Flexible assembly of cable/hose in multiple assemblies

[mtonsager]

I have a strap with a lug on each end and a cable in between.  This is made as an assembly, with the lugs X inches apart and a cable between their entry ports.  It is saved in a PLM system as X.asm.  How do I best assemble this into multiple other assemblies?  I can mount one lug with a constraint on the hole and on the mounting face, but the other lug will be sticking straight out from it.  I would like to add similar constraints on the second lug to a different mounting point, one that may be tipped 90 degress and on a different plane as the first mounting point.  Is there a way in Creo to "overconstrain" in this manner inside an assembly?  I could create the X.asm with a point at each lug, then change the X,Y,Z and orientation of the points using flexible modeling at the upper level assembly, but that can be time consuming and difficult.  There are numerous cases where grease tubes with fittings or cables with lugs are assembled with different orientations in multiple assemblies, there has to be an easy way to do this?!?!

Any comments or ideas would help

[StephenW]

There is no easy way if you are only want to use one master part/assembly. Your method of using the flexible component placement may be the easiest.

At a previous job, where everything had to be fully released in windchill, we had a rule for creating each assembly on it's own. We used a p/n scheme to designate.

We would add an "in assembly" name to the filename. partnumber-in-assynumber.asm.

If you search PDMLink for the part number with an * behind, you would still get the number. It made for a "manageable" mess when it came to revising. At the least, you could figure out what all you had to fix if you ever needed to make real change.

[vzak]

Matt,

before suggesting anything (and if the question is still relevant) :

- do you have additional location points on your Cable, or is this  just port - to - port ?

- do you care "fixed length" or this is less critical ?

Regards

- Vlad

[vzak]

For what it worth, you can check out following proposal for simple Flex Hose design that fully support reuse in multiple assemblies.

Flexible hose for Reuse in multiple different assemblies - solution for simple case.