Bent section views from flat pattern: feature or bug

1. Create a sheet metal part with one or more bends. A hat channel for
example.
2. Create a drawing and insert a view (other than an ISO view) of the
model in it's bent configuration.
3. Create one or more section views from the main view.
4. Select the main view, and change it to a flat pattern using the
orientation menu in the property manager.
5. Note that the section views stay in bent state even thought parent
view is in the flat configuration.
6. Create another section off the main (flat) view.
7. Note that the main view can't be changed back to the bent
configuration via the orientation menu.
8. Right click on the main view, select properties, and change the
view back to the bent configuration.
9. Note that the section view(s) created while the part was in the
bent state stay as bent sections. Note that the section view(s)
created while the part was in the flat state change from flat to bent
sections.

Using SW 2K4 SP03

Has anyone seen this and/or been using it when creating drawings? One
of our designers discovered this by accident and it may be very useful
for how we create drawings. However, I'm wondering if this is the way
SW is supposed to behave or if it's a bug. I don't want to have the
department start using this "feature" only to have SW "fix" it in the
next update.

Steve

 

Quick answer FEATURE

Long not necessarily understandable answer.

SW creates the views using the same configuration as the parent view. After
this the only link to the projected views is their orientation, Changing a
view to flat-pattern is actually not necessarily changing the orientation
but the configuration. Config is not a linked property. Therefore you can
have multiple views with different configs.

Corey

 

Thanks Corey, but this still seems inconsistent to me. Am I missing
something? Changing to the flat using the orientation menu not only
changes the orientation but also the configuration. When changed in
that way the section views change in orientation but do not change to
follow the configuration of the parent view. If the configuration is
changed in the properties of the view the section views will follow
the parent view and become sections of the flat. To my knowledge,
section views are always supposed to follow the parent view. When
changing to the flat configuration using the orientation menu this
doesn't happen. That's the inconsistency and is what makes this seem
like a bug. It could be a useful and helpful but I'm not sure it's
wise to rely on it when creating our part drawings.

Steve

 

It has always been that you can independently chang the configuration of
child views. If you have SW change that I think everyone who uses
sheetmetal will be screwed. We use this capability all the time. Sometimes
it might be nice to have an option to change the config in child views also,
but it must never be mandatory.

It looks like you can change the referenced config in a group of views by
CTRL-selecting the desired views and changing the config.

Corey

 

Yes, you can independently change the configuration of child views
that are projected views. However, you can't (at least in the
drawings I've made) independently change the configuration of child
views that are section views. In the properties of section view the
option to change configurations is grayed out. The only way to change
the configuration of the section view is to change the configuration
of its parent view. I may not have stated this clearly enough in my
previous posts. Changing to the SM-FLAT-PATTERN configuration of a
parent view using the orientation menu does not change the child
section view to the same configuration as the parent. Changing to the
SM-FLAT-PATTERN configuration of a parent view using the view
properties does change the child section views to the same
configuration as the parent. And although this is potentially useful
it is not consistent. That's why this seems like a bug to me and not
a feature.

Steve

 

For anyone who's interested, I found the answer to this inconsistancy.
You can create bent section views of a flat configuration as
described. They will remain this way until you force rebuild (ctrl-q)
the part. This causes the child section view to follow the
configuration specified in the parent view. So the answer is... this
is is not a bug or a feature. It's simply an out of date view that
requires a force rebuild to update. Thanks to Corey for the replies.

Steve

 

Sorry for the missunderstanding. It seems you will have to resort to broken
out section views that encompass the whole part to get the results you want.

Corey