Best practice for parameter generalisation

[Anonymous]

Hello,
Trying to use the top-down method, I'm creating some sub-assemblies to my top down assembly. I have some parameters used in differents parts of the same assembly, and I would like to put those as assembly parameters in order to be able to access them from anywhere in the assembly (especially in parts contained in this assembly).
So far, it is not working : each parameter I create in the assembly is not visible at part level.

What is th best practise to achieve this goal?

Many thanks for your answers...

Cheers,

nicolas

[PaulMunford]

Unfortuantly you can't derive a parameter from an assembly into a part and then insert that part into the assembly (Think of Russian Dolls, the big one can't go inside the smaller one). You can link parameters from assembly's, but this might also create a circular reference.

The hassle free way is to create a 'Master' part that contains your 'global' parameters and then use the 'Derive' tool to bring this into each of your parts so that you can reference the parameters. You can place a part with the parameters all ready derived into your template folder to speed up the process.

You can insert this part into your assembly for quick access when you want to change a global parameter. You are not limited to only deriving parameter's in this way, you can also derive sketches, work features, features and solid bodies - which is known as 'Skeletal' modeling.

[Anonymous]

Hello Paul,
Many thanks for your answer... I didn't have in mind the derivation system, but I thought that parameters could have diffrent area of visibility.

Anyway, the system you suggest seems good, so I'm going to give a try. I just have a subsidiary question : you seem to think about a "master" part templated with some parameters, mean that you should know them in advance. What if I realize that I want to add one or more parameters inside, or change a name? Would the derivated components update?

And does that also mean I should create a master part for each project (because global parameters are different from one project to another)?

Finally, is there a way to include this in a project template, to maximize the optimisation?

Many thanks in advances for your lights 😉

Cheers,

Nicolas

[Anonymous]

Nicolas:

See answers embedded below:

> What if I realize that I want to add one or more parameters inside, or
> change a name? Would the derivated components update?
You can add parameters. They won't automatically appear but you can bring
them into the downstream parts by editing the derived part.

> And does that also mean I should create a master part for each project
> (because global parameters are different from one project to another)?
Yes. However, if your projects are similar you can use Design Assistant on
the new project to copy to a new master.

> Finally, is there a way to include this in a project template, to maximize
> the optimisation?
If I read your question correctly the answer is yes.

Regards,

Richard

[PaulMunford]

I agree with Richard...

I would think carefully before deriving one part into everything though. Sometimes you don't want a change to proliferate everywhere!