#SEU 2016 Welcome! Solid Edge University 2016 Realize innovation.
Assembly Relationships Manager Mark Thompson Global Technical Business Development Senior Application Engineer Realize innovation.
Table of Contents Assembly Relationships Manager Overview 5 Example 1 6 Example 2 20 Example 3 23 Page 3
Introduction Mark Thompson Global Technical Business Development Senior Applications Engineer Mark has been in the Mechanical CAD industry for 29 years. Mark spent his first year in the CAD/CAM support group and then moved to the technical marketing group where he has been ever since. Mark has been promoting Solid Edge since its first release in 1996. Mark s responsibilities include the creation of demonstration material for internal application engineers and channel partners, customer presentations, update training material, and support for the field personnel. Prior to coming to work in the mechanical CAD industry Mark spent 14 years as a machinist/tool maker. Page 4
Solid Edge ST9 now offers a new interface to help users work easier with assembly relationships. The advantage to this new Assembly Relationship Manager is that it allows you to visually see and edit all the relationships of an assembly through a single interface. There are actually a few ways to get into Assembly Relationship Manager which we will look at. Start Solid Edge Navigate to Assembly Relationships Folder and Open Motor-A.asm. Page 5
Previous to ST9 for a user to see and edit relationships you would first select the component which would list the relationships connected to that component at the bottom of the assembly PathFinder. For example, select the ZX-0083_A.par. Notice the relationships appear at the bottom of PathFinder. Now select the Mate relationship (V2363) at the bottom. This gives you two options: Edit definition is one option. Edit values through the quickbar is the other. These are all valid workflows to use. Page 6
The first way to use Assembly Relationship Manager (ARM) is by selecting a component first and then going into (ARM). With the same component selected, use a right mouse button (RMB) click and select Assembly Relationship Manager from the pull down menu. Notice it reflects how you activated the interface. Grouping set to By Component Notice all the information made available. Number of relationships related to component. Notice the 5 relationships under ZX-0083_A.par. Shows the components it has relationships with (3 components). Shows which relationships each component has with the selected component. Shows relationship types (Aligned, Mate, etc ) Shows relationship status (Solved, Failed, etc ) Page 7
Looking at more options: A double click on the relationship bar will change between ascend or descend. A RMB click on the relationship bar will achieve the same action through the Sort option. Other options from the pull down menu such as changing the Font, using the Find, Expand, Expand All, Collapse All, and Grouping. Change the Font. Find will find things within ARM such as variable names, component names, etc. Run Find to locate 51 (ZX-0051_A.par) Page 8
Change the Grouping through the pull down menu to view the components in the list differently. By Component (default) By Type By Status Change the Grouping back to By Component. Page 9
Passing the cursor over components and relationships graphically highlights them. Context Menus RMB clicking on Headers, Components, and Relationships provide different options. Page 10
Close assembly relationship manager. Click in the view to un-highlight the components. RMB click in the view and select Assembly Relationship Manager. Notice the header information Assembly Relationships which means you are viewing all the relationships in the assembly and not from Selected Components as previously shown. Stretch the dialog to full length of view. Notice the three buttons at the top of the dialog. Page 11
Select the Filters button. The filter gives you full control as to what you want to look at as far as Types and Statuses. Click on both Select All options to de-select everything. Select Mate and Solved, then select Close to view results. NOTE: 2 nd image used Grouping By Type. Page 12
The Update Assembly Relationships button is useful when any relationships are Out of Date. This command will run through all the relationships making sure everything is up to date. This same command is available under the Tools tab on the main ribbon bar. The Repair Assembly button. Don t run this yet! Set the grouping back to By Component. Now select the Filter and turn on all relationship types, but only turn on Suppressed, Failed, and Missing geometry. Page 13
The results of setting the filter should look similar to what is shown. Notice there are several relationships with missing geometry. Run the Repair Assembly command and the following dialog will appear giving you the option to Suppress or to Delete. Select the Suppress button. Page 14
