Free assembly constraints in subasembly in nx7

[eex23]

Please look at the attached picture. Blue line shows assembled rod (its a subassembly). I left one free constraint for the one end of the rod (it can slide along red arrow, and I can slide it manualy then I am editing the rod). Then I put this subassembly to an assembly, I want to connect both end of the rod to the corresponding holes. Of course, I want to slide free end of the rod in order to make both ends concentric. But after adding the last constraint (red circle) as touch/align ->infer center/axis, I am getting an error, and constraints cannot be applied. How to make my rod work as I described?

P.S. I am using new assembly constraints.

thanks

NX7.0.1.7 mp2
win xp 32bit + sp3

 

[eex23]

One more thing to be mentioned: how to use the same rod subassembly in other assembly with different lengths. I know arrangments, but in my case I do not know exact lenght in each case. Exact lenght varies lets say from 600 to 650 mm (according to the fixing hole locations) (see attached picture in the previous post).

thanks.

 

[MickyV007]

You could use Deformable parts, find this under Tools - Define Deformable parts... And add the length parameter as the dimension to be determined according to the fixing hole locations. Search the help function how to use this feature correctly.
Or, make use of Family tables.

Best regards,

Michaël.

NX4+TC9 / NX6+TC8Unified / NX7.5 native

 

[eex23]

I dont think that deformable part is good solution for the assemblies (as for my case for rod subassembly).

 

[JohnRBaker]

What you're looking for is called 'Override Position'. After you have added your sub-assembly to the Assembly, in the Assembly Navigator select the 'Rod', press MB3 and select the option 'Override Position'. You will notice that the position status icons will change to now show an upward arrow (this indicates that the position is now being controlled by the next level of the assembly). You should now be able to move the parts of your sub-assembly relative to the main assembly.

As for your second question, this approach will solve that as well since these 'overridden positions' are unique to each assembly that you use this sub-assembly in. That is, the same sub-assembly can have different positions in different assemblies. In fact, if you loaded two or more copies of a sub-assembly into the same main assembly, using this approach you could position each individual sub-assembly differently, yet still only have to create a single sub-assembly with one set of parts and constraints.

Anyway, give it shot and let us know how it worked.

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.

 

[eex23]

Thanks John for your answer.

Yes, I remember using override position in NX4 (its quite handy method),but here, in NX7 I was not able find this even after you describe how to find it. If I press MB3 on the rod - nothing happens. After pressing MB2 on the rod I get standart context meniu (see attached), and as I have read documentation, I thought that override position was designed only for mating conditions, but not for assembly constraints.
Am I wrong? :/

 

[eex23]

Hmmm... I switched to old mating conditions in nx7, and yes, now there is "override position" after presing MB2 in the assembly navigator.

 

[eex23]

Finally I managed to apply overriden position I just needed to press MB2 on the subassemblys component for overriden position. And now appeared new symbol (see attached). Does this mean overriden position?

 

[JohnRBaker]

I think that on-screen graphic symbol is there it indicate that that particular constraint is in a subassembly and not the top level assembly. No, the change in the symbols which I mentioned was what you see in the Assembly Navigator as per my attached image.

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.