How do I reduce my assembly to 1 part file??? 1

[CADWHORE]

I am working with a model from white hydraulic power. They were kind enough to send me their full CAD file of the motor I will be using. It came as a .stp file. Upon importing it to NX4 it created 33 parts under one main assembly, this overall assembly is the whole motor. Is there a way to save this assembly as a new part where only the surfacs are saved or all of the part files in this assembly are reduced to surfaces or one single part? I ask this because I don't need to manipulate any of the part files, I only need to verify that the motor will fit into the desing envelope.

Thanks,

 

[ewh]

Extract the component bodies using wave linker and remove their parameters?
Export all bodies as a parasolid file?

 

[capnhook]

Make a .stl file out of the whole darn thing??

capnhook
Kevin J Hook
Marine Concepts
Cape Coral, Fl

Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community..

 

[JohnRBaker]

If you have an Advanced Assemblies license you could also use Assemblies -> Advanced -> Linked Exterior... where you extract the outer faces of the all of the components of an assembly to create what is in essence an 'empty shell' composed of surfaces.


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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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

 

[jackley]

I would avoid exporting into a .stl; it will produce nothing but a faceted body. With a faceted body all you really can do is just get distance measurement from, at least in NX3.

Justin Ackley
Designer

 

[capnhook]

I'm pretty sure I read the question correctly.....Mr. Cadwhore wants to "...save this assembly as a new part where only the surfaces are saved or all of the part files in this assembly are reduced to surfaces or one single part...because I don't need to manipulate any of the part files, I only need to verify that the motor will fit into the designing envelope". Making a quick .stl file to toss around the designing envelope is the quickest way to get the job done, period.

capnhook
Kevin J Hook
Marine Concepts
Cape Coral, Fl

Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community..

 

[hudson888]

File>Export>Part

Tick All Objects "ON", instead of "Work Part Only" which is the default.

Select all the bodies from the components that you want to export, and you will probably want to turn off "Retain Parameters", in favor of "Remove Parameters".

Change all your reference sets to those containing solid bodies first.

QED

Hudson

 

[basenxuser]

Hi cadwhore,

you can try this to get a representation of the whole in a single file...

Assemblies->Context Control->Show Product Outline

But this will give you only faceted output.

 

[hudson888]

Here's another idea. Try wrap geometry or wrap assembly.

Insert>Offset Scale>Wrap Geometry.

or if you've an advanced assemblies license,

Assemblies>Advanced>Wrap Assembly

Either of these create a rough offset of your geometry so that it becomes a lighter entity that the original. You can also factor in a nominal desired clearance if you wish. The result may not always be what you want, but try a few simple examples until you get the hang of it.

If you want to go the light geometry route, then just do as stated above by exporting and STL file and then importing it back into an empty file. You'll be able to make rough measurements and section it but very little else.

Regards

Hudson

 

[JohnRBaker]

If you wish to go the Wrap Assembly route, be sure to look at how you can use planes to 'subdivide' the model so that you get a more usable result. See the attached image to see what I mean. First you have the assembly, then a Wrapped Asssembly with NO subdivisions and finally the same model but with 2 planes defined, the top and bottom faces of the valve's arm.


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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

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

 

[capnhook]

Boy, I can see this Wrap technique coming in handy, now that the Christmas season is upon us.......now, where did I put that extruded bow ribbon model to finish it off with??

;-)

capnhook
Kevin J Hook
Marine Concepts
Cape Coral, Fl


Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community..