RMB click on relationship V4244 and select Unsuppress Expand the relationship by clicking the plus sign. RMB click on the relationship and select Rename Variable. Rename the variable to BearingOffset (no spaces) Page 15
Selecting a component in Relationship manager will highlight in orange and selecting it will highlight it in green same as a select tool selection. A selected relationship will highlight a component that has missing geometry in red as shown. This relationship has missing geometry and it is a floating planar alignment. To better understand how to fix it, use the SHIFT key and select both components in the dialog. Page 16
RMB click on them and then select Show Only so that we can get a better look at the parts to repair the problem. Visual feedback is also important so you can quickly get a better understanding of what issues there may be in the assembly. Notice the symbols that are red letting you know there are problems. In this case we need to repair the floating alignment by redefining that relationship. By double-clicking a relationship item it will start Edit Definition for that relationship If the relationship is sick for something like a missing face, you will be placed in the selection step for that face. Page 17
Go ahead and double click on the Bearing Offset relationship. This will close ARM so you can select geometry. Select the top planar face of the groove as shown. As soon as you select it, the relationship is solved. Select the All Parts assembly configuration to turn things back on. Graphically select the Bearing. RMB click and select Assembly Relationship Manager from the context menu. HINT: You may need to turn all Statuses back on to see that it is solved. Page 18
Once the Bearing Offset relationship is solved you have an option to change Offset Type from Float to Fixed, or Range. Other options would be to edit or open one of the files involved in this relationship either by a RMB click and selecting Edit or Open. A quicker method is to simply double click on the component you want to edit. Supported Accelerator Shortcut Keys F flip selected relationships S suppress selected relationships U un-suppress selected relationships R Relationship Repair (same as hitting the button) DELETE delete selected relationships F5 rebuild table CTRL+A select all CTRL+D select none Page 19
Let s look at another example. Open Multi-Flip-A.asm. From PathFinder, select the second instance of the one inch cube.par. Notice the relationships 1 mate and 2 aligns Try to flip one of the align by selecting the last relationship and then selecting the Flip option. You will see the conflict dialog. Page 20
Another advantage to using the Assembly Relationship Manager is that you can do multiple changes at one time. Right mouse button click to open ARM. Once open, set the grouping to By Type With the CTRL key depressed, select both V395 & V359. RMB click and select Flip. Notice both flips occur! Close file, don t save! Page 21
Open Transformer-A.asm. Open ARM. Select all the Flip relationships in the list. RMB click and select Flip. Close file no save. Page 22
Open Scooter.asm. Notice PathFinder. It is full of errors! We know we can go into ARM and use the filter to find all these errors, but there are a couple of other ways to get into ARM to fix these problems. Under the Tools tab on the main ribbon bar, select the Errors command. At the top notice the new option called Sick Relationships. Select this command. Page 23
The ARM will open in Repair Mode where only the failed relationships are shown. Notice the filter is grayed out. This is a good time to use the Repair Assembly Relationships option. Select the repair option. Notice it finds the one relationship to suppress to fix the other relationships. Select Suppress. Page 24
Notice the assembly relationships get fixed? Close ARM Graphically select the two rubber grips using the CTRL key. Another advantage to working with ARM is it s ability that allows you to work with more than one relationship at a time. First notice the Suppressed relationship was attached to one of the grips. Delete the extra relationship. Use the Group by Type option. Page 25
There are two planar aligns, so use the Rename Variable on both and call them leftgrip and rightgrip accordingly. Close ARM Start the Variable Table under the Tools tab. In the Formula field for rightgrip, key in leftgrip and hit the Enter key. This sets them equal to each other. Graphically select both grips and start ARM again Notice for the rightgrip that leftgrip is in the formula field? You can t edit a formula in ARM, but you can change the value from leftgrip. Page 26
Change leftgrip Offset value to -5 mm and notice they both update. Assembly Relationship Manager just gives you the capability to view and edit multiple values as well as get a better picture of the relationships and their values from it s interface. Page 27
Contact Mark Thompson Senior Applications Engineer Global Technical Business Development 675 Discovery Dr NW #100 Huntsville, AL 35806 Phone: +001 (256) 705-2625 E-mail: mark.d.thompson@siemens.com siemens.com Page 28