SolidWorks Flexible Parts

[drawoh]

Has anybody out in Eng-Tips land played with flexible components?

I want to install a flexible component into a pocket, make it flexibly fit the pocket, then I want to array it. It would be very nifty (and functional) if the components arrayed in their flexible state. Right now, they don't. If I want to do this, I will have to make each and every arrayed component flexible, and then apply constraints.

Any ideas?

--
JHG

 

[ctopher]

You need to mate the parts in a way you want them to move. In the assy, right-click on them and select icon for make flexible.

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks
ctophers home

 

[drawoh]

ctopher,

I got that. I can make the first one flexible to the shape I want. I want the arrayed parts to be the same shape.

--
JHG

 

[ctopher]

If arrayed as a pattern, they should all change together.
Anyway to show an image?

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks
ctophers home

 

[jassco]

Hi, JHG:

Does Solidworks have "flexible" component features? I know there is flexible assembly where components are allowed to move.

Please post an image to show what you are trying to achieve.

As Chris said, if you array a component, all instances of this component should change together as a group.

Best regards,

Alex

 

[moon161]

More work, but try copy with mates?

 

[SBaugh]

There are no options for "Flexible features" such as rubber being squeezed. You can make springs flex, but that's a complex process and it will complex your assembly. Unless you are a spring manufacturer it's not worth your time.

Flexible components are just an option to mate components together and they move more easily with the control of mates. Such as a door opening and there is some sort of stop that has react to it when it touches. That is what Flexible components are good for.

Scott Baugh, CSWP
Mechanical Engineer
Ciholas

https://www.ciholas.com/

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[drawoh]

ctopher,

What I am actually doing is more complicated than this, but this illustrates the problem. Here, I have two views of the same assembly with two flexible coil springs. Note how I did not model the hard-to-render helixes (helices?). In the exploded view, the springs are shown not-flexed. In the lower view, they are flexed separately, but they report the same item number. So far, so good. I have designed all sorts of optical fixtures in the past that used coil springs, so this is very cool.

My problem is that I want to array the flexed components, in their flexed state. If I do this, the arrayed parts will be not flexed. I can make each and every piece flexible with constraints, but I don't want to do this with say forty eight parts. Also, I want to edit the assembly and change number of arrayed pieces.

It looks like I need to make a request to SolidWorks

--
JHG

 

[ctopher]

For springs you can't make them flexible. They are relaxed or compressed configurations.
I have asked SW for years to make them flexible.

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks
ctophers home

 

[jassco]

Hi, JHG:

No. That is not how Solidworks works. Solidworks is a database software based on items. For your springs, there are two items or states (free vs compressed).

What is your item #2? Is it a part model with 6 "donuts" (bodies)?

If your spring has two states, you can make them with two configurations. You can make it either a helix spring, or a bunch of "donuts" as you did.

You don't need to array the flexed components. You just need to make one part with two or more configurations.

Best regards,

Alex

 

[3DDave]

"Note how I did not model the hard-to-render helixes" Coward.

Both the helix and the flex is trivial in Pro/E, now Creo.

 

[drawoh]

jassco,

The drawing is mine, off of my 3D[ ]model. I am showing donuts because I don't want to model helixes. Helixes slow down updates. The parts are coil springs, and they have only one configuration.

SolidWorks 2021 has some capability to model flexible parts. It takes some fiddling to set up, and logical documentation is tricky, but it works nicely in the views shown. I just can't array them.

--
JHG

 

[jassco]

Hi, JHG:

What you are trying to do is not "Flexible" components. I think you want to make "smart" components that are driven by your assembly mates. If you make your springs with "top down" approach (instead of bottom-up approach), they will behave the way you want. The distance (or pitch) between "donuts" can be controlled with an equation.

Best regards,

Alex

 

[3DDave]

One way to fake a helix that is reasonably fast is to alternate half-torus features that connect at matching pitch to the spring - about the same amount of geometry, formed the same way as the donuts.

What I've done with Pro/E is to include a measure as part of the installation and pass that measure to the part; then pattern/array the measure and part so that the parts will conform to the reference surfaces. Surely Solidworks has copied that ability.

 

[jassco]

Hi, JHG:

Can you show what you did so far? When you said "if the components arrayed in their flexible state", that indicates you used to use different 3D CAD packages before. In Solidworks, it is called "pattern" feature.

There are 3 different kinds of springs that you can create.

1. Stand-alone springs with single (default) or multiple configurations;
2. Springs with variables that you can control;
3. Top-down springs that are controlled by its parent assembly.

A Top-down spring can be patterned, but it is not reusable as it is customed. All the springs above can be patterned.

Is your spring a single part (*.sldprt) or a sub-assembly (*.sldasm)?

Best regards,

Alex

 

[drawoh]

jassco,

Look up SolidWorks flexible components. I have only one configuration of the spring, and there are no variables. The length at assembly time can be controlled by the assembly. In my figure above, I have two instances of the same spring, i.e., the quantity on my BOM will be two, in spite of the springs rendering to different lengths on the assembly.

--
JHG

 

[SBaugh]

Mike J Wilson is an old colleague from years past. He disappeared from the forums, but his website is still up. Check out the stuff he made prior to what SW has become today. Maybe something in here will help you.

https://www.mikejwilson.com/otw.html

Scott Baugh, CSWP
Mechanical Engineer
Ciholas

https://www.ciholas.com/

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[jassco]

Hi, JHG:

If you have a part file with single configuration, you can't make it to have two different lengths in the same assembly environment. Your spring is driven by a single input from its parent assembly, but not both.

I just watched this video clip below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euGujlU565I

An in-context part can be edited and modified in a new assembly. But I don't think you can use it in the same assembly.

Best regards,

Alex

 

[jassco]

Hi, JHG:

I just did a test. "Flexible components" is an assembly feature (or an over-write in laymen's term). Currently, SW component pattern command does not support the flexible feature in an assembly.

Best regards,

Alex

 

[drawoh]

SBaugh,

Freemasonry and Tarot cards! This could be interesting.

--
JHG