Smart Product Design Product Realization Lab Solid Edge Assembly Tutorial Welcome to SPDL/ PRL s Solid Edge Tutorial. This tutorial is designed to familiarize you with the interface of Solid Edge Assembly V.9 and many of its useful tools. It teaches how to model and edit a sample assembly called MagnifyingGlass.asm, from the ring you already produced and three included files called leg, lens, and screw located in the Solid Edge directory. Sections in this tutorial: Creating the Assembly Edge Bar Orientation Mating Surfaces Axial Alignment Patterning Parts Aligning Planes Editing Relationships Moving Underdefined Parts Checking for Interference
Creating the Assembly Step 1: Insert the Ring Edge Bar Open Solid Edge Assembly from the Programs list On the main toolbar, select the Edgebar tool. At the bottom of the Edge Bar window, select the Parts Library Tab. On the Parts Library tab, click the browse for folder button. The default location of the Magnifying Glass part files: _Samples\Solid Edge\MGParts on EE118-Server. ( From explorer, Map Network Drive, \\EE118-Server\_Samples) There should now be a list of all the files you will need to create this assembly. Position your cursor in the assembly window away from any graphics, then click the right mouse button to display the shortcut menu. On the shortcut menu, click Hide All Reference Planes. This will clear up the window and allow for easier part positioning. Orientation You will now place your first part in the assembly. Double click on ring.par. This will insert the ring you previously created into the assembly environment. Its position will be fixed (grounded) and it will be the reference for all future parts in the assembly. TIP: The first part you place into an assembly is important. It serves as the foundation upon which the rest of the assembly will be built. It will remain fixed in the original position and orientation during the lifetime of the assembly. Step 2: Placing the Lens in the Assembly Double click on lens.par On the Ribbon Bar, the Mate command will be active by default. The mate command simply positions the face of one part towards the face of another part. The Mate command is one of six relationship types offered. The others are Planar Align, Axial Align, Insert, Connect, Angle, Tangent and Flash Fit. The ones most used for positioning parts are Mate, Planar Align, and Axial Align. Selecting the Mating Surface At this moment, Solid Edge wants to know which face on the lens you are trying to position. Click on the shoulder of the lens, shown in red Now, Solid Edge will bring you back to the assembly. It is looking for the target part or more simply for the part that you want to attach the lens too. Click on the ring Now, Solid Edge wants to know the face of the ring that the shoulder of the lens should mate too. Click on the bottom face of the ring Make sure the fixed offset icon is selected and the offset value is set to 0.00. This is the distance by which the faces will be separated. We want no separation. You now successfully mated the two faces although you will notice that the lens is still not in the desired position. This is a good indication that we still need to continue adding relationships.
Axial Alignment To finish positioning the lens, we need to align the cylindrical face of the lens to the inner cylindrical face of the ring. This will require that we align the axes of the two parts. Click on the Axial Align command in the relationship types list Solid Edge wants to know which axis on the lens you want to align. Select the outer ring of the lens Place your cursor over the ring until it is entirely highlighted then select it (this is the target) Now we need to select the axis on the ring that we are aligning the lens too. Place your cursor over the inner surface of the ring and select it when it becomes highlighted To fix the rotational orientation of the lens, select the Fixed Offset tool. You have now successfully aligned the lens to the ring, but lets change the colors around a little bit so you can view the parts a little easier. Go to Tools -> All Parts Same Color (deselect this) Select the lens and then the down arrow to change the default color. Pick something sassy. Note: The lens could have been positioned using the Insert command, but that command is simply a combination of a Mate and Axial Align command. Success!! You have positioned the lens within the assembly!!! Step 3: Attaching the Legs We are now ready to start placing the legs into the assembly. There are several ways to attach all three legs. You could position each leg into the assembly one by one using the same techniques we just used to place the lens. Or you could position one leg and use the pattern tool to quickly copy the leg into the other two positions. So that we can place the legs in fewer steps, lets choose the latter. Double Click on leg.par in the parts library The mate command should be active by default in the relationship types list. If it is not, then select it. 1. Select the top surface of the leg 2. Select the ring 3. Select the bottom surface of the ring Make sure the offset value is set to 0.00 in the Ribbon Bar You will now want to align the axis of the leg to the axis of the hole in the ring. Since there are quite a number of selectable faces in the area, it is helpful to use the Quick Pick tool. Click on the axial align command in the relationship types list. Position the mouse cursor over the outer cylindrical surfaces of the leg, stop moving the mouse for a moment, and notice that three dots appear next to the cursor. Click, and the QuickPick tool will be displayed. Move the cursor over the different boxes on QuickPick, and notice that different cylinders of the model highlight. You can select any of the outer cylindrical faces since they all share a common axis.
