblies, BOMs, and file management, except that when I do a where used on the part number, nothing shows up because I never actually used that straight piece anywhere; I used curved represenations of that straight piece.  Also, my curved piece is not easy to dimension the overall length because of the multi-segmented curves and therefore its length may not match the cut-straight length.

--Scott

For some pleasure reading, try FAQ731-376

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