Best practice, ball bearing model from import

bill_de_la_vega

I have a project that will require the use of shielded ball bearings.  I downloaded a model from the vendor website (I used solidworks format).  The model is imported into a part studio as individual components that make up the bearing.

I would like to have only a single instance of the bearing, and assign the part number from the vendor so I can insert it into an assembly and have only one reference to the part as a whole in the BOM.

I thought I could just boolean all the parts together, and then assign the part number to the result.  Well, the parts don't intersect so the boolean operation does not work.  I know I could group them in an assembly, but then there is no way to assign a part number to the group?


https://cad.onshape.com/documents/6a747034d48ef1346ad1bc1f/w/f3e1f23f6352b61fc6862fb3/e/eb98a4cc6162a6a9b1291cf2

michael_mcclain

I usually delete the internals of bearings and move some faces until they intersect and I can Boolean-Union the piece together. If the weight is on the manufacturer's page then I add that into the properties of the Final part to document it.

If you just directly add all the parts to an assembly and group them together then that works great too. With the group method you can assign proper material and get a pretty accurate weight in the assembly, but I will add manufacturer listed weight as metadata anyways. Either way, I get rotation movement in other assemblies, not the bearing itself.

Just make sure to double check imported parts and direct-edit them straight away BEFORE they get used. I've made that mistake enough to learn that extra edit time is always worth it.

bill_de_la_vega

Ok so I came up with something that will work.  

I created an assembly of the bearing, and made a suitable group.  I then assigned a part number to the assembly using the tab.  Then using a structured BOM the part number shows up correctly and does not break down the assembly into all its parts.

Still wondering is there a better way to do this?

owen_sparks

If all you need is a merged part could you just add a cylinder inside the existing parts such that that they now intersect? That way it will Boolean together.

Owen S

michael_mcclain

I usually delete the internals of bearings and move some faces until they intersect and I can Boolean-Union the piece together. If the weight is on the manufacturer's page then I add that into the properties of the Final part to document it.

If you just directly add all the parts to an assembly and group them together then that works great too. With the group method you can assign proper material and get a pretty accurate weight in the assembly, but I will add manufacturer listed weight as metadata anyways. Either way, I get rotation movement in other assemblies, not the bearing itself.

Just make sure to double check imported parts and direct-edit them straight away BEFORE they get used. I've made that mistake enough to learn that extra edit time is always worth it.

bill_de_la_vega

@owen_sparks I was just going to do that, but I thought there must be a better way.

@michael_mcclain that is a good idea about using the mfg. weight information.

john_mcclary

Whatever you do, delete them balls. Way too much useless information that will slow down drawings (if you make drawings)

michael_mcclain

Yep, I always hollow bearings out. Easier to store a weight in metadata than to carry around the extra baggage of useless geometry and more triangles to tesselate.