Suppressing assembly cut extrude... not possible?

[ericwhite@burt]

I am trying to make an isometric section view of an assembly to be used on my drawing.

Since there is no such feature in Alribre, I was planning on creating a second configuration where I simply cut the full assembly where needed. The problem is, unless I'm missing something, that there is no way to suppress extrude cuts at the assembly level! The extrude cut affects both configs... (yes they are both locked).

Am I missing something or is a isometric section view of an assembly to much to ask for?

 

[DavidJ]

No, you aren't missing anything - that shortcoming (no feature configuration lock for assembly features) has been spotted already.

A workaround would be to Save As the assembly, then you can have one assembly file with and one file without the cut.

 

[Lew_Merrick]

I am trying to make an isometric section view of an assembly to be used on my drawing.

Am I missing something or is a isometric section view of an assembly to much to ask for?

Maybe. If I am understanding you correctly you want am"Assembly Section View" that is "viewable" from withing Alibre Design itself. So, when your primary Assembly is complete, Rename the main Configuration to (say) "Primary Assembly." Create a secondary Configuration that will be named somthing like 9say) "Assembly Section View A-A." Activate Configuration "Assembly Section View A-A" and make your Extrude Cut or BOOLEAN Subtract there. Thus you will have both "Views" in one Model.

 

[ericwhite@burt]

No, you aren't missing anything - that shortcoming (no feature configuration lock for assembly features) has been spotted already.

A workaround would be to Save As the assembly, then you can have one assembly file with and one file without the cut.

This would definitely work, however I am not a fan of this as now two files will need to be updated with any change. I will live without for now.

Maybe. If I am understanding you correctly you want am"Assembly Section View" that is "viewable" from withing Alibre Design itself. So, when your primary Assembly is complete, Rename the main Configuration to (say) "Primary Assembly." Create a secondary Configuration that will be named somthing like 9say) "Assembly Section View A-A." Activate Configuration "Assembly Section View A-A" and make your Extrude Cut or BOOLEAN Subtract there. Thus you will have both "Views" in one Model.

My end goal is an isometric section view of an assembly on a drawing. What you described is exactly how I was going to do it, since there is no built in tool to create isometric section views. The issue is that the extrude cut cannot be applied to only one configuration - it affects all. I could not find a way around this issues, so an isometric assembly view will just be a dream.



If an Alibre staff member reads this, the biggest shortcomings for this program are the assembly tools and drawing tools (not very specific - I know). I would love to see these areas become more flushed out and have more utility. An isometric section view tool would be awesome, however, being able to suppress assembly features between different configurations is good enough (for me). Probably a lot easier to implement too, but I'm a designer not a programmer so who knows.

 

[Lew_Merrick]

My end goal is an isometric section view of an assembly on a drawing. What you described is exactly how I was going to do it, since there is no built in tool to create isometric section views. The issue is that the extrude cut cannot be applied to only one configuration - it affects all. I could not find a way around this issues, so an isometric assembly view will just be a dream.

It has been a while and, historically, I have only done this with BOOLEAN Subtracts, but it used to work.

 

[batejosh]

The other (less than ideal) workaround would be to make new configurations at the part level where they are cut down the same plane. You can have all those configurations showing together in a new assembly configuration.

Lew's suggestion of boolian subtract sounds like a good option!