Multiple switchable mates for a single part in an assembly

[ejenner]

I have a part that can either in one of two positions, in service or stowed. I need to be able to quickly swap the part between these two positions while my professor looks on. By quickly I mean one or two clicks, not 5 min redoing the mating every time. How can I gave a part two switchable matings?

[JoshH]

What you are describing sounds more like a mechanism constraint. I'd define it that way in the assembly and just drag it to it's proper location when in service or stowed.

If it's a matter of physically reassembling the component in a new location, I might use simplified reps and assemble the same component twice (typically called an "overbuilt" assembly). Then just call one simp rep "In Service" and one rep "Stowed". You could even create a mapkey and throw a hotkey up on your toolbar so it's a single-click switch.

You could potentially use Style to hide one component and another component, but I think simp reps make more sense.

[JoshH]

Wait a second...did I just get duped into helping you impress your professor??

[TimBrotherhood · Accepted solution]

You could assemble two instances of the part and hide or suppress one in the model tree.

To simply change what you see on screen, right click on the part in the model tree and select hide/unhide.

If having two parts in the assembly would affect a later analysis, use suppress/resume, providing only one part is resumed you should get valid results.

[TimBrotherhood]

I wonder if we are making this too complex? Here are some other ideas;

• RMB and edit the assembly constraint that defines the component postion - e.g angle of aircraft undercarriage.
• CTRL + ALT and drag will move the component between limits of movement - e.g. garage door opening.
• Snapshots with the component in the two positions - e.g exploded/inserted views of a battery and a cell phone.

Colleague Adam Haas suggested two other 'engineered' solutions;

• Use flexible component to allow the assembly constraint values to be edited.
• A family table with component position variables.

[AdamHaas]

This is a common requirement for many of our commercial customers and because of that, Creo Parametric has many tools to accomplish the task. With that said, as with our commercial customers, the exact answer to your question is very much dependent on your your design and your deliverable requirements.

As Tim points out below, you could simply use Drag Component to drag a model through any remaining degrees of freedom. Similarly, a dimension from a Distance constraint could be edited and then regenerated to move your component from the service to stowed position. This method is typically used when the various positions do not have to be saved for future reference.

If the service and stowed positions must be shown at the same time in a drawing or repeatedly accessed, you may want to create an instance of each using Family Tables. The Family Table functionality can be used to create an instance used to show a varied position (created by varying a dimension value or resuming/suppressing selected components and features.

Lastly, "Flexibility" can be added so that when placed in an assembly, dimensions, parameters, features or components are varied.

It should be noted that Family Table and Flexibility are advanced tools and a full understanding of their use should be understood before committing to their use. Both topics are covered in detail within PTC University's "Advanced Assembly Design using Creo Parametric 2.0" course.