Catia Assembly Design

CATIA Assembly Design CATIA® V5R6

Table of Contents, Page i© Wichita State University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1CATIA Version 5 Assembly Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Assembly Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Pull Down Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Analyze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Assembly Design Workbench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Inserting Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Replacing and Creating New Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Reordering and Numbering the tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Bill of Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Constraining and Manipulating Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Bounding Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Coincidence Constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Contact Constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Snap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Defining a Multi Instantiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Smart Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Modifying a part to create a new part while in the assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Fast Multi Instantiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Fix Constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Offset Constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Copying and Pasting with constraints

Note: You need to make sure that your Paste components optionAlways with the assembly constraints is turned on under pull downmenu Tools, Options, Mechanical Design, Assembly Design,Constraints tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Angle Constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Explode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Advanced Constraint Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Fix Together Constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Quick Constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Changing a Constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Reusing Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Weld Planner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Activating/Deactivating constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Assembly Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Hole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Remove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90


Table of Contents, Page ii ©Wichita State University

DMU Fitting Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Pull down menu changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Analyze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

DMU Fitting Simulation Workbench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Bottom Toolbar Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97DMU Viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Creating a simple simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Creating a shuttle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Creating a simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Compiling a simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Replaying a compiled simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Multiple Objects moving in same simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Creating a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Moving two shuttles at once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

General methods and options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Exploding the assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Moving the shuttle axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Creating a shuttle referencing a shuttle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Customizing automatic insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Simulating shuttles referencing a shuttle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Distance and band analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Swept Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Simulating assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Exploding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Current selection panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Creating groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Creating shuttles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Creating the simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Creating a replay and an AVI file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Checking for clash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Clash detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Path finder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Smooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

DMU Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Pull down menu changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

DMU Navigator workbench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Creating an annotated view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Creating a scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Publish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Creating an annotated view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Publish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177


Table of Contents, Page iii© Wichita State University

Hyperlinks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1813D Annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183Scenes - basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186Current selection panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187Proximity query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Translation or rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Scenes - advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Fly mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Practice Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Sawhorse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Puzzle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Mouse Trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208Pen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209NIAR Third Floor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Robotic Arm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211


Table of Contents, Page iv ©Wichita State University


Assembly Design - Introduction, Page 1© Wichita State University

Introduction

CATIA Version 5 Assembly Design

Upon completion of this course the student should have a full understanding of thefollowing topics:

- Inserting models into an assembly

- Manipulating models in an assembly

- Constraining models in an assembly

- Using advanced methods to insert and constrain assemblies

- Analyzing assemblies for clashes and gaps

- Modifying assembly components and updating assemblies


Assembly Design - Introduction, Page 2 ©Wichita State University

Assembly Design

Very few finished designs are a single part. Usually a finished design consists of several tomillions of individual parts to define them. This is where CATIA V5 assembly design isutilized. Assembly design allows parts and small assemblies of parts to be inserted to make larger, more complete products. In CATIA V5 Part Design and Sketcher, you learned howto generate parts. The primary objective of this class is to utilize those parts to create acomplex assembly of those parts that can be later used in stress analysis, kinematics, fittingsimulations, and other areas.

It is important to understand some of the terminology that CATIA uses when working withassemblies. There are basically three types of documents that are used in assembly design. They are the overall assembly, sub-assemblies and individual models. CATIA uses theword products to refer to assemblies and parts to refer to individual models. You can useparts to create products and then in turn use those products to produce other products. Thediagram shown below represents the concept of the overall structure.

The first product at the top is generally regarded as the assembly, whereas the two productsthat are underneath are generally regarded as sub-assemblies of this assembly. Thisassembly could in turn be used to create an even bigger assembly at some other time, or thesub-assemblies could be used as sub-assemblies of a different assembly. With this conceptin mind be aware that an assembly could be a very complex document due to its ability tohave multiple levels of sub-assemblies and parts. Because of this complexity it is importantthat you have a plan of attack when building assemblies. There are basically twoapproaches that a user or company can take when building assemblies. One is to pre-determine what sub-assemblies a particular assembly is going to need. The other is toproduce all of the parts and then determine what sub-assemblies are going to be created.



Pull Down Menus

Not all of the options will be covered since you should of already been introduced to themthrough previous courses. Only the new options that appear when you are in the assemblydesign workbench will be discussed.

Edit

Move Various methods of moving yourcomponents around in the assembly

Component Constraints Allows you to select constraints that are linked to thecomponent

Components Allows for components within theassembly to be replaced, turned on oroff, reordered or changed from beingFlexible or Rigid



Representations Allows for the representation ofthe assembly to be changed



Insert

Coincidence Inserts a coincidence constraint

Contact Inserts a contact constraint

Offset Inserts an offset constraint

Angle Inserts an angle constraint

Fix Together Fixes two components together

Fix Fixes a component in space

Quick Constraint Applies a quick constraint to components

Reuse Pattern Apples a pre-defined pattern to a component

New Component Allows the insertion of parts as details

New Product Inserts a new assembly into the product

New CDM Component Inserts a new CDM component

New Part Inserts a new part into the assembly

Existing Component Inserts an existing component



Fast Multi Instantiation Applies a Fast Multi Instantiation of a component

Define Multi Instantiation Defines a Multi Instantiation of a component

Weld Planner Places weld symbols into the assembly

Annotations Adds text with a leader or a flag notewith a leader to your assembly

Assembly Features Performs an operation on your assembly



Tools

Product Management Allows the part number, and representation to be changed fora component

Publication Management Allows the publication of components and elements to bemodified

Catalog Browser Access part catalogs for standard parts such as bolts, nuts,fasteners, etc.



Analyze

Bill Of Material Generates a bill of materials from the assembly

Update Updates the assembly

Constraints Displays a constraint analysis window of all the constraints in theassembly

Dependencies Displays a tree format of all the constraint dependencies of a selectedcomponent

Mechanical Structure Shows the structure as the assembly sees it, this pertains to havingsub-assemblies either as flexible or rigid

Compute Clash Displays a Clash / Clearance computation window

Note: These are available in Part Design but they just appear in the bottom toolbar insteadof a pull down menu.

Measure Item Allows you to measure a single element

Measure Between Allows you to measure between elements

Measure Inertia Allows you to compute an inertial analysis



Assembly Design Workbench

Changes workbenches

Selects geometry

Inserts a new component

Inserts a new product

Inserts a new part

Inserts a existing component

Replaces a component

Allows the tree to be reordered

Generates numbers

Loads and unloads components

Manage representations

Apply a multi instantiation

Define a multi instantiation

Manipulate the parts

Snap parts together

Smart move

Explode the assembly

Apply a coincidence constraint

Apply a contact constraint

Apply a offset constraint

Apply an angle constraint

Fixes a component

Fixes two components together

Applies a quick constraint

Flexible/rigid toggle

Changes a constraint

Reuses a pattern used in a part

Creates welding symbols

Creates text with leader

Creates a flag note

Splits an assembly

Creates a hole in the assembly

Creates a pocket in the assembly

Performs an add operation

Performs a remove operation



This page is intentionally left blank.


Assembly Design - Inserting documents, Page 11© Wichita State University

Assembly Design

The first section of this manual will involve inserting, creating, and replacing documentsand other components in the assembly design. Those documents can be a variety of thingsincluding parts and other assemblies.

Inserting Documents

All of the assemblies created in this first section will not need to have constraints added toproperly position them. The first assembly that will be built is a basic hand drill.

This drill is made of the following parts. The caption under each picture is the filename sothe parts can be referenced to as needed.

Case 1

Handle Arm

Handle Knob

Drive Gear


Assembly Design - Inserting documents, Page 12 ©Wichita State University

Output Gear

Drill Chuck 1

Drill Bit 1

Star t a new product document. This can be accomplished by selecting the new icon andselecting product. You need to make sure you are in the assembly design workbench beforecontinuing. To switch to the assembly design workbench select the change workbench iconand then select assembly design.

One of the most important ideas to keep in mind with assembly design is that all parts musthave an unique id. The assembly should also have an unique id, especially if it is going tobe used as a sub-assembly.

Press button 3 on the mouse while on Product1. This will bring up the contextual menufor Product1.

Select Properties and then the Product Tab. This is where various information about theassembly, as well as individual parts can be stored. Filling in all of the information is notnecessary, but can become quite useful to a down stream user. For now, the Part Number isthe only field that will be changed, but feel free to fill in any of the other fields.



Change the Part Number to Hand Dr ill. Select OK when done. This will give theassembly an unique id, so that in case this was to be used in a larger assembly, say a garagemock-up, then there would be no conflicts.

Select the existing component icon. The icon will highlight and is awaiting for theuser to select a product to insert the component into.

Select Hand Drill. This will define what product the component will be placed into. AnInsert an Existing Component dialog box will display. This will look and feel very similarto the Open Document dialog box.

Double Select the Hand Drill folder and select Case 1. In this class moving in and out ofthe different folders will be essential. If you have difficulty with moving in and aroundvarious folders, practice will be needed to ease the difficulty of this class.

Select Open. The first case is now inserted into the hand drill product. The othercomponents will be inserted to complete the assembly.

Select the existing component icon, and select Hand Drill. The Insert an ExistingComponent window will automatically open to the Hand Drill folder.

Select Drive Gear, and select Open. The drive gear is inserted into the assembly, pre-positioned. If so desired, the case can be hidden to reveal the drive gear better. Be sure tohave all parts shown before continuing. Notice some of the components can be made into asub-assembly. For example, the output gear and drill chuck can be combined together. Thiscan either be done before hand, as with the handle assembly that you are going to insertlater, or the sub-assemblies can be generated on-the-fly as you will do next.

Select the new product icon, and select Hand Drill. This will insert a new productinto the assembly. A Part Number window appears.


Assembly Design - Inserting documents, Page 14 ©Wichita State University

A part number must be assigned to the new product. Part numbers can either be generatedby the computer or generated on-the-fly. The option to change how new product partnumbers are generated is under Tools, Options, Infrastructure, Product Structure, ProductStructure tab, and Part Number Manual Input. Your system is set up for manual input ofthe part number. To insure your ability to distinguish between the different products, youwill name this one Output Assembly.

Key Output Assembly in the Part Number window and select OK. This will change theinstance name, allowing for better model management. Now that you have a nested productassembly, a product within a product, you need to make sure that you insert new andexisting components into the proper product.

Select the existing component icon, and select Output Assembly. Again, the Insert anExisting Component window displays. This time you will insert multiple components at thesame time.

Select Output Gear, hold down CTRL on the keyboard, and select Drill Chuck 1, thenselect Open. This will insert both documents into the Output Assembly product. You canexpand the Output Assembly product to reveal this by selecting on the plus sign next to it.

The handle assembly is already put together as a separate product. You will insert this next.

Inser t an existing component into Hand Drill. The insert window will show again.

Select Handle Assembly and then Open. This inserts the Handle Assembly into theHand Drill assembly. You can expand this sub-assembly by selecting the plus sign next toit.

Inser t Drill Bit 1 into the Hand Drill assembly. This completes the Hand Drill assembly. The specification tree should appear similar to the diagram shown below.



This is how CATIA represents your assemblies. It is structured in the same way it wasexplained earlier except in a tree form instead of a chart form as shown below.

Congratulations. This completes your first assembly. Now would be a good time to saveyour document. When you save your document the following window should appear:

It gives you this message because the new assembly that you created, Output Assembly, wasnever saved separately. If you select OK then both the Hand Drill and the Output Assemblywill be saved. You will want to go ahead and press OK.

No constraints have been placed on this assembly, therefore all the parts are completely freeto move. Since all of the parts were created in the correct positions they inserted in thecorrect placement. Many times the models will not insert into the proper place and willneed constraints to position them properly. You will learn how to constrain parts later inthis course.


Assembly Design - Replacing and Creating, Page 16 ©Wichita State University

Replacing and Creating New Parts

This exercise will be a continuation of the previous exercise. If the document is not alreadyopened, it will need to be opened before beginning this exercise. In many instances it isnecessary to change a part of an assembly because of optional designs that could be usedwith that assembly. This exercise will covers how to replace components with othercomponents without having to recreate the entire assembly. In the case of the hand drillthere are multiple options that are available such as a different case, drill chuck and drill bitthat could be used on this assembly. Instead of creating a new assembly for every option,you will learn how to replace each component in order to show the different options of thedesign.

Select the replace component icon and select Case. This brings up the Replace aComponent dialog box, same as the Open dialog box. Case will be replaced with Case 2.

Select Case 2 and then Open. This will replace Case with Ergo Case. Any component,or product can be replaced in the same fashion. You will replace other components next.

Expand the Output Assembly if it is not already expanded. Remember you can do thisby selecting the plus sign to the left of the assembly.

Replace the Drill Chuck with Drill Chuck 2. This will replace Drill Chuck with LargeChuck. The new drill chuck displays.

Replace the Drill Bit with Drill Bit 2. This will replace Drill Bit with Large Drill Bit. Notice the drill bit should really be included with the Output Assembly.

Select and hold the first mouse button on the Large Drill Bit and drag it to the OutputAssembly and release the button. This should move the drill bit to the sub-assembly,however it may copy it instead. If it does then just undo the operation and try it again. Working with sub-assemblies is an excellent way to manage models and the respectivecomponents.


Assembly Design - Replacing and Creating, Page 17© Wichita State University

Next a wall mount will be created within the assembly. Creating new parts within theassembly is the same as when a new product was created within the assembly. First, a partnumber will need to be specified, then an origin.

Select the new par t icon and then select Hand Drill. This will insert a new part intothe Hand Drill assembly or product. As mentioned before you will have to specify a partnumber for the new part.

Key Wall Mount in the Part Number window and select OK. This will denote the partnumber of the new part to be Wall Mount and it should appear in your specification tree. Next, the origin must be specified.



A New Part: Origin Point window appears asking where the origin is to be located.

Selecting Yes will allow you to define a new origin point for the new part. Selecting No willuse the origin of the assembly as the origin of the new part.

Select No. This will define the origin of the new part to be the same as that of the assembly.

You will now create the wall mount. None of the other components will be used to designthe wall mount, although later in this course they will be necessary. It is advisable that all ofthe components be hidden, with the exception of the Wall Mount, and possibly the ErgoCase for orientation purposes. This can be accomplished by selecting the components andthen using the third mouse button choose Hide/Show, or by selecting the components andthen select the Hide/Show icon in the bottom toolbar.

Expand the Wall Mount component until PartBody is accessible. This can beaccomplished by selecting the plus (+) next to the component and part icons.


Assembly Design - Replacing and Creating, Page 19© Wichita State University

Double select PartBody with the first mouse button. This will insert you into the PartDesign workbench. You can now build the necessary geometry for the wall mount.

Create the wall mount. Drawings are shown below with the location of the mount inrelation to the axes. It is suggested that you use the yz plane for the sketch of the initial pad.



Double select Hand Drill. This will return you to the Assembly Design workbench.

Collapse the Wall Mount branch and show all of the components to look at the final design.It should look like the following. Be sure to save your document.


Assembly Design - Reordering & Numbering, Page 21© Wichita State University

Reordering and Numbering the tree

With the assembly complete, you will look at two other options for assembly management.

Select the graph tree reorder ing icon. This will allow you to reorder the tree. Sincethe components are not related to each other in terms of order of creation, as in part design,they can be reordered at will.

Select Hand Drill. The Graph tree reordering window should appear. Notice that only theparts and sub-assemblies appear that are under the Hand Drill assembly and not the partsthat make up the sub-assemblies. If you want to reorder the components of the sub-assemblies, you can either reorder them while having the particular sub-assembly opened oryou can select that sub-assembly instead of selecting Hand Drill.

The up and down arrows allow the highlighted part to be moved higher or lower in the treerespectively. The third icon moves the selected part to another selected location. This couldbe useful to help organize a large assembly by reordering components to be listed togetherin the specification tree. In any case it is nice to know that you do not have to insert all ofyour components in a specific order, you can always reorder them later.

Move the Ergo Case to the bottom of the tree and select Apply when done. This can bedone by selecting the Ergo Case and then selecting the down arrow until it is on the bottomof the list. The tree will be reordered when Apply is selected. As you can see it is fairlysimple to reorder components of the assembly. If you have a large number of components itmay be better to use the third icon to position the component at a particular location withouthaving to select the up or down arrows multiple times.

Using the third icon move Drive Gear to the location Handle Assembly. Notice thatDrive Gear appears after Handle Assembly now.


Assembly Design - Reordering & Numbering, Page 22 ©Wichita State University

Select OK. Remember you have to select Apply or OK in order for the reorder to takeaffect.

Next, you will generate numbering for the assembly.

Select the generate number ing icon. Generating numbers shows no visual change inthe assembly. It assigns numbers or letters to the parts within the assembly. They in turnshow up in the bill of material when it is generated as well as in detail call outs in drafting.

Select Hand Drill. The Generate Numbering window appears.

The Mode determines whether you are assigning integers or letters to the parts within theassembly. Existing numbers will allow you to keep numbers that have already beenassigned or you can replace them. In this case you have not assigned any numbers thereforethe options are not available.

Select OK. Numbers are now assigned to all the individual parts of the hand drill.


Assembly Design - Bill of Material, Page 23© Wichita State University

Bill of Material

You will now create a bill of material. Although for this case it is somewhat unnecessarysince the assembly is fairly small, it will give you an idea on how to create a bill of materialfor much larger assemblies.

Select pull down menu Analyze, then select Bill of Material... The Bill of Materialwindow should appear.

The top section of the bill of material displays all of the parts and sub-assemblies of thecurrent assembly, in this case Hand Drill. It also shows separate bill of materials for eachsub-assembly. Notice the nomenclature and revision field. If you would have filled in thosefields for each of the parts, as well as the sub-assemblies, they would have been displayedhere. The bottom section of the bill of material displays all of the parts that make up thecurrent assembly, as well as the quantity needed for each. The format of the output can bechanged with the Define formats button, but usually these formats will be pre-defined by thecompany. The Listing Report tab shows the same information, but in a different format.


Assembly Design - Bill of Material, Page 24 ©Wichita State University

Select the Listing Report tab. This will show the listing report for a bill of material.

, Hides properties either the ones selected or all of them

, Shows properties either the ones selected or all of them

Changes the order of the displayed properties

This report shows the locations of the parts within the tree. 2 Large Chuck denotes theLarge Chuck that is located two levels deep. All of the properties within the Hiddenproperties can be added to the display.

Select Number from the Hidden properties field, then select the show properties icon.

This will add the number property to the displayed properties. Add any other fields

that you would like to see in the listing report.


Assembly Design - Bill of Material, Page 25© Wichita State University

Select the Refresh button. The additional fields were added to the report listing. Anexample is shown below.

Any report generated can be saved in a text format by selecting the Save As... button.

Select the Bill of Material tab. This will take you back to the original bill of material.

Select the Save As button and save the text file as bill of material.

Select OK. This will complete the bill of material. Bills of material can be created at anypoint in the assembly design process and regenerated as necessary. After saving the files, itcan then be imported into multiple types of word processors.


