Some assembly construction questions

[pkelecy]

I've been working though some of the assembly tutorials and have a few questions on some things.

1. When placing a part in an assembly (using the drag method) often the part will end up partially buried inside the base part. Is there an easy way to move it out without disrupting the work flow too much (ie having to leave assembly mode)?

2.When constraining a part using FlashFit, sometimes FF will place the part 180° from how I want it. When that happens, I can usually “Flip” it the correct way. But if the operation is the last one needed to fully constrain the part, then the Assembly bar goes away, and there is no “Flip” button to press. Is there an alternative way to flip in this situation?

Thanks for the help. -Pat

 

[KENAT]

1. Depending what version of SE you are using, you may just be able to 'grab' the part and drag it out.

2. I can't recall if it always works but in the Assy Path finder, if you select a part at the bottom it will list the relationships. If you select the relationships you may see the option to flip up in the ribbon bar.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[pkelecy]

Thanks KENAT.

You were right. I can just grab the part and move it around. I thought I had tried that, but maybe I had selected the part improperly. Anyway, that works. In fact (and this is rather cool) if I set a constraint I can still move it within the dof's allowed by the constraint relation. So if I have a mating relation applied, for example, I can still slide the part along the mating surface.

You were also right about the Flip. If I go into PathFinder and right click on the constraint relation, a menu appears that includes the option to "Flip".

I have to say I'm impressed with SE. It seems to be a very well thought out application, and I've found very little to criticize in my trial of it so far. If it continues to work this well, I may be a convert!

 

[beachcomber]

In the lower window of assembly pathfinder, RMB on a relationship and select FLIP.

bc.
2.4GHz Core2 Quad, 4GB RAM,
Quadro FX4600.

 

[PatCouture]

When Using Flash fit you can use the tab key to flip the relationship!

Hope it helps

Patrick

 

[pkelecy]

Patrick, -Thanks for the tip. I tried it out, and it works. That will be convenient. I wish it also worked with the last relation (the one that fully constrains the part). That would be really convenient, when it's needed.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[PatCouture]

Yes It actually works but only if the flipping doesn't interfere with a previous constraint. And that happens 95% of the times.

Patrick

 

[beachcomber]

Glad you're liking Solid Edge Pat.

Another couple of tips on assembly -
To place another instance of a part in an assembly you can select it in the assembly tree and drag it in from there.
Copy and paste does the same thing but will zoom out to the extents of the assembly, which can be pretty anoying if you've already zoomed in to where you want to place the part.

Have a look at 'Capture Fit' - it's one of the most useful assembly commands. Once you have placed a part you can save the relationships to the part file or just save them for the current session (for part also read assembly)

Something else that can be useful is Systems Library, although this may be a little advanced for a trial.
What it enables you to do is save a group of components as an assembly, complete with all their relationships, for easy placement into other assemblies. At placement time the system is inserted then exploded as if you'd placed each component seperately.


bc.
2.4GHz Core2 Quad, 4GB RAM,
Quadro FX4600.

 

[pkelecy]

beachcomber, - Thanks for the additional tips. I'm keeping a list of them for future reference. I try to use them, when possible, while working through the tutorials. It's amazing how much faster some operations get with just a few shortcuts. It's also interesting how it alters my impression of SE (particularly with regard to "ease of use") by using them.

Pat

 

[Gemnoc]

One other thing you can do is to rotate the inserted part by holding the Control key and left mouse button, then drag.

It's not precise (I wish the SE 3d rotate tool was more like the one in Autocad) but once one relationship is applied, then two, it restricts the part's movement.

One other useful ting to know: if you've selected the wrong face/edge/point of your part to mate, RMB will reset your selection. I don't remember if this was in the tutorials.