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10-Marble
November 5, 2022
Solved

Is there some way to de-assemble a pattern into discrete components?

  • November 5, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 2585 views

Hello

 

If I have an assembly pattern with a bunch of parts, and would like to remove the pattern but still have all the parts left in their places, can I do that somehow?

 

The reason I'm asking is that now that pattern is populated by the same part, but I want to make it into a family table part with features that vary depending on location. If I do a Replace on some part they all change.

 

I do understand that I can convert the pattern into a Table pattern and swap the instances there, but that does not save much work in this case, so I would prefer to just "de-pattern" the pattern into single parts.

Best answer by MartinHanak

@CAD_Monkey wrote:

Hello

 

If I have an assembly pattern with a bunch of parts, and would like to remove the pattern but still have all the parts left in their places, can I do that somehow?

 

The reason I'm asking is that now that pattern is populated by the same part, but I want to make it into a family table part with features that vary depending on location. If I do a Replace on some part they all change.

 

I do understand that I can convert the pattern into a Table pattern and swap the instances there, but that does not save much work in this case, so I would prefer to just "de-pattern" the pattern into single parts.


Hi,

there is Unpattern command. Unfortunately it works for patterned group, only.

Please read https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/cs34136 article.

3 replies

24-Ruby III
November 7, 2022

@CAD_Monkey wrote:

Hello

 

If I have an assembly pattern with a bunch of parts, and would like to remove the pattern but still have all the parts left in their places, can I do that somehow?

 

The reason I'm asking is that now that pattern is populated by the same part, but I want to make it into a family table part with features that vary depending on location. If I do a Replace on some part they all change.

 

I do understand that I can convert the pattern into a Table pattern and swap the instances there, but that does not save much work in this case, so I would prefer to just "de-pattern" the pattern into single parts.


Hi,

there is Unpattern command. Unfortunately it works for patterned group, only.

Please read https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/cs34136 article.

10-Marble
November 7, 2022

Aha! I knew I had seen it somewhere.

Too bad about the group/table thing limitation.

 

Thank you!

 

21-Topaz II
November 7, 2022

Unfortunately, I think the only way to do this is to use the "repeat" functionality.

(1) Delete the pattern you have now.

(2) Select the remaining component that was used to create the pattern.

(3) right mouse button and pick "Repeat" from the menu.

(4) Place all the copies of the component that you need.

(5) Pick the components you want to replace with family instances and do so.

 

Hopefully you're not dealing with hundreds of members in the current assembly. I've had to do something like this with very many screws in the past and it gets ,mind-numbing.

10-Marble
November 8, 2022

Aye, this has been my method so far. Thanks!

 

kdirth
21-Topaz I
21-Topaz I
November 7, 2022

One option to get around the Group limitation is to:

  • add a datum onto the feature or part
  • group them
  • delete the datum from the group
  • pattern the group
  • unpattern
  • remove the groups
There is always more to learn.
10-Marble
November 8, 2022

If the purpose was to add in a large number of parts that are assembled discretely, this is a reasonable method to use Pattern to make it quicker.

 

My situation however is rather that I already have a bunch of parts patterned, where I want to replace some of them with other instances from their Family Table. So it seems I need to delete the pattern and then reassemble all the parts individually (Repeat) and then I have the freedom to swap instances any way I wish.

 

Thanks though!