Assembly Design - Bill of Material, Page 26 ©Wichita State University

If you were to open the text file using NOTEPAD then it would look similar to thefollowing diagram.

This completes the hand drill assembly. Be sure to save your model before continuing.


Assembly Design - Constrain & Manipulate, Page 27© Wichita State University

Constraining and Manipulating Parts

In the previous exercise, the parts were pre-positioned, with no constraints necessary. Thisis usually not the case. This exercise will demonstrate how to constrain a model to positionparts correctly through the use of various constraints. The constraint options are as follows:

Coincidence Defines two parts coincident but not attached

Contact Defines two parts as being in contact

Offset Defines a distance between two parallel parts

Angle Defines an angle between two parts

Fix Defines a part that is fixed, does not move

Fix Together Defines two parts that are attached together that will notmove without the other, as in welded parts

The first assembly will be a pair of bolt cutters. The completed assembly is as shown, withthe filenames pointing to the parts. All of the parts are pre-built with uniquely defined partnumbers except for the .75 Bolt.


Assembly Design - Constrain & Manipulate, Page 28 ©Wichita State University

As a rule-of-thumb, any parts that are connected together and will not be moving withouteach other, for example the hand grip and the handle will never be moved separately, it isusually a good idea to put them into a sub-assembly. But, whereas the two jaws of the headwill move independently of each other, it is not advisable to put them into a sub assembly.

Note: All documents are contained within the Bolt Cutters folder.

Star t a new assembly design document. You should close all other documents and thenstart a new product. Make sure you are in the assembly workbench before continuing.

It is a good idea at this point to give the assembly a good part number.

Using the third mouse button select on Product1 and then select Properties. This willbring up the properties for that product.

Switch to the Product tab, change the Part Number to Handle Assembly and select OK. This will give the unique id of Handle Assembly to this product.

Save your document. Notice the name is automatically chosen as the file name. Be sure toadd your initials to the name of the document though.

Inser t the Handle into the assembly. This can be done the same way you did it in theprevious section. Select the existing component icon and then select the Handle Assemblyproduct. Then you can choose the Handle part to insert into the assembly.

Inser t the Hand Grip into the assembly. Notice that the hand grip and the handle do notinsert into the correct location. This is common unless you build your parts where theywould appear in the assembly.



Bounding Box

Select the Hand Grip. Notice the white box that is displayed around the hand grip. This iscalled the Manipulation Bounding Box. It allows for simple movements of the partswithin the assembly. Note: If the bounding box does not appear, it can be turned on underthe following options: Tools, Options..., General, Display, Navigation Tab, and the optionDisplay manipulation bounding box.

Select and hold the first mouse button on any one of the white lines and drag the handgr ip. Notice the hand grip moves in the direction of the line. This is a nice method toquickly manipulate your parts to various locations. However, the part cannot be rotatedusing this option. You will now use another method to manipulate your parts.

Manipulation

Make sure the Hand Grip is selected, and select the manipulation icon. TheManipulation Parameters window appears.

The manipulation icon will allow for the part to be moved in any direction as well as rotatedabout any axis.

The first row allows the part to be moved in the x, y, z,or any selected direction respectively.

The second row allows the part to be translated alongthe xy, yz, xz, or any selected plane respectively.

The third row allows the part to be rotated about the x,y, z, or any selected axis respectively.

With respect to constraints will keep the partconstrained, but will move the part in free directions.This will be demonstrated later.

Take a moment to practice moving the parts around with the various options. Try thedifferent methods of moving the parts, both translating and rotating. Being able to initiallyposition your parts before constraining will make constraining your assembly much easier.

Select OK on the Manipulation Parameters window. You will now constrain your parts.



Coincidence Constraint

Select the bottom of the handle as shown below. Make sure you select the bottom faceand not just the edge. You are going to constrain the bottom of the handle to be coincident with the inside bottom of the hand grip.

Rotate the assembly until you can see into the bottom of the hand gr ip. The reason acoincidence constraint is going to be used and not a contact constraint is because these twofaces are really designed just to be at the same position not really in contact with oneanother. However, a contact constraint could have been used.

Hold down CTRL and select the inside bottom of the hand gr ip as shown. This willmake both parts selected.

Select the coincidence icon. The two parts will be moved and the ConstraintProperties window will appear.



1 – Name This area describes the name of the particular constraint. Aunique name can be given to the constraint if desired.

2 – Supporting Elements This area describes what elements are involved in theconstraint and what was selected. In this case, the twocomponents are the handle and hand grip. The type ofelements that were selected were planes representing the twofaces that were selected.

3 – Status This area describes the status of each of the elements. If forsome reason the constraint could not be applied, the elementin error would have a different status message.

4 – Orientation This is the most important field. Notice the two arrowsdisplayed on the faces of the parts that were selected. Thearrows denote what two sides of the faces are involved. Thereare three options for Orientation.

Same Make the arrows point the same direction

Opposite Make the arrows point opposite directions

Undefined Direction of the faces are neglected

Change the or ientation of the constraint to be Opposite if necessary. The orientationwill most likely need to be changed. Observe both parts to make sure they are correct.

Select OK. This will implement the constraint. Notice the same constraint icons are usedas in the Sketcher.



Contact Constraint

Select the inside of the hand gr ip and using the CTRL key select the outside of thehandle as shown. You may have to manipulate your hand grip away from the handle inorder to select the necessary surfaces. Use the manipulation icon with the With respect toconstraints option selected.

Select the contact constraint icon. This will create a surface constraint between thetwo components. A contact constraint is desired here, because the handle and hand grip areusually always in contact with one another. The Constraint Properties window will appear.

All of the fields are the same as the coincidence constraint properties with the exception ofthe three options of point, line, and surface contact. These define whether a point, line orsurface is in contact with each other, respectively.

Contact constraints become very necessary when stress analysis is to be performed onassemblies.



Note: The following Assistant window may appear. This gives little bits of information asyou perform various tasks, however it can become very annoying. To turn it off and keep itfrom coming on as you perform the exercises select the Do not prompt in the future optionand then select Close.

Select OK. The hand grip is now attached to the handle.

This completes the assembly. It is a good idea to hide all constraints before calling thedocument finished. Hiding the constraints keeps them from cluttering up the display whenthe assembly is used elsewhere.

Hide your constraints and save your assembly.



Close Handle Assembly and star t a new assembly. Remember, it is always a good idea togive the new part or product a unique, descriptive name right away.

Change the par t number of the product to Bolt Cutters. Don’ t forget to save yourassembly now and at intermediate steps of the exercise so if something happens you will nothave to start all over..

Inser t the Handle Assembly twice. Both handle assemblies will be inserted in the sameplace, so there will only appear to be one inserted. However, if you look in the specificationtree you will see that there are two.

Move the handle assemblies so both are visible. This can be done by either selecting one,and dragging one of the white lines of the manipulation bounding box or by using themanipulation icon.

At the top of the handle, there is a pivot point that is split in half as shown below. These twofaces are going to be constrained together.

Select the contact constraint icon and then select the two faces as shown above. Thetwo handle assemblies move to get the two faces in position where they can be in contactwith one another. You should note that the two handle assemblies did not align themselveswith the centers of the hole. You will put that constraint on next in order to get both of thehandle assemblies connected correctly.

Select the coincidence constraint icon. You will select the two centerlines of the holes inorder to align them.



Select the center line at the inside of the pivot hole as shown below. Moving the mousecursor to the inside of the pivot hole will bring up the centerline. Either pivot hole can beselected. It is difficult to select the centerlines at times but if there is a curved surfaceavailable to select that is associated with the centerline you can select on the curved surfaceand it will select the centerline. In this case you may find it easy to select on the curvedsurface of the hole and you will see the centerline appear as you select.

Select the other center line to align the two pivot holes. The two handles will snaptogether. It is very likely that they are rotated in a way which is invalid for the actualoperation of the bolt cutters. There are no conditions being constrained that keep the twohandle assemblies from rotating around the centerline.

Manipulate one of your handle assemblies using the manipulation icon and the optionWith respect to constraints to look like the diagram shown below. It is important to usethe With respect to constraints option or you may manipulate your components to not meetthose constraints. If you ever do that, you can update the constraints in order for them totake effect again. The best option to use will probably be the rotation about a specified axisusing the centerline as the axis.

This would make a good point to save your model before continuing.



Inser t the Head into the assembly. The head will come into the assembly in the incorrectlocation. Go ahead and move the head to a more suitable location at the top of the handles. You may have to reframe the display in order to see the head.

With the head of the cutters near the proper location, the snap option will be used to move itinto the correct location.

Snap

Select the snap icon. This option will allow you to position or “snap” two objectstogether.

Select the center line of the head and the top of one of the handles. Notice that when youwent to select the top of the handle the centerline appeared.

Notice the series of green lines and arrows. Selecting these will reverse the direction of thesnap and will flip the part in various ways. Use these to orient the head properly to thehandle. Selecting anywhere on the screen will release the snap motion. Notice noconstraints were applied when using the snap.

Note: The rotation of the head may be different than what appears above, do not beconcerned because you are going to rotate the head later anyway.

Apply a coincidence constraint between the center lines of the head and the handle thatwas just snapped together . This will make sure that the two centerlines will alwaysremain aligned with one another.



Apply a contact constraint between the two sur faces that will move the head into theproper location. The end product should appear similar to the one shown below.

Manipulate the head using the manipulation icon and the option With respect toconstraints to look similar to the diagram shown below.

Another head needs to be inserted into the assembly. This time another method of insertionwill be used.

Defining a Multi Instantiation

Select the define multi instantiation icon. This icon can be found under the fastmulti instantiation icon, make sure you do not confuse it with the fast multi instantiationicon. This one has a little bar near the bottom of the icon. A Multi Instantiation windowwill appear.

Component to Instantiate – displays the component that is going to be instantiated.

Parameters – defines how the component is going tobe instantiated. The options are the same as when afeature is to be patterned in part design.

Reference Direction – defines the direction ofinstantiation.



Fast multi instantiation will allow a part to be inserted into the assembly multiple times at agiven distance in a given direction. First the multi instantiation has to be defined. After ithas been defined it can be used over and over again using the fast multi instantiation icon.

Select the Head. This defines what is going to be instantiated.

Make sure the New Instance(s) is set to 1, and the Spacing is set to 3in and select OK.This will place a new instance of the Head component into the assembly.

Add coincidence and contact constraints to the new head and manipulate it so it lookssimilar to the diagram shown below. Remember, it is imperative that the head be in theright direction. Did you remember to manipulate with respect to constraints?



Smart Move

This time a smart move will be applied to finish the assembly of the main components.

Select the smart move icon. This icon can be found under the snap icon. It looksvery similar to the snap icon except for a little red mark in the upper right of the icon. Itwill perform the same function as the snap icon but will allow for automatic constraintplacement. The Smart Move window appears.

The Automatic constraint creation option allows for constraints to be created automatically. The list of constraints in the Quick Constraint section is the order of preference that smartmove will go through when applying constraints. You can modify the order of preferenceby using the up and down arrows to the right. You can also change this list by using pulldown menu Tools, Options..., Mechanical Design, Assembly Design, General tab.

Make sure the Automatic constraint creation checkbox is on. This will create thenecessary constraint between the two selections.

Select the center lines at the inside of the two pivot holes in the head as shown below.This will add the constraint to the two pivot holes and snap them together.



Select OK. This will finalize the constraint creation. You may have to update yourconstraints in order for your assembly to appear correctly. Now you will move the assemblywith respect to these constraints.

Select the manipulation icon and then select the rotate around any axis option. Also,make sure the checkbox for With respect to constraints is on. This will allow the parts torotate about any given axis that is selected with respect to any constraints placed on theassembly.

Select the inside of the pivot between the two handles and then select and drag one ofthe handles. Notice the whole assembly moves. Note, this is not kinematics because theassembly can be moved beyond the physical limits but this is a good way to test the modelto insure that the entire assembly is constrained correctly.

Select OK. This exits the manipulation window.

There is only one thing left to add, bolts. You will now insert them.

Hide your constraints. This will hide the constraints up to this point of the exercise.

Inser t the 1.25 Bolt into the assembly and move it to a close location. This bolt will goon the pivot between the handles.

Add a coincidence constraint between the center line of the bolt and the center line ofthe pivot between the handles. Remember, this will align the bolt with the hole. Be sureto select OK when done.



Add a contact constraint to put the bolt into the pivot hole. This can be accomplishedby adding a contact constraint between the outside of the handle and the underneath side ofthe bolt head. Your assembly should appear similar the diagram shown below.

This would be a good time to save your document. Do you notice that the bolt sticks out toofar. You need to modify the bolt to be .75 inches instead of 1.25 inches long and save it as aseparate part. You will do that next.



Modifying a part to create a new part while in the assembly

Expand the 1.25 Bolt branch until you see the PartBody. This will allow you to enter thepart design workbench through the assembly.

Double select PartBody with the first mouse button. This takes you to the part designworkbench allowing you to perform tasks just like you do when in part design. This issimilar to what you did when you created a new part in the assembly. This time you aregoing to modify a part.

Change Pad.1 to have a Length of 0.75 inches. Notice that the bolt becomes shorter butthe head of the bolt moves instead of the end of the bolt, this is determined by the originaldesign of the bolt.

Right click on the 1.25 Bolt branch at the top of the branch as shown below. Since youdo not want this new bolt to be referred to as a 1.25 Bolt you are going to change its namebefore you save the modified part.



Select the Properties option. A Properties window appears similar to the one shownbelow.

Change the Instance name and the Part Number to be .75 Bolt. Notice that Link toReference area in the Properties window. This is very important, when you change thename you want to save the part in a way that will update this link.

Using Save As, save the modified par t as 0.75 Bolt. It is important that you use Save Asinstead of Save or you will save on top of the 1.25 Bolt. This will bring up a windowsimilar to the one shown below.

Select OK. This will update your assembly with the new link to the .75 Bolt instead of the1.25 Bolt. If you check the properties again you will notice the change.

Double select on Bolt Cutters. This will return you to the main assembly and theconstraints get updated positioning the bolt in the correct location. Remember you used acontact constraint between the bottom face of the bolt head and the outside face of thehandles. You can go ahead and collapse the .75 Bolt branch if you want.



Since you wanted the modified bolt to be saved as a different part you had the extra step ofrenaming the part and the instance name. This procedure works well as long as youremember to save the part while in the part design workbench so it updates all of the links. You could have modified the part outside the assembly if you wished.

Inser t the 1.25 Bolt and constrain it to the pivot between the two heads. This is donethe same way as you constrained the previous bolt.

Fast Multi Instantiation

Select the fast multi instantiation icon. Since the multi instantiation has alreadybeen defined there is no need to re-define it.

Select the 1.25 bolt. Another bolt is automatically inserted into the assembly. This is agood way to put the same part into an assembly multiple times. If you know in advance thatseveral are needed, you could re-define the multi instantiation to place multiple copies of thepart at the same time.

Add another bolt and constrain the two into the proper locations. This will finish theassembly. Be sure to hide all of the constraints before calling things completely done.

Don’ t forget to save your assembly.



This will be the next assembly put together. This assembly only has a few parts, but thetable stud and duck are used several times. The names of the files are shown pointing to therespective part.

All the machining table parts are held within the Machining Table directory.

Star t a new assembly, name it Machine Table and inser t the Table into the assembly. Review previous sections if you are still unsure how to accomplish this.

Move the table in the negative Z direction. This can be done by either using themanipulation icon or by using the bounding box. It is necessary to move the table some, sothat all newly inserted parts do not insert inside the table, out of sight.

Since the table never moves, it is a good idea to fix it in space.

Fix Constraint

Select the fix component icon. This will fix a part in space. Once fixed, it will notmove. Generally when you are creating an assembly, it is a good idea to have one of theparts fixed and then assemble the remaining parts around that one. This works well whenyou have a part that normally does not change location.

Select the Table. This will place a fix constraint on the table.

Inser t the Machine Part into the assembly. This is just a simple machine part that willbe constrained onto the table in the appropriate place. This is a good first step before usingCATIA to machine the part.



Apply a coincidence constraint between the table and the bottom of the par t. Remember, this can be done with either the coincident constraint icon or by applying asmart move.

Move the machine par t toward the center of the table as shown in the picture below.This will make it easier to apply the offset constraints.

Offset Constraint

Select the offset constraint icon. The offset constraint allows two parts to beconstrained at a specified distance from one another. The Constraint Properties windowappears.

Select the front side of the machine par t and the front of the table (denoted by an F).The front side of the part being the flat side near the large radius

Change the Orientation to Undefined and the Offset to 5.0, select OK when done. Thiswill set the part at 5 inches from the front of the table. The distance may need to be -5depending on the order of selection.



Place an offset constraint between the open end of the par t and the r ight side of thetable. This will position the part on the table.

Change the Offset to 36 and select OK. The machine part should now be constrained nearthe center of the table.

Placing all of the table studs and ducks takes some time, so it is advisable to save yourassembly. In order to reduce the amount of time it takes to assemble all of the ducks andstuds you will use the copy option to duplicate the geometry with the constraints that are thesame for all of the studs and ducks.

Inser t Table Stud-6 into the assembly. These are used to hold the ducks and positionthem in the correct locations.

Constrain the bottom of the stud to the bottom of a slot of the table. Just the bottom ofthe stud needs to be constrained at this time.

Inser t the 3x1.5 Duck into the assembly. This part will attach to the stud and then beused to hold the part in place for machining.

Constrain the center of the duck to the center of the stud. This will align the duck withthe stud enabling it to be attached but able to move up and down on the stud.

Constrain the bottom of the duck lip to the top of the par t. The assembly should besimilar to the one shown below. You may want to move the stud away from the table inorder to make it easier to work with when copying. If you move the stud you probably willwant to use the manipulation icon so you can move it using the With respect to constraintsoption.



Copying and Pasting with constraints

Note: You need to make sure that your Paste components option Always with the assemblyconstraints is turned on under pull down menu Tools, Options, Mechanical Design,Assembly Design, Constraints tab.

Using the CTRL key select both the Table Stud-6 and the 3x1.5 Duck from thespecification tree. This will select both items.

Press the third mouse button while on one of the items and choose copy or select the

copy icon. This copies the stud and the duck.

Select the Machine Table from the specification tree. This will allow you to paste thestud and the duck into the Machine Table assembly.

Press Ctrl-V or select the paste icon. This will paste a copy of the stud and the duckon top of the original while keeping the constraints that were specified on the original. Youshould notice another Table Stud-6 and 3x1.5 Duck appear in your specification tree.

Repeat the last two steps until you have a total of five studs and ducks. Thespecification tree should look similar to the one shown below.

You will now proceed to finish constraining the studs and ducks to their proper positions. The steps will be given for the first one and then it is up to you to finish constraining the restof them.

Constrain the side of one of the studs to the appropr iate side of the first slot. Thisshould position one of the studs in line with the first slot. Use the manipulation icon tomove the stud and duck closer to the part using With respect to constraints.



Angle Constraint

Select the angle constraint icon. This will allow parts to be constrained at aspecified angle, perpendicular or parallel to one another.

