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Assembly to show field cuts

11 REPLIES 11
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Message 1 of 12
SeanFarr
542 Views, 11 Replies

Assembly to show field cuts

Hello,

 

I am making an assembly and some components are "over-sized" and to be prepared/cut down and welded in the field.

 

I would still like to have an assembly file to show the desired result, but when creating a typical assembly, the over-sized parts do not look good or show a nice final assembly.

 

fieldcut.png

 

What would be the best practice to show a visually appealing final assembly, but not have any effect on the individual part and drawing files?

 


Only thing I can think of it is to use Model features in the assembly environment.

Thanks!

Sean Farr
Product Designer at TESInc.ca

Inventor Professional 2014-Update 2 - AutoCAD Electrical 2014
Win7-x64 | ASUS P8Z77-V | i7 3770 -3.4 GHz | 32GB RAM |
240GB SSD | nVidia GTX 670 4GB - 320.49
11 REPLIES 11
Message 2 of 12
swhite
in reply to: SeanFarr

Since you want to show the end result, how about showing the parts as they will be finished in the field, the right size? Your drawing already shows them in precut size, so I would make copies of them and save as finished parts and place those in my assembly. You can use LoD to show a before and after if you want by suppressing one or another in two LoD's, such as pre-field parts and post-field parts, or any name that distinguishes them apart to use on the assembly drawing. If you need help setting up LoD's let me know.

Steven White
Lee C. Moore, Inc.
www.lcm-wci.com
Inventor 2011
Intel Dual Xeon E31225 @ 3.1 GHz CPU
16 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 600 GPU
Windows 7 - 64 Bit
Message 3 of 12
SeanFarr
in reply to: swhite

hmm, so duplicate the parts? and use the sized parts in the assembly...

 

I suppose this could work, was trying to avoid "extra" part files...

 

is there a reason why you wouldn't use modeling features in the assembly? I understand that these assembly features remain in the assembly only and have no effect on the actual parts. This would avoid creating extra parts.

 

I typically don't use assembly modeling features, just being cautious, anything to keep in mind while using commands like extrude, hole and chamfers etc...

 

 

Thanks!!

Sean Farr
Product Designer at TESInc.ca

Inventor Professional 2014-Update 2 - AutoCAD Electrical 2014
Win7-x64 | ASUS P8Z77-V | i7 3770 -3.4 GHz | 32GB RAM |
240GB SSD | nVidia GTX 670 4GB - 320.49
Message 4 of 12
swhite
in reply to: SeanFarr

You can if you want use derived parts and derive the original parts (so they never change) and then make changes to those derived parts to show the finished part. Yes, you can apply all your cuts in the assembly only, so they just look finished. That is entirely a viable option. The question is will you ever need to make this assembly again? By that I mean will these parts ever need made again in the future?

Steven White
Lee C. Moore, Inc.
www.lcm-wci.com
Inventor 2011
Intel Dual Xeon E31225 @ 3.1 GHz CPU
16 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 600 GPU
Windows 7 - 64 Bit
Message 5 of 12
SeanFarr
in reply to: swhite


@SWhite wrote:

You can if you want use derived parts and derive the original parts (so they never change) and then make changes to those derived parts to show the finished part.


I am a simple CAD user, I create both standard and sheet metal parts, apply them to an assembly (if needed) then create drawings. I haven't used derive parts, I understand their concept though, in lament terms, deriving a part creates a replica part, for other uses besides the use of the original part?? this would be the method you described in previous post about using duplicated parts. My only question is in the final assembly drawing, how do you reference the actual part (not the derived/altered one in the assembly), the one that will need to be field cut, in the parts list/BOM?

 


@SWhite wrote:

Yes, you can apply all your cuts in the assembly only, so they just look finished. That is entirely a viable option. The question is will you ever need to make this assembly again? By that I mean will these parts ever need made again in the future?


It is possible that some slight changes will be made to this assembly. The field cut part files will most likely change in size and be adjusted by the welder/fitter. The assembly file and drawings are basically just for part location, and BOM (qty).

 

A little project background, we are ordering a product from another country, stripping it down and adding lots of re-enforcements. Along with this, the electrical and hydraulic schematics are being completely re-done to meet Canadian Mining Standards. So each and every project will be the "same" , but there will be slight variances in some sizing and locations of parts.

 

Thanks!

