Positioning an existing part into another existing part accurately

[MT82]

I have been looking through the forums for this - i have an existing part (eg Brake disk hub) into which i can paste another part (eg brake disk) i then want to subtract with boolean the disk from the brake hub so that the internal floating pattern on the disk is exactly the same on the hub
The problem is how do i position exactly one part relatively to another inside the same part so that the boolean subtract can be done afterwards? Is there something like mates to help out? - other ideas welcome also
I guess the same problem someone must face when making an injection mold for example, supposing that you dont want to redraw the billet for the mold again in a new body within the same part ( lets say you want to reuse the same block that has water passages etc already used for a similar part and really dont want to draw it from the beggining)
Thank you in advance for your advice

 

[GELFS]

Hi MT82,

You may try the following method:
1. Insert both parts in a product
2. Position the Brake Disk part relatively to the Brake Disk Hub part with the aid of constraints
3. Remove (Insert > Assembly Features > Remove) Brake Disk part body from the assembly.

A Remove feature will be added in the Brake Disk Hub part, dynamically linked to the Break Disk instance in the assembly.

-GEL
Imposible is nothing.

 

[jackk]

We use LINKS to accomplish this with mating parts. With Links, the child part (Hub) will automatically change whenever the part part (disk) is modified. Sometimes we will copy/link bodies, but more often we will copy/link sketches, surfaces, planes, etc.

To position the parts, you can follow GELF's steps, or copy the Disk body into the Hub file and use Part Constraints to position the Disk.

 

[MT82]

GELFS: Thank you - what you said worked for me

Jackk: What do you mean with Links - can you point me to a youtube example to understand ? (pm me if you cannot post it here) thank you

 

[jackk]

There are many different types of links that create parent/child relationships between different CATIA files. These are beneficial because these links automatically share design changes.

Drawings are linked to 3D models. Parts are linked to Assemblies. Use Edit + Links to see and manage the links.

And Parts (and/or geometry) can be linked to other Parts.

GELFS described (in another recent post) how to make links automatically by working within the context of an assembly. To do as GELF suggests, you must have you Tools + Options set ahead of time (did you try it yet?). The good/bad of following GELFS method is CATIA will automatically download the assembly when editing parts that contain links.