Assemblies: Subassemblies and Patterns

Subassemblies

An assembly can hold other saved assemblies. In Insert Components, an assembly shows with an assembly icon and the word assembly under its name. Place it like any part.

Right-click a subassembly row for: Open Assembly, Isolate, Fix or Float, Make Subassembly Flexible or Rigid, Form New Subassembly..., Dissolve Subassembly, Move Subassembly... (for a rigid one) and Delete.

• Rigid moves as one piece. Flexible lets its parts move inside their own mates.
• Form New Subassembly... groups components you picked in the tree (use Ctrl or Shift click to pick rows). You get "Formed <name><1> from N components. It is also saved in your account."
• An assembly cannot contain itself, not even through another one. Depth goes up to 8 levels. The 500 component limit counts everything inside subassemblies.
• A subassembly is linked. When the original is saved again you are offered an update. If the original is deleted, a frozen copy stays.

Linear Component Pattern

Open it from the Assembly tab or the assembly row menu. In the Linear Component Pattern window:

• Pick Components to Pattern in the view or the Model tree. Use the Pick in the view or the tree button.
• Direction 1 has Pick, X, Y and Z buttons, Reverse direction, Spacing and Number of instances.
• Tick Direction 2 for a grid. Pattern seed only repeats only the seed in direction 2, not the whole row.

Circular Component Pattern

Pick an Axis (Pick, X, Y, Z), then set Reverse direction, Angle (degrees) and Number of instances. Tick Equal spacing to share the angle evenly: 360 degrees is shared by all the instances, a part of a turn by one fewer step.

Skipping Instances

Under Instances to Skip, click a dot in the view or tick an instance in the list to leave it out. Click OK when done.

Working with Patterns

Instances follow their seed. They cannot be moved, fixed, replaced or deleted on their own. Move the seed, or dissolve the pattern first. Right-click a pattern in the tree for Edit Feature, Dissolve Pattern and Delete. Delete asks Keep Instances or Delete Instances Too (or Cancel). Pattern instances count in the Bill of Materials, mass, section and interference checks. An assembly can have up to 30 patterns, and one pattern up to 500 instances in all.