 

Sean Farr
Product Designer at TESInc.ca

Inventor Professional 2014-Update 2 - AutoCAD Electrical 2014
Win7-x64 | ASUS P8Z77-V | i7 3770 -3.4 GHz | 32GB RAM |
240GB SSD | nVidia GTX 670 4GB - 320.49
Message 6 of 12
swhite
in reply to: SeanFarr

Ahh, I see, so this is basically a one-off and if needed again the oversized parts will be needed anyways. If it was something you built then you might need correct part sizes next time, why I first suggested making finished parts too.

 

if this is the case then doing the finishing work in the assembly is probably your best bet in this situation. Your parts will still retain thier original dimensioning, yet look as the finished would on the assembly.

 

I am just used to having to build more at a later date so need the correct size anyways down the line, but I see no reason you can not do as you originally planned, it should work just fine in this situation. In my shop we not only have to show the before part, but how it looks after and then 2 years later we might build 50 more and we then need the corrected part size, not the field weld size.

 

Hows that big dam project going up there? is it in Manitoba or BC? I forget, been a few years but I made most of the formwork to build the outflows, but work for a dif company now so so havnt been keeping up on it.

Steven White
Lee C. Moore, Inc.
www.lcm-wci.com
Inventor 2011
Intel Dual Xeon E31225 @ 3.1 GHz CPU
16 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 600 GPU
Windows 7 - 64 Bit
Message 7 of 12
SeanFarr
in reply to: swhite


@SWhite wrote:
then 2 years later we might build 50 more and we then need the corrected part size, not the field weld size.

This was also a concern of mine, if we ever needed the correct size for whatever reason, we wont, unless I go down to the shop and record it from the welder/fitter. Awkward workaround, but my manager sees no issues, if the parts ever need to be replaced, it will most likely be one of our guys completing the fix, and will adjust the field cut parts down to size again, if needed.

 

I will stick with assembly modeling features for now. seems like the simplest solution.

 

Thanks Steven!

Sean Farr
Product Designer at TESInc.ca

Inventor Professional 2014-Update 2 - AutoCAD Electrical 2014
Win7-x64 | ASUS P8Z77-V | i7 3770 -3.4 GHz | 32GB RAM |
240GB SSD | nVidia GTX 670 4GB - 320.49
Message 8 of 12
IS200
in reply to: SeanFarr

Why not convert your assembly to a weldment and use the machining section to cut off the excess material.

This will not affect the parts you are detailing, and will show your assembly the way you want it.

Message 9 of 12
SeanFarr
in reply to: IS200

Yea, I will have to give this a go I think, I tried some extrusions in the assembly and I am running into issues.

 

I created a sketch on a face of the part I want to "field cut", and the extrusion is cutting through all parts in the path, not just the part that I want cut.

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but in a weldment assembly, you can apply machining/preparation features to single parts?

 

Thanks!

Sean Farr
Product Designer at TESInc.ca

Inventor Professional 2014-Update 2 - AutoCAD Electrical 2014
Win7-x64 | ASUS P8Z77-V | i7 3770 -3.4 GHz | 32GB RAM |
240GB SSD | nVidia GTX 670 4GB - 320.49
Message 10 of 12
SeanFarr
in reply to: IS200

I jumped the gun on accepting a solution for this.

 

So the problem is I have an assembly that I want to apply field cuts to to fit the part into the assembly.

 

I have attached a simple example.

 

in the assembly file, I am trying to extrude a cut on the blue panel, but it is also cutting into the red panel. (unsuppress the extrusion)

 

Is it possible to make this cut (extrude) happen in either assembly or weldment environment?

 

Thanks!

Sean Farr
Product Designer at TESInc.ca

Inventor Professional 2014-Update 2 - AutoCAD Electrical 2014
Win7-x64 | ASUS P8Z77-V | i7 3770 -3.4 GHz | 32GB RAM |
240GB SSD | nVidia GTX 670 4GB - 320.49
Message 11 of 12
rdyson
in reply to: SeanFarr

Image1.png



PDSU 2016
Message 12 of 12
SeanFarr
in reply to: rdyson

This is too easy!

 

Thanks RDyson!

 

 

Sean Farr
Product Designer at TESInc.ca

Inventor Professional 2014-Update 2 - AutoCAD Electrical 2014
Win7-x64 | ASUS P8Z77-V | i7 3770 -3.4 GHz | 32GB RAM |
240GB SSD | nVidia GTX 670 4GB - 320.49

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