Make 2 Nodes 1

[lemensk]

Life was fine until a Change Order Came in and I had to change my model.  Pretty simple: move some parts, copy some parts, add some load, resolve.  However, I forgot this is Autodesk Simulaton...

In short, I have 2 nodes, probably 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 inches apart.   I would like to have algor to consider these 2 nodes to be one in order to have an accurate model.  See attached if you question my motives (it should be a net under loading).  I have no desire to remodel the entire system and I was under the impression that it is possible to modify algor models.  Please note, all of my members were drawn in Algor itself.

HOW DO I TELL ALGOR to consider anything within 1 in to be one part?  Heck, make that 12inches. 

Any guidance would be appriciated.  Thank you,

[lemensk · Accepted solution]

SOLUTION:

1) Delete members under question (that is, delete the group of lines under question... I don't think it is possible to delete/move more then one node at a time)

2) Recopy the lines from a 'stable' part of the model, but leave a NOTICABLE gap.

3) Manually draw lines between the gaps to create a closed section

[Stefan2653]

Another, much simpler way to combine closely spaced nodes would be to perform a global snap (under Draw / Modify). Note that you will need to first set your search tolerance (in the same menu section) to a value equal to or greater than your anticipated node spacing. Note: this will snap all nodes in the model that meet the search tolerance, so if you have some closely spaced nodes that you don't want to combine, you'll need to manually combine only the "bad" nodes.

To manually combine nodes, perform a point move and snap the "bad" node to the nearest "good" node. This works very well for combining a small number of nodes that are spaced far enough apart to easily grab.

Stefan

[lemensk]

What you suggest may work, but a drawback I see already is that I would have to move each node individually.... and there were/are a lot of nodes.  I'll keep your technique in mind next time this issue pops up.  Thank you,

~lemensk

[Stefan2653]

Lemensk,

Yes, if you go the manual route, it could take some time. However, if you want all close nodes in your model within the search tolerance to be merged, the global snap operation does that automatically in one operation.

Stefan