maintaining part relations

[multicaduser]

Basically a newb to Alibre but not to cad. To gain experience I'm modeling dust collector adapters for my wood shop and 3d printing them. So far so good. Now I have a part that is larger than the printer bed and was wondering how to create three unique parts that can be glued together.

My first thought was to model the part completely then do a save as for each piece and make the modifications as needed. However, if the base feature needs to change all three files would need to be updated separately.

The second thought would be to model the part completely as if it would fit on the 3d printer, then create four configurations, one for the whole part and one each for the three variations needed. The part can then be added to an assembly three times, once with each configuration, to check the final fit.

Solidworks configurations would work well for this and NX has very robust geometry linking which would work very well. I believe the second thought of using configurations would work very well in Alibre, but was wondering what the experienced users would do.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

I would use configurations. I would edit each configuration so that only feature suppression is locked. Then I would have a cut feature in each that cuts away what I don't want - which would be suppressed in all the rest. Then all other changes would happen in all configurations.

 

[HaroldL]

The Alibre configurations work similar to those of SolidWorks, so I would think you'd have the same results using them in Alibre as in SW.
It doesn't hurt to try it on your model.

 

[multicaduser]

I would use configurations. I would edit each configuration so that only feature suppression is locked. Then I would have a cut feature in each that cuts away what I don't want - which would be suppressed in all the rest. Then all other changes would happen in all configurations.

First, thanks for your reply, that was the direction I was thinking of. Second, there is something I'm missing with the "cut feature" because I couldn't make it work, so I went to extrude cut instead. Is there a good tutorial or documentation on this feature? In all honesty, this is where knowing other cad systems can be a hindrance because you must unlearn how other systems work.

The support for Alibre is great.

 

[HaroldL]

First, thanks for your reply, that was the direction I was thinking of. Second, there is something I'm missing with the "cut feature" because I couldn't make it work, so I went to extrude cut instead. Is there a good tutorial or documentation on this feature?

Which "cut feature" do you mean? Can you give an example of what you want to do?

There are tutorials and documentation (Help) available from the Explore tab of the Alibre Home window and also from the Alibre web site under Resources.

In all honesty, this is where knowing other cad systems can be a hindrance because you must unlearn how other systems work.

That is a true statement. It's not so much unlearning the other systems as it is thinking Alibre works the same way.

 

[Jim T.]

Bingo! I”ve used three other solid modeling programs and I think the experience hurts more than helps!

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

I just said "cut feature" because I didn't know what kind of cut feature you would need. It might even take more than one cut for each configuration.

 

[multicaduser]

Which "cut feature" do you mean? Can you give an example of what you want to do?

There are tutorials and documentation (Help) available from the Explore tab of the Alibre Home window and also from the Alibre web site under Resources.


That is a true statement. It's not so much unlearning the other systems as it is thinking Alibre works the same way.

You said it better about unlearning, it's really learning a new way of thinking and being able to transfer one way of working in one system to enhance the use of another.

However, there is something else I wasn't thinking clear on in the original post. I really wanted to compare a single file with configurations to three separate files with boolean intersect. Global equations and datum use can control the splits between segments to get the same result. Both ways have their own complexities, but are there some obvious drawbacks to one method that can only be seen on involved designs?

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

Be sure to read up about part Boolean Features vs Assembly Booleans. Boolean Features created in the part update to changes of the parts used for the Boolean. Assembly Booleans create dumb solids.

 

[multicaduser]

Be sure to read up about part Boolean Features vs Assembly Booleans. Boolean Features created in the part update to changes of the parts used for the Boolean. Assembly Booleans create dumb solids.

Good point, I was aware of this but thanks for bringing it up. I'll just have to model it both ways to see which I like better.

Thanks for all the replies.