Done the Search, But Still Need Large Assembly Advice... 2

[4mranch6]

Running NX 7.5.3.3 on a Dell T3400 Precision Workstation, 32 Bit, XP Professional, 4GB Total Physical Memory / 3GB Total Virtual Memory.

My computer is being replaced next week (July 29) and I have requested that it be set up as a 64 Bit workstation.

After starting Teamcenter and NX then opening up my file my Physical Memory dwindles to less than 200MB.

I tried the "Lightweight" reference set swap out and it did increase my usable memory slightly, but when I got to the drawing the views would not Hidden line update properly because of the "Lightweight" parts/sub-assemblies.

I have literally come to a point where I can do no more work on this project because I run out of memory too quickly. There is still many more parts that need to be added to my assembly model and then the drawing still needs to be completed.

So I come to my list of inquiries on what to do next:

1.) Will the new 64 Bit machine help with this memory issue or will it also need additional Physical memory?

2.) Since "Lightweight" reference sets are not drawing view friendly, what are my options?

3.) I have "Searched" the forum and found several similar questions, but clarification is what I need at this point.

4.) I think I understood in one of the forum threads that extracting edges in a view is one way to ease the problem, but I see this as a labor intensive solution. When future revisions are made this method sure would cause frustration. NX and the associative capabilities sure make detailng easier.

5.) I have also gone back thru my individual parts and tried to simplify them as much as I could without compromising there intent.

So at this point any advice sure would be appreciated and if additional information is needed to answer my questions just let me know.

Thanks in advance,
Gary

 

[4mranch6]

As I continue to check into my issue I just noticed that one of my sub-assemlies (That happens to be a large assembly itself.) is loading almost all of its parts even though I am using a Reference Set that just has the outer shell components selected.

Is there a way to prevent this? Partial Loading is turned on.

 

[4mranch6]

Alright, on second check I had accidentally swapped out the "FP" reference set instead of the "Outer Only" one when I back tracked on the ""Lightweight" reference set.

Please ignore the previous post about all the components in a sub-assembly loading.

 

[cowski]

Will the new 64 Bit machine help with this memory issue or will it also need additional Physical memory?

Make sure the 64 bit version of NX is installed along with a 64 bit OS. If that happens, you will see a small improvement in memory usage as the 64 bit OS/program combo will be able to take full advantage of the memory you already have (32 bit Windows has some limitations even before it hits the 4GB limit). But based on your description, it sounds like you will need more. 8GB is a fairly common setup, but memory is fairly cheap these days I'd ask for 16GB or more (4 4GB sticks seem to be going for $120 - $300, depending on specs). That amount may give you a little future-proofing (at least for another month or so!).

 

[JohnRBaker]

Note that we do NOT recommend that you create Reference Sets in an Assembly for the purpose of excluding some of the Compoments when this Assembly is added as a Component itself to the next level assembly thus making it a sub-assembly. The recommended approach is to use Arrangements for that purpose. You will find that long term this approach will provide you the flexiblity that you need without some of the problem which will result when using Reference Sets to control the content of sub-assemblies. Note that this topic has been discussed here SEVERAL times over the past few years.

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.com/museum/

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

 

[4mranch6]

Thanks John, I have never used Arrangements before and will give it a try and keep you updated.

 

[4mranch6]

I am trying to set up the desired Arrangements and I am having difficulty doing so. I have the sub-assembly open as the Displayed Part.

I select Assemblies / Arrangements / Arrangement menu opens / I select the first Arrangement on the list and Copy it / I selct the new Arrangement and proceed to selct from the ANT which components I want in this new Arrangement

Once the components are selected in the ANT what do I do to add them to the selected Arrange,ent?

 

[JohnRBaker]

The approach to take is the opposite of that. Note that there is always an 'Arrangement 1', which is the default. You don't want to mess with that one as it will be used to represent that complete or original Assembly.

