Solved: Welds in assembly and reference errors.

Staron · ‎Nov 17, 2014

Hi,

I have a drum I want to weld (to do calculations), so I need to make 2 welds on it, to weld together the core and sides in the assembly I did try to make a part(s), but I get a “Reference restricted by Environment scope was selected. Confirm to copy entity”. This is going to create a circular reference, if I’m not wrong.

So therefore I wonder what I can do with that, if anything. Are there other solutions I could use, since I’m looking to make this as reusable as possible next time I want to copy/use the project?

This project had circular references and I had big problems copying it from the last project in windchill/workspace.

I have looked into the weld-tool, but as far as I can see, the weld does not add mass, and since we make very large equipment, I need the weight on the weld, and I also need it to make calculations later on. When I tested the weld-tool, the mass of the weld did not show up in the assembly.

Ys

Staale

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neomechanikos · ‎Nov 17, 2014

The warning you are getting doesn't necessarily imply that it is going to create a circular reference. It's just that your settings have been setup in such a way that this type of external reference is prohibited. You can turn off these notifications and/or adjust your settings to allow these kinds of references if needed.

Here's what I've done in the past:

Create a new part within the assembly and call it welds.
- An alternative to adding the welds to the assembly (if drawings, standards, or the fact that someone else has it checked out prohibits it) is to create a "working assembly" as some people call it. Basically it's another top level assembly that you add your drum assembly to. Any features and parts will be added to this upper level assembly and not interfere with the drum assembly below it.
Create all welds for the assembly within this part (you may need to relax the reference selection to allow selection of the required references).
- An alternative to relaxing the allowed references would be to use a skeleton and create geometry within the skeleton (and/or copy geometry) to reference for the welds and to assemble your drum parts to...If desired and set up properly, you could also swap parts out and reuse the assembly later on down the road.
The welds then show up as surfaces within the "welds" part.
Use the surfaces to create solids that would represent additional material added to the part geometries during welding.
You now have a part that you can calcualte weld weight. You can also now toggle the welds using simplified reps and/or styles to keep them out of drawings, views, etc.
Finally, if desired, you can use this weld part to merge the assembly to create a weldment if you do additional post-weld machining, etc.

This is just a summary, let me know if you need any additional details.

View solution in original post

neomechanikos · ‎Nov 17, 2014

The warning you are getting doesn't necessarily imply that it is going to create a circular reference. It's just that your settings have been setup in such a way that this type of external reference is prohibited. You can turn off these notifications and/or adjust your settings to allow these kinds of references if needed.

Here's what I've done in the past:

Create a new part within the assembly and call it welds.
- An alternative to adding the welds to the assembly (if drawings, standards, or the fact that someone else has it checked out prohibits it) is to create a "working assembly" as some people call it. Basically it's another top level assembly that you add your drum assembly to. Any features and parts will be added to this upper level assembly and not interfere with the drum assembly below it.
Create all welds for the assembly within this part (you may need to relax the reference selection to allow selection of the required references).
- An alternative to relaxing the allowed references would be to use a skeleton and create geometry within the skeleton (and/or copy geometry) to reference for the welds and to assemble your drum parts to...If desired and set up properly, you could also swap parts out and reuse the assembly later on down the road.
The welds then show up as surfaces within the "welds" part.
Use the surfaces to create solids that would represent additional material added to the part geometries during welding.
You now have a part that you can calcualte weld weight. You can also now toggle the welds using simplified reps and/or styles to keep them out of drawings, views, etc.
Finally, if desired, you can use this weld part to merge the assembly to create a weldment if you do additional post-weld machining, etc.

This is just a summary, let me know if you need any additional details.