Select the front side of the machine par t and the back of the duck as shown above. TheConstraint Properties window will appear.

Change the Angle to 45 degrees and select OK. This will finish the constraint.



Select the offset constraint icon, select the open end of the machine par t and therounded corner of the duck closest to the open end of the par t as shown below. Noticethat when you select the corner it is actually using the centerline of the radius corner not theoutside surface of the corner. This will place a offset constraint between the outside edge ofthe part and the centerline of the corner.

Change the Offset to -4 and select OK. This constrains the table stud and the duck in thecorrect location to hold the part to the table for machining. However it is still necessary forthe other studs and ducks to be positioned to keep the part from moving during machining.



You will now finish constraining the rest of them using the dimensions shown below. Thediagram will also show you which slot each stud should go in counting from the front to theback.

The table has been omitted for clarity.



The finished table should look like the following.

This would be a good time to save your model.

Next, you will check to insure that everything is constrained.



Explode

Select the explode icon. Exploding a product will separate all the pieces.

Depth Determines how far into your assembly the explode will affect

All levels goes completely through the tree

First level only goes through the first level, leaving sub-assemblies alone

Type Determines the type of explode that will occur

3D moves geometry in all directions.

Projection projects the exploded geometry to the current window frame, at therotation axis

Constrained explodes the geometry keeping centerline coincidence constraintsintact. This explosion type gives results most similar to referencedocuments, but also takes the longest to compute.

Selection The product that is going to be exploded

Fixed product The component that will not move when the explode takes place

Select in Fixed product input field and select the Table. Selecting a fixed part will keepthe one part in the current place while moving all the others.

Leave Depth to All levels and Type to 3D and select OK. The geometry should “explode”above the table. A warning message displays warning about the modified product positions.

Select Yes to the warning. This warning is telling you that the positions of the componentsof your assembly are about to move. If you do not have your part properly constrained thenit will be unable to reposition them correctly.



Select the update icon from the bottom toolbar . The assembly should update andall the parts should return to the original positions. If some parts are not in the correctlocations, then the constraints are incorrect. It is a good idea to explode, and then update allassembly design models before calling them finished to insure all parts are constrained.

You are now finished with this assembly, remember to save your document.


Assembly Design - Adv. Constraint Options, Page 55© Wichita State University

Advanced Constraint Options

This section will cover the remaining constraint options that have not been covered yet. After this, all constraint options will have been covered.

This assembly is made up of two sub-assemblies. One sub-assembly being a stationarywheel and the other being a swivel wheel. The stationary wheel will be assembled first.Below is the wheel with the filenames labeled.

All documents can be found in the Rolling Table directory.


Assembly Design - Adv. Constraint Options, Page 56 ©Wichita State University

Star t a new assembly and inser t all three par ts into the assembly. The filenames for thethree parts are StatWheel Mount, Wheel and Wheel Pin. The three parts will not insertinto the correct locations. Remember to give your assembly an unique part number such asStationary Wheel.

Fix Together Constraint

You are going to put a fix together constraint between the mount and the pin. The purposeof this is to just show you how fix together works and then you will remove the fix togetherconstraint in order to complete the assembly. Normally you would use this constraint whentwo or more parts are positioned approximately instead of precisely. This allows theattached parts to move together instead of independently. The important thing to rememberis that anything that overrides the constraints (explode, manipulating without respect toconstraints) will cause the fix together to change definition. This is because updating willnot restore the two objects in the same position, all it does is force the one object to movewith the other.

Select the fix together icon. This automatically brings up the Fix Together window.

Select the Wheel Pin and the StatWheel Mount, then select OK. This will fix the twoparts together.

Using the manipulation icon with the With respect to constraints option on, move themount. Notice that the pin moves with it. This is how fix together works.

Turn the With respect to constraints option off and move the mount. Notice that onlythe mount moves and there is no update option.

Turn the With respect to constraints option back on and move the mount. Notice thatthe pin moves with it again.

Select OK. This will exit the manipulation option.

Expand the constraints and delete the fix together constraint. You are going to applyother constraints to the mount and the pin in order to position the two parts precisely withrespect to one another.



Quick Constraint

Select the quick constraint icon. Quick constraint will “guess” what constraint is tobe applied. The order in which they are guessed is available for modification under the pulldown menu Tools, Options, Mechanical Design, Assembly Design, Quick Constraint. Fromthere, you can specify what constraints are to be created before others. The default list isassumed for this exercise, so modify with caution.

Select the center line for the wheel pin hole on the stationary mount and the center lineof the wheel as shown above. Notice the parts snap together and a coincidence constraintis generated automatically.

Select the quick constraint icon, then select the wheel pin and the center of the wheelas shown above. Again, a coincidence constraint is placed on the wheel pin and the centerof the wheel. As you can see this can be very handy in quickly applying constraints.



Select the quick constraint icon and then the inside of the mount, and the flat outsidepart of the wheel hub as shown above. Notice the quick constraint places a surfaceconstraint on the two components. This constraint would normally be fine but for thisexercise you will change the constraint to be a coincidence constraint instead of a contactconstraint.

Changing a Constraint

Select the change constraint icon. This will bring up a window of constraint optionsthat could be placed between the two parts. If the window does not appear select theconstraint that you just created. This list will change as different types of constraints areselected in different circumstances.

Select Coincidence from the ChangeType window and select OK. The contact constraintis now changed to a coincidence constraint. Any type of constraint can be changed in asimilar manner.



Apply an offset constraint between the outside of the stationary mount and the end ofthe wheel pin. Set the offset to 0.625. This can be done by either using a quick constraintand then changing it, or by using an offset constraint.

Save your assembly since you will use it later. Do not forget to save it with an unique partnumber if one has not already been assigned.



The next assembly will be the swivel roller. Due to the complexity of the bearing, it will beassembled first, then used as a sub assembly to the full swivel roller. The bearing is shownbelow partially exploded to display all parts with labeled filenames.

Star t a new assembly and inser t the Bearing Retainer and the Bearing. Note onlyone bearing is necessary. The rest will be automatically put into the assembly. Also noticethe yellow socket on the bearing retainer. This is the first socket of the circular pattern andis where the ball bearing will be constrained.

Apply a contact constraint to the ball bear ing and the yellow socket. This isaccomplished by selecting the surface constraint, the yellow part of the socket, and then theball bearing.



Reusing Patterns

The pattern that was used to create the sockets in the bearing retainer will now be used forthe ball bearing.

Expand the Bearing Retainer tree until the Bearing Pattern is visible.



Select the reuse pattern icon. This icon will allow the user to re-use any pattern usedin a part design. Placing bolts in a defined pattern is another good example of where thiscould be used. The Instantiation on a pattern window appears.

Pattern contains the pattern that is going to be used

Instance(s) how many instances the pattern contains

In component the component that the pattern exists in

Component to instantiate the item you are going to use in this pattern

First instance on pattern

re-use the original component the original component is used and others areadded

create a new instance the component is copied and then placed intothe pattern locations

cut & paste the original component the component is deleted by being cut and thenpasted into the pattern locations

Re-use Constraints

All all constraints are re-used

None no constraints are re-used

Selected the selected constraints shown in the window are re-used

Put new instances in a component places all new instances into its own assembly



Select the Bearing Pattern from the tree. The bearing pattern is entered into theInstantiation on a pattern window.

Select the Bearing. The bearing is inserted into the window as well as displayed on thescreen. Notice the surface constraint that was created will be re-used. This means that allnew bearings will have the surface contact with the bearing retainer. If there was more thanone constraint, then all constraints or those selected would be re-used.

Make sure the Instantiation on a pattern window is set the same as below and selectOK. The new ball bearings are inserted into the retainer with the constraints applied.

Now, all of the ball bearings have been inserted into the assembly and constrained all in onestep. Next, you will add the bearing race to finish the bearing assembly.

Inser t the Bearing Race into the assembly. The bearing race will need to be constraineda distance apart. In reality, a bolt would determine the distance the two races would be apart(varying the distance or pressure would determine the ease of movement). The race alsoneeds to be constrained to the center of the bearing retainer.

Apply a coincidence constraint between the center of the race and the center of thebear ing retainer . This should make the race and the retainer line up. The race may alsoneed to be moved closer to the bearings for easier manipulations.



Apply an offset constraint of 0.125 between the flat sur face of the bear ing race and thecenter of one of the ball bear ings as shown below. The center of the sphere can beselected by selecting the outside of the sphere. Since all the bearings are linked together,they will all move at the same time. Note: All the other constraints are hidden in thepicture.

Inser t another bear ing race. Remember, this can be done by either doing a fast multiinstantiation or by inserting an existing component.

Apply a coincidence constraint between the center lines of the two races and a distanceof .25 in between the two flat sur faces of the bear ing races. This should complete thebearing assembly. Try exploding the assembly and then updating it to be sure all theconstraints are correct.

Make sure you save your model since you will need this assembly later.

The rest of the assembly is now ready to be constructed. It is up to you to decide what typeof constraints are necessary to finish the swivel wheel and table.



Swivel Wheel Assembly

You should locate the wheel pin the same way you did with the stationary wheel. Place anoffset between the outside of the mount and the end of the wheel pin of .625 inches. Note:if you explode it to check your constraints you may only want to explode the first level.



Rolling Table Assembly

This can be a complex assembly to put together if you do not fully understand how each partgoes together. The following steps and diagrams are for your understanding, it is notnecessary that you perform the constraints in this order.

The first step is to assemble the framework using an End Angle, Side Angle and a VerticalAngle. The diagram shown below will give you an idea of how these three pieces fittogether. This can be accomplished by using coincidence constraints using the holes. Makesure you attach the two pieces to the correct end of the Vertical Angle.



The next step is to continue inserting additional pieces and constraining them to get theframework shown below. You can either insert the pieces again or you use fastinstantiation. You may even want to attempt to use copy and paste to speed up the process.

The next step is to add a Wheel Mount Angle and a Lg Angle and constrain them using theholes at the bottom of the Vertical Angles. The diagram shown below will give you an ideaof how the pieces fit together. Notice there is a gap between the bottom of the Lg Angle (1)and the Wheel Mount Angle (2).



The next step is to continue inserting additional pieces and constraining them to get theframework shown below. You can either insert the pieces again or you use fastinstantiation.

You are now going to add the Table Top. The Table Top aligns itself with the outsidesurfaces of the End Angle and the Side Angle. It is in contact with the top surface of thosepieces as well.



Now you will insert the Bottom Plate into the assembly. Remember that gap, this is wherethe bottom plate should go. The easiest way is to constrain the position using the centerlineof the holes. The Bottom Plate should be in contact with the bottom surface of the Lg Angleand the top face of the bottom lip of the Wheel Mount Angle. In other words it should stackfrom the bottom up as follows: Wheel Mount Angle (1), then the Bottom Plate (2) and thenthe Lg Angle (3).

The wheels should attach to the bottom surface of the Wheel Mount Angles and should alignthemselves with the holes. Remember, there are two different wheels, the stationary wheeland the swivel wheel. Two stationary wheels should go on one end and two swivel wheelsshould go on the other end.

Do not forget to explode and then update your assembly to insure correct constraints. Note: you probably want to explode using only the first level. Remember to save your assemblywhen done.



Weld Planner

You are going to add weld symbols to the top of the table.

Select the weld planner icon. The weld planner will allow welding symbols to beadded to the assembly to denote welds. These symbols could be imported into a drawing ofthe table if you created a draft of this assembly.

Select the edge between the table top and one of the top angles as shown. Selecting thisedge will display the Weld Planner and the Weld creation windows. The Weld Plannerwindow only shows what components are involved. The Weld creation window defineswhat type of weld symbols are to be added.

The four boxes with drop down arrows display many different types of welding symbols.There are hundreds of different combinations that could be created. You will only createone. If you would like to learn more about the different types of welding symbols that canbe generated, consult an engineering drawing or welding book. They usually display manyof the different types of welding symbols that can be used. You will place weld symbolsthat indicate a single fillet weld.



Key S in the lower left box and change the lower left symbol to a tr iangle. The Weldingcreation window should appear like the one shown below.

Select OK. This places the weld symbol on the table edge and it adds two branches to thetree: Weld Planners and Annotations Set.

Add the same weld symbols to the other three inside edges under the table. This willcomplete the rolling table assembly.

Congratulations, the table is fully assembled, and ready to be drafted. Make sure you saveyour assembly.



Activating/Deactivating constraints

This exercise will cover the activating and deactivating of constraints to represent differentlocations of an assembly. There are many times that an assembly will contain parts that arenot at one specific location and you want to have constraints that represent the differentlimits of the assembly.

Create a new product and call it Piston. You are going to insert the two components thatare necessary for the creation of the piston.

Inser t the Cylinder and Shaft from the Piston directory. The cylinder is cut in half sothat you can see what the different constraints are actually doing.

Put a coincidence constraint between the center line of the shaft and the center line ofthe cylinder . This will force the two items to line up. Next you are going to put contactconstraints on the two parts to position the shaft at both limits.

Put a contact constraint between the end of the shaft and inside the end of the cylinderas shown below. This will force the shaft to be at one limit of the piston.



Put a contact constraint between the inside of the shaft and the inside of the other endof the cylinder as shown below.

The following window appears.

This states that the constraint you just put on over constrains your assembly. This isbecause you have a the first contact constraint still active.

Select OK. You will now deactivate the first constraint. You will probably need to expandthe Constraints branch in your specification tree.

Using the third mouse button, select the Surface contact.1 constraint and select theSurface contact.1 object option. This will show the following options.

Select Deactivate. This will deactivate that constraint and your assembly will change toutilize the second contact constraint instead. You should notice a set of parenthesis on thelower left of the constraint icon in the specification tree. This is how you know whatconstraints are deactivated. On the assembly itself the deactivated constraints should appeargrey.

Deactivate the Surface contact.2 constraint as well. You are now going to apply an offsetconstraint between the end of the piston and inside the end of the cylinder.



Put an offset constraint between the end of the piston and inside the end of thecylinder . This is between the same two surfaces as the first contact constraint. Thefollowing warning appears because this constraint is similar to the contact constraints youalready have.

Select OK. This closes the Warning window and allows you to define the offset value.

Change the offset to be 4.75 inches and select OK. It may need to be negative dependingwhich face you selected first. You are now going to rename the various constraints so theyhave a more meaningful representation.

Using the third mouse button select the first contact constraint and select Properties. This will bring up the following window.



Select the Constraint tab and change the Name to be Retracted. This names theconstraint to give it a better representation of what it will do.

Change the name of the second contact constraint to be Extended.

Change the name of the offset constraint to be Halfway. The constraints should appearin your tree similar to that shown below.

Practice activating and deactivating the various constraints to show the different limits ofthe piston. Remember, only one of the constraints can be active at a time or it will be overconstrained.

Save your assembly.





Assembly Design - External References, Page 77© Wichita State University

External References

Up to this point you have mainly concentrated on working with assemblies where the pieceswere already built using Part Design. This is a good method if you know the shape anddimensions of all the parts. However, there are many times that you want a part to connectone item to another and you do not want to have to determine all the dimensions or worryabout if the part is going to collide with other parts in the assembly. Therefore instead ofcreating all of the parts individually, you can use faces and geometry from other parts tohelp in the creation of new parts and external references are generated.

Using the pull down menu Tools, Options you can access the Mechanical Design, PartDesign, General tab. Under this option is External References. A diagram is shown below.

There are four options listed:

Keep link with selected object - This option will have your part create external referenceswhen using geometry from other parts in the assembly. Therefore if that geometry changeson one of the other parts it will effect your new part.

Create external references in Show mode - This option will have the external references begenerated in Show mode instead of Hide mode.

Confirm when creating a link with selected object - This option will have a confirmationwindow come up to confirm that you want a link created with the object.

Only use published elements for external selection - This option will only allow you to usepublished elements for selecting objects to use as external references.


Assembly Design - External References, Page 78 ©Wichita State University

For this exercise you need to make sure you have the Keep link with selected objectactivated. You are going to finish creating the side assembly for a bridge truss. Thefinished bridge truss is shown below.

Open the Side Assembly document. It is located in the Truss directory. It shouldappear similar to the diagram shown below.

Open the Link - 22.5 document. It is located in the Truss directory. You are going toopen this document and save it in your area while the assembly is opened so that it willautomatically update the links.

Save the Link - 22.5 document, select OK to update the links and close the document. You are going to want to be able to make modifications to this link later in the exercise, thatis why you are saving it in your area.



You are going to create the angled link that attaches at four locations on the assembly.

Select the new par t icon and then select the Side Assembly. This will insert a newpart into the assembly.

Key Angled L ink in the Part Number window and select OK. A new part appears in thetree.

Select No for the or igin.

Expand the Angled Link component until PartBody is accessible and double select itwith the first mouse button. This will switch you to Part Design.

Select the sketcher icon and select the front face of the link shown above. This will usethat face as an external reference to determine the sketch support. The sketch may turn yourassembly around the wrong way making it hard to select the appropriate curves. If it doesturn the assembly around by selecting the normal view icon and that will take you to theother side. Make sure you are looking at the outside of that link instead of the inside of it. Your horizontal axis should be pointing to the left.

Using the elongated slot icon create a slot as shown above. This is the approximateshape of the angled link.



Using the constraint icon put a coincidence constraint between the lower left curve ofthe elongated slot and the curved end of the link at the bottom as shown below.

Put a coincidence constraint between the upper r ight curve of the elongated slot andthe curved end of the link at the top as shown below. This completes the sketch of theangled link.

Exit the sketcher and create a pad using this sketch that is 0.50 inches thick. Makesure it is going in the right direction.

The link has been created. Notice the External References branch in the specification tree. If you expand it you should see a surface that was used to define the sketch support and thetwo curves that you used for the coincidence constraints. If you look closely you will see alittle green light at the lower left corner of those elements. If you open the angled linkdocument and you see a red light then it needs to be updated. Also if you look at the particon next to Angled Link in the tree you will notice that the gear is green instead of yellow,this means that the part has external references.

Hide the planes. You do not want the planes to appear every time you use this part.

Using Save As, save your par t as Angled L ink. This creates an angled link document.



Double select Side Assembly to return to the assembly.

Since the angled link was created using the assembly geometry you do not need to constrainit because it is already constrained to that location. However you will now insert the angledlink in three more times and you will have to constrain them to the proper location.

Inser t three more angled links in to the assembly. You can either using the insert anexisting component icon or use a multi-instantiation.

Constrain them to go in the correct positions as shown below. You should usecoincidence constraints to constrain the angled links in the right orientation. Then usecontact constraints to force links in the right position. There is only one side that they canattach on and touch at both ends.

Save your assembly.

Open your Angled Link document. Notice the pad and the external references in thetree. You can always isolate those elements so they still exist in this part but are no longerreferencing external objects. You can do that by using the third mouse button, going downto the object and choosing isolate. Do not isolate them now.

Close your Angled Link document. In order to get a better idea of what the externalreferences mean besides just helping to create a part while in an assembly you will performsome actions just to see how the angled link changes.

