NX Reference Sets - Again

[Suskam]

I have been searching the threads all day, and still haven't found a solution to my problem with reference sets.
My assembly problem is more complicated, but I have simplified it here: (NX10)

I have a part "A" with a crimped and uncrimped body in the part. I made 2 reference sets in the part named crimped and uncrimped. Each with the other body not shown.
In my first assembly "B", other parts are assembled with part "A", but no crimping is involved, so I use the uncrimped reference set in this assembly.
In the next higher assembly "C" which contains assembly "B", the parts are crimped. This is where I am thrown off - if I change the reference set in assembly "C",
it messes up the assembly "B". Is there a way to show different bodies of the same parts in different assemblies?
I understand reference sets were not intended to be made in assemblies, so I have avoided that. I have seen suggestions to use arrangements instead,
but as I understand arrangements control position and visibility of instances, not visibility of bodies. Any help would be appreciated.

Product Designer: I-Deas/NX/Catia
Automotive Industry

 

[Xwheelguy]

How certain are you that you were doing everything correctly? You seem pretty confident that it's the software. I only ask because in your first post you make a completely inaccurate statement concerning Arrangements - they CAN be used to control visibility, as can layers when used in the correct context/situation. If you don't fully understand one command, then chances are you're not fully understanding another.

I'm not intending to come off as insulting, but with what I stated above and your refusing to post example parts/assemblies or even pictures I'm not sure what one can expect to get in terms of direction or help. Help us help you.

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 9.0.2.5 Win7 Enterprise x64 SP1
Intel Core i7 2.5GHz 16GB RAM
4GB NVIDIA Quadro K3100M

 

[NutAce]

Yeah...What you are trying to do is indeed not how it is intended by Siemens...
Although a Drawing is in fact an "Assembly" like structure, as I earlier said, it is not capable of showing more than one reference set. Which means that you cannot just switch reference sets to show different situations on one drawing. (with arrangements you can and in fact show different arrangements in different views)

With reference sets, for each different situation you need to create a separate drawing.

Ronald van den Broek
Senior Application Engineer
Winterthur Gas & Diesel Ltd
NX9 / TC10.1.2

Building new PLM environment from Scratch using NX11 / TC11

 

[Suskam]

@Xwheelguy: Not sure what you mean, my first post does say that you can control visibility with arrangements. At this point that is one of the only things I am sure of.
I am in the process of pulling all of my formed bodies out of my parts and making them separate parts. But I will try and post some pics to explain:
The first pic shows parts before entering 2nd asm.
The 2nd pic shows sleeve (green) pulled back, and uncrimped parts ready to be crimped.
The 3rd pic shows the end result, with 4 parts formed, sleeve is sandwiched in the crimp.
I had all different shapes as bodies in the parts, intending to use reference sets to show different in each assembly. I could not get it to work reliably.

Product Designer: I-Deas/NX/Catia
Automotive Industry

 

[Suskam]

I must have scared everyone away...
Update: I removed all of the reference sets in the 4 parts, copied the formed bodies into new parts, added both the formed and unformed
parts to the assemblies, and suppressed/unsuppressed as needed in each using arrangements. It seems like reference sets were a good
idea at some point in time, but the programming never followed through to make this feature robust in the assembly structure.
I now agree with JohnRBaker: reference sets in assemblies are not recommended.

Product Designer: I-Deas/NX/Catia
Automotive Industry

 

[NutAce]

Keep in mind that also Arrangements work only 1 level up...
You cannot drive arrangements in subassemblies

Ronald van den Broek
Senior Application Engineer
Winterthur Gas & Diesel Ltd
NX9 / TC10.1.2

Building new PLM environment from Scratch using NX11 / TC11

 

[Javiduc]

Another approach would be to use promote body. You design de uncrimpped body at part level (part A), then you assemble with the wires and you have an assembly with all the parts but not crimped yet (assembly B), then you create another assembly (assembly C) and add the assembly B inside assembly C. Once in assembly C you promote part A body and modify it to crimped. As you are not working with reference set, the drawing of each part/assembly will show you the part/assembly as it is in real life.

The point of promote body in NX is that you can modify the body at assembly level with all the powerful tools you have at part level, so you can cut, extrude, bend...

 

[Kenja824]

I am bit confused by what is happening. If I get this right, you are adding a part to an assembly with one reference sent. Then you are adding that assembly to a higher assembly and want the part to be in another ref set?

It seems to me it would be better to show these scenarios in the same level of assembly. Create one assembly with all of the parts you need. If you need to show a component in three different reference sets, you would add the component to the assembly three times on different layer. All three instances of the same component can be set to a different ref set. Then in the drafting views, only show the layers of the component with the correct ref set you want visible. In your pictures above, make the first picture on sheet one with each of those components on layers visible in that view. Turn other layers off. On sheet two you can add a view for picture #2 and show the layers with the components with those ref sets. and so on...

**If I am way off on understanding the problem, please ignore this message. )

 

[SS88]

NutAce: This goes a bit off the topic but you can use Arrangements to drive parts two levels below if you use Position Override option in the parts you are driving with Arrangements.

 

[NutAce]

NutAce: This goes a bit off the topic but you can use Arrangements to drive parts two levels below if you use Position Override option in the parts you are driving with Arrangements.

Yes that's true but! The arrangements are stored in the toplevel of the assembly-A where they are created. When you create assembly-Band use A as a sub assembly you cannot drive those arrangements in Assembly A and store it in Assembly B.
Next time you open the Assembly B it will use the Default arrangement from Assembly A.

Ronald van den Broek
Senior Application Engineer
Winterthur Gas & Diesel Ltd
NX9 / TC10.1.2

Building new PLM environment from Scratch using NX11 / TC11