Adjusting position of an assembly within another assembly 1

[Fonzee78]

Hi All,

I have a model of cylinder with a family of assemblies to adjust the position of the rod end position. I inserted this assembly into another assembly and now want to change the position of the rod end. Can this be accomplished since the family of assemblies is within the cylinder assembly? I used the Alternate positions for the adjustments.

Thanks!

Joel

 

[Fonzee78]

Also, when I create the adjustable position and then go back into the assembly it sometimes grays out the member box so I cannot change the position. Am I doing something wrong when setting these positions up? I have the "Apply edits to all members" box selected.

 

[beachcomber]

Let's start from the beginning.
You have an assembly that requires the SAME cylinder to be inserted but with different lengths.
There are 2 ways - Adjustable Assembly and Alternate Position Assemblies.
Personally I wouldn't bother with the Adjustable option. It was a bit unreliable and difficult to manage (not tried it revently though - it may have improved)
So for Alternate Position option....
In your Cylinder Assembly constrain the rod/end so that it can be moved as if the cylinder was extending by changing the mate offset value.
Click on the Alternate Assemblies tab in the Edge Bar.
UNCHECK the apply edits to all memebers.
Make sure Member Variables is selected, not Occurrence Overides.
In Tools > Variables select the Variable Table icon.
In the variable table click on the row for the variable that defines your offset.
In the Edge Bar click on the Add Variable icon (next to Member Variables, the one with the down arrow)
You should now see the variable name and value in the list.
This is where you change the value of the rod extension for each family member.
You will have to measure and set the offsets accordingly.
Note that 2dp's might not be accurate enough - I always set measurement readout to maximum available (7dp's)

bc.
2.4GHz Core2 Quad, 4GB RAM,
Quadro FX4600.

Where would we be without sat-nav?

 

[Fonzee78]

Thanks beachcomber! So if I wanted to animate the cylinder cycling in the assembly, would this type of alternating position work for that purpose?

Thanks!

Joel

 

[beachcomber]

Not in normal assembly mode.
Your Alternate Position assemblies are each fixed in length, so if you change the parent assembly distance between ends, you will have to go back and change the offset in the cylinder model.
To get the cylinder to extend according to the assembly you would have to use Adjustable Assembly, but I think that's a bit beyond your skills level at the moment (please don't be insulted by this statement)
You could try creating measurement variables in the main assembly and then linking those to the offset variables in the cylinder assembly. It wouldn't be dynamic but should adjust automatically.

I'm not sure what you can do in ERA environment, but I still don't think its possible.

bc.
2.4GHz Core2 Quad, 4GB RAM,
Quadro FX4600.

Where would we be without sat-nav?

 

[Fonzee78]

Sounds great and I thank you for your help. I take no offense to the statement as I am just learning and have a long way to go