Reorient your view so you can easily see the hole in the ring Select the ring as the part to which the leg will be aligned Select the inner surface of the hole in the ring as the feature whose axis will now be common with the leg It does not matter which hole you initially align the leg to as you will come back shortly and add legs to the remaining two holes. Make sure the fixed offset tool is selected You should now have the leg properly aligned to the ring. Using the Pattern Parts Command On the Assembly Commands toolbar, click the Pattern Parts button. Select the leg as the part to be copied. On the ribbon bar, click Accept. Select the ring. It is the part that contains that pattern that the leg will be copied around. Select the holes in the ring. This will be the desired pattern. Select the hole above the leg. This is the reference point about which the other two legs will be copied. Click Finish. Success!! You have positioned the legs within the assembly!!! Step 4: Placing the Screws Aligning Planes The Planar Align command is very similar to the Mate command except that the faces you are selecting to align will be positioned facing the same direction (not towards each other like when you positioned the lens). To position the screw we will start by aligning the top face of the screw to the top face of the ring. Double Click on Csink8-32.par On the Ribbon Bar select the Planar Align command Select the top face of the screw Select the ring as the part to which the screw will attach Click on the top face of the ring Make sure fixed offset icon is selected and the offset is 0.00 then Click OK Now that the faces are aligned, we can use our previous tools to finish positioning the screw. Use the Axial Align command to align the shaft of the screw to the hole in the ring Use the Pattern Parts command to add two more screws to the assembly Success!! You have positioned the screws within the assembly!!!
Editing Relationships Moving Underdefined Parts Let s remove one of the assembly relationships of the leg and see what that does to our model. We will remove the mate on the top of the leg to the bottom surface of the ring. Select the first leg you put into the assembly, leg.par:1, by simply clicking on it in the assembly window. Click Edit on the Ribbon Bar The Ribbon Bar should have changed to display the steps you went through to create the assembly relationships. Relationship List Placement Element Target Part Top surface of leg Ring Target Element Bottom surface of ring Sets the Offset Distance between Surfaces Flips the leg upside down Select the mate relationship in the Relationship List Click Delete on your keyboard Click Esc on your keyboard Nothing in the graphics window should have changed so lets play around with the position of the leg now that it is underdefined. Click Move Part in the Features toolbar Select the leg Put your mouse over the z-axis and click to drag the leg Notice how the leg is only free to move in the z direction. Select the Rotate command Put your mouse over any axis and click to rotate the leg The leg should not rotate about any axis since the axial align command is still active. Click Esc on the keyboard TIP: If you are having trouble placing the proper assembly relationships to position a part, then use the Move command to determine how the part is free to move or rotate. Checking for Interference Now lets take a look at the interference profile between the Leg and the Ring. This is a simple process where you select the two parts that you want to check. Make sure the leg is imbedded in the ring Tools -> Check Interference Select the Leg Click the Accept tool on the Ribbon Bar Select the Ring Click Process on the Ribbon Bar The outline in red is the exact interference geometry. Click Esc on the keyboard TIP: A simple check to ensure everything is correct when you have completed an assembly is to use the Interference tool to make sure parts are not overlapping. Now lets get it back to normal. Select the leg Click Edit on the Ribbon Bar Make sure the Mate Command is selected Mate the top of the leg to the bottom plane of the ring The legs should now be back in their original position. Now change the colors around a little bit so that you are happy with the way it looks
Congratulations! You have completely modeled the assembly in Solid Edge!