Mirror parts in Assembly

[m1mason]

Hi,

I mirror a part in the assembly. when I open the mirrored one separately, it has no intelligence, no features. Is there a way of preserving the features so I would be able to edit the part rather than it being "dumb"?

 

[MadMango]

No. Mirrored parts don't rely on feaure information, since it is all associated with the Parent part.

Ray Reynolds
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[m1mason]

Thanks, I thought so too. just wanted to be assured.

 

[Standing]

m1mason,
That is the exact reason we discontinued the use of mirrored parts. We always wanted to modified the mirrored part a year later.


Bradley

 

[aamoroso]

Same here, we stopped using mirrored parts. We had instances where the original part became obsolete or changed so dramatically the mirrored parts no longer served thier purpose. This has happened a few times to many and therefore we now design individual models for left and right parts.

 

[MadMango]

I'll add that I found this out a long time ago as well. Now, I only use mirrored parts for the intitial design phase and prototyping of any project, and ensure that a fully-featured opposite-hand model is created for release and production.

Ray Reynolds
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[Moroso]

Hello Everyone,

In Pro/E you can mirror a part by copy and get all the features of the part to be independent like the original part.
The procedure is to create a new assy with no default datum planes, bring the component you want to mirror into the assembly (don't assy it to anything let it be unconstained), in the assy create a new part by mirror, name it, use copy not reference, select a datum from the original part the direction you want to mirror and the new part is mirrored.
At this point you call up the new mirrored part in a different window and save it to disk, wipe out the assy out of memory ... do not save that assy or it ruins everything.
By calling up the new part in a seperate window and saving it along with breaking all ties to the assy you now have a independent part from the original and a perfect mirror that you could modify all you want.

I know this is in Pro/E and I'm not trying to start any flames, I'm just trying to show a method of doing this that maybe someone could try in Solidworks since I am not that versed in the software. I'm sure there is someone that also uses Pro/E along with Solidworks from the group that could maybe try it in Pro then try it in SWorks, I'd be really interested to see if it works.

HTH

Brian

 

[aamoroso]

As soon as you mirror the part in the assy it becomes a "dummy mirror". I don't believe there is an option to Copy the original, it references by default. Pro E has a little more freedom that way.

 

[Moroso]

Thank you aamoroso for the feedback. I guess there aren't many options in this area.

BTW great name aaMOROSO 8^)

 

[Standing]

I tried it.
If you mirror it in an assy then part1 becomes part1.
If you mirror it in as a part, the part1 it becomes part2, but still a mirrored part.


Bradley