Constraining a extrusion that is within a group

[Anonymous]

I am trying to constrain an extrusion that is within a group so that it flexes with the parameters associated with it. Is this possible? I keep getting the "constraints not satisfied" error when I flex my family. It is possible I am not doing something right but I wonder if it is due to the fact that the extrusion is part of a group.

It is an electrical panel family. Using an integer parameter tied to an array, when the user changes the number of sections for the panel, the family automatically adds the geometry another section. It is controlled by various other parameters b/c as some of you may know you can't have an array of 1. Anyway, I constrained the geometry of the multiple panels to the same ref plane that the single panel uses for height, width, depth. However, when flexing the family, and the height of the panel changes, I get the error. If I only constrain the top or bottom the entire group moves with the ref plane...it appears not able to "stretch" the group constrained to two ref planes.

Hope that makes sense. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

It is difficult without the actual family but I find even if you have the parameters to correctly define all of the spacing it does tend to over constrain the family.

If you have a centre panel with a dimension top and bottom to reference plains and the 2 dimensions are linked to a common parameter it will normally respond with an error.  At the same time you do not need to have the dimension top and bottom as having only one of the dimension will give the same result.  The array should have no impact on the flexing.

[alan.quinn]

I agree with Tim, without the family its hard to know what's going on. Typically if I have a family that's not working I remove all parameter then add then back in one at a time, testing in edit mode and in a project to insure each one works, before moving on to the next one. However, and also as Tim indicated constraining within a group is possible.

Thanks for posting.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback. Then it must be something I am doing wrong. I will keep working with it.

Attached is the family if you want to see it firstand.

Thanks!

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Have had a play with the family and there is something going on with the constraints as it does not like have the constaints associated to elements not part of the group.

Solution I found which works is to create the array element as a generic model with the parameters linked back into the family parameters then create your array from the nested family. Refer attached.  Warning the nested family was created from a metric template as I do not have the family templates for imperial.  Hope this points you in the right direction to complete your family.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for taking the time. Your solution makes sense. I actually tried the nested family route as well with no sucess so I will look your family over to see what I missed.

As a last resort I figure I can set up visibility parameters, rather than an array, for each panel. Three panels is about the max, rarely four, so to have it set up as an array may be overkill but still simpler I believe, and useful information to know for future families.

Thanks again.