I need an old school routing pro's help.

[Minnyman]

Howdy All!

Here is my situation. I am currently making lots of hydraulic hoses and need to find out what I am doing wrong. My company doesn't have the add-in for routing so its all old school.

What I do is to make the 3dsketch using lines and fillets in the upper assembly. I then mate the hose fittings to the 3d sketch and part it is connected to. I now insert a new part and with the regular sketch I convert entities of the profile sketch ( I made the profile sketch in the fitting part model) and then exit the sketch. Next I create a new 3dsketch while still in "edit part" mode. In this 3dsketch I convert the entities of the upper assembly level 3dsketch. Then I exit out and make my sweep. Everything is fine and dandy up to this point for me. Now after naming and saving the new part I make the sub-assembly by selecting the three components (fittings and hose) and create a new assembly from components.

Is it normal for the mates to go haywire at this point? I have been able to delete or suppress some mates and make it work but I would like to know if I am missing a step.

Also when the boss comes by and says that all the hoses with the 90deg fittings now have strait fittings is there an easy way to swap them out or am I going to have to redo the 3dsketches and rebuild the sweeps to account for no 90deg? I have tried replacing the component and hoping the hose would "adjust" but it has never worked so I just end up redoing the 3dsketches and rebuilding the hose part.

Also, I dream a lot about hydraulic hoses, is that bad?? lol.

Thanks for your help.

 

[MadMango]

Look into using Projected Sketch Curves in SW Help. I've found that 3D Sketches are cumbersome and hard to edit/dimension, while Projected Sketch Curves are easier and more reliable. It's been a couple years since I've had to work with routing electrical lines or hydraulics, but used to do it quiet often in a previous position. It helps to place your end fittings first in your assembly, then create the hydraulic hose between the two, then Create New Subassembly should not explode on you.

As for 45/90 or straight fittings, as long as they are modeled properly (for your use), there shouldn't be an issue swapping them out. Might want to consider remodeling them so the Origin of the part is on the face of the fitting where the hoses fit, and make sure you Mate to similar Planes instead of model features.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

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