sketch referencing a sketch

[wildmodeler]

I may be looking for a miracle but here goes. I have an assembly structure with I beams in it. They are all the same size beams. Is there a way to have the beam sketches reference a external sketch or something so I can change the sketch in each beam by changing 1 sketch? Analysis is changing my beam size daily it seems so this would help out greatly.

 

[michaelpaul]

I may be looking for a miracle but here goes. I have an assembly structure with I beams in it. They are all the same size beams. Is there a way to have the beam sketches reference a external sketch or something so I can change the sketch in each beam by changing 1 sketch? Analysis is changing my beam size daily it seems so this would help out greatly.

maybe I'm missing something here but....

if all the i-beams are the same shape isn't changing the i-beam part dimensions the same as changing the external sketch? if the i-beams are made from multiple features, you could always put your i-beam sketch as the first feature in the model and then recreate the i-beam model based on that first sketch. then when you want to change the overall i-beam dimensions quickly you can just change that first sketch dimensions.

 

[wildmodeler]

There are many different w-beam parts they are all the same w-beam but different lengths & end effects. I want to be able to change the w-beam sketch. Now I have to go into each part & update the w-beam sketch.

 

[Kevin DeMarco]

Based on your description it sounds like a flexible part or maybe UDF features might be the best way to accomplish what I think your you' re describing.

 

[tobbo]

can you use familytable? If so , you can update the general instance, and all the other instances will follow. in that way, you only update the sketch at ONE place, and the rest will update too.

But offcourse, you can also have the I Beams first sketch be a copied geometry from an external sketch. If you do so on all your beams, then when you update the sketch, all the parts that uses the external sketch for reference will update. (i think this is what michaelpaul is saying, but as i understand, you dont have it set up this way....yet?)

In both cases you only have to change the dimensions at ONE place.

//Tobias

 

[zpaolo]

You can create a parameter for the I beam sizes and change the parameter to drive all the sketches. You can of course also reference another sketch with the "=" constraint but I think it works only if you are working on the same sketch plane (otherwise I think it will project the old sketch to the new one)

 

[zpaolo]

If the I-beams are all different parts, but you want to keep the same sketch cross section between them, you can define a part with just that sketch and then import it as geometry in each part to reference, then if you change the master sketch in the external part all sketches will follow.

 

[moldman]

I like your family table suggestion, Tobias. It seems to be the most direct way to accomplish the task that someone else would be able to follow easily. Of course the whole assembly would have to be reconstructed, but in the long run it seems worth it. This is a perfect example of how a little forethought before just diving in would have paid off big time.

 

[zpaolo]

Maybe if you are lucky you can do a "replace" of the current beams with the ones from the family table without too much hassle...

 

[tobbo]

Yes, Famliytable might be the solution here. Depending on how you manage verisons & revisions and that kind of stuff. Do you use PDM Link? Just make sure you can update , or add one instance without having to release everything one more time.

//Tobias