Catia V5 Design Tables

[mtharp]

I am cading up a model airplane and the fuselage formers all have the same geometry. They get smaller towards the empenage. I know that there is a way to create a design table in catia so with only a few parameters you can change the geometry of a sketch. This would come in very handy in this application. I have seen it done once but can't remember how. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

 

[ferdo]

http://2htts.com/CATBlog/index.php?itemid=38

http://2htts.com/CATBlog/index.php?itemid=21&catid=4

Regards
Fernando

 

[140point6]

Thanks for the pointers, I have a very similar problem (finger bones in a prosthetic had, differing only in length).

Is is it possible using this method to have different configurations in the same assembly, without decoupling the parts from the original?

In all my attempts I have only been able to have one configuration of a part active in an assembly at once, or to create a copy which breaks the link with the original part.

Thanks,

Nick

 

[solid7]

You need to look into Part Catalogs. That would be your best bet.

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[140point6]

OK Part Families and Catalogues seem to do the trick, kind of... the catalogue does not let me re-resolve the parts once I have changed the master part.

Every time I make a change to the source part, I have to go into the catalog editor and jump through hoops to get it to update the generated parts. 'Edit' > 'Links' >'Synchronize' sometimes seems to work, but only for minor changes.

What I end up doing is deleting the chapter and recreating it, basically creating all the files again and overwriting the previosly generated set.

Is there a way to re-resolve, or 'force' resolve parts from the catalog?

 

[solid7]

Parts Catalogs are kinda funny like that. I think that the idea was supposed to be that you didn't do a whole lot of changing of parts already created. I understand that it's a pain to modify them. Usually, I try to keep 2 sessions open, and do the addition of parts in the "other" Catia session. However, the synchronization is a problem, as you say. (related to having parts already loaded in a current session) You will do a good bit of bouncing back and forth if you are creating parts on the fly. I would guess that someone out there has a script to do a manual sync, but I can't say it authoritatively.

Power copies are another option, if catalogs don't work well. From there, knowledge templates are yet another route. I don't know exactly what you're doing, but there is definitely the capability to accomplish what you ask.

Hope that helps.

P.S. - it sometimes helps to delete all of the parts in your catalog directory before you insert a new part. They'll be re-created, or prompted for update when you need a new part. (dummy parts into your model to help force the sync/update)

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