What you do is, while the assembly (which will eventually be the sub-assembly in the next level assembly) is the displayed part, in the Assembly Navigator, select the assembly, press MB3 and select the Arrangement option 'Edit'. When the dialog opens, select the first Icon on the bottom labeled 'New Arrangement' and an 'Arrangement 2' will be created (note that once created, you can rename the arrangements to any name that you wish). Now select the icon in the upper right labeled 'Use' which make this the 'active' Arrangement. Now select all of the components which you do NOT want to see in this arrangement, press MB3 and select 'Suppression...' and since there is now more than one Arrangement possible, a dialog will come up asking how you want this suppression handled and in your case I would make sure that the new arrangement is highlighted, set the 'State' to 'Always Suppressed' and hit OK or Apply. Now the two arrangements will have different content.

Note that you can also do this with moving Components so they will appear to be in different locations from one Arrangement to another.

Also note that if you intend to have several different Arrangements, all representing the complete assembly with some changes applied to it, when you create those additional arrangemtns make sure that in that Arrangement 'Edit' dialog that the original 'Arrangement 1' is the one that's selected when do a 'New Arrangement' since it will use the selected Arrangement as the starting-point for the new one. Now of course, if you're creating a series of Arrangements which shows a 'process' by which the assembly changes from one configuration to the next to the next, etc. and each iteration is the last one with a few more changes, than it's better to select the last arrangement before creating the next one as a lot of work has already been done.

Anyway, once you have your Arrangements created when you go to add the sub-assembly to the next higher level assembly, just add is as a component like always and then go to the Assembly Navigator, select the Sub-assembly, press MB3, select Arrangement and from the list select 'Arrangement 2' (or whatever you named it) and presto, that will then be configured as it was when you created it. Note that you can add the same sub-assembly multiple times in the same higher level assembly and show them using different arrangements. This can be very useful where the sub-assembly may be such that when it's used the components inside the sub-assembly may be on different but pre-defined positions, such as say a valve where it might be shown in one place Open and in another Closed. You could have two arrangements, one showing it Open and one Closed and then when you added to your assembly you can then choose which way that you want to see it, Open or Closed, or if there were multiple instances, some Open and others Closed.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

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.com/museum/

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

 

[4mranch6]

I have created the Arrangements as suggested, but by using them it has done little to alleviate my file's glut on my available memory.

I have requested the new workstation to be upgraded to 64 bit NX and 64 bit OS, plus added memory. Hopefully this request will be approved, if not I am not sure how to proceed from here.

I have also gone back thru all the modeled components used in this large assembly and simplified them as much as possible.

On a side note Arrangements do not allow the addition of any data beyond components (I.E.: text, curves, etc...) that may be required in the files at the next level.

 

[JohnRBaker]

I hope I didn't mislead anyone into thinking that if you use Arrangements that this will suddenly allow Assemblies to be opened and worked on while using less memory. That is not the case. Arrangements are just another (and more preferred) method for collecting and arranging the desired Components into multiple 'configurations' stored within the same Assembly file. It's no more or no less efficient than any other scheme, just the one that we recommend and that we will assume that you're using.

As for what you see as being the inability to include text and curves, remember, we're dealing with an Assembly here, which should normally consist of ONLY Components. Now if you've included text and curves objects in the Reference Set used by a particular Component, then Arrangements will account for those as well since from it's point-of-view, the text and curves are simply PART of the Component, no different than a solid body being part of a Component.

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.com/museum/

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

 

[4mranch6]

So I just wanted to do a follow up with the new/upgraded computer. The 64 bit plus added memory has done the trick and made it possible to continue on with the project. At present the new computer has 6GB, but will be upgraded to 12GB soon.

Thanks to all who offered their assistance.

 

[DMiller01]

If I create an arrangement which suppresses selected components in the assembly and some of these components have linked features, will features in other non-suppressed parts which rely on those links fail?

I am using 7.5.2.5 NATIVE on Dell with windows XP OS

 

[cowski]

I've not tried it, so I can't say with 100% certainty, but I believe they would not fail. Suppressed does not mean 'not loaded'.