Plotting a derivative sketch from a part's motion

[wrajr]

Help!

I am trying to design a case based on the motion of one the parts inside. The part revolves in an irregular circular motion and I need to derive a sketch of the path of motion to use to make a case. Any ides how to make a SW 2D sketch from the motion path of a part?

Many thanks...Bill

 

[Standing]

wrajr,
Check out Physical Dynamics. Physical Dynamics is an option in Collision Detection that allows you to see the motion of assembly components in a realistic way. I took this right out of the SolidWorks Help manual. This may give you some ideas. Good luck. Bradley

 

[MadMango]

You could try Alternate Position drawings (if you have SW01+) of your assy to map the motion of your parts. For more info, check out SW Help. "Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."

 

[Stoker]

If you only have the base product to work with, there is only one idea that comes to mind. What you really need to do is record the position of a point (or points) on the internal part as it cycles through its motion. You could write these points to an external text file or spreadsheet and then import them as a curve through free points to create your 2D sketch. There are two ways to do this. You could just manually change the driving dimensions and use reference dimensions to show the position of the point(s) of interest. The disadvantage of this method is that there is no convenient way of recording the point info and it will take a long time if you want to do a large number of positions. The better, but more difficult solution is to use a macro to create small increments in the position of the part, rebuilt the assembly, and then write out the reference dimensions. VBA is the way to go.