Explode components in radial direction

[MatthiasStüber]

Hi Pro/fessionals.

Here's a good one:

Is there any possibility to explode assembly components in radial direction?

The picture was created using axis pattern in 2 directions, just to show what I mean. I made use of the pattern function in combination with layers to get what I need. Still - is there any option inside explode-edit position that I am missing to do this kind of stuff - or is it Pro/E that is missing something here?

Cheers

Matthias.

PS: Tried WF4 and WF5...

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[Kevin]

You need to create references that will allow you to move components in the desired direction. In WF5 you specify a motion reference and the coordinate system for movement will be oriented to the reference picked. In WF4 you specify motion references but you also need to be in a plan view for the parts to move correctly.

[MatthiasStüber]

Hi Kevin.

Thanks for your reply.

But...

Sure - I can move every component separately in the way you described but honestly that's an enormous effort. Think of a needle bearing with 50+ needles that shall be moved in radial direction about the same distance. What I was looking for is something like "Move many", "Move with children" or "Copy position" for that case. And whatever way I tried it was always the same vector for all components which does not help in that case.

Cheers

Matthias.

[Kevin]

I understood what you what were looking for but it's also clear from the documentation that what you describe isn't an option. Looking at other CAD programs they don't have that functionality either from what I can find out. Not saying it can't be done, I'm not a programmer, but the problem I see is that explode funtionality moves an item or items in an assembly in a particular direction. Now think about what moving radially does. It moves items outward but they don't move in the same direction. While tedious, I did find it somewhat less so in Creo Elements/ Pro. Maybe an enhancement request to find out if it can be done.

[DavidButz · Accepted solution]

Matthias,

If you do this a lot (needle bearings again and again, for example) you might consider some "trick" in the way you assemble the needles so that one parameter change will change all of them at once for illustration purposes. For instance you could have a cylindrical surface in your assembly locating each of the needles; then, a change to the diameter of the (hidden) surface would cause the needles to move in and out. There are other ways you could do this as well, even though it's a little artificial, and not, strictly speaking, Explode.

David

[MatthiasStüber]

Hi Kevin, hi David.

Thanks for your replies.

At least I was not missing something here. And I really like that trick with the cylinder surface. But - I need the assembly for the drawing and as component in higher level assemblies. For data management reasons I don't want to use family tables. So unfortunately this does not work for me.

So I will keep my original approach:

- Pattern the needles in radial direction

- Add outer needles to layer exploded_needles

- Add inner needles to layer assembled_needles

- Hide exploded_needles, save status in 3D

- on drawing change layer status correspondingly

Cheers

Matthias.