I am trying to follow the directions in help "Creating a Joined Part"....but can't make it happen. I just dont get the Join PropertyManager started... can't even select join under insert - features - join...
Yeah, if you follow the direction in the help context exactly, it will NOT work. Exit the sketch first like Scott said and then it will work. I'm pretty sure that their help directions for this have been wrong since SW2001. I wonder when they will correct the help directions. I guess they do not proof there help context very often....
Hmm.... Just opened my help again to verify that I wasn't crazy. I was not crazy. It does skip this step. Turns out, the title bar of my help window says: SolidWorks 2004 Online User's Guide - SP2. I never new that the title bar would tell the "help" version.
But, what I don't understand is that I am almost positive that I updated the help files when I upgraded to SP3.0.
Oh well. I'll get it caught up on SP4.0 (eventually).
Others have mentioned the standard "Join" which is covered in Help, and some have noted to save an Assembly as a Part.
There's one more 'official' method to do a Join, which I use:
A. Part 1 and Part 2 to be joined are put in an assembly drawing & mated. B. Part 1 in the Assembly is put into "Edit" mode from the Feature Manager icon C. Menu select Join from Insert:Features:Join D. Select Part 2 in Feature Manager tree E. Deselect the Edit icon F. Part 1 now shows itself with Part 2 added and as a 'part of' part
1
This method is very similar to using the Feature "Cavity".
Interesting. Rather than creating a new part to "contain" all the joined parts, you just open one of the original parts and "put" the others there. Kind of like starting with a template. (Well sort of.....loosely.)
This is the method that I have used to send a combined overmold and core part to the mold makers. I've run into a couple of parts now where it doesn't work. SW gives me an error message and doesn't join part 2 into part
The really interesting part is that I can insert an empty new part, call it part 3, into the assembly and join parts 1 and 2 in it and it works just fine!
Jerry Steiger Tripod Data Systems "take the garbage out, dear"
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