How to add PEM nutserts to a weldment

Hi,
I'm making a weldment which calls up PEM nutserts (a self-clinching
fastener) and I don't know how to do this efficiently.

The parts exist in the SW Toolbox, so I created a part and added it in
using "insert part". The problem is that it just gets inserted at the
origin. I tried to relocate it using the feature move/copy command, but
this seems so limited in its functionality as to be useless! It lets me
select the origin of the nutsert as the start of the move, but the only
geometry type you can select as the endpoint of the move is a vertex - not
much use when I'm trying to locate it in an existing hole. It doesn't even
let you pick reference points as the endpoint.

Any thoughts?

As a workaround, I recreated the nutsert as a revolve as a separate body,
located directly in the hole.
I now want to use this fastener elsewhere in the part. Is there any way of
being able to copy this to another location (not in the same plane), so that
I have just the one revolve defining this one fastener size?

I'm on 2004sp5.

Cheers,
John Harland

 

In 2006, upon adding a part to a part file, it now allows positioning
much the same as if it were in an assembly, using standard sw type mates.
That also works when translating a body inside of a multi-body part.

 

SW2006 has, indeed, improved the handling of multi-body parts. You can now
bring in stuff like the PEMs and place them with mates just like in an assy.
Works very well. Unfortunately, that doesn't help you much on SW2004.

WT

 

Thanks for the heads-up on SW2006 - we have the discs, it's just a case of
chossing a suitable time for the upgrade.

Cheers,
John Harland

 

Go for it - I'm well pleased.

WT

 

re: don't want PEMs to show in BOM...
in the feature tree of the assembly, right click on the relevant parts and
select "component properties". There's a check box in the lower right to
exclude from BOM

My $0.02>> I think doing it as an assembly, not a part for PEM insertion is
the correct way to go. My personal theory is that if, at some point in the
manufacturing process, somebody can hold two parts in different hands then
they should be modelled as different parts. Consider the case where next
month you decide to take the same base sheet metal part and press different
types of PEMs into the same holes....

No reason you can't purchase an assembly.....