Creating Flattening Harness

[catipash]

Say for Example I have 20 wire routed, out of which

1) 10 wire follow network path A

2) 5 wires follow network path B

3) another 5 wires follow network path C.

While creating flatten harness it will ask for start point when we give start point it will create flatten Harness only for

a) 1st 10 wires following network path A

and i will have to create 2 more separate flatten harness for 5+5 wires passing through Network Path B and Path C.

I want to know is this the right procedure? or I can create one single Flatten Harness for all the 20 wires passing through different network path that is "A","B" and "C".

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[gkoch]

If all wires start at the same location or meet in common locations, then you can create one flat harness of them.

Select the common locations as start points to fan out the different branches (you can fan out in multiple steps)

Otherwise I see no reason why you want to have one flat harness for different, non-connected harnesses.

[catipash]

Hi Gunter,

Thank you for your answer, It gave me some good clarity, I want to understand few things:

1) If I have 20 wires few starting from different start points and few from same start points and ending at different end points but all the 20 wires are passing through say at least 2-3 location point of the Network created through which the cables are flowing. do I need to create one flatten harness the answer will be "yes" but the drawing looks very confusing so is there any solution?

[gkoch]

Flat harness is a completely new model that references your cabling.

You have control over what you want to "fan out", you do not have to do this for all cables and wires.

There is an automatic option that tries to fan out in all directions based from your starting point. But you can also select a point where you want to fan to. Then you can select a new start and end point to fan in this direction. In the end you have only those cables in your flat harness, that you need and you can automatically attach the connectors you want to see.

If you want to have multiple separate flat harnesses (for being less confusing), you can simply create multiple flat harness models.

Talking about at least 2-3 common locations: In some harnesses with multiple common locations there may be closed loops. This is always a situation, where the user has to take control and solve those loops. Harness MFG allows you to open the loops where you want them opened, in order to be able to create a flat representation.

[BrianMartin]

Hi Syed...

The cable flattening module is one of the harder ones to master. For those who work with the flattening module, they'll immediately understand how generous I'm being with that comment. The new cable flattening functionality being rolled out in Creo Parametric 3.0 is vastly easier to use.

If you have some common locations which all of your wires pass through, you can certainly flatten the harness. Whenever you have one of these "octopus" cables, the end result is usually not very pretty. It's hard to take a complex 3D harness and flatten it into something that looks tidy and neat. There's definitely a bit of an art to it. You have to carefully consider which end point you're going to start with and how you're going to flatten the harness to create the most pleasing result.

The automatic fan capability is not always the best way to go. Often meticulously flattening each segment of a complex harness, bending the leads, and trying to create a "pretty" layout is tough. The process can be a bit frustrating until you start to understand how the software "thinks". I don't know anyone who ever picked up the flattening process without a good deal of trial and error.

There are all sorts of finicky nuances to this particular module, too. For instance- you have to make sure you've attached components like backshells to the harness using the Attach to Harn command. Although designated connectors will automatically attach themselves, intermediate components your harness runs through such as backshells, strain relief boots, etc are not automatically added to the flattened harness layout. You also can't go back and quickly add them later if you miss one.

For instance, let's say you have a harness connected to two connectors at either end. The harness also runs through two backshells and some strain relief boots at each connector. You must explicitly direct those components (backshells and boots) to attach to the flattened harness. If you flatten the harness and then realize you forgot to add the components, you have to delete your flattened harness and start flattening all over again.

It'll drive you iNsAnE if you're not careful.

[ptc-6294531]

Hi Brian,

Brian Martin wrote:

For instance, let's say you have a harness connected to two connectors at either end. The harness also runs through two backshells and some strain relief boots at each connector. You must explicitly direct those components (backshells and boots) to attach to the flattened harness. If you flatten the harness and then realize you forgot to add the components, you have to delete your flattened harness and start flattening all over again.

It'll drive you iNsAnE if you're not careful.

That is something I was wondering, when if due to improvements on the machines you need add a new connector on a new branch, is there a way to only flatten that new piece into the excisting flattened harness?

Because at the moment we're building a prototype, and I have to make adjustments almost every day and I need to flatten the new harness over and over again. It's driving me nuts.

With kind regards,

Ron

EDIT: Or maybe only exchange a connector for another

[gkoch]

you really should take a look into the new Harness Manufacturing extension in Creo 3.0!

http://learningexchange.ptc.com/tutorial/3458/harness-manufacturing

Surely not yet working for all cases (e.g. can't handle loops), but worth giving it a trial.

If you just want to create the drawings, you may use it for creating flat harness / drawing and otherwise continue using your current version of Creo for the design.