Assembly Cut Alternatives

[wbottis]

Hi Folks,

Consider a part (.prt) file that is used to define a component that is to be 3D-printed or cast.  I'd like to now take that part and refine it by machining it.  I could create an assembly, insert the cast part, then apply assembly cuts and modifications.  I'm told to stay away from this because the model becomes unstable and I believe I have witnessed this in the past where the model crashes on occasion.

What is the best alternative to doing this?  I have approached using 'copy geometry', but that does not appear to be conducive to achieving the outcome because you can only copy surfaces, not solids.  Hence, nothing to cut once copied.  I think I am aiming to have the 2 models associate with one another, so if the cast/printed part changes, the machined part will update (manually if not automatically).  Thank you.

[rreifsnyder · Accepted solution]

You can create a new part to use as finished and use Merge/Inheritance to link the cast part with the finished part. It will bring in the cast part into the finished part and you can then use cuts as needed. If the cast part updates then so with the finished part. I actually prefer to reverse the process though so I create the part as finished then make a merged part to add stock where it is needed for the finishing process. This way your design drives how the part is roughly made and the as cast part is the outcome.

[wbottis]

Thanks, rreifsnyder.

I found a similar response after posting the questions:

Similar Response 

This seems to be a good approach and I have done a cursory attempt in the background with success so far.

[wbottis]

Folks,

Can you explain how you manually update the inheritance feature?  I tried right-clicking the feature in the model tree, but no option to update.  Thank you.

[lryvchin]

You can set the Inheritance feature to "Manual Update" state (Options inside Inheritance feature definition UI). When you want it to be updated - change to "Automatic".