Fillet/Chamfer on Assembly

[Takami826]

Hopefully I explain this well enough for someone to help me. I'm using SW 2004 SP4.2

I have an assembly of parts. Once assembled, a portion of the part gets machined off. After this step, a corner fillet needs to be added to the newly machined edge. I cannot find any way to do this in assembly mode. I don't want to have to create a machined version of the part because if the part gets revised in the future, I would have to edit 2 parts (the original unmachined version and the machined version). It would be more beneficial to be able to simply fillet the freshly machined edge.

I have this assy configured because after the machining step, a relief groove also had to be added. I would just like to add a fillet to the edge and the project would be completed for this stage.

Thanks
Jacqui

 

[SBaugh]

You cannot add material to an assembly, You may only cut features at the assembly level. If you want to add a fillet feature then you will have to do this at the part stage. if you have to have it at the assembly level I think your going to be SOL.

You are going to have to make a machined and cast part at the part level or maybe this thread will help you thread559-107192

But to re-iterate you CANNOT add material to an assembly and you cannot add a Fillet feature like you want to your assembly.

Regards,


Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[MadMango]

Think of the models you build in SW in real-world terms. You cannot add material to an exisiting assembly, short of welding, glueing or mechanicaly fastening something (another part) to that assembly.

[green]"But what... is it good for?"[/green]
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[mncad]

Takami,

I think you could do this at the assembly level. If it is an inside edge then you will have to have the fillet in the sketch, basically creating the profile of the milling cutter that is making the cut. If the edge is an outside edge then you could just do another extrude cut with the fillet as the sketch.

mncad

 

[SBaugh]

That maybe true mncad, but what if the edge is more like a sweep? You cannot make a cut-sweep at the assembly stage. Plus it's just bad practice and bad design intent to do it this away.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[ctopher]

Maybe make a configuration in the part that shows the fillet?

 

[Takami826]

Madmango, material is not being added to this part, it is simply rounding out the corner that remains after the face cut. Real world process is to machine off the face and radius the remaining edge. No material is being added. I simply need to radius an edge.

I have used mncad's method in the past, but it will not work for this type of shape. A revolve cut will not work, either, because of the various other features around the circumference of this part.

I will continue to toy with this, I will find a way to do it, I was hoping for a fast solution, but this time it doesn't seem to be the case.

thanks all

 

[ctopher]

Try a sketch of the radius and extrude-cut, if possible. Not much help without seeing the part.

 

[Dennyd]

If in production you would be machining the assembly to remove material for a radius or chamfer then you should be able to do this in the model of the assembly as well. As ctopher mentioned, if you could post a picture we might be able to better understand.

With regard to the swept cut and the various other features around the circumference of the part - you should look at Feature Scope. Create the swept or revolved cut in the assy. Then RMB on this feature. The third item down is Feature Scope. Clicking on this shows all the parts in your assembly that are included in this cut, even if they are not physically cut. You should select and delete all but the few items you want to actually be cut. The Feature Scope by default includes all the active parts at the time of the cut. You can make this a short list in the first place by temporarily suppressing all the parts you do not want to be included in the cut, then create your assy cut, then resolve those other parts. See if this helps.

- - -Dennyd

 

[SBaugh]

You only have 2 types of cuts in the assembly stage - Cut-Extrude and Cut-Revolve. If your part is not a straight edge then I don't think you will find away around this.

It's Unforunate that you feel that this is the process for your files. As for it's bad Design Intent and that is what SW has basised itself on since it was first designed.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[engAlright]

It doesn't appear that chamfers and fillets have been added in 2005 as assembly features either.

We "simulate" chamfers and fillets using extrude and revolve cuts at the assembly level all the time for ground and broken edges on weldments.

 

[SBaugh]

I can guarantee you that they will not add them in future releases either, because that is not the proper function in the assembly stage of SW.

What are you welding together? Why can't you use the Weldment Toolbar?

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[engAlright]

We are welding together thick plate. It is very common when welding together two thick steel plates to grind one edge of that steel to a chamfer to increase the weld fill area, thus improving the strength (penetration) of the weld i.e V, J, square groove welds or bevel welds.

You might also be adding chamfers to a finished weldment (sub-weldment) that will be used in another weldment, or adding fillets to sharp corners to make the steel safe for handling.

These processes are usually done manually by die-grinder at the finished weldment stage, thus we put them in to the assembly at that stage (welded configuration).

The weldment funcitonally, in my experience, seems to be limited to structural steel and is not very useful for bent sheet metal plates.