in prt. mode, 'hide' a function, but still use it as ref

[skiddy]

Im working in prt. mode presently.



Imagine a solid protrusion(blue part in diagram), eg 70 length 15 dia with some patterned cuts around the edge (depth 5mm) in the top. In these cuts are positioned wires which extrude about 40mm(datum curves in diagram)



I want to be able to control these wires by putting eg a spacer (pink part in diagram) through the top of the wire, from here i can control height from the solid and location of the wires in space.



View attachment 46



But..........

I want to create this spacer so it wont be shown on screen, but will still contain many refrence points and relations that i can still work from?



please help!



Can it be done by layers or , hiding individual components? not too sure on either though!

 

[Guest]

You can add the component to a layer and blank it.



There's also View > Model Setup > Component Display. You can set the display of the spacer to wireframe, hidden line, or no hidden mode, while keeping the rest of your model shaded.



(using v. 2001)

 

[skiddy]

isnt ' View > Model Setup > Component Display' only available in assembly mode, im still in part!



When i try to add it too a layer, under 'layer obj' the 'comonent' item is greyed out and unavailable.... why is that?

 

[jabbadeus]

In part mode, you can't blank solid geometry. You're going to see it-- layers and hide will have no effect on it. If you suppress it, you'll probably end up suppressing the children as well, so you won't be able to see any child datums.



If you modelled the spacer as surface features, you can associate them to a layer and blank them. But I suspect you need the spacer as solid features.



I think you should re-think your basic approach and model this wisk as an assembly with three components (the handle, wires, and spacer), then use data sharing features (e.g., Copy Geoms) to reference what you need from the various components. In assembly mode, you can blank and hide components.



David Martin

Torgon Industries