mating parts to layout sketches

[cader4life86]

I have created a layout sketch but I cannot get my parts that I want to the layout to control to mate to it. I know this is a basic operation but I cant seem to get it to work.

This is what I have done:
1.) Created a sketch in an assembly
2.) Created a part outside the assembly
3.) Inserted the part inside the assembly with the sketch

I can get the parts to mate to the assembly drawing but it does not follow the sketch when i change the dimensions of the sketch.

match a vertex to the end of a line or circle.

or, put a point in a sketch on the part so it can be used to mate to your layout sketch.

keep in mind when your mating components, you have to lock down 6 degrees of freedom. 3 translation & 3 rotations. A point to point mate only locks down 3 translation and leaves the 3 rotations. This mate would act as a gimble.


BTW, I like this style of modeling, make sure that the sketch is labeled 'layout' and it's obvious to everyone. I've seen too many assy's that I can't figure out, this step, adding a layout goes a long way to help understanding your design intent.

[cader4life86]

Thank you for the reply.

I think I wasnt clear on the first post. I will give an example so someone could follow it and see what I am doing wrong.

Here is the simplified example:
I am trying to make a square frame out of 4 rectangles(frame will have a thickness too). The reason I want to use a layout sketch is I want to be able to change the dimensions of the frame without changing each part. Each of the 4 rectangles is unique so I need 4 different parts. The reason why I want 4 parts is that so in reality I can build each of the parts seperately and then put them together.

I created my layout so that the frame would maintain it shape using a 3D sketch in an assembly. I created a new part with the same shape as one of the rectangles in the layout and inserted in the layout. This is the point where I have my problem.

I can mate the part to the frame but when I change a layout dimension the part does not change with it. I am thinking I need to add a relation to the part and the layout sketch. I tired editing the part but it will not allow me to select a line from the layout sketch and part sketch to add an relation.

This should work, remember that SW updates assy references 1st, then a 2nd rebuild is required to build the parts. I'm sure you've tried, but it sounds like you'll have to rebuild twice.

[cader4life86]

Thanks for the help, I figured it out. What I ended doing was creating the layout sketch in the assembly, inserting a component, mating them to the layout and (the step i was missing initially) editing the sketch of the component while in the assembly and relating it to the layout sketch.

I need some more help though. I am trying to get the configurations options to work. So basically, for every time I change the layout sketch, to change the dimensions of the frame I want a new configuration. Is this possible? I have read the solidworks help and it seems that configurations only allow for more or less parts and features, ect. The problem I am having now is that when i change the layout sketch all the configurations are changed to that revision.

It's been a long time since I've done weldments, do the sketch elements have symbolic representation ie.. line1@sketch15inpart.prt ?

Configurations on the other hand, it sounds like your configuration concept is incorrect.

Parts have configurations, assy's call up these different configurations.

1st deal with configurations in parts. You can suppress/resolve/modify features with configurations in a part. Even sketch relationships are controlled by configurations, which I've never done in real life. To do this, you have to create the configuration first. Then when making a change to the part, tell SW this config only, hopefully your new confguration, the default is to update all config. Making a change to a part does not create a configuration.

2nd in an assy. You can suppress/resolve/refer to different components in an assy. You can not change a part's configuration in an assy, you can only pick which part's configuration you wish to use.

Another issue with configurations. Let's say we have a top assy, sub assy then a part in the sub assy. There is no way to control the part configuration through the top assy. The top assy can access the sub assy configurations, and the sub assy can control the part configurations. The top assy has to go through all the different assy levels.

In a top assy, editing a part in the assembly, you can't produce part configurations. ...ok, you can deal with top down configs in the later releases, but if you haven't built the configurations from the part level upto the top assy level. I don't think you'll ever be able to master building from top assy level down to the part level.