Help with Mirror Components

I find the Help files on Mirror Components to be a bit lacking and there are
some details about how the command works that I'm not sure about.

I created a top level assy to which is added a sub-assy.
I've then used the "mirror component" command to create another sub-assy
(I'll call it "sub-assy_mirror) in the to level, which is mirrored about a
reference plane. Some of the parts are now also handed.

What I don't understand is quite how the associativity works.
For example, if I change the distance betwen the reference plane and the
source sub-assy, the sub-assy_mirror does not alter its position to suit.

So, is it that once the mirrored assy has been created, it has a definition
buried somwhere of how the mirror plane was initially?
Can I delete the mirror plane?
What happens if I change the position of the sub-assy relative to the mirror
plane in another configuration?
Does the mirror command care about configs?

Any insight would be much appreciated.

John H

 

Mirror components has never been close to working as advertised. Swx
seemingly gave up on it years ago, and they do not discuss it.

When the mirror copies are created, they are not constrained to anything.
There is associativity of the components, but not of the positions of the
mirror copies. You will need to make all mates just like you did on the
originals. If you want the new sub to move with the original, you'll need
to symmetry mate at least one of the components back to one of the
originals.

bill

 

Yes, I was rapidly coming to the conclusion that the command was crap.
Even I-DEAS, which was never really aimed at the machinery market, has a
great mirror assembly command.

When you say there is "associativity of the components", does the mirrored
part just have it "hard coded" into it where the mirror plane position was
at the time of creation?

Thanks,
John H

 

My apologies, Keith, but I was away from assemblies for a while, so I never
persued it
(and the BOM issue may have put me off at the time).

I'm not sure is there is a more direct way, but I googled the message, and
the link is
http://groups.google.com/group/comp...ad30b8beb11?lnk=st&q=&rnum=1#9e2c0ad30b8beb11

Bill

 

SW only states that mirror places parts in approximately the right
location. Or you could say a visually correct location. It is not
always able to reestablish mates in a mirrored fashion. The bottom
line is that mirror does the work of copying and placing part and
sometimes reestablishing mates. There is no doubt that a lot of labor
can be saved from this alone. But it is not going to behave like a
mate in that locations will update if geometry changes. That is what
the mates are for. Some kind of batch mating tools is still needed to
finish what mirror generaly can do a good job of starting.

TOP

 

Just curious, where has swx stated "SW only states that mirror places parts
in approximately the right location" ?

That would seem to be antithetical to the option in the mirror copy dialog
that states "Recreate mates to new components" (which, of course, has never
worked).

Even though real mirroring would be a very powerful function (much more than
all the gimmick stuff they've been adding for years), I think the
programming of it apparently hit the wall years ago, and swx has given up on
it. Maybe it was a contract dispute with whoever was supposed to create the
mod. For years now, swx as been extremely tight lipped about it.

Bill

 

I think the quote was more exactly, "SW only states that mirror places
parts in visually the right location"

That comment was passed down from a VAR. It won't be found in help or
anywhere else. I think it can be verfied by making an assembly and
then using the measure tool to determine locations of unmated mirrored
parts. So even using fix part might not yield expected results. Any
written reference to this would be through the vague stipulation in
the EULA that the customer must determine whether SW is suitable for
their purposes which is what a lot of experienced SW users do. Ed
Eaton and Matt Lombard come to mind as good examples of this.

SW is like the weather, you can listen to what the weatherman says or
carry an umbrella. You will be drier if you carry an umbrella.

TOP