Assembly Navigator Order?

[fighterpilot]

Is there a way to set the assembly navigator in NX5 to show the order in which components were added to an assembly. A search of this forum turnd up nothing.

Other than using mating conditions, how can I tell what is constrained to what?

Thanks...

--
Fighter Pilot
Manufacturing Engineer

 

[JohnRBaker]

You can open the 'Dependencies' panel, select the component of interest and then select the 'magnifying glass' icon to show you the relationships between the selected component and any 'mated' components as shown in the attached image.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[NXMold]

Are you an ex proe guy by any chance? It took me a while to get past that... but there is a distinct "fuzziness" about the NX assembly structure which precludes an ordered assembly navigator.

You can even have links between parts that do NOT exist together in an assembly. The assembly does not update in a structured order. Assemblies are not top level files, with components below them, the structure of an NX model is more peer-to-peer.

NX 5.0.3.2 MoldWizard

 

[fighterpilot]

NXMold,

Yes, many years on Pro/E as user and administrator. Sometimes I want to insert a component ahead of another and then reroute/redefine my assy references around. Finding it hard to break the Pro/E techniques when using UG.

--
Fighter Pilot
Manufacturing Engineer

 

[JohnRBaker]

I hope you've come to learn that in NX the order of assembly is irrelevant when it comes to defining relationships or constraints.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[fighterpilot]

John,

Not really. I wouldn't keep asking questions if I did.

Example from today. Yesterday I had a screw I assembled into a hole (mate surface, align axis). Today I needed a washer under that screw. My Pro/E thinking was if I could insert components ahead of the screw that would supress the screws off automatically. Then I assemble the washers (mate surface, align axis). Now I resume the screws and then go in and reroute the mate reference of the screw from the part to the washer. Everything readjusts itself.

I see in UG however that I can violate hierarchy rules by supressing the washer and the screw remains without complaining about the parent being supressed. I suppose this is OK, I'll have to try it out. I've used that sort of hierarchy in the past to quickly automate assemblies and create families of a design. If I have a plate and I supress it in one assy of a family but not in another, I'd like to fasteners to go away automatically. That to me represents reality.



--
Fighter Pilot
Manufacturing Engineer

 

[JohnRBaker]

It sounds as if you're still using Mating Conditions. Starting with NX 5 we have 'replaced' Mating Conditions with Assembly Constraints which are more advanced and less prone to circular reference issues. And while you can still use the old Mating Conditions, that support was left in NX is mostly for people who wish to edit older legacy files, but anything new should be done using Assembly Constraints. As a result of this change, we will no longer be considering any changes to Mating Conditions and ask that all users move to Assembly Constraints before they make new requests in terms of positioning components, etc.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[fighterpilot]

John,

I'm using Assemblies/Components/Add Component to select the components to add. Then there is a dialog that says Mating Conditions. I'm using Mate, Align, etc from that menu.

This is strange. According to the documentation, Assemblies/Components/Assembly Constraints should be in the menus. I don't have that. Then there should be Assemblies/Convert Mating Conditions. I don't have that either. WTF!!!!!!!!! Argh!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm on NX 5.0.3.2 and the Assemblies application is on.

More arghh!!! Now I see it. Preferences/Assemblies dialog and then pick Interaction/Positioning Constraints to activate.

Lemme work with this, there may be more questions in the future.

Thanks...


--
Fighter Pilot
Manufacturing Engineer

 

[jpetach]

One can choose between Mating Conditions and Positioning Constraints by using "File -> Utilities -> Customer Defaults -> Assemblies -> Positioning -> Interface -> Positioning" or by using "Preferences -> Assemblies -> Assembly Positioning -> Interaction".

HTH

Joe

 

[NXMold]

Yep, when mating I could NOT get past the circular references. I stopped mating any components.

Rediculous perhaps, but it works for the type of assemblies I make. Mating conditions and wave links become terribly complicated when used together.

With proe, your assembly navigator and part navigator is all one tree. Assembly regeneration starts at the top of the tree and runs through to the bottom. UG does not support assemblies in the proe sense, UG is a collection of isolated components. All components are based around the absolute csys if not mated.

As a component updates, each reference to another component (incl. mating constraints and wave links) will cause that component to update. There is somehow more to it than that since when I make multiple changes, I dont see components updating more than once, but I havent got the faintest idea how it works. I've been at it for a year and asked some intellegent people, but there seems to be no knowledge of how UG updates work. This "black magic" led me to NOT mate components, unless I can mate them only to fixed datums.



NX 5.0.3.2 MoldWizard

 

[JohnRBaker]

We suggest that you revisit 'mating' components now that we have implemented the non-order dependent Assembly Constraints.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.