Aligning parts at arbitrary angles

[nodshuffle]

Hi

Sorry for the basic question, I'm a total beginner when it comes to Pro/E

I can't seem to figure out how constrain two parts so that they are oriented at an arbitrary angle to each other.

For example, I have a tripod like structure which has 45 degree angles relative to a flat plane. The only ways I can think of to orient the legs relative to the plane are to create small wedge shapes on the plane to mate a surface of each the legs to, or to create angled surfaces on ends of the legs so that the faces mate with the flat plane. The latter isn't really true to the design though, which will only have the edges of the legs in contact with the plane.

I have tried creating datum planes and axes but I can only seem to orient them orthogonally to existing axes.

 

[kenppy]

Thre are a whole number of ways of doing this depending on what sort of freedom you need to orient the part. You could have two planes that are adjusted by their angles which will in effect be a ball joint but may be difficult to arrive at the correct target because you have to play with two values until they are right.

If you are happy to have the outcome determined by eye then assemble the part by coordinates, the coordinate on the assmbly being one that this oriented by screen view. In the assembly rotate the assembly part till it looks in the correct view relative to the part which will not be right until you redefine the added coord.

If you post the parts and describe what you want I could show you.

 

[nodshuffle]

Thanks, I'll clean up the parts and upload them. I thought it would be ball or pin jointed, but I couldn't find the relevant option in the constraints. I did notice a sort of free orientation mode but it didn't have any option for specifying angles.

 

[nodshuffle]

So there are two parts here that I'm trying to orient at a 45 degree angle relative to each other here. If you look at my constraints, I've done so by mating the "key panel" to a small wedge surface on the table plane. Ideally I'd like the edge of the key panel to be constrained to the table plane, and an arbitrary orientation angle to be able to be specified.... I can't for the life of me figure out how to do this though2012-05-16_041159_assembly_+_parts.zip

 

[kenppy]

pick key-panel in assembly > edit, you will see an angle you can modify.

2012-05-16_043357_key_attachment_angle.prt.zip

 

[nodshuffle]

Thanks a lot. I'm just trying to reverse engineer what you've done here. So I noticed you constrained the table_plane, which I've done, however I can't seem to figure out how to get the align option with the two brown concentric circles icon.

 

[kenppy]

I placed an axis datum through the edges that i wanted to align, when you pick these axes as you would do if they were cylinders the align constraint happens by default.

BTW, you don't have to use axes, the edges can be used. I find that axes are preferable because you can tick the 'allow assumptions' box in align and lock the part without a third constraint.

 

[dross]

I usually just use an angle offset for a planar constraint.