Open your Link - 22.5 document. You are going to modify the radius of the link.

Go in to the sketch and modify the radius to be three inches instead of 1.5. Make sureyou exit sketcher after changing the value.

Save and close the document.



Open your Angled Link document. Notice that the angled link does not look anydifferent here but the external references now have red lights instead of green lights. Thismeans that they need to be updated because something in the assembly has changed.

Open your Side Assembly document. Notice that the angled links have changed sizebased off the change that was made to the link. In order to get the Angled Link updated youwill switch to that window and save it.

Switch to the Angled Link document by changing to that window. Notice that theexternal references now have green lights because they know what has changed since theassembly is opened.

Save your Angled Link document and your Side Assembly document and closethem.

Using the same technique, change the link back to a radius of 1.5 inches and updatethe angled link and the assembly. Make sure you save all of the necessary documents.


Assembly Design - Assembly Features, Page 83© Wichita State University

Assembly Features

There are some operations that can be performed on assemblies that will update all of theparts affected according to the operation. These are referred to as assembly features. Thefollowing operations are available in assembly design.

Split - splits your assembly with a plane, face or surface

Hole - creates holes in your assembly

Pocket - uses a sketch to create a pocket in your assembly

Add - adds a body to your assembly

Remove - removes a body from your assembly

You should be familiar with all of these options from Part Design. Since you are familiarwith them only a couple of them will be covered in this section.

The first exercise will involve your Side Assembly that you just finished in the previousexercise. You are going to use the assembly features to put holes in your assembly.

Hole

Open your Side Assembly document. This is located wherever you saved it from theprevious exercise. It should appear similar to the one shown below.

Select the hole icon. This will allow you to put a hole through multiple parts of yourassembly.


Assembly Design - Assembly Features, Page 84 ©Wichita State University

Select the curved edge of the angled link as shown below. This will automatically putthe concentric constraint on the hole in order to position it correctly.

Select the front face of the angled link as shown above. This will tell the hole optionwhere to start the hole. Two windows should appear, one may be on top of the other. TheHole Definition window looks like your standard hole window from Part Design exceptthere is no Up To Next option. The Assembly Features Definition window allows you tospecify which parts should be affected by the hole feature.



Looking at the Assembly Features Definition window you will notice two sections, one forParts possibly affected and the other for Affected parts. All the parts in the Affected partssection will have the hole affect them, the ones listed above are the parts that you can havethe hole affect. If you want the hole to affect some of those parts you need to move themusing the icons that are located between the two sections.

moves all of the parts down to the Affected parts section

moves just the one part selected down to the Affected parts section

moves all of the parts up to the Parts possibly affected section

moves just the one part selected up to the Parts possibly affected section

Highlight affected parts this option will highlight the parts that are in the Affectedparts section of the window

Move the Link - 22.5.4 down to the Affected parts section along with the Angled Link.1that is already there. This will make the hole affect both of those parts. However it isimportant to note that since every one of the Link - 22.5 and Angled Link parts are based offof the same document, if one gets affected they all get affected.

Activate the Highlight affected parts option. You should see the angled link and the linkthat is in contact with it highlight. This is a good way to check that you have the correctparts selected.



In the Hole Definition window change the options to be Up To Last with a Diameter of1 inch and select OK. You should see the hole appear in the angled link and the link that isin contact with it. You should also notice that some holes appear in other places of yourassembly. That is because all of the links are based off of the same document, if you changeone they all change. In the specification tree you should see an Assembly features branch. This lets you see the features and it shows what documents are being affected.

You are now going to put the hole on the other end of the angled link. In this case you justwant to find a place where you can put the hole in the other end of both links.

Select the hole icon.

Select the curved edge of the angled link as shown below.

Select the front face of the angled link as shown above.

Move the Link - 22.5.2 down to the Affected parts section along with the Angled Link.2that is already there. You can select the Highlight affected parts option if you wish.



In the Hole Definition window make sure the options are Up To Last with a Diameterof 1 inch and select OK. The assembly should have holes in the ends of all of the links andappear similar to the diagram shown below.

You should also see the Assembly features branch contain another Assembly Hole.

Save your Side Assembly. This will automatically save all of your documents that weremodified in the assembly.

Open your Angled Link document. You will notice that the two holes are in link and inthe tree you can see the holes but the icons have arrows in the upper left corner signifyingthat they are assembly features.



Double select on Hole.1. A warning window appears telling you that you can not modifythe hole because it is an assembly feature. The only place you modify the hole is in theassembly.

Similar to the external references you can isolate assembly features so that they are nolonger linked to the assembly. You can do this by using the third mouse button, going downto the object and choosing isolate.

Close your document. There is no need to save since you made no changes to the angledlink.



You are now going to use another assembly feature to help create a mold for an existingpart. You will create an assembly with the two parts of the mold and the part that needs tobe molded and then use remove to form the mold to the correct shape.

Add

Open the Mold Creation assembly. It is located in the Molded part directory. Thisassembly contains the top piece and the bottom piece of the mold as well as the partdefinition that needs to be removed and added. The top piece and the part to be removed arehidden at the moment. It should appear similar to the diagram shown below.

Select the add icon. This will allow you to select a body that you want to add. Youare going to select the PartBody of the Molded part - add.

Expand the Molded part - add branch until you can see the PartBody and then selectthe PartBody. This defines the body that you want to add. The Assembly FeaturesDefinition window appears. You only want the Bottom piece to be affected.



Move the Bottom piece down in to the Affected parts section. This will add the part to thebottom piece. An Add window appears.

Select OK. This adds the part to the bottom piece. An Assembly Add appears in your treeunder Assembly features.

Hide the Molded part - add branch. Notice that the bottom piece now contains thatvolume as part of its definition.

Hide the Bottom piece and show the Top piece and the Molded part - remove branch. You may want to show the Molded part - remove branch first so you can see what you aregoing to remove.

Remove

Select the remove icon. This allows you to select a body that you want to remove.

Expand the Molded part - remove branch until you can see the PartBody and then selectit. Once again the Assembly Features Definition window appears.

Move the Top piece down in to the Affected parts section. A Remove window appears.

Select OK. This removes the part from the top piece. An Assembly Remove appears in yourtree under Assembly features.

Hide the Molded part - remove branch. Notice that the top piece has the volume removedfrom it.

Save the assembly and the modified par ts in your directory.



Open the Bottom piece document from your directory. It should appear similar to theone shown below.

Notice in the specification tree the Add branch as shown below.

Open the Top piece document from your directory. I t should appear similar to theone shown below.

Notice in the specification tree the Remove branch as shown below.

Close all of the documents.

The other assembly features work similarly. The main thing to remember is that theexternal references and the assembly features are ways you can create associations betweenyour parts and the assembly itself.





Fitting Simulation - Introduction, Page 93© Wichita State University

DMU Fitting Simulation

Pull down menu changes

Insert

Shuttle Allows a group of parts or products to be defined that willmake a simulation set

Simulation Allows shuttles to be moved and recorded in a simulation

Clash Inserts a clash analysis

Distance and Band Analysis Inserts a distance analysis

Group Allows a group of geometry to be defined

Tools

Publish

Creates an HTML document that will include pictures, feature text, userinputted text and a VRML ( virtual reality ) image (everything does not haveto be included or in a particular order)


Fitting Simulation - Introduction, Page 94 ©Wichita State University

Analyze

Graphic Messages

Displays either the name of the component or the coordinateof the component



DMU Fitting Simulation Workbench

Changes workbenches

Selects geometry

Groups a product or productsinto a shuttle

Creates a simulation fromshuttles

Compiles the simulation eitherinto a replay or an AVI file

Shows a compiled replay whiledisplaying analysis information

Generates a volume from thepath and area covered by asimulated object

Explodes an assembly but doesnot leave product exploded

Shows the current selectedobject(s) and relationships withother objects

Generates a clash andinterference analysis

Generates a distance and bandanalysis

Turns clash detection off duringsimulation

Turns clash detection on duringsimulation

Stops the simulation if a clash isdetected

Finds the shortest path withoutcollisions along a givensimulation path

Reduces the number ofunnecessary points along a givensimulation path



Manipulation

Toggles preview window

Reframes in the preview window

Positions on a target element

Inverts the normal vector

Edits position with dialog box

Resets back at the originallocation

Defines a snapping axis forapproaches

Attaches compass to shuttle

Detaches compass to shuttle



Bottom Toolbar Changes

DMU Viewing

Lets you look at a document in a specific direction

Returns to the previous view

Returns to the next view

Magnifies an area of the view

Allows depth sections or fog to be applied to the view

Places a horizontal ground in the view

Allows the lighting of the view to be changed





Fitting Simulation - Simple Simulation, Page 99© Wichita State University

DMU Fitting Simulation

DMU Fitting simulation will allow a single part or multiple parts to be movedsimultaneously. This can be very beneficial when clearances need to be checked as productsare taken apart or put together.

Open the Compressor Pump. The compressor pump can be found in the AirCompressor directory.

This model is a pre-defined model. All the constraints are in place and there are no clashes. You will use this model to get a feel for what fitting simulation can do. First there are a fewfundamental things to take into account.

Assemblies that are going to be put into a fitting simulation do not need to be constrained.In fact, fitting simulation ignores all constraints. In order to make your model moveaccording to constraints, you would need to apply kinematics which is covered in anotherclass.

Anything that is going to be simulated needs to be in a shuttle. A shuttle is like a group orset of geometry and parts that gets moved. The individual pieces do not move alone, onlythe shuttle.

With these few things in mind you will begin.

Creating a simple simulation

Change to the DMU Fitting Simulation workbench, if not already there. This can bedone by either selecting the change workbench icon in the top right of the toolbar or byselecting Start, Digital Mockup, and DMU Fitting.


Fitting Simulation - Simple Simulation, Page 100 ©Wichita State University

Creating a shuttle

Select the shuttle icon. This will bring up two different windows. One window willbe the preview window, similar to the preview windows seen in the DMU Space Analysissection. The second window needs a bit more attention.

Name Defines a descriptive name for the shuttle. A good name should always begiven to the shuttle so it can be identified easily.

Selection Defines what is included in the shuttle.

Reference Denotes a reference to the shuttle. If a reference is defined and then thereference is moved, the shuttle will move accordingly. If no reference isdefined, the shuttle will always remain at the same location.

Move This will move either the entire shuttle or just the shuttle axis. This will becovered later.

Validation This option would be very useful to simulate the motion of a fluid’scontainer. Since you would not want the container to rotate and roll allaround, you can use the validation option to keep it from moving past aspecified angle. This will be covered later.

Make sure the Selection area is highlighted and select the Pulley. This can be selectedfrom either the tree or from the screen. Take notice that the compass attaches itself to thepulley. Using the compass will be very important to creating a simulation.

Change the Name field to Pulley Shuttle. This will allow you to identify the shuttle in thetree.

Select OK. This creates a shuttle that contains the pulley. The pulley is now ready to besimulated. You can see the Pulley Shuttle in the tree under Applications, Shuttle.



Note the small hand and axis that is at the center of the pulley. This is the shuttle symbol. If it is a nuisance, it can be hidden just as any other symbol. Leave it showing for the timebeing. As you saw above shuttles are stored in the Shuttle branch. Other branches such asSimulation and Replay branches will also be added.

There are two drain plugs on the side of the compressor. Put both of them into a shuttle.

Select the shuttle icon. This time both drain plugs will be inserted.

Change the Name to Drain Plugs. This will more clearly describe the shuttle rather thanShuttle.2.

Select both Drain Plugs. This can be accomplished by either selecting them from thescreen or by selecting them from the tree.

Notice both drain plugs are displayed in the preview window. This shows that they areincluded in the shuttle. Also take note to the position of the shuttle axis. The axis stayswith the first selected plug. If both plugs were selected before the shuttle icon was selected,the axis would display in the geometrical center of the plugs and not on the first plugselected.

Since the plugs are dependant on where the base of the compressor is located, it should bemade a reference.

Select the Reference field and then select the dark green base of the compressor . Compressor Base.1 is inserted into the Reference field but is not shown in the Previewwindow. This is because the compressor base is only a reference and will not be simulatedwith the shuttle.

Select OK. This completes the second shuttle. Next, a simulation will be made.



Creating a simulation

Select the simulation icon. A Select window will display showing the availableshuttles in the assembly. You may have to scroll down in order to see the two shuttles.

Select the Pulley Shuttle and then OK. This will again bring up two windows. Onewindow will be the preview window showing what is going to be moved. The secondwindow is the Edit Simulation window. The compass is also located at the center of theshuttle.



Name Defines a name for the simulation. Each simulation should be given aunique and descriptive name for future reference.

Arrow 1 The loop mode icon. Selecting this icon will change the loop mode betweensingle loop, forward and reverse, or continuous forward.

Arrow 2 The time step indicator. Each motion placed in the simulation indicates atime step and is displayed in the box.

Arrow 3 The replay interpolation step. In general, it controls the speed of the replay.

Animate viewpoint Allows the viewpoint position to be recorded with the simulation. This would be useful if a certain area needs special attention while acomponent is being removed. This option will be used more in theDMU Navigator section.

Insert, Modify, Delete, Skip Allows the user to insert steps manually, modify the positionat a desired step, delete a step or skip over a step duringreplay.

Automatic insert Allows the positions to be automatically inserted. This is not a goodoption to have on when first starting.

Edit analysis Allows you to add or remove various analyses to your simulation. The analyses are commonly generated using the DMU Space Analysisworkbench.

Edit simulation objects Allows you to add additional shuttles that you want to be partof the simulation.



Compass

It is important to understand the compass so it can be used effectively.

The compass, usually green when attached to geometry, has three main direction vectors, U,V, and W, as shown by the arrows below. Selecting one of the vectors will move theattached object only in the direction of the vector. Normally, the compass will be in theupper right corner of the workspace, labeled X, Y, and Z. When the compass is attached toan object, it is re-labeled to U, V, and W. If one of the vectors is along the same direction asone of the primary axes then there will be a pipe ( | ) symbol and the primary axis is alsostated. This can be seen below, circled.

The compass also has the three principle planes as noted by arrows below. Selecting one ofthese planes will allow the attached object move along the plane of the selected plane. Therotation arcs, located along the outside of the planes, work the same. Selecting an arc willrotate the object about one of the given axes.



Select the U axis vector and hold. Move the pulley away from the par t. The U axisvector is noted as U|X, meaning it is in the same direction as the X axis. Moving the cursorto the vector, it will highlight, and then just select and hold it while moving the mouse awayfrom the compressor body. Since you selected the U axis, the pulley will only move in theU axis direction. The pulley should look something like the following picture.

Now the position needs to inserted into the simulation.

Select Insert in the Edit Simulation window. This will draw a line from the originalposition of the pulley to the new position. This line is the simulation path. Any where thatthe shuttle moves and a position is inserted a line is generated.

Select the UV rotation axis on the compass and rotate it 90 degrees clockwise. It doesnot need to be exactly 90 degrees, anywhere close will do.

Select Insert in the Edit Simulation window. This will make the number of simulationsteps two. You will now move the pulley one more time and then call it good.



Move the pulley a considerable amount in the U direction. Move it about twice as far asthe pulley was moved from the compressor.

Select Insert again. This will insert the final step. Before selecting OK on the EditSimulation window, replay the simulation to be sure it is right.



Set the replay interpolation step to 0.04 and the replay mode to forward and

reverse . This will show the simulation both ways and slow it down so it does not flash

by. Remember the replay interpolation step is set in the input field where 1 is currently. The forward and reverse option is changed by using the icon to the left of the input fieldwith 3.00 in it.

Select the play forward icon. The pulley will begin to move, following the path that

you defined.

When done viewing the replay, select the pause icon. This will stop the simulation.

Feel free to try adjusting the speed of the replay as well as try the other play control icons. Before moving onto the next step, make sure the simulation is paused.

Change the name of the simulation to Pulley Removal and select OK. The pulley willsnap back to the original position but the shuttle icon and the replay path will remain.

Congratulations on your first simulation. Now would be a good point to save your model. Notice that in the Applications branch you now have a Simulation branch. Now that youhave a simulation, it needs to be made into a replay so that it can be viewed at any time. This means that the simulation will have to be compiled into a replay.



Compiling a simulation

Select the compile simulation icon. This will bring up the Compile Simulationwindow.

There are two main options when compiling a simulation. First, a replay can be generated. The replay can only be viewed from within CATIA V5. Second, an animation file can begenerated. There are two different animation file types that can be created. The first type isa Microsoft AVI file. This will create a single video file that can be viewed from anycomputer. Be warned, the animation files created will be very large, even for a simpleanimation. The second file type is that of still images. A series of JPEG images, or frames, will be generated and then through the use of animation software, they can be viewed. Thedefinition area allows you to change what simulation will be compiled, the time step that itwill be compiled at (same as the replay interpolation setting from the Edit Simulationwindow) and if the viewpoint is going to be compiled into the animation.

Change the name of the replay to Pulley Removal and set the time step to 0.04. Thiswill generate a replay at the same speed that was first viewed in the simulation replay.

Select OK. The slider along the bottom will begin to move across. This will indicate theamount of the replay compilation that is completed. The compilation of the replay will onlytake a brief second.

At the bottom of the tree, a replay branch will be added. With the replay compiled, theshuttle and simulation can be deleted. The replay holds all the information that the shuttleand simulation does but does not give the flexibility of modifying the simulation.



Replaying a compiled simulation

Double select the Pulley Removal replay. This will display the Replay window. Thiswindow is very similar to the Edit Simulation window. This is the same window that will

appear if you select the replay icon. Therefore you do not have to select the replay

from the specification tree.

Most of the icons are the same as on the Edit Simulation window. The one exception is thereplay time step interpolation list is now a replay speed. If the simulation was compiled attoo slow a speed, it can be sped up using this dialog.

Replay the simulation at var ious speed. Close the window when done. This willcomplete the process of compiling a simulation and viewing the replay.

Here is a review of the process to generate a simple animation.

First, a shuttle needs to be made The shuttle contains any geometry that is going to besimulated.

Next, a simulation is made The simulation is a series of motions that you apply toa shuttle to move it about the workspace.

Compile the simulation into areplay or animation file.

Replays can be viewed from within CATIA, otheranimation files have to be viewed with externalsoftware.



Next, create a simulation to show the drain plugs being removed.

Select the simulation icon and then select the Drain Plugs shuttle. Remember, thedrain plugs were put into a shuttle earlier. Since both drain plugs are part of the shuttle,they will move at the same time.

Change the name of the simulation to Drain Plug Removal. Remember, you shouldalways give everything a descriptive name. Otherwise, complex assemblies will becluttered with meaningless names.

Move the drain plugs along the V direction. They should be out about as far as the pulleywas moved. You may have moved the pulley the opposite way, if you did that is okay.

Select Insert. This is a vital step, be sure to insert the simulation step.

Replay the simulation from within the simulation editor . Select OK when done. Thiswill help to insure that it is right before you complete the simulation. This also gives you achance to determine what speed the animation needs to be replayed at. A speed of 1 is waytoo fast, but a speed closer to 0.04 or 0.02 is more acceptable.

