Assembly Copying and Modification

[JonnFive]

Hello Users,

I am a student working on a project that will land me a great opportunity. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I have been a plant layout for a recycling plant. I have made a number of assemblies that I have imported into the main assembly. There are a number of platforms and conveyors belts that are similar enough to apply simple modifications. My problem is I can not seem to find a way to copy an assembly (i.e. platform assembly, 7-8 components) so that I can modify it without changing the original assembly, given the components are all the same. I have been copying each individual component of the assemblies with a new name and forced to reassemble them, not very efficient.
To sum it up, I would like to copy an assembly, and modify certain components in the new assembly without changing the original. I am able to copy and mirror the assemblies but cannot seem to make the components independent of the original.

Thank you in advance for any comments, much appreciated.

 

[wtb999]

Hi Jonn,


you will need to do a couple of things -



1) In Windows explorer, create a copy of the folder which contains the "Platform Assembly" (lets call it plat_assy1.asm) and its components. Go into the copied folder and rename the assembly fileeg. plat_assy2.asm. Dont rename the component files here, else the assembly will not regenerate, as it will still look for the old component names.



2) You will however need to rename the components, because ProE cannot hold two components with the same name in session at the same time. For this, first make sure that plat_assy1.asm and all its components are erased from ProE session. Then openplat_assy2.asm and ALL its components in ProE. Then for each component, go to File - Rename and change its name. Be sure to choose the option "Rename on disk and in session". Because you do this with the assembly file open, the component name will be updated in the assembly file as well. Once you have changed all the component names, save them and the assembly file. You will then have a new assembly file that can be brought into the top level assembly, along with the original.


Hope this helps! Good luck with the project.

 

[JonnFive]

Thank you for the information, it helped a lot in understanding the process, but I'm still having a similar problem. I copied the folder and renamed the assembly. I closed all other assemblies and components used the File-Close Window command. I opened the new assembly and all of its components and used File-Rename, making sure "Rename on file and disk" was checked (I tried numerous combination's as well). When I go back to the original assembly, the component names have been updated as well, and I'm left with two assemblies with same components again. I'm going to give it another try right now with a small assembly. Thanks again for the fast reply, it helped a lot and I think I'm just missing a small step in there somewhere.

 

[JonnFive]

Ok..... I got it working. My initial issue was because I had sub-assemblies in my assemblies that I was trying to copy and modify. I got your way to work without including the sub-assemblies.

I think I found and easier way but it may have some limitations. I opened my assembly which I wanted to copy and modify separately. I went to File-Save a Copy, in which a window pops up. At this window I was able to choose what component and sub-assemblies I wanted to re-use or make new files. I selected the files I wanted to make independent of the original assembly and at the bottom was able to type in a new prefix or suffix for the new files. This made a new assembly with dependent and independent files.

Thanks again for your help... I never new about the File-Rename and rename commands, that will help a lot in the future.

 

[wtb999]

great. I had never done it this way.... it is definitely easier.

 

[dross]

A perfect opportunity for family tables...much easier than the above method.

 

[srieger]

I agree with dross... Family tables is a great tool when used properly andonlyfor good.