Hi,

my problem is complex, yet simple. We produce tools for plastic pipes. A lot of those tools have ratchet straps that ar either used to clamp the pipe or to hold somethin in place. I have both Composer and Solidworks Pro 2018 on my PC and we start to work with PDM. We have a floating licence system and I use Solidworks now and then to create copies of assemblies that I specifically use in Composer.

When I write my manuals I like to use the drawings from the CAD guys to make my life easier. A problem that is recurring often is that some tools are multidimensional. That means the strap that goes around the pipe and into the ratchet should be drawn in a way so that I can easily open Solidworks change some parameters and have it adaptive not only to (say) a 500 mm pipe but also to a 800 mm pipe without me having to go to CAD and ask them to change it for me.

My approach and that of the CAD guys were 3D drawings / splines but the main problem seems to be that one can use the function in a part but not in an assembly. My goal would be to have an assembly with the tool and the pipe. Now the strap can either be in the assembly as part or "built" on top of the tool in the assembly.

We found a way to use these Splines in a part only. But that would mean that the pipe and the strap must be in one part. This is something we do not want.

So, is there an approach where I  can have the tool in an assembly, my colleague draws the strap and then when I need to show the use of the tool on a bigger pipe I just modify the strap to follow a different pipe surface?

It is a bit diffcult to explain, I hope it was clear enough.

Thank you very much for reading this far!