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Assemblies · Lesson 5: Designing in the assembly

Top-down and hybrid design, external references, assembly features, Hole Series, blocks and equations.

Lesson goal

Create and edit parts directly in the assembly, while keeping control of the resulting external references.

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7 videos

✎

1 exercise

Advanced

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Prerequisite: Lessons 1 to 4

1. Watch the videos

Dassault Systèmes videos hosted on MySolidWorks: they open in a new tab and a free account is enough. Watch them in order.

Top-Down Assembly ModelingVideo 1▶Top-Down Assembly ModelingModel parts in the context of the assembly.In French↗ Hybrid Assembly ModelingVideo 2▶Hybrid Assembly ModelingCombine bottom-up and top-down approaches.In French↗ External ReferencesVideo 3▶External ReferencesUnderstand, lock and break references between parts.In French↗ Assembly Features and Feature ScopeVideo 4▶Assembly Features and Feature ScopeMachining that exists only in the assembly, and feature scope.In French↗ Hole SeriesVideo 5▶Hole SeriesDrill several aligned components with a single feature, each part gets its own hole.↗ Blocks and Assembly LayoutVideo 6▶Blocks and Assembly LayoutDrive an assembly from a layout sketch made of blocks.↗ Equations in AssembliesVideo 7▶Equations in AssembliesDrive dimensions and mates with global variables.↗

2. Key takeaways

1

A part designed in context keeps external references to the assembly: convenient, but fragile if the assembly is renamed or moved.

2

Lock or break the references once the part is stable.

3

An assembly feature (match drilling) does not exist in the part files: it only appears in the assembly.

4

The Hole Series creates a consistent hole in each part it passes through: tapped in one, clearance in the other.

Tip

Group the key dimensions of a machine (center distances, travel, working height) in global variables of the assembly: changing the machine comes down to changing a few values.

3. Do the exercise

In a bracket + plate assembly:

  • create the plate in context, based on the faces of the bracket
  • add a Hole Series, tapped on one side and clearance on the other
  • then lock the external references of the plate
✓To check: Open the plate on its own: it opens without errors and its holes are present in the part file.

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