Compress Springs in Assemblies???? 2

[quest4k]

Good afternoon, I am trying to create an asembly in which I have a spring which needs to be compressed in order to fit inside a button. Is there any any of doning that? I also have several o-rings which must be expanded so they fit on the parts. Thank you to anyone which may have a solution to my problem.

 

[Heckdogg]

what about creating configurations of the parts that are "stock size" and "installed size"?

SolidWorks 2006 SP3.1
Intel Xeon 2.8GHz 2GB Ram
NVIDIA Quadro FX3000

 

[quest4k]

Thank you for your response Heckdogg, but I am not sure I understand what you mean. Also I am have a whole lot more trouble than I orginally thought with these o-rings, because only tangent seems to hi-lite in mate, so I can not mate any of the o-rings to the grooves, let alone strech the o-rings to the proper groove dia. The o-rings are profiles, fully defined, and swept on a circle, fully defined, if it matters. Any suggestions? Thanks you again for the assistance.

 

[Theophilus]

Wow. Lots to cover here.

For O-rings, it's much more efficient to make them as a revolved feature instead of a sweep (much as I like sweeps). Revolve a circular (or other) profile around a center line.

To mate them, you can use the planes of the O-rings--ideally, you would sweep the O-ring with the origin in the centroid--so all planes pass through the origin, which happens to be the logical center of the part.

With the planes, you can specify a distance between the wall of the grooves--or mate them a distance from the grooved part's planes, or coincident to a sketch segment in the grooved part. Lots of ways to do it, but you'll want to stay away from attempting tangency mates with these, since they're really not going to be of much use.

What are you modeling? In other words, do you need the assembly to match reality, or can you keep your parts "stock" as manufacturable parts in your assembly? This is probably the first question to answer, since it will determine the best approach to what you need. I often build things as they'll need to be manufactured, taking into account proper stretching, flexing, etc. that will happen when assembled. However, if you're doing something like an animation to show the reality of an assembly, you may need to "tweak" your models to look right for a realistic presentation. Depends what you really need.

Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.

 

[quest4k]

Thank you again for the response. I will try changing the sweeps in the o-ring to revolves, but what about the sweeps in the spring, with the helix? We are a bottoms up mfg. company and one part can be used in several different places and in the case these assemblies are for quick disconnects for hospitals. The animation is suppose to start soon, but not yet and most of the models are used to export to a CAM program. Thanks again for the help.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Have you used Configurations before? Or read the Help files about them?

O-Rings: How do you mate them into an assembly? thread559-120368
spring simulation thread559-75149


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

The animation is suppose to start soon

Your original post asked about a compressed spring. Are you now looking for how to create an animation for a presentation?

Also take a look at the examples at

http://www.mikejwilson.com/solidworks/solidworks_files-05.htm

Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[Theophilus]

Yes, you'll still need to use a sweep for your helix. Definitely dig into what CorBlimeyLimey posted--helpful stuff you can look at to figure out moving, flexing things.

Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.

 

[quest4k]

Thank you again for the response, and yes I use then all of the time, mostly to do special splits and things for drawings. No I am not asking on how to create animation, I am only just trying to prepare for its arrival, so I don't have to rework everything when I have to use it. Right now I just need to stretch and fit some o-rings and compress some springs.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

To "stretch" an O-ring, create a config which has the inner & outer diameters adjusted to suit the o-ring groove. If necessary create a "squashed" profile which shows the o-ring in its installed & compressed state.

To compress a spring, create a config which has the helix dimensions adjusted to suit the height required.

In both cases a Design Table will prove invaluable if multiple configs are to be created.


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[quest4k]

Thank you for that information, it sounds like what I need to do. Now al I have to do is figure out the design table which shall be something new to play with.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

The simplest way to create a DT is to create at least 2 configs manually, then use the Auto-create option when inserting the DT. Once created you can easily modify it to create more configs by simply copying the auto created lines & changing the data to suit.


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[quest4k]

Thanks for the input. I have been reading hep about the design tables, trying to figure them out. This should be fun, Excell is the only MS product that I have never used and this is my first SW assembly, too. Why do I have a feeling that I am about to know how the Keystone Cops feel going around a corner. Thanks again, I appreciate it.