Multibody parts

Hi

I would like to draw eg. a wooden bookshelf as a single part to aid
the design process, make changes easier (rather than each side etc as
a single part.) If I make sure each side/shelf etc is a seperate body,
is it possible to extract a cutting list for the wood later? (sizes)
or maybe create an exploded drawing? or is it best to create each
side and shelf as a part and assemble it later (which seems like much
more work)

anyone have experience here?

Rich

ps. I wanted to create it as a single part because I will be importing
2D sketchs and converting them. Just seems easier....

 

Multibody parts is really the wrong approach for this, in my opinion. I
would just design it in context in an assembly. It makes it easier to get
BOM type info and also the exploded view.

matt

 

Rich,

Using multibodies in place of assemblies is a bad idea. You'll have much
more sucess using SW the way it was designed to be used.


Regards

Mark

 

thanks guys, just wanted to check.

Rich

 

Mike,

That was going to be my suggestion, but he needs to have each piece detailed
seperatly, or an exploded type view, whcih I didn't think was possible with
Weldments. Otherwise, Weldements would be an easy deal in this bookshelf
case.

Mr. Pickles

 

There are three viable approaches and a fourth that is not so good.

1. Do a layout sketch(es) in an assembly that drives the dimensions of the
individual parts. Then model each part incontext to the sketch(es). This is
the traditional way to do this sort of thing. When done, join all the parts
to get a single part for the assembly.

1A. Create a single part for the entire assembly of parts. Use this as an
envelope part to drive all the other part in the assembly in 1.

2. Use the split feature to break apart a single solid into separate, but
related parts through the assembly which the split feature creates.

3. Use a multibody part to create the final assembly. Besides the top level
assembly, make each unique part in a separate configuration by suppressing
the other parts. Then, create an assembly from the parts using the top
level part as an envelope to mate to.

and

4. Use the weldment feature with some custom cross sections to represent
boards, etc.

We do a lot of weldments. I prefer them as multibody parts when in design
phase because I can bring them into NE Nastran after extracting midplanes
in SW.

Each of these has pros and cons depending on how you plan to do your BOM and
how your part numbering scheme is configured. The first and second one work
with PDMWorks nicely, while you will have a hard time with 3 and maybe 4.

 

Thanks guys, that gives me a lot of options. I will try them all, and
choose the best when SW arrives!

cheers

Rich