Associated drawing dimensions for assembly driven locations?

[ghayes]

I'm hoping someone can share some best practices or their current methodology for similar practices for a drawing related opportunity that I have.

Currently we have assembly prints with multiple pages.  The first page is the exploded assembly view with manufacturing related items.  The second page is typically a series of 3 views (left/front/right) with specific dimensions related to certain platform types.  These dimensions are often related to a component whose position is dictated by other component or sub-assembly stack ups, so its not feasible to constrain the components to the dimension shown on the second page.  That said, we are relegated to "adding" dimensions on page two.  This creates issues when components are updated, as the dimensions will disassociate and leave misleading/incorrect information on the print.

The goal is to try to set something up so page 2 dimensions are always parametric.  For example, we are considering importing a set of datums (points, planes, etc) at the end of the feature tree which we can associate to components/locations in the assembly.  The optimal goal is to avoid dissociated dimensions when items are updated.

I have not played around with it yet, but I'm also wondering if its possible to assemble a skeleton at the end of the feature tree, ideally place it in the footer (probably not possible) and use the skeleton to help drive page 2 dimensions.  I realize this is not the intent of a skeleton model, but all options are on the table at this point.

I'd love to hear any ideas the community may have that would help us improve the integrity of our assembly information.

Thanks.

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[TomD.inPDX]

Use replace functionality liberally.

Since you are already wanting to add the dimensions to the model, why not add reference dimensions to the assembly model for the express purpose of "sheet 2".

You could even use the annotation element to make sure these are properly updated when a component gets changes.  They are driven dimensions, yes, but they are associative.

Me, I do not mind seeing a purple dimension in a drawing in a sea of yellow ones (my color scheme).  They are easy to see and even easier to re-associate.  in my opinion, easier than managing them in the model.

The biggest problem I've run across is where you need the same dimension in the same drawing a couple of times.  That get buggy.

I find it tedious to try to get all the model driving dimensions to satisfy good drafting practices.  Having to go out of my way to have the right radius indicated, for instance.

In the end, my clients do not care if it's associative, they care it's correct