Grouping of parts for assembly convenience

[LesB]

In my main assembly I have a set of components; bolt, washers and nut in this instance that are used in the same mated arrangement in lots of places in the assembly. I can't pattern as they are randomly placed.

I have been creating a sub assembly of these parts to make life easier than placing and mating the parts in all the separate locations as that would be impractical. However, this group isn't really a subassembly that I need other than for this purpose.

Is there a way of creating a temporary collection of parts like this so I can drag the group around and mate where needed? Mating each group to the relevant panel hole is relatively easy by comparison.

 

[LesB]

I'm a little surprised that nobody has said I've been missing a SolidWorks feature that allows groups of parts to be 'paired' for reuse throughout an assembly in the manner I describe. If it really doesn't exist then maybe it should and could be an enhancement. But there is still time for me to be corrected.

My requirement cannot be unique; how do you deal with such an issue? Do you create the necessary subassembly or just accept that you have to mate all those parts, repetativly within your main assembly?

 

[LesB]

Ok, so lots of views but no suggestions. I can't believe what I'm asking for is unique!

 

[Jackk]

There's a COPY PARTS WITH MATES that lets you copy groups of parts.

 

[Jackk]

There's a COPY WITH MATES command that let's you copy groups of parts.

 

[LesB]

There's a COPY WITH MATES command that let's you copy groups of parts.

Hi Jackk.

That's not a command I've really used much at all and it's so easy to get in a rut. Now you've pointed it out to me it seems to work pretty well in my assembly.

Thanks, much appreciated.