Continue to Site

Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

Register Log in
  • Congratulations IDS on being selected by the Eng-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

What is a skeleton part?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

Sort by date Sort by votes
A skeleton part is a part that drives top level parts, assemblies, etc. The skeleton part classically contains planes, axes and other reference geometry that bounds the design. In SW you can insert the skeleton part into every part of the design so you are sure your product is within a fixed workspace. In assemblies you can use the skeleton as a reference in in-context design. Any change made to the original skeleton sketch will propagate to all of the other components.

Make sense?

Dan

Dan's Blog
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Being the Halloween season it's tempting to reply with "fibula", or "tibia" heh heh. Their use is to distinguish owners thereof from invertebrates.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sounds like Pro/E terminology for what is described above.

I like the idea, but have found issues with it in the real world. Specifically, most MRP and ECN systems (and the folks who run them) do not look kindly upon skeleton part files.

My compromise is to have top-level assembly sketches that I use for subordinate parts. I can't have surfaces or bodies, but it is a good middle ground.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A skeleton part has a similar goal as working in-context does, i.e. parts are not their own little island, but one part knows about its neighbour and can react to how it updates. This can make design changes much quicker and less painful.

Ok. with that out of the way, next question: why not just use in-context?

In-context makes links, one part references another, right? well if you do that for a few parts, it's already hard to really track what's going on right? what is tied to what, and how? By using a skeleton part you know all the links are funneled to and through the skeleton part.

For sure it's an old Pro|E term, this technique has been employed practically since its birth in the early '90s. Way before my time, that's for sure!

Certified SolidWorks Professional
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
How do you start one? In assembly mode? And how different is it from a layout linkage? Thanks!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
"Layout" is SolidWorks' recent method of incorporating the skeleton concept. Fundamentally, a skeleton is a standalone part containing only sketch and reference geometry. Then when inserted into an assembly, ALL incontexting is relative to the skeleton... not part to part. This keeps the incontexting very linear... no circular references (i.e. rebuild icons that won't go away).

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Pretty good with SolidWorks
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Actually the part you start with doesn't have to be just "reference" geometry. It can be any valid part. Of course if it does have mass it will be added to whatever part you insert in. You can trick SW by taking a part with mass and using delete face to remove a face turning it into reference.



TOP
CSWP, BSSE
Phenom IIx6 1100T = 8GB = FX1400 = XP64SP2 = SW2009SP3
"Node news is good news."
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
cinnamongirl said:
And how different is it from a layout linkage?
Click to expand...
A layout in an assembly is a 3D sketch. As such it has to be treated as a 3D sketch. 3D sketching has a few quirks and limitations that 2D sketches don't have. One issue with 3D sketches is that they are more complex and compute intensive and thus more prone to relationship issues.

If you are creating a planar mechanism a 2D sketch will work just fine in either an assembly or a part.

TOP
CSWP, BSSE
Phenom IIx6 1100T = 8GB = FX1400 = XP64SP2 = SW2009SP3
"Node news is good news."
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
It would be incomplete not to mention, the original use for the skeleton part, aka, the envelope was in assemblies. An ordinary part can be brought into an assembly as an envelope (insert/envelope) in which case it can be mated, but will not show up in the BOM or in mass properties. The envelope is probably the best practice when bringing a skeleton into an assembly.

TOP
CSWP, BSSE
Phenom IIx6 1100T = 8GB = FX1400 = XP64SP2 = SW2009SP3
"Node news is good news."
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
So kellnerp, I am a little confused. You started this thread asking:

kellnerp said:
What is a skeleton part and how can they be used?
Click to expand...

Now you are providing numerous valid answers. Why did you start this thread?

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Pretty good with SolidWorks
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Imposter666
  • Locked
  • Question
What is the best practice to 3D model and detail weldments that have sheet metals as a part of them.
Replies
11
Views
532
Jboggs
Jboggs
oharag11
  • Locked
  • Question
How do I add a generic mass to a Solidworks part?
Replies
5
Views
591
oharag11
oharag11
JerryWong
  • Locked
  • Question
Hole callout in mirror part
Replies
4
Views
458
SBaugh
SBaugh
HungryDinosaur_imported
  • Locked
  • Question
Weldment part number in SolidWorks
Replies
8
Views
268
patdh1028
patdh1028
Platypusimon
  • Locked
  • Question
calculating the mass & volume of section of a part/assembly model in solidworks
Replies
10
Views
474
jassco
jassco

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor

Back
Top Bottom