Part-level relations that apply globally?

[skeezy]

Hi all,


I'm new to the forums, and I just got back into Pro/E from a 2-year inventor hiatus. Recently I've been going through the Pro/E tutorials (yippeee) here at work. On a quest to make my life more exciting I've taken on a task to create a family table for an electrical enclosure. So I downloaded the enclosure from the vendor's site, and I've began recreating it in Pro/E so I can implement family tables. The idea is to be able to change the cabinet's height, width, and depth, and the entire assembly will update, changing the number of hinges and the dimensions of the attached door.


So the question I'm getting to here is can I create a relation in one part, that is driven by a parameter in another part?


To test this, I've created a simpler assembly consiting of a pin (with a shank and a head), and a stand-off (has an OD and an ID) that the pin fits in to. My intent is to chang the diameter of the pin, and by doing so the ID of the stand-off will conform to the pin's dimensions.


I've looked through the tutorial pretty thoroughly, and I can't find anything on assembly level relations. When I modeled in Inventor I could create an Excel sheet then tell the model to retrieve its dimensions from that sheet, thus giving myself a global set of parameters to work from. Is there a similar such function in Pro/E's parametric modeling scheme? If not, what other avenues might I research to solve this? Thanks!!

 

[skeezy]

So I just re-read the tutorial on assemblies, and this is what I found:


"Pro/ENGINEER uses a distributed database structure. That is, an assembly file contains only the information required to define the number and location of its members, and in general does not contain any non-positional geometric information. Assembly members are called Components, and may be either a part file (.prt) or another assembly file (.asm). Product geometry is always contained in the part databases, not in the assembly database."


Based on this it sounds like IF I'm going to pull this off, I need to create some sort of file outside of the assembly and outside of the parts that the parts' databases reference. Any ideas?

 

[dr_gallup]

Do you have Advanced Assembly Extension (AAX) license? If so, you can create a layout and declare global parameters there. You can also use skeletons. Search for the various white papers on top down design, there are many different techniques available. Actually, too many in my opinion, but they all have various advantages and shortcomings.

 

[skeezy]

I'm not sure about AAX license, but I will look into it.


I am actually reading about Top-Down Design right now and it seems to be just what I am looking for, thanks for the input!!

 

[SRINIVASANIYER1]

If you do not have AAX, try the following method. Make a rectangular on a sketch plane (say Front) to define the width and height of the box, in the ASSEMBLY. Next make a line (sketch to define the depth.


Now you will have three parameters in the assembly to play with for Family table.


Next you can position a datum point for HINGE, and pattern the same using a relation to link up with the height parameter. Having done this, the number of datum points in the pattern will vary according to the height of the box. Assemble the hinge taking reference of the first datum point and thenREFERENCE pattern the same.I have not tried this before but I have a hunch that it will work.


For further assistance it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you study the Proe help on FAMILY TABLES which can be found in Proe fundamentals.

 

[SRINIVASANIYER1]

Further to check whether you have AAX, the quickest way is to create a Layout. If you can create a layout you have, if you cannot you do not have.