Better way to handle a sequence drawing than exploded views?

[gurucallie]

When we need to show a tool sequence we are using the EXPLODED VIEW function in NX6 to show certain components moved up/down or in/out to mimick how a tool will look at certain stages. Does NX6 offer a better tool than exploded views to get the same result?
When you use exploded views you loose the assembly constraints and if a component is replaced after the individual views are created (exploded) you have to go in manually to each view and move those new parts into the correct place, assembly constraints have no bearing on an exploded view. Is there something NX6 (or above) offers to get the sequence views while keeping the associativity for ease of updates? A typical sequence drawing will have 15-20 views, we were thinking about getting into Motion or assembly sequences but wanted to get other opinions. We are willing to buy a license or get training if it saves on production time.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Have you looked at Assembly Arrangements?

You can create an assembly with as many Arrangements as you wish and when creating drawing and adding a view of sub-assembly, you can ask to show the view based on any arrangement saved in the original sub-assembly file.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[gurucallie]

Thank you, I will give the arrangements a go. For some reason (it may be because in the past is was too difficult to use) my company has rejected it and so the more senior designers have also rejected it, but I am not a fan of exploded views mainly because of the loss of associativity. It is difficult to move the components and as I mentioned if a part is exchanged in the assembly level each view has to be updated individually and there are usually about 15-20. We may be moving to NX7.5 soon (next few months) do you still see arrangements as a way to go or is there something in 7.5 that might work better?

 

[JohnRBaker]

Arrangements sound like what you need. And NO, there is nothing on the horizon which I think is going to change that.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.