Select the compile simulation icon. Remember, the simulation must be compiled toview it as a replay.

Notice the simulation name is set on Pulley Removal. This is because that is the firstsimulation created. This will always be the default simulation name. It is necessary tomake sure it is changed to the right simulation each time.



Change the Simulation name to Drain Plug Removal. Also, change the Time step to0.04. One last thing needs to be changed before selecting OK. The name needs to be moreunique than Replay.2.

Change the Name to Removal of the Drain Plugs. Select OK when done. The name ofthe replay can be any length desired, so feel free to give as long of a descriptive name asnecessary.

Replay the Removal of the Drain Plugs replay. This makes sure that everything came outright.

Congratulations, this completes your second full simulation. Now would be a good time tosave your document. You will now start working with more complex simulations.


Fitting Simulation - Multiple Objects, Page 112 ©Wichita State University

Multiple Objects moving in same simulation

The next simulation that you create will involve a few more motions as well as multipleobjects moving within the same simulation. First, shuttles need to be made of the varioussimulation objects.

Creating a group

Notice there are quite a few bolts in the assembly. These bolts should be grouped together.

Select pull down menu Insert and select Group. The Edit Group windowappears. A group is nothing more than a collection of parts within an assembly. Groups canbe very useful to denote similar parts. In this case, the top head bolts will be put together ina group. Another group will be made to comprise of the bolts holding the compressor headand the cylinder base.

Select the six yellow bolts holding the head down. This can be done by either selectingthe bolts from the tree (the bottom six hex bolts) or by selecting them graphically.

Change the name of the group to Head Bolts. Select OK when done. There is a newbranch now added to the Applications group.


Fitting Simulation - Multiple Objects, Page 113© Wichita State University

Select pull down menu Insert and select the Group option again. This timea group containing all of the bolts holding the compressor head to the cylinder base will becreated..

Select all of the .5x3 Hex bolts and the .25x3 Hex bolts. Again, this can be donegraphically or by selecting the bolts from the tree.

Change the name of the group to Cylinder Bolts and select OK when done. This willput all the bolts in another group. These groups will now be used in your simulations.

Select the shuttle icon. The head bolts will be made into a shuttle.

Change the name of the shuttle to Head Bolts and select the Head Bolts group. SelectOK when done. Selecting the group will need to be done from the tree. Notice the headbolts do not appear in this preview window.

Create a shuttle for the Cylinder Bolts group. Call the shuttle Cylinder Bolts. Remember, this can be done by selecting the shuttle icon, changing the name of the shuttle,then selecting the Cylinder Bolts group.

Create a shuttle for the Cylinder Head (the br ight green par t) and create a shuttle forthe Compressor Head (the br ight blue par t). Be sure to give good names to the shuttles(naming the shuttles the same as the part is sufficient). Now, all four parts will be simulatedat the same time.

Select the simulation icon. The list of available shuttles are displayed. All fourshuttles will be selected at the same time.

Select the four shuttles just created. Note: You will have to hold down Ctrl to selectmore than one shuttle at a time. The shuttles will be the Head Bolts, Cylinder Bolts,Cylinder Head, and Compressor Head.

Select OK when all four are selected. Everything will appear the same as when you createa simulation with one object.



This time, the Automatic insert option will be used.

Select the Automatic Insert checkbox. Anytime the compass is moved, the Insert buttonwill automatically be selected. This means you have to be careful not to make unnecessarymotions of the shuttle.

The preview window will be important when working with multiple shuttles. The previewwindow will show what is going to be moved.

Move the Head Bolts shuttle in the W direction, enough to clear the cylinder head. Remember, the bolts will move when you select the W vector on the compass and move inthe vertical direction. Notice as soon as you release the mouse, the first step of thesimulation is inserted.



Move the bolts along the V direction, the same distance that the pulley and drain plugswere moved. Again, the simulation step was inserted as soon as the mouse button wasreleased. Next, the cylinder bolts will be moved.

Select the Cylinder Bolts shuttle. This can be done by either selecting the shuttle icon forthe cylinder bolts or by selecting the shuttle from the tree. Watch the Preview window. When the correct shuttle is selected, the bolts will be shown in the preview window.

This time the bolts will be moved an exact distance.

Either double select the compass, or select the editor icon. This will bring up thecompass manipulation dialog box.

Under the Translation area change the Z or W to 15 and select the plus (+) next to the Zor W field. This will move the bolts up (along the W axis) fifteen inches. Next, a rotationstep will be applied.

You will apply two motions at the same time.

Select the Automatic insert checkbox to turn it off. This will allow you to make twomotions at the same time without them being one after another.

Under the Rotation area change the Angle to 45 and select the plus (+) next to the Z orW axis field. This will rotate the bolts about the W axis by 45 degrees.

Under the Translation area change the X or U to 40 and select the minus (-) sign. Thiswill translate the bolts 40 inches in the negative U direction.

Select Insert in the Edit Simulation window. This will insert the new position into thesimulation.



Close the Compass Manipulation window. If for any reason an exact distance needs to beapplied, using the compass manipulation window is the best choice. You will now look atthe simulation that you have created so far.

Change the replay interpolation step to be 0.04 and the replay mode to forwards and

reverse. This will slow the replay down to an adequate level, and show the simulation

forwards and backwards.

Select the play icon and watch the simulation. Notice the yellow head bolts moveinto position first, then the aqua compressor head bolts move. Also, take note to the aquabolts as they move away from the compressor. Notice the bolts rotate and move at the sametime.

Pause the simulation and select the jump to end icon. This will make sure anynew simulation steps are placed at the end of the current simulation. Next, both the cylinderhead and the compressor head will be moved simultaneously.



Moving two shuttles at once

Select the Cylinder Head shuttle. Be sure to have the Automatic insert checkbox turnedoff. The green cylinder head should show up in the preview window.

Move the cylinder head a considerable distance in the W vector direction. Since boththe cylinder head and compressor head will be moved at the same time, room needs to beleft to completely remove the compressor head too.

Select the Compressor Head shuttle and move the compressor head so it clears thepurple pistons but does not clash with the cylinder head. The assembly should appear asshown on the next page. Note that the insert button has not been pressed on the EditSimulation window yet.

Select Insert from the Edit Simulation window. If you watched closely, you would noticetwo lines being drawn. The two lines denote the movement of the cylinder head and thecompressor head.

Move the cylinder head and the compressor head in the opposite direction of the bolts.This will keep the one side from becoming cluttered.



Select Insert from the Edit Simulation window. This will draw the two lines indicatingthe motion of the cylinder head and the compressor head. Your assembly should looksomething like the picture shown below.

All four shuttles have now been used in your simulation.

Replay the simulation to make sure everything runs smoothly. When done replaying,

press pause and name the simulation Compressor Head Removal. Select OK

when done. This completes the simulation. Now the simulation needs to be compiled intoa replay.

Compile the Compressor Head Removal simulation into a replay. Use the same namefor the replay. Notice the simulation lines are starting to clutter the screen.

Press the third mouse button while on the simulation lines and select Hide/Show. Goahead and hide the shuttle icons as well. This will hide the simulation lines and theshuttle icons to keep them out of the way.

This would be a good time to save your document.


Fitting Simulation - General Options, Page 119© Wichita State University

Next, a few more options will be investigated, as well as some other methods of creatingsimulations.

General methods and options

Open the Robo Welder assembly. This can be found under the Robo Welder folder. This document is pre-assembled with all the constraints in place. You should be in theDMU Fitting Simulation workbench.

Exploding the assembly

Select the explode icon. This option works very similar to the option found under theAssembly Design workbench. Although similar, this option will not allow you to leave theparts exploded.

Select Apply. This will scatter the parts that make up the Robo Welder.

Run the slider back and for th in the explode window to see how the par ts fit together . When done, select Cancel. This is a good way to determine how an assembly was createdwithout damaging the assembly.

The simulation that will be created is going to do a number of things. First, the full range of motion of the arm will be shown. Kinematics are not going to be applied but they will besimulated through fitting simulation. Once the motions are made, a swept volume will becreated. This will be discussed more in-depth at a later stage.

Select the shuttle icon and create a shuttle using the Base Pivot par t. This is goingto put the shuttle axis in the center of the part. This will work fine for simulating kinematicsdue to the ability of the pivot to rotate about the Z axis.

Change the name of the shuttle to Pr imary Pivot and select OK. That creates the firstshuttle. The next shuttle will be the Arm - Cylinder.


Fitting Simulation - General Options, Page 120 ©Wichita State University

Moving the shuttle axis

Select the shuttle icon and select the Arm - Cylinder. As expected, the shuttle isdisplayed at the geometric center of the part. In order to show proper motions of the arm,the shuttle cannot be located there. The shuttle axis needs to be moved.

Select the Axis checkbox under the Definition area of the Edit Shuttle window. This isgoing to allow you to move the axis of the shuttle instead of the geometry. The compassmanipulator icons will be used to move the shuttle to the pivot point of the cylinder arm.

Select the target icon. This will allow you to define a new target for the shuttle axis.

Select the face as shown above. You should see a plane with an arrow appear as you movethe cursor over the surface. Make sure the arrow is pointing outward toward the open side. You can hold the Shift key to invert the arrow before selecting the surface.

You can always use the invert icon to invert the axis if the axis is pointing the wrongdirection after you select the face. The compass along with the shuttle should appear asshown below.



Select the Shuttle checkbox under the Definition area of the Edit Shuttle window. Thiswill make it so the simulation will move the geometry within the shuttle as well as the axis.

In order for the shuttle to move with the primary pivot, the primary pivot shuttle needs to beused as a reference. If it is not used as a reference, then when the primary pivot is moved,the cylinder arm shuttle will not move with it.

Creating a shuttle referencing a shuttle

Select the Reference field and then select the Primary Pivot shuttle. It is very importantthat the shuttle be selected and not the geometry. To insure that the shuttle has beenselected, expand the tree so you can see the shuttles under the Applications branch. Theshuttle, Shuttle.2, should be under the Primary Pivot shuttle.

Change the name of the shuttle to Cylinder Arm. Select OK when done. Thiscompletes the second shuttle. The other shuttles are going to be made in a similar fashion.

Create a new shuttle for the Arm - Piston. Using the target icon select the face shown

above. Make sure you have the Axis option checked. This will move the compass

and axis to go along the centerline of that cylinder.



Select the Shuttle checkbox. Make the reference of the shuttle the Cylinder Armshuttle. Change the name of the shuttle to Piston Arm and select OK when done. Given this type of assembly, each of the new shuttles will reference back to the previousshuttle. With this relationship type, when you move a shuttle, all of the shuttles underneathwill move with it as well.

Create a new shuttle for the Hand Pivot. Change the name to Hand Pivot and makethe Piston Arm shuttle the reference. Select OK when done. There should be no need tochange the location of the compass. Your assembly should appear similar to the one shownbelow.



Create a new shuttle for the Welding Tip. Using the target icon select the face shown

above. Make sure you have the Axis option checked. Make sure the arrow points

outward toward the open side.

Select the Shuttle checkbox. Change the name to Welding Tip and make the HandPivot shuttle the reference. Select OK when done.

There should now be five shuttles, all making up a long line. Next, they will all be simulatedat the same time. This would be a good time to save your document.



Customizing automatic insertion

The automatic insertion option will be used again in this section. This time, it will becustomized differently.

Select pull down menu Tools, Options, Digital Mockup, DMU Fitting, DMUManipulation tab. This is where various things such as clash detection defaults andautomatic insertion defaults can be changed.

Change the Automatic Insert Configuration option to be While mouse moving. Insteadof an insertion point being placed in the simulation every time the mouse was released, itwill be placed in the simulation at specified intervals.

This will make the two fields modifiable. Since everything in here is going to be rotated,the distance option is not of much concern. The Angle option will be changed, however.

Change the Angle to 15. This will automatically insert a step into our simulation everytime a shuttle is rotated 15 degrees.

Select OK. This will set the options. The options carry with your logon, so when you loginto a different computer the option will remain set.



Simulating shuttles referencing a shuttle

Select the simulation icon and select all five shuttles to simulate. Select OK when all

five are selected. Remember, you will have to hold down Ctrl or Shift to select all of

the shuttles.

Remember, the Preview window will show you what is going to be simulated. It is a goodidea to keep the Preview window visible so you will know what is going to be moving.

Select the Automatic insert checkbox. Just because the options were changed for theautomatic insertion, does not mean that the option is turned on. The checkbox must still beselected before the points will automatically be inserted.

Rotate the Primary Pivot about the W axis clockwise one complete circle. Notice thestep numbers incrementing as you move the compass. This is the automatic insertionworking every 15 degrees.

Change the current shuttle to the Cylinder Arm. This can be done by selecting thecylinder arm from the tree.

Rotate the Arm 180 degrees about the W axis. Be sure to move the arm in the correctdirection.

Turn the Automatic insert off. This can be done by selecting the Automatic Insertcheckbox again. You are turning this option off because several motions are going to bemade simultaneously. Your assembly should appear similar to the one shown below.



Select the Piston Arm shuttle. Extend the piston arm out until it is near the end of it’slimits. Since the Automatic insert is turned off, if you move the piston beyond the limits itdoes not hurt anything. Just move it back into the cylinder until the plunger is not showing. Do not press Insert yet.

Change the current shuttle to the Welding Tip shuttle. Rotate the welding tip down 90degrees. Again, the 90 degrees is just an approximate. Do not press Insert just yet.

Rotate the Hand Pivot shuttle about the U axis 90 degrees so the Welding Tip points atyou. Select Insert when done. This will insert the step that comprises of all the othermotions. Your assembly should appear similar to the one shown below.

Replay what is currently in the simulation. Be sure to hit pause and the jump to end iconbefore continuing. Notice the arm extends outward, rotates, and the welding tip turns all atthe same time.

Rotate the Primary Pivot shuttle about the W axis 180 degrees. Do not hit the Insertbutton yet. You are going to make the robotic arm make several motions at the same timeagain.

Slide the Piston Arm shuttle back into the retracted position. Again, do not press Insertyet. There is one last motion that will be made.

Rotate the Welding Tip shuttle back into a straight out position. Change the name ofthe simulation to Multi-Motions, selecting Insert and OK when done. This willcomplete this simulation. The important thing to keep in mind from this exercise is, youhave to make the shuttles reference each other if they are going to move with each other. Otherwise, the simulation will not work. It is left up to you to try simulating the armwithout referencing the other shuttles.

Compile the simulation and view the replay. Do not forget to give the replay adescriptive name and do not forget to change the time step of the simulation.

Since you have the Multi-Motions replay, the simulation will be deleted. It will be assumedthat you do not want the extra information to be carried with the document. Do not deletethe shuttles however. The shuttles will be used again.



Select the Multi-Motions simulation. The simulation will have to be selected from thetree.

Press Delete to delete the simulation. The simulation can be deleted by either pressingdelete on the keyboard, by pressing button three on the mouse and selecting delete, or usingmenu edit and selecting delete from there.

Notice all of the extra lines and points disappear. They were all part of the simulation anddeleted with it. If you wanted to keep the simulation around, then you could have hiddenthe simulation and the lines would hide with it. Next, a couple of new simulations will begenerated to show the full limits of the arms. First, a distance analysis will be placed on thewelding arm to give a general idea of how far the arm can reach.



Distance and band analysis

Select the distance and band analysis icon. A Edit Distance and Band Analysiswindow should appear.

Name the name you specify for the distance analysis

Type

Minimum minimum distance between the two selections

Along X, Y, Z gives the component distances in the respective directions

Band analysis displays color coded bands of distance away from the selectedpart

Inside one selection distance analysis between items inside a singleselection

Between two selections distance analysis between two selections

Selection against all distance analysis between all elements and the selectedelement

The various options are covered in more detail in other courses. For now you will learnhow to just use this option to put a basic minimum distance on your assembly to be used infitting simulation.

Change the options to be Minimum and Inside one selection. This will allow you toselect the two parts in one selection and it will calculate a minimum distance between thosetwo parts.



Select the Welding Tip and the Base and select Apply. The distance analysis appears onyour assembly as well as in a Preview window so that you can verify the distance analysisbefore you select OK.

Change the name to Extent Analysis and select OK. This will accept the distanceanalysis, leaving the distance on your assembly as well as adding a Distance branch to yourspecification tree.

Select the simulation icon and select the Primary Pivot shuttle for the simulation object. Select OK when done. Since an analysis is applied to the assembly, you want to include itinto the simulation.

Select the Edit Analysis button at the bottom of the Edit Simulation window. This willbring up an Edit Analysis in Simulation window.

Select the Add... button. This will bring up a window of all the distance analyses. Sincethere is only one distance analysis in the document, only one shows.

Select Extent Analysis. Select OK when done. The Extent Analysis will display in theEdit Analysis in Simulation window. Multiple analyses can be added or removed from thiswindow.



Select OK. Notice the Distance option is no longer greyed in the Edit Simulation window. The analysis can be attached to the simulation but can be turned on or off. By default, it isturned off.

Turn the Distance option On. Just select the drop down for the Distance option and thenselect On. This will make the distance analysis automatically update with the simulation.

Rotate the arm a complete circle around the W axis with the Automatic insert turnedon. Next, the arm will be rotated 180° over the top.

Select the Cylinder Arm shuttle. You will note that the Preview window does not change. This is because you did not select the cylinder arm shuttle to be included in the simulation.This simulation is only concerned with the primary pivot shuttle. This can be fixedhowever.

Select the Edit simulation objects button at the bottom of the Edit Simulation window. This will bring up the Edit Simulation Objects window where all the simulation objects inthe simulation are displayed. The Cylinder Arm needs to be added to the list of simulationobjects.

Select Add..., select Cylinder Arm, and then select OK until back at the Edit Simulationwindow. This will add the cylinder arm to the list of available simulation objects. Now youcan change the current shuttle to the Cylinder Arm shuttle.

Select the Cylinder Arm shuttle, then rotate the arm 180° over the top with theAutomatic insert turned on. You should have noticed the distance analysis automaticallybeing updated as the arm moved.

Change the name of the simulation to Retracted Motions and select OK. Expanding thetree for the Retracted Motions simulation, you will note the Extent Analysis branch. Thismeans that the analysis is linked to the simulation. If the analysis gets modified, such asdifferent elements being analyzed, then any simulation utilizing the analysis will show thenew analysis.

Generate a replay for the Retraced Motions simulation. As the retracted motionssimulation is being compiled, you will note the distance analysis does not move with thissimulation. Not to fear, when you view the replay, you will have the option to turn onanalysis or not.



Activate the Extended constraint. This can be done through various methods. It will beleft to you to decide the best way to activate the constraint and make sure it is updated.

Perform the same simulation with the welding tip extended. The steps will be similar tothose earlier. Be sure to add the distance analysis into the simulation.

When done, name the simulation Extended Motions. Compile the simulation into areplay named the same. Be sure the arm remains extended. The simulation will try toupdate the arm back to the original shuttle position. If the arm retracts, just update theconstraint again. This will create a replay of the robotic welder in an extended and retractedposition. Next, swept volumes will be generated for the replays.



