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Now I'm learning have Questions

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PEU

Computer
Nov 30, 2004
48
Well, I did the 1st 5 online tutorials and I'm amazed on the amount of things you can do with just that. However I have some mixed questions:

After making an assembly, mating some parts and using the exploded view button I cannot mate more parts to the assembly because the mate button is grayed out, I have no clue on how to add more mates, I re did the assembly from a previous save that wasn't exploded.

Other:

I want to make a part that consists in a extruded part and in the mid of the height of the extrude I want to add a cilinder that protrudes to the side of the 1st extrude, how can this be done? Using my basic skills I only can do this to the top or the bottom of the 1st extrude. For an mental image of what I want imagine a police baton (the one with a perpendicular handle)

I have more questions, but these are the most urgent ones, and in the meantime I'm still reading tutorials :)

Thanks
 
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1)The exploded view creates a new "exploded" configuration. Chnage back to the original configuration to add more mates.

2) If you started the first extrude on the front plane, and extruded to your length using the mid-plane option, the right or top planes can be used for the second extrude. Otherwise, one of those planes (the one along the direction of extrusion) should be availiable for the next extrude. (HINT: After creating the first feature, right-click each of the 3 planes and select AUTOSIZE to easily see where the planes are located.



Remember...
"If you don't use your head,
your going to have to use your feet."
 
Thanks meintsi, after reading your prompt reply I remembered that my second question was addressed by one of the online lessons (the one with that uses shell) and now this question is solved!

What I can't locate is how to go back to the original configuration after using the exploded view.

Thanks
 
If you go to the "Configuration Manager" on the left, you will see your original configuration. When you are there, click on the square box until you expanded the tree and see something like "EXPLVIEW#".

Right click on that and go to "Collapse" and you should be able to mate again.

Let me know of it worked.
 
Thanks WorkingLife, as expected by your detailed reply, it worked like a charm !

I'm doing tutorials like crazy :) !

 
More questions:

I still dont get the concept of cosmetic threads:

Should I know beforehand the height of the thread?
IE: I have a extrude of 20mm diameter 50mm long and want to make a 32 TPI thread on the outside, do I need to resize the extrude to the diameter plus thread height?

I'm really confused :) pointers to tutorials are welcome :D


And a non related second question:

I define the material of a piece, lets say brass, is there a simple way to know the weight of the piece?

Thanks in advance!!!
 
1. For cosmetic threads, I would just right click on the face you'd like threaded, select Appearance, Texture, Thread and then adjust to your liking. No need to adjust the extrude for threading, and its geometrically much simplier.

2. Once you have specified a material under Tools select Mass Properties. The weight will be there.
 
You should know how deep your threads need to be, then you design for your pre-tap hole depth accordingly. Or take a spin on the Hole Wizard, and it will calculate things for you. It also depends if you are using a standard tap or a bottoming tap, etc, etc.

Mass Properties: With the part open, Tools> Mass Properties will give you the weight of your part (and more)... but only if you have defined the proper density for the material you are designing with.

[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?
 
PEU ... when using cosmetic threads, a shaft should be at the max thread outside dia & a hole should be at the minimum or core dia. The cosmetic thread is simply a sketched circle which represents either the min thread dia on a shaft or the max thread dia in a hole.

[cheers]
 
I know that I want a standard 32 TPI outside thread, but from the replies I understand that I only need to draw solid pieces, the cosmetic threads can be easily added later in a drawing for machining purposes right?

In short, if threads are needed in a piece, they will be added at machining time right?

and regarding the second question about the weight, I only see the volume, mass and other measurements but no weight.


Thanks !!
 
If you look closely when you view Mass Properties, you'll see Mass= X.XX pounds (or whatever units you are using).

[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?
 
the cosmetic threads can be easily added later in a drawing for machining purposes right?

In short, if threads are needed in a piece, they will be added at machining time right?
No ... the cosmetic thread should be added when creating the part model. That way it will automatically appear when the drawing views are created. If you leave it till the drawing is created it could be too easy to forget to add the cosmetic thread ... especially if the drawings aren't done till a while later or if someone else is creating the drawings & detailing.

[cheers]
 
Thanks for the post Corblimey, I need hints on how to create an outside a pipe cosmetic thread, I found no tutorials on how to do it, how to specify the TPI, the height, etc (I don't even know if TPI is needed for cosmetic threads...)

I checked the online tutorials, but none have a cosmetic thread in the process.

Thanks again!
 
You can add a Cosmetic thread at the part level, by click Insert\Annotations\Cosmetic Thread.

I believe pipe threads are tapered. With Cosmetic threads you don't have that option. SW is unable to determine what kind of thread your putting on the part, so it just uses a standard straight thread.

With using the Annotations Cosmetic thread. You have to provide the Minor Diameter. So the Minor Diameter must not exceed the over Diameter of the pipe.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP [pc2]
3DVision Technologies

Merry Christmas [santa3]
faq731-376
faq559-716 - SW Fora Users
 
If the cylindrical surface created by the edge the cosmetic thread is placed on is tapered, the cosmetic thread will taper also.

You can place the info you would like called out in the drawing (including TPI)in the Thread Callout box.
 
The pipe will have to be made tapered over the portion where the cosmetic pipe thread is to be shown.

[cheers]
 
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