How do you create moved parts/assemblies in drawing views?

[Inoram]

I probably did not create the best title for the thread, but I am trying to show some movement in drawings. Like say you have an assembly with 50 parts in it, and half the parts move 4" (or whatever) and you want to show that move in a drawing view so you can dimension the distance of the movement. There must be a quick way to do this now? I did it years ago, and have not done it recently, so I forget exactly how I did it.

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[neomechanikos]

Is it in a mechanism that you can use snapshots?

If not here are a few I can think of off hand:

Method 1: Use exploded view and move only the parts that move. Create a datum or another reference (skeleton, etc.) that represents the distance to dimension off of.

Method 2: Create another top level working assembly (empty assembly) and place your assembly in it. Assemble another instance of the parts that move....say a linear slide and assemble two blocks at the movement extents (can also use simplified reps here if you don't want to show both at the same time). In the drawing, add the working assembly to the drawing, change the line style of one of the blocks to phantom opaque or transparent and dimension between the two extents. Drawbacks: have to create another working assembly, BOM balloons may not work as desired if the same view is used to drive a BOM table.

[neomechanikos]

Method 3 (dirty method): Place a view of just the moved components (simp rep, hide parts, subassembly) onto the drawing over top of another view of the main assembly. Can change line styles, etc. and can relate the views to each other (match coordinate systems or other entities or absolute location). Drawbacks: have to endure the wrath of your coworkers, may not work for all applications/views, pain in the neck to work with.

Summary:

Method 0: (Snapshots) become the idol of your peers

Method 1: Works great

Method 2: Useful for library parts or items you don't have permission to modify. You can also use "make flexible" with this method.

Method 3: Become the bane of your peers.

Edited: Added summary and smilie indicators.

[Inoram]

Thanks for the input.

I was trying Method 1, but I need to move things exact numbers, and I do not see a way to do that with the explode tool. (could be me).

I do something like Method 2 when I only have to move 1 or 2 parts, that works ok for a low amount of parts.

Method 3, I doubt I would do, I also have not yet been able to figure out how to align 2 (or more) general views to one another.

Method 0, it's not in a mechanism, and I guess I could set it up that way? But it might be more trouble then it's worth for a relatively simple view.

[neomechanikos]

If it's a linear move, you can use the motion increment under options. Then it will move in increments of the value you enter and it will be exact.

If you define your moving part as a mechanism (not too difficult assuming all 50 parts are assembled to one moving part) then you can place limits on the travel and create exploded states from there. Sort of a hybrid of method 0 and 1.

[Inoram]

ok I see the motion increment creates an increment, you still have to grab and move the parts. I was expecting it to just move the parts and it wasn't.

[Inoram]

This is amazinly difficult for what it is.

[neomechanikos]

This is Creo, what did you expect? I guess it largely depends on how the model was set up originally. Things such as motion skeletons and assembly layout can help tremendously if created early on with the intent of motion. Easy to say in hindsight though.

Are all of the moving parts assembled into one moving subassembly? If so, it will make grabbing the moving components in the explode tool easier by grabbing the assembly and/or reducing the number of components you have to select at once.

[Inoram]

Eric Terrell wrote:

Are all of the moving parts assembled into one moving subassembly?

No, yes I agree this would be easier if the sub-assemblies were setup for the moves, but what I am trying to do now was not what I was expecting to do when i started.

Yes sadly someone showed me how they do it another software and it was a few seconds.

[Inoram]

What's the fastest way to select ~200 parts mixed in with about 400 parts?

I tried hiding the ones I don't want, but the 3D Box still selects everything. Also, the 3D Box turns off when the exploded view tool turns on, so it doesn't help much.

[neomechanikos]

Ouch, that's quite the number of parts to move around independently. Sometimes selecting via the model tree can be faster. Other times via a query can nail all of them. But for a query they would need to have something unique about them vs. the other 400 parts....geometry, name, etc.

[dschenken]

At least create a layer to put them on. There's a setting that allows sub-components to be placed on an assembly level layer without creating layers in the sub-assemblies. If you come up with a search that gets the right components, create a rule for the layer using that search to augment any items that are available only by specific selection.

You can select all the items on a particular layer in one shot. Whether you can move them all at the same time ...who knows, but at least you can separate the picking from the moving.

[Inoram]

Step one was to go find a cinder block to set on the CTRL key so I don't accidently let go it while selecting all the piece one at a time....

[dschenken]

Kill two birds - create a presentation for Instructables about adding a toggle switch to a keyboard to keep the CTRL key closed AND get to move the cinderblock front-and-center to make smacking ones head more convenient.

Anyone remember when the Caps Lock key Locked Caps and didn't turn the Shift key into a lowercase control?? I got a drop in typing errors by prying the Caps Lock key out. Can still toggle it when required with a paperclip.