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fixing Circular References...

dagarber

New member
Hi guys, so reading about all this "top down" stuff on here, I was like, Yeah, I'll try that!


So I went back into a model I had made and deleted some things from the part level, assembled the parts into an assembly, and then in the assembly activated the different parts and made cuts in them referencing the other parts (note, these are not "assembly features"). I was proud of myself, but a little uneasy about the "2 Circular References found" message that appeared in the text bar at the bottom of the screen...


It seems to me like this is moving in the right direction, but that there is an extra step I am missing. Instead of referencing the other parts, you have to first publish the geometry to a skeleton, and then reference that? I'm basing this on the adjacent post by skwasim_smileon Top-Down design... I've never used a skeleton, but if that is the case, then perhaps going through the tutorials posted by conrat will be the solution.Just looking for advice here, is there a good way to resolve the circular references, or should I delete the assemblies and go to square 1 after figuring out how to use a skeleton?
Edited by: dagarber
 
Your skeleton should be the source of the common geometry that the subasms and parts reference. Much better than parts referencing other parts. That creates dependencies that can only be evaluated in the assembly. The skeleton references are handled differently by the system if the skeleton or assy are not available.

Using a skeleton will fix your circular references so I would learn how to do that. However, there are other ways to fix the circular references.
 
You do not need to delete components. Open .crc file in your working directory. It contents detailed information about the circular reference. But It's just a passive solution.


You better plan carefully before dive into, and try to use skeletons, relation controls, publish geometry...
 
Hi guys... need advice on assembling these two pieces. I want to assemble the cylinder into the half moon, and define the vertical position of the cylinder as PLANE A (horizontal reference plane) of the cylinder being 100 inches above the intersection point, where the cylinder intersects the half moon at the bottom.


I would think to accomplish this by creating a datum plane while assembling the cylinder ("on the fly", as they say, although I guess not anymore?). However that is not an option. So I did it by partially assembling the cylinder, creating an assembly Datum point at the intersection, saving that point into the Half Moon part, and then defining the position of the cylinder as PLANE A 100 inches above that point. IE, a circular reference.


I hope you're getting what I'm saying, and my question is, what is the correct way to assemble these two components together, since you can't create a datum feature for the interesection point without making a circular reference?


View attachment 1338
 

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