Show an assembly with components in different positions

[vincecatlin]

This is an assembly with three pivoting plates. These all have adjustable locations. NOT infinitely adjustable but with five discreet positions per plate. I'm fairly certain that I DO NOT want a mechanism as this will allow all the in-between position that are not allowed. Instead I have an angular offset which allows me to select the specific pivot angle. My "value added reseller" told me I could "save state"

Is there any hope for this?

[RaphMORIN]

Maybe you could make a family table to make the angle dimensions you want change.

An other solution, If you assemble as a mechanism, you can then save different positions states.

[vincecatlin]

The mechanism assembly would be impractical to position the components in the discreet positions. I do not want these components in just any intermediate position because there are just five positive places they can be.

I suspect we're not alone in staying away from family tables because of Windchill issues.

[psobejko · Accepted solution]

Sounds doable;

I think you want to establish multiple constraint sets in the assembly for the indexing component(s) - one of them will be active at any one time.  This "selection" can be done via relations.

Using the "Drag Components" utility, you can take the snapshot for each configuration and make it available in the drawing as an "exploded state".

[vincecatlin]

Thanks psobejko,

I think I found the best solution. I select Drag Components but not to actually drag anything. This is just the way I've found to access the Snapshot functionality. I'm know these snapshots are not associative so they won't update but this way I can have multiple views in the drawing with the assembly in different states.

I am a bit curious if there's another way to access the Snapshot function.

[vincecatlin]

oops. I see you suggested the drag command already.

I should slow down a bit and read the whole post next time.