Constraning in an Assembly

- C
- caduser
  
  Contact options for registered users
posted
17 years ago

Fri, Jan 5, 2007 1:13 AM

Happy New Year to All!

I'm modeling an assembly where I'm trying 2 different versions of one of the parts. Both parts are interchangeable.

I highlighted the assembled part and did a Replace with the other version. So far no problems.

This part is assembled inside other parts, and I have to re-constrain some of the other components with the replaced one.

My question is, how can I pick the constrining features that are hidden behind other parts?

I tried to hide the parts in front, but I I can't find how.

Can anybody help me? I'm using WF2.

Also I tried to querry to find the needed surfaces. But the querry function highlights different parts and not surfaces or features in a part.

Hopefully this makes sense.

Thank you.

- T
- TheRock
  
  Contact options for registered users
Vote on answer
posted
17 years ago

Fri, Jan 5, 2007 3:29 AM

2 things: Select by menu (a right click choice) or create a simplified rep to show what you want to work with.

- D
- David Janes
  
  Contact options for registered users
Vote on answer
posted
17 years ago

Sat, Jan 6, 2007 4:12 AM

This sounds like it could be a simple selection problem which people often have when migrating from an earlier verison of Pro/e to Wildfire. At the same time, it makes me a little curious why parts mated to an "identical" replaced part should lose their assembly constraints. Could that have something to do with the way you did the Replace? I've found that using the "Replace by" type of Layout is the most automatic, preserves part orientation the best and results in fewest problems down the road. The only thing better is if you've made your "identical" parts as instances of a family table and use that as the "Replace by" type.

As to the selection problem, I've found working in wireframe, so I can see through the models, to be helpful when parts/surfaces are buried. The selection problem is the same: how do you cycle through the surfaces in front? With prehighlighting on (hovering cursor over surfaces turns something cyan), right click to burrow through. (Make sure that the pointer arrow for constraint selection is on or you will only be able to select components.) It may also help to select the exact type of geometry you'd like to constrain to in the filter list at the bottom, the one that is usually set to 'smart' or 'all'. The really smart thing is to pick one of the available types and narrow the choice to a few pieces of geometry that match the filter criterion. This gets stuff effectively out of the way so, if the filter's set to surfaces, you're not going to accidentally pick an edge, axis, vertex, datum plane, etc.

David Janes