SW2001 Top Down Assembly method

[GdrCad]

Hi. I’m looking for a good book or an online tutorial discussing the "top down" assembly method in sw2001. Every tutorial I have says nothing about it... I want to create parts in the context of an assembly (what is often called the 'top down' method). Anyone have any good tutorial links of know of any good books?

thanx Greg

 

[SBaugh]

The best way to learn is to try it out - Look at the help - Click on the Index tab and type in there "In-contexted" You will get a few hits and that should get you started. The rest is just about being careful and there is no tutorial that will tell you that.

Check out

http://www.amazon.com

and type in "solidworks" I like the Planchard books myself and I believe they discuss in-contexting. But check the help out first.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
When in doubt, always check the help

 

[TheTick]

Some subjects to consider:

•Use of assembly-level sketches for control lines and layouts

•Look up "envelopes" in SW help. Envelopes can be very useful as "skeleton" geometry. Very similar to skeleton parts in Pro/E, plus functionality for manipulating assembly configurations.

All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted.

 

[JNR]

Some words of caution:

Top-down design looks really cool at the sales demonstrations - and it does have some fine features - but there are a lot of down sides to it.

Assembly level sketches and features are very slow compared to part level features.

In-context edits are also relatively slow and create a lot of file interpendencies which can be hard to deal with later.

If you intend to use PDM systems this can become a nightmare depending on your unique circumstances.

If you are doing a single unique design where parts will never be reused in other assemblies, it may be a great way to go. But if you intended to reuse parts or make copies of your assemblies to modify for similar/derivative designs, you might want to experiment first and make absolutely sure you really want to do this. To do so I suggest you make some very simple multi level assemblies and parts - just simple blocks and cylinders, etc. Do some sample top-down editing and simulate part reuse or derivative designs and see what issues show up.

I definitely recommmend that you do not blindly launch into committing your self to this for production work without evaluating the consequences (which may be positive or negative).

3/4 of all the Spam produced goes to Hawaii - shame that's not true of SPAM also.......

 

[TheTick]

In-context modelling is fine, depending on the phase of the product life cycle.

In development phase, I usually have a master layout that acts as a nexus for any inter-file dependencies. In my case, there are usually two distinct subassemblies: the customer environment data and the mechanism design that I am incorporating. If there are any lost connections between files, they can usually be resolved by opening the main layout.

Operating with a master layout can be very effective if managed properly. This is especially true if one is designing around master geometry such as automotive "A" surfaces that are changed at whim by ID departments or customers who don't give a rat's wazoo about your CAD modelling issues.

When a part is released for production, I believe it is important that it be a stand-alone file, so I eliminate external dependencies and reconstrain the "loose ends". The original layout and parts are archived so that there is a record of the context, just in case.

My Pro/E years have forced me to learn a number of tricks for disconnecting and reconnecting dependencies as needed without totally unravelling the model. These still come in handy today on SW.

All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted.

 

[JNR]

I like TheTick's idea. (Unfortunately we can't use it for other reasons.) But it makes good sense if top-down is important to you. Just make sure that all your in-context edits and particularly (if you use them) assembly level sketches and features are done at the appropriate level so they don't go away later when you separate out your files.

3/4 of all the Spam produced goes to Hawaii - shame that's not true of SPAM also.......