Swept Volume

Swept volumes are useful for creating a volume that represents the area needed for aparticular item to operate. You can then insert this swept volume in to another assembly tocheck for interferences.

Select the swept volume icon. This icon will create a volume from the moving part. The volume will be the area that is used as the part sweeps around. A Swept Volumewindow should appear.

Replay Defines what replay will be used to generate the sweptvolume. Only replays can be used to generate swept volumes.

Product(s) to sweep Defines what products are going to be swept. Just one or allof the products that are included in the simulation can be usedto generate a swept volume.

Filtering precision Defines how precise the volume will be. The larger thenumber, the more jagged the volume will be. The correctvalue for this field can only be determined from trial anderror. It will depend on what the swept volume will be usedfor.

Reference product Allows you to reference another moving object for the productyou are sweeping

Number of positions This cannot be modified by the user. This area will updatewhen a swept volume is generated.

Initial How many points are currently in the replay

Filtered Changes according to the Filtering precision size

Change the Replay to the Retracted Motions replay. This will define what replay is goingto be used to generate a swept volume.



Select the ... button next to the Product(s) to sweep field. This will bring up the ProductMultiselection window.

Select only the Welding Tip.1 and select OK. Since the welding tip is the furthest extentof the assembly, it is the only one of interest and will be the only product used to generatethe swept volume.

Change the Filtering precision to 2. This will generate a position every two inches thewelding tip moves.

Select Apply. This will take a few seconds to generate, so be patient. When the sweptvolume is generated, a Preview window will display showing the swept area that thewelding tip occupies as it moves around. This volume can be useful when creating plantlayouts. Instead of replaying the arm simulation to determine if it clashes with otherequipment, the volume can be placed in the plant to quickly see the range of the arm.

Select OK. This will bring up a Save As window. The swept volume will be saved as aCGR file. This CGR file can be imported into any assembly.



Change the name of the swept volume to Retracted Sweep and save it. This will savethe CGR file into your drawings directory.

Create a sweep of just the welding tip from the Extended Motions replay. Save thesweep as Extended Sweep. The steps to generate the sweep is the same as before.

Save your document.


Fitting Simulation - Simulating Assembly, Page 135© Wichita State University

Simulating assembly

Up to this point all of your fitting simulations had to do with taking an assembly apart. Thisexercise will cover the steps necessary to take an existing assembly and simulate how theassembly would be put together. This requires you to move the shuttle the individual partsbefore creating the simulation and then simulate them going back together.

Open the Helicopter document. It is located in the Legos directory. It should appearsimilar to the one shown below.

Select the shuttle icon and select the 1x6 Thin Block.2. This is the left propellerblade. The first step you are going to do is to move the shuttle axis to be at the centerline ofthe last cylinder on the right.

Switch the Axis option on and using the target icon select the cylinder on the r ight end

of the block. You want the compass to be located at that location pointing straight up.

If it is pointing down use the invert icon to invert the direction.

Change the option back to Shuttle. This will allow you to move the shuttle which holdsthe part to a new location.


Fitting Simulation - Simulating Assembly, Page 136 ©Wichita State University

Select the snapping axis icon. This will create a snapping axis which will assist youwhen reassembling. It will snap your compass to that location when you are close enough,how close is determined by the settings under pull down menu Tools, Options, DigitalMockup, DMU Fitting, DMU Manipulation tab. You can adjust the Snap Sensitivity basedon Position and Orientation. You should see a little red axis appear at the base of thecompass.

Using the compass move the par t up in the w direction and over in the u direction. This will locate the part in its starting position for the simulation.

Name the shuttle Prop1 and select OK. This creates the shuttle, the propeller should beaway from the assembly and you should see a red axis which represents the snappinglocation.

Do the same thing for the other propeller blade: move the axis to the far left cylinder ,create a snapping axis and then move the par t up in the w direction and over in the vdirection. Make sure you use the Axis and Shuttle options properly, if you make a mistakeyou can always Cancel.

Name the shuttle Prop2 and select OK. You should see a little red axis representing thesnapping axis.

Create a shuttle for the grey propeller . There is no need to move the shuttle axis.

Select the snapping axis icon. This creates the snapping axis.

Using the compass move the par t up in the w direction. You should see the red snappingaxis down below.

Name the shuttle Propeller and select OK. This is all of the shuttles you will create forthis exercise. You can always come back later and do the rest of the helicopter.


Fitting Simulation - Simulating Assembly, Page 137© Wichita State University

Select the simulation icon. A list of your shuttles should appear.

Select all three of the shuttles and select OK.

Select the Propeller shuttle and move it down the w axis until it snaps in to place andselect Insert. You should have noticed the propeller actually move beyond the compass andsnap in to place when you got close to the proper location.

Select the Prop2 shuttle and move it along the v axis and select Insert. You shouldmove it until it is approximately above the correct location of the propeller.

Move the shuttle down the w axis until it snaps in to place and select Insert. If you findthat you did not move the shuttle the correct distance in the v axis earlier just delete themoves and try again.

Select the Prop1 shuttle and move it along the u axis and select Insert. You shouldmove it until it is approximately above the correct location of the propeller.

Move the shuttle down the w axis until it snaps in to place and select Insert. If you findthat you did not move the shuttle the correct distance in the u axis earlier just delete themoves and try again.

Name the simulation Propeller and select OK. This creates the simulation of thepropeller being assembled.

Compile the simulation into a replay named Propeller using a Time step of 0.04. This will slow the simulation down so that you can actually see the pieces move in to place.

Play the replay to ver ify. Verify that the replay shows the assembling of thepropeller.

If you want you can go back and create shuttles of all the pieces with snapping axes and thencreate one simulation that shows the entire helicopter being assembled.

Save your assembly. It is important to note that as soon as you go back to the Assemblyworkbench, the helicopter will reassemble based off of the constraints that have beenapplied to it.


Fitting Simulation - Review, Page 138 ©Wichita State University

Review

This exercise is to review some of the various options that have been covered and to makesure you have a good understanding of how to create fitting simulations.

Open the Machine Vise document. It is located in the Machine Vise directory.

Make sure you are in the fitting simulation workbench.

Exploding

Explode the assembly to get an idea of the var ious par ts that are involved. As you cansee there are many pieces. This exercise will walk you through what to do but it relies onyour previous experience to know how to do it.

Select Cancel. Besides exploding you can also look at the various pieces and even selectthem using the selection panel icon.


Fitting Simulation - Review, Page 139© Wichita State University

Current selection panel

Select Machine Vise from the specificaton tree and then select the current selection

panel icon. The Current Selection Panel window will appear.

Tree tab shows the selected object in a tree format

3D tab shows the selected object in 3D

Reframe on selection reframes your working window so that the selected object iscentered in the window

Freeze freezes the display of the 3D object and will not change evenif you select a different object until you turn freeze off

View related objects shows you the related objects in the window

As you can see there are a few sub-assemblies in this assembly. You are going to want totake apart the sub-assemblies as well as the complete assembly.

Close the window by selecting the x in the upper r ight corner .

You will probably want to expand the sub-assemblies so that you can see the parts that theycontain in the specification tree.



Creating groups

Create a group that contains the two pins of the Handle named Handle pins. Remember groups are nice when you want to control a set of objects with just one shuttleinstead of having to define shuttles for each object and then having them reference eachother.

Create a group that contains the two set screws of the Sliding Jaw assembly named Setscrews.

Create a group that contains the two flat screws of the Sliding Jaw assembly namedSliding jaw screws.

Create a group that contains the two flat screws of the Base Assembly named Basescrews.

Now that you have those groups defined you can use them to create shuttles.

Creating shuttles

First level of Machine Vise

Create a shuttle for the Vise screw. It does not need to reference anything and the defaultaxis is fine. Name it Vise screw.

Create shuttles referencing the Vise screw shuttle for the Collar and Special key. Sincethe default axis has a direction along the centerline of the Vise screw then it will work finewithout having to change it. Name the shuttles Collar and Special key respectively. Remember, by referencing the Vise screw shuttle, when you move the vise screw shuttle theCollar and the Special key will move as well.

Base Assembly

The Base will be the only part of the entire assembly that will not be moving.

Create shuttles referencing the Base for the Jaw plate and Base screws. For the Basescrews the default axis will work fine since it has a direction along the centerline of theholes in the Jaw plate. The default axis is fine for the Jaw plate as well. Name the shuttlesBase jaw plate and Base screws respectively. Remember the Base Screws are a group.

Handle

Create a shuttle for the Handle rod. You need to make sure your axis is in the direction ofthe centerline of the Handle rod. Name the shuttle Handle rod.

Create shuttles referencing the Handle rod for Handle ball.3, Handle ball.4 and Handlepins. You need to make sure the axis for the Handle balls are in the direction of thecenterline of the Handle rod. You also need to make sure the axis for the Handle pins is inthe direction of the centerline of the pins. You may have to hide one of the balls in order toselect the centerline of the pin, when done show the ball. Name the shuttles Handle ball1,Handle ball2 and Handle pins respectively. Remember the Handle pins are a group.



Sliding Jaw assembly

Create a shuttle for the Sliding jaw assembly. The default axis is fine for this shuttle. Name the shuttle Sliding jaw assembly.

Create a shuttle referencing the Sliding jaw assembly shuttle for the Sliding jaw, Setscrews, Slide key.1 and Slide key.2. The default axis works fine for all of these shuttlessince there is an axis that goes in the direction that each respective part needs to move. Name the shuttles Sliding jaw, Set screws, Slide key1 and Slide key2 respectively.

Create shuttles referencing the Sliding jaw shuttle for the Jaw plate and the Sliding jawscrews. The default axis works fine for both of these shuttles since there is an axis that goesin the direction of the centerline of each respective part. Name the shuttles Sliding jaw plateand Sliding jaw screws respectively.

The Applications branch should look like the following if expanded.

Save your assembly. This would be a good time to save before continuing.



You are now ready to create your simulation.

Creating the simulation

The following steps will walk you through how to move each shuttle. It is suggested thatyou do not use automatic insert, but then you will have to remember to select the Insertbutton after each move. The steps are given so you have an idea of how to disassemble thisassembly, you only need to be approximate so your simulation may look slightly differentfrom the pictures shown.

Create a simulation named Machine vise using all of the available shuttles. You willhave to define all the movements before selecting OK. You will start with the handle.

Move the Handle pins out and the Handle balls out and over at the same time as shownbelow. Remember in order to have both Handle balls move at the same time you shouldmove them both and then Insert and then move them both again and then Insert again.

Move the Handle rod down through the hole. It should appear similar to the diagramshown below.



Move the Vise screw out to the point where there still is clearance between the Collarand the Base. There is not enough room to slide the Collar off of the Vise screw.

Move the Sliding jaw assembly forward so that there is enough room to take the Collaroff of the Vise screw. This will allow you to remove the Special key and the Collar.

Move the Special key straight out in the u direction. This allows the key to come offwithout running into the Vise screw.

Move the Collar along the center line of the Vise screw and then out toward the Specialkey. This allows the Collar to clear the Vise screw before moving it out. It should appearsimilar to the diagram shown below.

Move the Vise screw out the rest of the way. Notice that the Collar and the Special keymoved with it. This is because you made them reference the Vise screw. It is okay sinceyou left enough clearance for that to happen. Now you will remove the Sliding jaw and takeit apart.

Move the Set screws down underneath the Base. This will allow you to remove the Slidekeys.



Move the Slide keys straight out along the v direction past the end of the Base. Youwill want these to move together so you will move both and then select Insert. It shouldappear similar to the diagram shown below.

Move the Sliding jaw up above the Base. The will allow you to remove the Sliding jawscrews and the Sliding jaw plate.

Move the Sliding jaw screws out from the Sliding jaw.

Move the Sliding jaw plate out from the Sliding jaw. It should appear similar to thediagram shown below.



Move the Base screws out, then up and then out some more. This will allow you enoughroom so that you can pull the Base jaw plate out and then up.

Move the Base jaw plate and out and then up. This ends your simulation, hopefully youpress the Insert button along the way. It should appear similar to the diagram shown below.

This finishes the simulation, make sure you named it Machine vise.

Save your assembly. This is a good time to save before generating a replay.



Creating a replay and an AVI file

Create a replay of the Machine vise simulation using a Time step of 0.1. Name thereplay Machine vise.

Create an AVI file called Machine vise using a Time step of 1.0. This will allow you toview the simulation outside of CATIA.

Save your assembly.


Fitting Simulation - Clash Detection, Page 147© Wichita State University

Checking for clash

When you work with assemblies it is very important that you check for interferences. It ismuch better to find an interference that causes the assembly not to work before the parts areproduced then to find out after their manufactured. This gives you an opportunity to fix theerrors or to redesign a part before production. In general there are two types of clashes thatyou will find when working with assemblies, bad design of a part or an error using assemblyconstraints.

Open the Hard Drive document. It is located in the Hard Drive directory.

This exercise will show you how to compute interferences and then have you fix any clashesthat you discover.

Select the clash icon. The Check Clash window appears.

Name gives the interference calculation a name

Type

Contact + Clash looks for contact situations as well as clashes(interferences)

Clearance + Contact + Clash looks for contact situations, clashes and forcomponents that do not meet the designatedclearance

Inside one selection analysis between items inside a single selection

Selection against all analysis between all elements and the selected element

Between all components analysis between all components

Between two selections analysis between two selections

Choose the options Contact + Clash and Between all components. This will calculate allcontact situations and clashes between all of the objects in your assembly.


Fitting Simulation - Clash Detection, Page 148 ©Wichita State University

Change the name to Hard Dr ive Inter ference and select Apply. It computes and thewindow changes to look like the one shown below.

The results shows all the contacts and clashes in the assembly. You should see that thereare 2 clashes and 80 contacts. Since you are only interested in the clashes in this case youwill apply a filter that will only show the clashes.

Under Filter list change it to Clash and then select the Apply filters button. Only thetwo clashes should appear in the window.



Select the first clash from the window. It will appear in a Preview window. It appearsthat it interferes where the Motor Case fits in to the Drive Case.

Select the second clash from the window. It appears in the Preview window. It appearsthat the Motor Armature interferes with the inside of the Motor Case.

Select the export as icon and save the output as an xml file. This will allow youexport your clash detection to either a text file or an xml file. This creates a directory inyour area with a style sheet and all the jpeg images. You can see the generated report if youopen the xml file with a supported browser.



Select OK. Under the Applications branch there is a new branch called Interference.

Now that you are familiar with the problem areas of this assembly. You will fix them.

Open the Motor Case document. It is also located in the Hard Drive directory. You donot want to close the assembly. Look at the bottom of the Motor Case so that you cancompare it to the Drive Case.

Open the Drive Case document. Look at the slot for the Motor Case. Do you notice theproblem? The problem is that the bottom of the Motor Case has a fillet in the corners andthe Drive Case has sharp edges. You will need to put a fillet on the edges of the Drive Caseso that it has the same radius as the Motor Case.

Go back to the Motor Case window and find out what the radius is of the fillet. Youwill use that radius to fillet the sharp edges in the Drive Case.

Go back to the Drive Case window and fillet the four corners. It should appear similarto the diagram shown below.

Save the Drive Case in your area and close it. You will want to have it update the links inyour assembly so make sure you select OK when that window appears.

Go back to the Hard Drive assembly window. You are going to update the analysis to seeif you corrected the problem.



Double select on the Hard Drive Interference branch with the first mouse button. Thisopens the Check Clash window.

Select Apply. This will calculate the interference analysis again. Notice that there is onlyone interference now.

Select OK. You will now fix the other problem.

Open the Motor Armature document. It should appear similar to the one shown below.

Since you did not put this assembly together you will be told what is wrong. When theMotor Armature was constrained to the Motor Case it was assumed that the bottom of thebig plate was in contact with the top of the Motor Case. This is not true, if you were tomeasure the height of the inside of the Motor Case you would find it to be 0.5 inches whichis the height of the lower portion of the armature. Therefore, you do not have to change thedesign of anything, you just have to fix the way it was assembled.

Close the Motor Armature window and the Motor Case window. This should only leavethe Hard Drive assembly window.

Go to the assembly design workbench.

Delete the contact constraint between the Motor Armature and the Motor Case. Itshould be Surface contact.6. This will remove the bad constraint and you will be able to putthe correct constraint between the two parts.

Using the manipulation bounding box move the Drive Case down and also move theMotor Case down so that you have access to the inside of it. This will give you access toput the proper contact constraint on the Motor Case.



Put a contact constraint between the bottom face inside the Motor Case and the bottomof the lower por tion of the Motor Armature. The diagram shown below shows the twosurfaces.

The hard drive should reassemble itself.

Hide the sur face constraint that you just created. You will now check to see if you havetaken care of that problem as well.

Double select on the Hard Drive Interference with the first mouse button. The CheckClash window opens.

Select Apply. Notice that there are no clashes, just contacts.

Select OK and save your assembly.



Clash detection

There are also some tools available to check for clashes as you are performing a simulation. You can use these to help you create a fitting simulation without interferences. There arethree different icons that can be used and they are explained below.

this option means that clash detection is turned off, up to this point, this is the modethat was in effect when you performed your fitting simulations

this option means that clash detection is turned on, as you clash with other objectsred elements will appear showing you the clash

this option means that on clash detection the simulation will stop, if you come incontact with another object it will not let you clash

This exercise will show you how the options work using your Hard Drive assembly that youjust fixed. If you did not fix it then it will not work correctly in this exercise.

Open your Hard Drive assembly.

Create a group containing the four Lid Screws and a group containing all twelve of theHex Bolts.

Create shuttles for the following: Lid Screws group, Case Lid, Hex Bolts group, PlatterCap.1. Using the default location is fine.

Hide the Case Lid. This will make it easier for you to create the other shuttles that you aregoing to use.

Create a shuttle for the Head Reader that has an axis located at the center line of thecylinder that it pivots around. This will allow you to turn the Head Reader easier.

Create a shuttle for the top platter . The platter should be Platter.2, the default location ofthe axis is fine.

Show the Case Lid. You are now going to create your simulation using the clash options.

Create a simulation using your shuttles. By default the clash detection is off.

Select the clash detection (on) icon. This will show the clash using red geometry.



Move the Case Lid down just a little and Insert. You should see the clash appear in red.

Delete that last step. You are now going to begin your simulation.

Move the Lid Screws up enough so that you can move the other objects up. Make sureyou Insert the move. You may notice that the movement is slower due to the fact that it iscomputing to check for clash as you move an object.

Move the Case Lid up. Make sure you Insert the move.

Move the Hex Bolts up and over out of the way. Make sure you Insert each move.

Move the Platter up and over out of the way. Make sure you Insert each move.

Turn the Head Reader until it is in contact with the Drive Case as shown below. Noticethat this is hard to do because it does not stop when comes in contact with the railing, it justturns red. You will try it again using another clash option.

Insert the move and then Delete it. This will reset the Head Reader to its originallocation.



Select the clash detection (stop) icon. This cause the simulation to stop when a clashis encountered.

