Drawing best practices?

[jhyder79]

I wanted to get opinions from everyone on the best way to do the following:

I have a top level assembly that looks something like this:

MASTER-TOP.asm
|---->ENGINE_INSTALL.asm
| |----->ENGINE_ASM.PRT
| |----->INTAKE_EXHAUST.asm
| |----->ENGINE_ELECTRICAL.asm
|----->CHASSIS.asm
|----->DRIVETRAIN.asm

I want to create drawings (for manufacturing) for the DRIVETRAIN.asm, but I have several views where I need to show how it attaches to the engine and chassis. Because of this I need to create drawing views with all 3 models. Here are my options so far:

Option 1 (what I did at my old job):

Procedure
1. Temporarily pull the ENGINE_INSTALL.asm and CHASSIS.asm into the DRIVETRAIN.asm and use this to create snapshot views.
2. Restore the DRIVETRAIN.asm model back to normal and create drawing views over top of the snapshot views (giving the snapshots the appearance of being transparent).
3. Add the BOM table and create balloons.

Pros
<ul>[*]No extra assemblies for showing installation views, etc.[*]Model BOM matches manufacturing BOM.
[*]Drawing number == assembly model name.[*]Easy to create a BOM table.
[/list]Cons<ul>[*]Not parametric to the additional assemblies needed to show installation views.[*]Snapshots can be difficult to change/update.
[/list]

Option 2 (the preferred way at my new job):

Procedure
1. Create a new assembly with ENGINE_INSTALL.asm, CHASSIS.asm, and DRIVETRAIN.asm.
2. Create all of your views.
3. Set the DRIVETRAIN.asm active to create the BOM tables.
4. Create your BOM balloons.

Pros
<ul>[*]Views are live and there is no reason to create snapshots.[*]Drawing "background" updates when the additional models (ENGINE.asm, etc.) are updated.
[/list]Cons
<ul>[*]An extra unnecessary assembly is created.[*]Drawing != assembly model name.[*]Creating a BOM table is difficult in some situations.[/list]
What do you think? What is the best way to approach this?

 

[Zestje]

I think option 3 is the best:

Create a drawing DRIVETRAIN.drw from the DRIVETRAIN.asm model, then add another model in drawing mode: MASTER-TOP.asm.

That way you can choose which model to use for each drawing view and still have a drawing that goes with your part DRIVETRAIN.drw (being the first model added to your drawing).

This is the way I have done this some time ago.

 

[pjw]

I would also use Zestje's approach too. You could possibly make a simplified rep blanking out non-required items but I do think this is the best way f you are to keep associativity. The other alternative is to create drawing symbols of your very top level assembly. To do this, you first need to export the required views out as DXF, re-import and then make a drawing symbol and copy your imported data. You won't maintain asociativity this way though.

 

[jhyder79]

I think option 3 is the best:

Create a drawing DRIVETRAIN.drw from the DRIVETRAIN.asm model, then add another model in drawing mode: MASTER-TOP.asm.

That way you can choose which model to use for each drawing view and still have a drawing that goes with your part DRIVETRAIN.drw (being the first model added to your drawing).

This is the way I have done this some time ago.

Unfortunately, this would be impossible because it would require creating simplified reps in the MASTER-TOP.asm. At both my current job and my old job, the MASTER-TOP.asm can not be modified after it has been created. The main reason for this is that it would require 1-4 simplified reps for about 100 different assembly/installation drawings which would make the MASTER-TOP.asm extremely dirty.

 

[mrwizard]

Just adding a suggestion for handling the locked master assy. If the master assy is assembled into an empty assy (abc.asm), the needed simp reps can be created and saved with the abc.asm.


This may be a quick workaroundbut a naming standard should be agreed on for the new abc.asm so all users understand it's purpose.
Edited by: mrwizard

 

[looslib]

Create a drawing assmebly, Master-top_drw.asm and use that for your drawings.


Master_top.drw -> Master_top_drw.asm -> Master_top.asm

 

[jhyder79]

That is a very good work around. I'll give it a try and see how it works.