Copy exploded view from one assembly to another?

Hi all:

Given SolidWorks' remarkable ability to permit copying mates and associated drawings from one assembly to another similar one with minimal cleanup required, I was hoping this could be done with exploded views. However, I have not figured out a way. Has anybody successfully done this? I am aware that exploded views can be copied from one configuration to another, but in this case, that is not an option for me.

FWIW, I have found a workaround. I can edit each successive explode step in the "source" assembly, and then add the corresponding step in the "destination" assembly. SolidWorks remembers the explode distance. I just have to be careful to select the same component(s) each time. This helps more than you might think, as with complex explosions, the explode distances have to be worked out by trial and error to make the view clear in a drawing. Not having to re-do this process is nice. Still, for a complex assembly with >50 explode steps, it would be much easier to just copy the exploded view over and fix it to account for the differences between the assemblies.

Thanks in advance, John.

Reply to
the_tool_man
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I've been looking for this for a long time too, and really would like to find a solution, but i don't think there is.

// Krister

Reply to
Krister_L

How would the software know what to pick and which direction for each explode. Explodes are very visual and as far as I know a computer still can't see what you see.

However, the thought occured that if explode had a facility like occurs when using a replace component then dangling explodes might be reconstructed.

TOP

Reply to
TOP

My thoughts, exactly. However, for a 50-part assembly with 45 parts the same, most of the explode data would be the same. If a part changes, but the new part is a modified copy of the old, SolidWorks might successfully re-attach the explode data (analagous to mates). This certainly works if you copy an assembly that already has an exploded view and then modify or substitute some of the parts.

I just hoped this functionality was in there, but just buried under some non-intuitive process. Or, that someone had come up with a clever way to do this.

Reply to
the_tool_man

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