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Brain failure: Interaction of Skeletons, Configurations, Equations

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but I'm having a devil of a job trying to acheive something that I think should be reasonably easy.

I want to create a product assembly that is driven by a skeleton part so that I can change the overall dimensions in the skeleton and have all the parts reconfigure accordingly. (so that I can experiment with the appearance/proportions of the product till its right).

I read that to produce robust assemblies one should place the skeleton as the first part in each assembly, and refernce everything to it.

The product comprises 3 pieces of the same assembly in 3 different configurations ie:

Product Assy1-ConfigA SkeletonPart PartX-ConfigA Lots of Other parts Assy1-ConfigB SkeletonPart PartX-ConfigB Lots of Other parts Assy1-ConfigC SkeletonPart PartX-ConfigC Lots of Other parts

The dimensions in PartX are inevitably driven by equations (because they reference dimensions in the Skeleton part). But when I change the Skeleton part, the configs do not adjust correctly.

Is there a way to do this so all the changes cascade thru the product automatically? Where can I find detailed info on how best to handle this?

Thanks

Mitch

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Mitch,

We have done some work with skeletons, largely based on techniques learned through Pro/E.

The most useful info I have found on handling this comes from a Pro/E user conference. You can download the presentation from:

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Its called "Top-Down Design, An Evolving Process at John Deere".

The presentation focuses on planning a top down design, pitfalls to be wary of, and alternative ways to achieve skeleton-driven assemblies.

Some of the Pro/E functions can be replicated using SolidWx tricks like envelope, joined part, saving and re-importing parasolids, assembly sketches, multiple solid bodies etc.

Good luck,

Anthony

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Ant.

There is a KB article on equations in assemblies and sub assemblies. Try CTRL-Q twice or more. Does that help?

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

skeleton

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P.

If you are suppressing equations on a config-specific basis, USE A DESIGN TABLE to control equation suppression state. Not doing so results in erratic behavior.

Also, if the skeleton part has multiple configs, perhaps PartX is reading the wrong instance or config of SkeletonPart.

TIP: Use envelope components for skeleton parts, as they don't show up in the BOM.

Reply to
That70sTick

Many thanks. Very helpful. After reading the presentation I realise I'm not alone in this!

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