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Pre-Planning to acomplish mate and alignment.

I have just recently viewed a Solidworks model of a very modernistic styled sports car. I noticed that the spacing of all the surface created parts relative to each other was perfect. Spacing between trunk and rear fenders, hood and front fenders, etc. I am wondering, is an understructure, or chassis needed to be created first in order to mate all these parts together with the perfect alignment and spacing? Without an understructure of some kind, what would ultimately be assembled and mated would be no more than a shell, with wheels free-floating in empty space, with the edges of these surface created parts not sufficient enough to be used to accomplish mates, much less the uniform spacing. Are axels needed in order to mate the wheels and tires perfectly in the wheel well openings? Certainly provisions must be made while creating the individual parts that would come into very important play later on at assembly and mating time. Much thought and pre-planning must certainly be done in the drawing stage of the individual surface parts. Will one of the many expert advanced modelers here enlighten one who is not so expert? Thanking you, Erika Layne

Reply to
Erika Layne
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All the blank-sheet design I've done with styled surface products were done top-down using common coordinate system to define part geometry. Parts were locked with common coordinates and modelled "in-position". If you took the parts and dropped them into a new assembly and lined up the base planes, the parts were in place.

This method was used extensively in the computer industry. Also, all the automotive interior designs I made parts for were designed this way. It is a very effecive method when a team is working on a product that has "A" surface definitions that span across more than one part.

Reply to
That70sTick

Yes- in cases that you want surfaces to align together into a cohesive product, designers will use a "top-down" approach. You design the over all shape how you want it to look and then start splitting it up into different parts(Insert>Feature>Split). This splittingis ueually done with surfaces that cut across the solid part.

Simultaneously though you can have a bottom up design taking place -for instance with standard wheels, and axles put together designed from stock components. Both methods have their strengths, but for the cohesiveness that you describe where complexly curved surfaces are aligning together, you need to design top down.

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has some links to models, and tutorials describing the process (perhaps it was these models you were referring to?)

Reply to
parel

Thank you sir/madam. After I spend a time learning surfaces as I did learning solids, I will hope to run across some literature or tutorials describing this "Top-Down" procedure in more detail, and more attuned to my beginner's level of skill. At least I know what I am looking for now, many thanks to you. Erika Layne

Reply to
Erika Layne

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