Part configuration in an Assembly Configuration

[rhmeng]

I have an assembly model in SW. I have a couple of configurations for this assembly. When i change the assembly configuration, is there a way to have the individual part configurations change also? I want a part configuration to be linked to the assy configuration. All i have been able to do is suppress certain piece parts for different configurations, not actually change the piece part configurations. Any help is appreciated.

 

[BiPolarMoment]

Yes. If you right click on the part in the assembly tree you should be able to "configure component" where it will then allow you to either/both suppress or select the configuration you'd like active for each assembly configuration. You can also highlight multiple components simultaneously and configure them all at the same time but this can become confusing/unwieldy if you have a large number of components and/or assembly configurations.

Note: you didn't say which version of SW you are using but this has been a feature for awhile; I'm using SW2014.

 

[rhmeng]

thanks for the response, I figured out what my problem was. You can only have a part configuration update with the assembly configuration if the part is directly a subcomponent of the changing assembly configuration. I was trying to do it for a part that was a subcomponent of a subassembly of a subassembly of the assembly i was working in. This kinda sucks because if your part changes at the top level assembly, the only way to make it configuration specific in the top level assembly is to add a configuration for allll the lower level assmeblies that the part is in, so it seems.

 

[Updraft]

Think about your design intent. That applies to not only the design philosophy of the parts, but to how the assemblies are structured too. If you have a subassy with different versions of a component, shouldn't that subassy also be different, either by configuration or by part number? If the subassy is fixed, but you have a component in it that changes then should that component be in that subassy or should it be in the upper level assy?

It is easy to have multiple configurations of a subassy to represent differences in components or their location. These different subassy configs are then easy to reference in the upper level assemblies.

- - -Updraft

 

[rhmeng]

@Updraft: I understand what you are saying and I do structure my assemblies by the correct configs, this example however is a little unique. The part that I am talking about is only modified at the top level assembly each time. Imagine building up a car. The part in our example whose config i want to change is (for example) the wheel. The tire gets put on the wheel and that is a subassembly. Then the tire/wheel subassembly gets put on the frame which is another subaseembly, then so on and so forth until we have a complete car. Then at this point, once the car is done, I drill holes in the wheel. But I only drill holes in the wheel once the car is done. So I have a wheel with a drilled and non-drilled config. But I need to carry the two configs all the way up through the assembly (through several subassemblies) for me to be able to configure the assy with drilled and nondrilled wheel(I understand I can drill holes in the assembly and make a config out of this, but the config that I need is not as easy as drilling holes/adding a feature). I hope this makes sense. After writing this I guess I could just have a second part (wheel) model that I add at the top level assembly which I could configure..