I am a little new to solidworks I have made an assembly of a frame, I need it to grow, in length and width , I thought I would do this with configurations, do I need to make new pieces for the ends and angles if the frame gets wider and/or longer? There will be about 4 versions of this frame. If you see a better way to do this please let me know.
Thanks
Bill Howard
To make your assembly readable all parts (at least the frame) must be included in zip file.
OK, I believe I have the files zipped, any help would be appreciated . One more questions is this maybe something I should create using weldments?
Thanks,
Bill Howard
William Howard wrote:
OK, I believe I have the files zipped, any help would be appreciated.
Nope. Still no Part files included. With the Assembly open, go to File > Pack and Go... Near the bottom of the Pack and Go dialog box there will be an option to send the files to a zip file. Choose that option, Save, and then post that.
I followed your instructions, I hope I have it this time.
Thanks again,
Bill Howard
I was way off on the frame. I was thinking of a picture frame for some reason. But yes, I'd definitely model that as a multi-body Weldment using the Structural Shape function. Even the plates on the ends (see Using Plate in Weldments). Then start an Assembly with this Part file and insert the hardware.
And yes, it would be relatively simple to adjust the size with multiple configurations.
William,
I just attempted to open it and it still didn't have pieces. If you do a pack-n-go into a zipped file you will get the whole thing.
However I was able to have a preview of the assembly in windows explorer so I have an idea about what you are working on. Should you use weldments? Don't know, that is up to you. I have only used weldments a little bit and am not comfortable with them yet. I model everything separate and always have. It can be done either way and will work either way. A difference that I see is that if you use BOMs "I think" the piece part works better. If you use cutlists you will want to use the weldments. Having never been anywhere that uses cutlists I have no experience with them and can't say exactly what the difference is but from what I have seen when playing around it looks like a BOM is more conducive to sub assemblies and purchased parts while a cutlist is to hand the shop and say "go cut these parts out of structural steel". I don't know if that is right or not.
Your question about changing the dimensions of the assembly leads me to think that you may want to look at a master sketch and using a weldment though. A master sketch would control the dimensions of the parts at the top level and would easily control the lengths of the angles. Using weldments you would then just have a list of materials and the appropriate lengths to give to your shop. If your framework does not have predetermined sizes this could be useful. If on the other hand you know that your frame is going to be say 16", 23, 26" and 30" long and nothing else I prefer to use parts with configurations. Then I can have predetermined parts with part numbers and drawings that I can swap in or out and use configurations to do so.
Long story short, we can't really say what is the best way to model this. Your shop pattern and the potential changes to the assembly will drive that more.
Here's a simple frame I made to show you some ways you can control variables with configurations.
I will try the multi-body weldment way, I even checked out your post on using plates in weldments. By the way were you able to open my zip file? I just want to make sure I did it correctly.
Thanks
Bill Howard
Yes, it opened fine.
Hello Bill,
You didn't include the Parts, so I can't see the Assembly, but configurations should work. I can't say for sure without seeing it, but you should definitely be able to control the lengths and angles of the components.