I was wondering what technique works best in SolidWorks to position a component (part or sub-assembly) relative to an assembly coordinate system with offsets in the X, Y, & Z direction? The purpose of creating a new coordinate system in the part is to switch it out with a similar component (STEP file) created in another CAD system. Refer to this similar discussion:

I had also asked this question of Pro/Engineer users and below are the replies which I received:

• This is what we do. Constrain the part with typical aligning to surfaces, holes etc.. In Part mode create a CSYS referencing the assy CSYS, don’t press OK, just switch the reference from the assy CSYS to the standard part CSYS => You can see all the correct values now for x, y, z and the rotating angels. Now you can redefine the placement of the part and use the new CSYS. You don’t have to type in any values and get typos.

• There is an easier way to do this than using a transform file. Just open your assembly and activate the part. Select the part csys. Then begin creating a new csys. In the create csys dialog that opens, select the ref csys, then select the assembly csys. It will replace the part csys as the reference, automatically entering the xyz offsets. Adjust as necessary. Done. (You can also adjust the offsets before replacing the reference csys, if that is easier for you).

• If you pick the “create Csys” button you can reference an existing CSYS and apply X Y and Z translation plus ROX, ROY and ROZ rotations.

So, if anyone has a good technique for doing this in SolidWorks (SW 2010 Premium), let me know how you do it.