Turn the Head Reader again in the same direction until it stops and Insert the move. Make sure you turn it slowly so the calculation can compute or else it may not let you turn itat all. It should appear similar to the diagram shown below.

If you really want a challenge try getting that platter out without clashing. It can be done butyou must have a lot of patience. You have to turn it and raise it many times and you have todo it slowly. You do not have to do this unless you just enjoy a good challenge.

That introduces you to the clash detection options while simulating.

End your simulation and save your assembly.



Path finder

This option allows you to have CATIA determine a clash free path for your simulation. You define the simulation to determine where you want the part to begin and end and thenthe path finder option will modify the path to be clash free. This option is excellent todetermine if an object can fit through a doorway or be installed in a factory layout. However, it is relying on CATIA to determine the path, so it is not perfect and sometimes itis better to use the clash detection options mentioned earlier and do it yourself.

Open the Mouse maze assembly. It is located in the Mouse maze directory. It should besimilar to the diagram shown below.

It is fairly common to use a maze as a representation of what the path finder can do. It is asimple assembly that is easy to understand yet it stills show how to utilize the feature. Thisexercise hopefully is enjoyable.

The goal is to get the mouse to the end of the maze, there is a lid on the top of the maze thatis somewhat transparent. If there was not a lid then the path finder would just pick themouse up and set it down in the right spot.

Create a shuttle for the mouse. The default orientation will work fine.

Create a simulation that has a path from the current location to the end location. Thiscan be done with a simple movement of the compass and then turn the mouse to face theright way. You do not need to follow the maze just move it along the bottom plane.



Select OK to end the simulation. Make sure you Insert the one movement.

Select the path finder icon. You should see a Select window appear that containsyour simulation.

Select your simulation and select OK. A Path Finder window appears.

The first field, Simulates, defines what is going to be simulated. If you used multipleshuttles to create your simulation, you can decide what shuttle the path finder will beapplied to. The next area defines how the path finder is going to work.

Basic

Visualization Defines whether or not the motions of the shuttle will be shown ornot. There are three options: on, off and strombo. On shows everystep. Off does not show any steps. Strombo will show a visualizationstep every twenty calculations.

Steps Defines the size of step that will be taken between motions. Thesmaller the step, the longer it will take to calculate a path. The largerthe step, the less likely the path finder will be able to find a solution.

Angle Available if the angle validation was turned on when the shuttle wascreated. This keeps the shuttle from rotating around that particularaxis more than the specified angle.



Advanced

Environment

Smallest detail Defines the accuracy that is used when calculating themotions. The smaller the number, the more accuratethe environment but the longer it will take to calculate.

Repulse effect Controls the translation and rotation effects when itcomes in contact or near contact with the environment. Setting it too high will make the shuttle move quicklyaway from the environment whereas low will allow itto stay close or in contact with the environment.

Motion

Translation step Maximum distance the shuttle will travel before takinga new step.

Rotation gain This gain is tied to the translation step. If the gain isset to one, then the rotation angle is the same as thetranslation step.

Most of the time the default options are sufficient.

Under the Basic tab, make sure you have the options set to On and Medium. You arejust going to use the default options.



Select Apply. The path is calculated.

Select OK. The path of the simulation changes to look similar to the one shown below.

Notice that the path is very jagged and it has a lot of steps that do not seem necessary. Youwill use the smooth option to smooth the path and reduce the number of steps.



Smooth

Select the smooth icon. The Select window appears.

Select your simulation and select OK. The Smooth window appears.

The options are just like the ones discussed with the Path Finder window.

Change the Translation step to 1 inch and select OK. This will help to reduce the numberof steps in the simulation. Notice the simulation path contains fewer steps and is a lotsmoother.

Play your simulation. Notice that the mouse rotates all around and the bottom of themouse does not stay planar with the bottom of the maze. You will create a new simulationwith the Angle Validation on the shuttle so it will not let the z axis rotate around.

Delete your simulation.



Modify your shuttle to use Validation, change the Angle to 0 degrees and the Vector tothe Z vector. This will not allow the mouse to rotate the Z axis vector in any givendirection. The mouse is free to rotate about the Z axis but the Z axis itself cannot move.

Create a simulation just like you did before, with one step from the beginning to theend.

Select the path finder icon. You are going to try the path finder again but this timeusing the angle validation.

Use your simulation and the default settings and select Apply. The simulation failsstating that there is no way out.

Select OK in the Error window.

Try changing the Steps to Small and then select Apply. It does not work either.

Try changing the Steps to Large and then select Apply. It does not work either.



As you can see the path finder is not the best thing in the world.

Delete the simulation. Keep the shuttle that you created for the mouse.

Using the clash detection (stop) option, create a simulation of the mouse going throughthe maze without the z axis rotating. This is easily done if you change to the top view.

It should appear similar to the one shown below.

Create a replay and save your assembly.



Next, you will try the path finder option on getting a couch and fish tank out of a housethrough the front door.

Open the House product. It is in the House directory.

For this exercise, you will be removing furniture from the house. As you might alreadyknow, getting large pieces of furniture through a doorway can sometimes be difficult. Tohelp with this difficulty, you are going to use the pathfinder option to find a path along asimulation path that does not clash with any other object.

Create a shuttle for the Couch.

Create a simulation of the couch being moved into the front lawn. Make the compasshave the coordinates of -18, 35, and 3 before you inser t the step. Do not worry aboutclashing with other objects. Pathfinder will take care of this for you. Your simulationshould look something like the following.

Select OK. This will complete the simulation. Now you will use the pathfinder option tocompute the path.



Select the pathfinder icon. The Select window will display. This is showing you theavailable simulations that can be used with the path finder. Select the simulation that youjust created. Be sure to select OK when done.

Select Apply. The couch shuttle will begin to move and work its way around the variousobjects in the environment. When the path finder is done, you will have a new simulationthat has many steps in it.

Select OK. Your simulation path will change. All of the steps that the path finder used toget the couch out of the house will be inserted into the simulation.

Now that you have a good path for the couch to follow, you will want to smooth the path up,getting rid of unnecessary steps.

Select the smooth icon. This will bring up a Select window that is asking whatsimulation you would like to smooth. Select the simulation you just created.

Select your simulation and then select OK. The Smooth window will display.

Change the Translation step to 0.5 and the Rotation gain to 2. This will allow the couchto move a maximum of one-half inch before taking a new step, and allowing it to rotate attwice the rate of the translation step.

Select OK. This will have the system calculate the new path. The path that you get after thesmooth option runs will be a path that is similar to the one created by path finder butwithout any extra motions or rotations.



Play the simulation. Notice the couch will rotate quite a bit about all axes. Sometimes it isnecessary to simulate a shuttle that cannot rotate about a particular axes. For example, ifyou are simulating the removal of the fish tank in the house, you would not want to allowthe fish tank to rotate and spill the water and any extra equipment left in the tank.

Create a shuttle for the fish tank with an Angle Validation of 2 degrees around the Zvector. This will only allow the fish tank to rotate the Z axis vector a maximum of twodegrees in any given direction. The tank is free to rotate about the Z axis but for the Z axisto move itself, it is limited to the two degree restriction.

Select OK. This finishes the shuttle. Next, the simulation will be created, then the pathfinder and smooth options will be applied to the simulation.

Make a simulation of the fish tank, moving it outside the house. It will be left to you todetermine where you want to move the tank outside the house.

Select OK when done with the rough simulation. Select the pathfinder icon and selectyour simulation. Since you made a rough simulation, you will need to apply the pathfinder to the simulation. The smooth option will be used afterwards to remove unnecessarysteps and rotations.

Change the Visualization to Strombo and the Steps to Medium. Select Apply whendone. Watch the simulation closely. Notice the fish tank only shows once for every twentysteps. This decreases the calculation time for the path finder. When you are working with apath that is going to take a long time to compute, it is advisable to turn off the visualizationor set it to Strombo. The computer can calculate the step much faster than it can display it,so by turning off the visualization or only having the computer display a few of thecalculations, it can compute the path much faster.

Select OK when done. Select the smooth icon and select your simulation.

Smooth the path with a translation step of .5 and a rotation gain of 2. This will generatea simulation path that is much smoother than the one generated by the pathfinder.

There is no need to save the house.

This ends fitting simulation. You will use some of these options in the DMU Navigatorsection to animate a viewpoint.





Navigator - Introduction, Page 167© Wichita State University

DMU Navigator

Pull down menu changes

View

Viewpoint Palette Opens the viewpoint controller

Scene specification Turns the thumbnail viewing of scenes on or off along the bottom ofthe screen


Navigator - Introduction, Page 168 ©Wichita State University

Insert

Create an Annotated View Creates a 2D annotated view

Add Hyperlinks This will allow you to add a link to a part or product. Thislink will take you to any world wide web address

3D Annotation Inserts a 3D annotation in to the document



Tools

Cache Content If the cache system was being used, this would allow you toview what documents were currently being held in cache.

Replay Works the same as replay from Fitting Simulation

Backbone Connection This will establish a connection to the backbone conferencingserver. Conferencing is a complicated matter and will not bediscussed.

Import N4D Scene This will import a VRML ( Virtual Reality ) model.



DMU Navigator workbench

Changes workbenches

Selects geometry

Creates a 2-D Annotated view

Allows you to manage the 2-Dannotated views

Allows hyperlinks to be added tothe assembly

Creates a 3-D Annotated View

* Creates a Group from selectedparts

Creates a scene

* Allows previously made shuttlesto be simulated

* Compiles a simulation into areplay

* Lets a replay be viewed

* Clash detection (off)

* Clash detection (on)

* Clash detection (stop)

Records a viewpoint animation,creating a replay automatically.

Allows you to search through anassembly for a specific objectbased on particular criteria

Displays components in aparticular relation to a selectedobject

* Shows the current selectedobject(s) and relationships withother objects

Takes you to a hyperlink that isapplied to an object

Starts a publishing session

Allows a component to betranslated or rotated by specifiedvalues

* Allows you to snap objects to oneanother

* Denotes this option has already been covered



Creating an annotated view

Draws lines

Freehand drawing

Draws circles

Creates arrows

Draws rectangles

Creates text

Inserts a picture marker

Creates an audio marker

Removes all annotations

Creating a scene

Changes workbenches

Selects geometry

Exits the scene

Restores objects to their originallocation on the assembly

Saves the viewpoint

Allows you to snap objects toone another

Searches for objects

Explodes the assembly


Publish

Creates a snapshot

Publishes a feature

Creates text

Creates a VRML file

Stops publishing





Navigator - Annotated View, Page 173© Wichita State University

DMU Navigator

DMU Navigator will allow you to perform several tasks. When working with complexassemblies, it may be desirable to show the assembly in a partially assembled state or moreimportantly, it may be necessary to draft an assembly when it is not fully assembled. DMUNavigator allows you to do just that. DMU Navigator also allows you to add additionalinformation with your assembly such as hyperlinks that could point to manufacturerinformation on the Internet. DMU Navigator also allows you to record viewpointanimations.

Open your Compressor Pump product. It is located in your directory.

Switch to the DMU Navigator Workbench, if not already there. This can be done byeither selecting the change workbench icon in the top right of the toolbar or by selectingStart, Digital Mockup, and DMU Navigator.

Some of the icons should look familiar. It is assumed that you understand those icons,therefore they will not be covered in this section. If you are unsure how an icon works referto the previous sections for review.

Creating an annotated view

Select the create an annotated view icon. This creates an annotated view. Thisview is only 2D, meaning, that if you were to rotate the model the view would disappear.

You can always call the view back up using the manage annotated views icon. You

should notice a set of new icons appear as shown below.

Allows you to draw a line

Allows you to draw freehand

Allows you to draw a circle

Allows you to draw an arrow

Allows you to draw a rectangle

Adds text

Inserts a picture marker

Creates an audio marker

Deletes all annotations

Select the draw arrow icon. This will allow you to create an arrow in the annotatedview. You need to define the two ends of the arrow. The first end you define is thebeginning of the arrow and the second end is the point of the arrow head.


Navigator - Annotated View, Page 174 ©Wichita State University

Create the following arrows. You create the arrow by pressing and holding the firstmouse button at the first end location and then drag your mouse to the other end and let goof the button. It should appear similar to the diagram shown below.

Select the add annotation text icon. You have to define a location for your text.

Select above the left ar row. An Annotation Text window appears like the one shownbelow.

Change the size to 12 and key Head Bolts for the Text. It should look similar to thewindow shown above.


Navigator - Annotated View, Page 175© Wichita State University

Select OK. The text should appear similar to the diagram shown below. If you the text isnot in correct location, select it and drag the little box with the first mouse button thatappears at the location you specified.

Using the third mouse button, select on the text and choose Properties from thewindow. This will allow you to modify the properties of the text. A Properties windowappears.

Select the Text Properties tab. It should appear similar to the diagram shown below.


Navigator - Annotated View, Page 176 ©Wichita State University

Change the Frame to Frame instead of No Frame and select OK. The text should appearwith a rectangular frame around it. This is all you want to create for this annotated view.

Rotate your assembly just a little. The view disappears, you will retrieve it later. Youshould notice the Annotated Views branch appearing in your specification tree.

If you want you can create some other annotated views trying out some of the other options. Most of the options are self explanatory. The insert picture marker icon allows you to insertpictures of the following formats: tiff, jpg, bmp and rgb. The create audio marker iconallows you create a wav file but you have to record it right then and you need the rightequipment to do that.


Navigator - Publish, Page 177© Wichita State University

You are now going to learn how you can create your own web page straight from CATIAusing the publish option which creates an HTML file.

Publish

Select the star t publish icon. This will bring up a Select Publish File window. AnHTML file will be created with the publish icon.

Go to your drawings folder , then key Compressor in the File Name field and selectSave. This will bring up a small toolbar of Publishing Tools.

Snapshot Takes a screen shot of the assembly in the current viewpoint.

Feature Publish Allows you to publish features in your assembly. Featuressuch as simulations, replays, hyperlinks, interference analysesand distance analyses.

Text Allows you to add any type of text desired into your HTMLdocument.

VRML Generates a VRML file and inserts a hyperlink in your HTMLdocument to the VRML file.

Stop Publish Stops the publish session.

Any of these icons can be used in any order.

Hide the specification tree. This can be accomplished by selecting the pull down menuView and then Specifications or by pressing the F3 button on the keyboard. This willremove the specification tree so the published images will be more clear.


Navigator - Publish, Page 178 ©Wichita State University

Zoom on the compressor until a good isometr ic view of the compressor is visible, asshown below. Since the snapshot icon takes a screen shot of the workspace, it is advisableto make your assemblies as large as possible in the workspace window.

Select the snapshot icon. This will take a snapshot of the image and put it in yourHTML document. Note, there will be no indication that anything has happened.

Rotate the assembly as shown below and take another snapshot. Again, noindication that anything has happened will be displayed. This will be the second imageinserted into the HTML document.


Navigator - Publish, Page 179© Wichita State University

Select the VRML icon. This creates a link to a VRML file in your HTML document.

Select the text icon. This will display the Publish Text window. Any text enteredinto this window will automatically be inserted into the HTML document.

Key Remove the six head bolts. Select OK when done. This text will be inserted into theHTML document. You are now going to retrieve that annotated view you created earlierand then take a snapshot of it.

Select the manage annotated views icon. The Annotated Views window appears. Itmay contain more views then shown if you practiced creating them earlier.

Select View.1 and select OK. The display should change to the annotated view that youcreated earlier.

Select the snapshot icon. This inserts that picture in your HTML document.

Rotate your assembly a little. This will get you out of the annotated view.

Select the feature publish icon. You will need to show your specification tree.

Select the Pulley Removal simulation from the tree. This inserts that information in yourHTML document. You will not notice anything happening.


Navigator - Publish, Page 180 ©Wichita State University

Select the feature publish icon.

Select the Pulley Removal replay from the tree. This inserts that information in yourHTML document. You will not notice anything happening.

Select the stop publish icon. This ends the publish session and creates the HTMLdocument. Next, a hyperlink will be created to go to the document.


Navigator - Hyperlinks, Page 181© Wichita State University

Hyperlinks

Select the add hyper links icon. This will allow you to add an URL or Internetaddress to components of your assembly. These URL links can be links to other web siteswithin your company or to vendor web sites. You can also add links to other types ofdocuments. For example, if you have a specific technical document that is associated withyour part, then you can associate that document to your part.

Select the Air Compressor from the specification tree. The air compressor is the very topbranch in the tree. Since the HTML document was made for the whole air compressor, it issuited for the hyperlink to be attached to the whole air compressor. The Manage Hyperlinkwindow displays.

Change the Name to Published Document. This will give the hyperlink a moredescriptive name.

Select the Browse... button. This will bring up the Link to File window. If not alreadythere, change the current directory to your drawings folder.

Select Compressor.html and then Open when done. This is the document that was just created in the publish. This will add the path to the list area under Link to File or URL. Several files or documents can be added to the hyperlink.

Select OK. This will insert a hyperlink in your assembly. You should notice a Hyperlinkbranch in your specification tree.


Navigator - Hyperlinks, Page 182 ©Wichita State University

Select the go to hyper links icon and select the Air Compressor assembly. This willlaunch a web browser and display your published document. Look the document over. When done, close the web browser.


Navigator - 3D Annotation, Page 183© Wichita State University

3D Annotation

You will now create a 3D annotation on your assembly. This is a good way to communicateto other designers who will look at this assembly. In this case you are going to specify that aparticular part needs to have stress analysis applied to it.

Select the 3D annotation icon. You have to select an object that you want theannotation attached to.

Select the green cylinder head. The Annotation Text window appears. This is the samewindow that appears when you created text in the annotation view.

Key Needs stress analysis per formed. Select OK. The text appears on your assembly asshown below.

Rotate your model. You should notice that the text always remains readable.


Navigator - Scenes - Basic, Page 184 ©Wichita State University

Next, a few scenes will be generated.

Scenes - basic

Select the scenes icon. This will bring up the Edit Scene window that is asking for aname for the scene.

Change the name to Internal Components. Select OK when done. The background andtoolbar will change. This is to denote that you are in the scene and not just the regularworkbench. Most of the options are ones that you have used before.

Changes workbenches

Selects geometry

Exits the scene

Restores objects to their originallocation on the assembly

Saves the viewpoint

Allows you to snap objects to oneanother

Searches for objects

Explodes the assembly


Within scenes, you can manipulate the model in any form you feel necessary. Themanipulation is only stored with the scene, leaving the original assembly as it was. This isgreat for creating technical documents.


Navigator - Scenes - Basic, Page 185© Wichita State University

Hide all of the outer casing as well as all of the bolts and pulley. This will be theviewpoint that is to be saved in the scene.

Hide the specification tree. If you do not then the scene will contain the specification tree.

Select the save viewpoint icon in the toolbar . This will update the scene and it iswhat will be displayed the next time the scene is viewed.

Select the exit from scene icon. This will take you back to the assembly as it waswhen you entered the scene. You will also note the scene picture in the bottom left cornerof your screen. This is the pre-visualization of the scene. You can turn the display of thoseby using the F4 key on your keyboard or by using the pull down menu View, Scenespecification.

