SolidWorks® 2007 Bible

Chapter 12. Organizing Assemblies

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Identifying the elements of an assembly

• Using subassemblies

• Using folders

• Working with tree display options

• Tutorial: Managing the FeatureManager

Chapter 5 offered a brief introduction to the basics of assemblies, how to put parts together, the basics of mating, and so on. The basic process for putting assemblies together remains the same for assemblies of any size, but once the assembly passes a certain point—and this point is likely different for each user or application—the assembly will benefit from some sort of organization or management techniques. This chapter introduces you to the tools and techniques that are available to help you manage performance issues as well as general browse-worthiness or searchability.

Identifying the Elements of an Assembly

From Chapter 5, you know that an assembly has parts and mates. However, the simple tutorial in Chapter 5 did not go beyond this. While this tutorial got you started, it did not provide enough information to make you competent with assemblies. Real-world assemblies can become very complex. As the assembly grows in the number of parts and design requirements, you may need to add some of the following types of assembly elements (you may already be familiar with some of these parts from having worked with part documents):

• Assembly equations

• Assembly layout sketch

• Assembly reference geometry (plane, axis, point, coordinate system)

• Parts

• Subassemblies

• Folders for parts

• Folders for mates

• Mates

• Assembly ...