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Drag angles in Pro E

P

Peter S

New member
I have connected a part to an assembly with a pin constraint and can drag it around the axis.
I need to know what the angle is that I am dragging it to, preferably while I am still dragging it.
If I use ROTATION AXIS in the PIN constraint, I can see the angle but I lose the drag and if I select the drag then I lose the angle display.
Also I can't switch the dimensions to get this angle display's internal name to use in a RELATION.
Is it possible to do this in any version of PRO E.
Thanks in advance for any information.
Peter.
 
You can add an annotation dimension with the part only constrained to the axis. I have done this when I want to show a range of motion demo. Not sure if this is what your looking for ,just thought I would throw out an idea.The dimension may flip if the range is to great.
 
canoemike said:
You can add an annotation dimension with the part only constrained to the axis. I have done this when I want to show a range of motion demo. Not sure if this is what your looking for ,just thought I would throw out an idea.The dimension may flip if the range is to great.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike, I will try this out first chance that I get (tomorrow) and let you know.
Peter
 
Hi Mike,
The annotation dimension feature does almost everything that I wanted except that it can't be used in RELATIONS.
It displays the angle and updates in real time when I rotate the part. I can also get the internal name (ad4:1), but when trying to use it in relations it says "cannot assign to a part driven function".

Being able to use this angle in RELATIONS is very important, otherwise I have to do several steps and regens where it should be automatic.
What I wanted was to rotate a part and when it reached a predetermined angle, it would (through RELATIONS) change a dimension on another part.
I thought that this would be a fairly simple action for Pro E.
Without being able to have RELATIONS recognize this angle, changes everything.
I noticed a function for relations called EANG but I can't find any info in help or on Google. Have you ever used this?
Thanks again for your input.
Peter
 
OK now I am starting to see your design intent. You need to establish a driver for the angle dimension.

Once you get this dimension you should be able to do your relation. You should be able to get some good info within Pro-e's help files or the link below
http://learningexchange.ptc.com/tutorial/463/creating-relations

In my experience relations can get heavy or overly complex, they do have there place but keep your eye on value. Sometimes just manually changing dims get the job done so you can move on to bigger and better modeling challenges. You may also want to review my earlier post

Relations used to model railings number of balusters

I could have started something with this post , there seems to be more relation questions this month.

Best of luck to you keep us posted.
 
canoemike said:
OK now I am starting to see your design intent. You need to establish a driver for the angle dimension.

Once you get this dimension you should be able to do your relation. You should be able to get some good info within Pro-e's help files or the link below
Tutorial: Creating Relations

In my experience relations can get heavy or overly complex, they do have there place but keep your eye on value. Sometimes just manually changing dims get the job done so you can move on to bigger and better modeling challenges. You may also want to review my earlier post

Relations used to model railings number of balusters

I could have started something with this post , there seems to be more relation questions this month.

Best of luck to you keep us posted.
Click to expand...


Thanks Mike, I have a lot of reading to do.
Peter
 
Peter,

I gave it a try and had good luck by using an analysis feature.

insert - analysis - measure - angle - than make this measurement a feature and add it as a footer.

This feature dimension can now be used in a relation to drive another assemble dimension. This will than require a regeneration to get the other part to move. Maybe not 100% what your looking for but maybe another tool for your tool box.
untitled.JPG
 
Hi Mike,
thanks for your suggestions which does just what you say. But unless I am misunderstanding it, I still end up with a static angle that requires a few moves to complete.
I have to stop the rotation at the right angle and regen, then click the UNDO in the relation window to reset the relations to current values and run again. It is easier to change the dimension on the other part manually.

What I was hoping for was that while I was rotating (dragging) an assembly around a center, the program would dynamically recognize the angle.When it reached a pre determined angle an "if" function would automatically change the dimension on another part.
Easy --right?

With a PIN or CYLINDER constraint, in ROTATION AXES, It displays the CURRENT POSITION angle around the object which changes dynamically when I move it but I can't access the angle name to use in a relation. Go figure!

Using an ANNOTATION dimension is the closest to what I want and this shows the name (ad4:1) but it can't be used in relations (cannot be assigned to a part-driven dimension).

I find it hard to accept that such a seemingly simple task is so difficult if not impossible to do in Pro E.

I have concluded that the action that I need is probably not available on WF3 or at least is way above my level. So I have decided to try some other method.
I sincerely thank the people who helped me with my questions. I learned a lot, even more than I wanted to.
Thanks Peter
 
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