A new scene will be generated, this time you are going to alter the display before you enterthe scene workbench.


Navigator - Misc. Options, Page 186 ©Wichita State University

Search

Select the search icon. This will bring up the Search window. Used properly, thisfeature can be quite useful. Search allows you to multi-select elements through variousmethods. Make sure you switch to the General tab.

A * in the field denotes that all entities of that category will be searched. You will use thesearch to select all the .375 Hex bolts.

Key * .375*hex* in the Name field. This will tell the search feature that you are lookingfor any string that has the number .375 and the word hex in it.

Select the Search button. This will search through the entire air compressor document foranything that matches the search string. Notice in the results area that more than just theparts themselves are found. This is not what you wanted. You only wanted the parts to befound instead of all the parameters too.

Select the drop down for Workbench and select Assembly Design. Select the drop downfor .Type and select Product. You choose these two selections so that you will select thebolts from the assembly only.

Select the Search button again. This time, eight objects are found and they are only theparts and not all the part parameters.

Select the Select button at the bottom of the Search window. This will select all of the.375 Hex bolts that it found.

Select OK. This will close the search window, keeping the bolts selected.


Navigator - Misc. Options, Page 187© Wichita State University

Current selection panel

Select the current selection panel icon. This will bring up a window that will showjust what is selected. This feature can be quite useful when more than what you wanted wasselected in a search or proximity query selection. This will show you what else wasselected.

Select the 3D tab, if not already there. This will show you graphically the bolts that areselected. Notice where the other two bolts came from. They are from within thecompressor.

Close the Current Selection Panel window and hide the bolts. You can close the windowby selecting the X at the top right corner of the window and you can hide the bolts byselecting the hide/show icon. Next, a proximity query will be used.


Navigator - Misc. Options, Page 188 ©Wichita State University

Proximity query

Select the proximity query icon. The proximity query will select objects that are inrelation to the selected product. The Proximity Query window appears.

Select the Cylinder Head. This will define what component will be used as the base orstarting point for the proximity query.

Change the Accuracy to .025. This will set the maximum distance to approximately .15inches. Anything that is further than .15 inches away from the cylinder head will not beselected.

Make sure the Products to select is set to Nearby products including selection and selectApply. The proximity query will generate 3dmaps of all the products and then analyze themfor distances away from the cylinder head. This may take a some time. Notice all the hexbolts that were just hidden are also selected.

Select OK and hide the selected objects. This will hide the cylinder head and thecompressor head.

Hide all the aqua hex bolts. It is left to you to determine how you want to select all ofthem or if you even want to use a multi selection tool at all.


Navigator - Misc. Options, Page 189© Wichita State University

Translation or rotation

Select the translation or rotation icon. This icon will allow you to translate or rotatea selected object any distance or rotation angle entered. You can also define the exactposition you want the part in relation to the assembly axis.

Select the Pulley and set the Offset X to 10. This will define what is to be moved and howfar it is going to be translated.

Select Apply. This will move the pulley ten inches from where it was.

Select one of the Drain Plugs. Next, the drain plugs will be translated out. Notice that the10 inches in Offset X is still there.

Change the Offset X to 0 and the Offset Y to -12. Select Apply when done. The drainplug will move away from the base.

Select the other drain plug, change the Offset Y location to -15 and select Apply. SelectOK when done. This will finalize the translations.

Hide the 3D annotation.


Navigator - Scenes - Advanced, Page 190 ©Wichita State University

Scenes - advanced

Rotate the model as shown below and create a scene. Call the scene Long Block. Thescene will automatically look like the workspace. Be sure to exit the scene when done.

Go back to the assembly design workbench. Notice that the assembly reassembles itselfbased on the constraints that have been applied.

Show all of the objects.


Navigator - Scenes - Advanced, Page 191© Wichita State University

Double select the Long Block scene that is located in the lower left corner . Notice thatwhen you go in to the scene that the drain plugs and the pulley are back at their originallocations.

Use the compass to drag the pulley and the two drain plugs out. You have to place thecompass on the object then it should turn green allowing you to drag the object. After youdrag the first element you need to take the compass off the element and then deselect theelement. Then you can place the compass on a new object.

Exit the scene and go back in to it. Notice that the scene now keeps the objects separated.

Select the Pulley and then the reset the selected products icon. This option willmove the pulley back to the location it is on the assembly.

Exit the scene and save your assembly.

Congratulations, this completes this portion of the DMU Navigator. Next, fly mode will beinvestigated.


Navigator - Fly Mode, Page 192 ©Wichita State University

Fly mode

Fly mode is an integral part of DMU Navigator. Although you are going to use it withDMU Navigator, fly mode can be activated in any workbench. Even though fly mode willbe covered with assemblies, it is still possible to use fly mode with individual parts as well.

Open the Track document from the Fly Throughs directory. This is a short track thatwill get you working with the fly mode.

The first obstacle you will have to overcome is working in perspective mode rather thanparallel. By default, parallel mode is current. Perspective mode will make the CATIAworld feel and look more like the real world. The further away from you the geometry is,the smaller it becomes.

Select pull down menu View, Render style, and Perspective. Notice the back of the trackbecomes much smaller and the front seems to grow somewhat. This is the perspective viewbeing applied. If you tried to go to fly mode without being in perspective mode, it wouldswitch you automatically.


Navigator - Fly Mode, Page 193© Wichita State University

Rotate and position your viewpoint to the star t of the track. Your screen should looksomething like the picture below. The start of the track is considered to be where the gap is.

Up until now, you have worked in examine mode. It is time to now switch to fly mode.

Select the fly mode icon. This icon is along the bottom toolbar. You will notice afew toolbar changes. Take a closer look at them.

Turn Head This icon simulates you turning your head in the workspace. The same effect can be done by pressing button two and thenbutton one on the mouse.

Fly This icon enters you into flight. The same effect can beaccomplished by selecting button two, then tapping buttonone.

Accelerate & Decelerate These two icons will accelerate your flight ordecelerate your flight. A better method to speed upand slow down your flight is by pressing the Page Upand Page Down keys on your keyboard.


Navigator - Fly Mode, Page 194 ©Wichita State University

Entering flight mode, your will have the following symbols appear on your screen.

1) This is your target Your cursor will turn into a small hollow arrow. Thecloser to the center of the target you move the cursor,the straighter your flight path will be. The opposite isalso true, the further away from the target you movethe curser, the sharper the turn will be.

2) This is your direction pointer This green (or red) arrow will grow as you move fasteror shrink as you move slower. The arrow will alsorotate and corner as your mouse moves away from thetarget.

3) This is your speed This is a numerical visualization of how fast or slowyou are going.

Even though this may seem like a lot at the current moment, things will become more clearas you work with the fly mode more.

Rotate your viewpoint around. This can either be done by selecting the rotate head iconand then using the first mouse button to rotate it or by pressing button two and then one torotate your head around. The effect you see should seem as though you were looking side toside in the workspace.

Be sure to rotate your viewpoint back to the original position before continuing. Now tryyour hand at flying.


Navigator - Fly Mode, Page 195© Wichita State University

Star t flying. This can be done by selecting the fly icon or by pressing button two and thentapping button one.

Most likely, your fly speed will start out very slow. You can increase your flight speed bypressing the Page Up key on the keyboard.

As you star t flying through the track, move your mouse away from the target. Noticethe direction arrow follows your mouse pointer as it moves away.

You should also see your pointer change colors from green to red or vice versa. This is anoption that can be turned on or off. What the red pointer is showing is your viewpointclashing with the geometry.

When flying through a straight por tion of the track, hold down the Shift key on yourkeyboard and move your mouse left or r ight away from the target. You will notice thedirection pointer and your viewpoint beginning to roll. Holding down Shift rolls yourviewpoint instead of yawing or turning it.

Continue navigating the track, slowly increasing your speed. The more you fly, themore comfortable you will feel about controlling your viewpoint.

Work with flying until you can comfortably fly your viewpoint about the track at a speed of3 to 4.

There are two other fly through documents in the same folder (Fly Through 2 and 3). Tryyour hand at flying through some of them. When you begin to feel more confident aboutflying continue on.


Navigator - Viewpoints, Page 196 ©Wichita State University

Viewpoints

You now are going to be working with viewpoints. You can store these viewpoints by usingcameras and then you can move the cameras around.

Open the House product from the House directory. This is a basic house that you willbe flying through and exploring.

If you are not already there, switch to the DMU Navigator workbench and make sure yourrender style is set to perspective. Before attacking the flying around the house, a differentaspect of navigation will be investigated. Cameras will be added in and around the house togive different still images. Cameras can be very useful to point out specifics of an assemblyor part.

Move the viewpoint until you can see the whole house, yard, and fence. This will give agood overview of the house you are going to be flying through.

Select pull down menu View, Named Views... This will bring up a Named Views windowof all the still viewpoints or cameras. You will note there are already several camerasdefined. These are the default cameras in CATIA. The cameras you add will have a symboldisplayed on the screen as well as being listed in the list of Named Views.


Navigator - Viewpoints, Page 197© Wichita State University

Select the Add button. This will add a new camera to the list of pre-defined cameras.

Change the name of the camera to Overview. This will give you a more descriptivename.

Select the Properties button from the Named Views list. From here you can control thecamera specifics a bit more closely.

Type This controls what type of camera you are creating. There are two choices,parallel or perspective.

Origin This defines where the origin of the camera is. This is basically where thecamera is situated in relation to the rest of the workspace.

Target The target defines what is being focused on. Changing the target locationchanges the direction of the camera.

View Angle This defines the angle or area that is being viewed. More of the workspace isdisplayed as the angle gets larger.

Select OK to the Camera Properties and Named Views windows. No changes will bemade directly to the camera at this point.

Zoom out and around a bit. Notice the new icon on the screen.

This is your camera representation icon. Selecting this icon will show the cameramanipulators (two green dots and lines on each end). The green dot on the sharp end is theorigin location. The green dot on the open end is the target location. These locations arethe same as what you saw in the Properties window.

Hide the camera. This will hide the camera symbol and allow you to reframe the windowwithout having it zoom way out.



Next, a few cameras will be made to show the interior of the house.

Fly or manipulate the viewpoint until you are looking into the largest bedroom. Youshould find this very difficult to do. When you do get in there, you will find that everythingis zoomed in close. If you were trying to get a good view of the room size and layout, thiswould not work very well.

Select pull down menu View, Viewpoint Pallete... This is a viewpoint controller. Take acloser look at the capabilities of this window.

The Translate field controls the position of the viewpoint. Remember, your viewpoint isvery similar to a virtual camera. You can move that camera around the CATIA workspace

just as you would in real life. If you select the target icon it will change the translate

palette. You should notice all of the arrows reversing themselves. With the arrows pointedinwards, you are modifying the viewpoint to any one of the default views (front, left, right,rear, etc.). Selecting the target icon again turns the arrows back outward, just as shownabove. The amount that the viewpoint is translated is controlled by the numeric field justbelow the translate icons. When the arrows point outward, you are translating the cameraabout the workspace.

The Rotate field works similar. When the center icon is a ball you are rotating the

geometry about the target in your workspace. Selecting the ball icon will change it to thetarget icon but the rotation icons will remain unchanged. When the target icon is shown, theassembly will rotate about the target of your workspace. Again, you can change the rotationangle by changing the numeric field below the rotate icons.

Just below the translate and rotate fields are the Eye and Target locations. This is verysimilar to the origin and target fields of the camera properties. The target that keeps gettingmentioned is the rotation center of your model. When you activate the virtual trackball (bypressing button two and one on the mouse), you get a set of rotation axes that appear at thecenter of the ball. This is the target.



The next field is the Viewing Distance and View Angle. The viewing distance is partiallycontrolled by the eye location. This distance defines how far you are from the target. Theview angle controls the width of your vision. The larger the angle, the more you can view.Note: just as with a standard human eye, it is limited. If you set the view to a large angle,160° for example, the workspace will appear comical. Setting the angle to a small angle, 2°for example, you only see a very limited area.

Change the Eye, Target, and View Angle to have the values as shown in the followingimage.

The reason you do not change the Viewing Distance is because it will automatically updatefor the eye and target location. This should give you a nice isometric view of the bedroom.



Without moving the viewpoint, select menu View, Named Views... You are going to add anew camera to portray this position.

Select Add and name the camera Master Bedroom. If the viewpoint changes, do notworry, it can be fixed.

I f the viewpoint changes select the Properties button, then Apply on the CameraProperties window. This will apply the viewpoint to the camera. Your viewpoint shouldturn back to what it was before starting the camera.

Select OK on the Camera Properties window as well as the Named Views window. Thiswill create the camera.

Create a new camera position for the following viewpoint. Your viewpoint does nothave to look exactly like what is shown below, just something close will suffice. Remember, once you are in the correct position, add a new camera, name the camera, selectthe Properties button, then Apply, and then select OK to everything to finish adding thecamera.

Switch back to the Overview camera. This can be accomplished by selecting View,Named Views and selecting the named view Overview and then selecting Apply. Theviewpoint will animate around until it reaches the Overview camera position. Don’ t forgetto select OK when done.



Change your view angle to 10. This can be accomplished by selecting View, ViewpointPallette, and changing the view angle. Be sure to select Close when done.

Now, you will take a closer look at flying and recording your viewpoint.

Select the record viewpoint icon. This icon will record the viewpoint into a replay.This icon also brings up a few new icons.

Record Begins the recording of your viewpoint. As soon as you select thisicon, a window will display asking what name you want to give thereplay. After that, any movements you make of the viewpoint aregoing to be recorded in the replay.

Pause Pauses the recording mid stream. Selecting this icon again will startthe recording again.

Stop Stops the recording. Only select this icon when you are finished withthe viewpoint simulation.

Status Shows a green light when the recording is stopped, yellow when it ispaused, and red when it is recording. This is only a status icon andhas no effect if you select it.

Select the record icon. Before the recording starts, a name needs to be defined forthe replay.

Change the name of the Replay to Outside. Select OK when done. This will give it adescriptive name. Once you select OK the recorder starts.

Record a viewpoint animation of you flying around the outside of the house. Press the

stop icon when finished. It’s important that you do not make a lot of unnecessary

motions.

Select the replay icon. Since the Outside replay is the only replay in the document, itcomes up by default.

View your replay. Notice the Animate viewpoint checkbox is turned on. If the checkbox isturned off, then your viewpoint will not animate.



Create a recording of you flying through the house from the front door to the backdoor. Remember, to create a new recording, you will have to select the record viewpointicon, then give the replay a name (Through House) and then record the fly through.

Sometimes recording an elaborate viewpoint animation can be very difficult when flyingusing the fly through icon. Next, a somewhat different method will be used to create aviewpoint animation.

Move your viewpoint to a location in front of the house, beyond the end of thesidewalk. A new camera is going to be created from here. After the camera is created, youwill use that camera to make a simulation.

Create a new camera called Moving Camera. This will be the camera that you willanimate. Remember, to create a new camera, you have to use pull down menu View andNamed Views.

Select the simulation icon. Notice all the cameras you have created are available tobe simulated without creating a shuttle first. This is because the camera is not a geometricentity but an application entity.

Select the Moving Camera and then OK. The Preview window will show just a picture ofthe camera symbol. You should also notice the camera becoming quite large. This isshowing you the view region of the camera. Note the compass attaching itself to thecamera. You will be using the compass to manipulate the camera.

Move the camera closer to the door of the house. Select Insert on the Edit Simulationwindow when done. You do not want the Animate viewpoint checkbox turned on. Turningthat option on will animate the viewpoint of your screen as you move the camera. Noticeyou cannot tell what the camera is looking at.

Select pull down menu Window, Camera Window, Moving Camera. Pull down menuWindow controls any open windows within CATIA. The Camera Window option shows allcameras that you have created. You should have noticed that the screen changed to theviewpoint of the camera. This is not too helpful because you need to move the cameraaround.

Select pull down menu Window, Tile Horizontally. This should tile the two windows thatyou have open, the camera window and the house window, one on top of the other. If thisdoes not happen, the house window may be minimized at the bottom of your workspace. Just open the window up and select the pull down menu again.

With the two windows, you can now move the camera in the house window while viewingthe results of your move through the camera window.



From the House.CATProduct window, move the camera until it passes through thedoor. Be sure to press Insert every few motions or turn on Automatic insert. You mayfind it difficult to control the camera with the compass attached to the front of the cameraviewpoint. By selecting the red dot on the compass, you can drag the compass to the backpoint or eye of the camera. This should make things easier for you to control. Be sure towatch your camera window. It will automatically update with any motions that the cameramakes.

Simulate the camera moving throughout the house, looking in the rooms. Name thesimulation Camera Fly Through and select OK on the Edit Simulation window whenyou are done. Where you go in the house is up to you, the main point of the exercise is foryou to understand a different method to generate a fly through.

Compile the Camera Fly Through into a replay. Be sure to review your results whendone. If you close the Moving Camera window you will see nothing animate except thecamera symbol. In order for you to view the camera fly through, you will have to have theMoving Camera window active and visible.

Save your assembly.

Congratulations, this completes the DMU Navigator.





Assembly Design, Page 205© Wichita State University

Practice Problems

Sawhorse

All of the parts for the sawhorse can be found in the Sawhorse directory. Assemble andconstrain the sawhorse so that an explode can be performed, and all the pieces return to theproper positions.


Assembly Design, Page 206 ©Wichita State University

Puzzle

All of the puzzle pieces needed can be found in the puzzle directory. There is also ananimation file in the Puzzle directory that shows the puzzle being diss-assembled. Create asimulation that shows the puzzle being taken apart.



Mouse Trap

All of the parts for the mouse trap can be found in the Mouse Trap folder. Constrain theassembly so that it will return together when exploded. It is up to you to determine whatconstraints are necessary, and where the assembly will be free floating ( IE: the Holder willnot have a constraint holding it in any particular position ). There is also a short AVI file inthe Mouse Trap folder that you can view to see the dismantling of the mouse trap.



Hard Drive

All of the parts needed for the hard drive assembly can be found in the hard drive folder.The assembly is shown in two different steps. It is left to you to decide if you want multiplesub assemblies, or one large assembly. Be sure to create a fitting simulation of the harddrive being assembled.



Pen

Any part needed for the pen assembly can be found in the pen folder. Assemble the pen,then create a fitting simulation of the pen being put together, for instructional purposes.



NIAR Third Floor

This is a drawing of the third floor of NIAR. The model can be found in the NIARdirectory. Generate a fly through of this model that takes you from the elevator ( the yellowarea ) around through the CAD/CAM Labs ( blue colored walls ). It is up to you todetermine if you want to fly through the building, or create a camera and simulate it flyingthrough the building.

.



Robotic Arm

All of the pieces required for the robotic arm are in the Robo Arm folder. There are nohydraulic cylinders provided. It is up to you to use your various analysis skills to determinethe necessary sizes of hydraulic cylinders, and to draw and constrain them properly in theassembly.




Catia Assembly Design

Documents

wichita state

intentionally

hand drill

sliding jaw

sliding jaw

catia assembly

catia assembly

catia assembly