Cockeyed parts - Methods for viewing imported components not positioned or aligned

bruce_williams

Here is an outline of tips &  tricks for viewing parts in true part alignment.  It is a common challenge for us so we put together the outline and videos which I will post next.  Not the only way for sure and will be glad to hear feedback.  Hope it helps!  - Bruce

PDF outline - https://cad.onshape.com/documents/525e74d35861a288dbf3b1b7/w/1de201cd7d15580088e21c88/e/3b98872cca8048e028b7d968

bruce_williams

Cockeyed parts #1 - Problem viewing

 https://www.loom.com/share/197995fccd2b4dd19bee076c7e8258d4

bruce_williams

Cockeyed parts #2 - Mate connectors

https://www.loom.com/share/17163bfd21fa4f9ba11c6ae3b5762b63

bruce_williams

Cockeyed parts #3 - Named views

https://www.loom.com/share/f0503bb89f654d95acfdb491ac498c81

alnis

For parts that come in weird, I usually use a transform by mate connectors (rather than translate and rotate transforms) to get it to the origin. I haven't had any issues with losing associativity through that method. If you need the part to be in the same position, you can create a mate connector on it for the initial transform and use that to reverse the transform in the end. Here's a demo document: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/534a075d583497e24058caae/v/cb5a9e08ad872bed7c174552/e/53b6b0e7627e156a03afd5a6

End transform result:



Nice and aligned for editing:


Nice videos by the way! I learned some good tips and tricks for using named views and mate connectors.

bruce_williams

@alnis_smidchens
Thanks for the comments and example.  Yes, moving with Translation by Mate connectors is often a good option.  We have decided to keep imported positon so we always have World & Part coordinates.  It creates challenges yet we need to stay consistent and there are advantages.

EvanReese

I always like seeing other people's workflows. Thanks for sharing!

bruce_williams

@Evan_Reese
And I appreciate all the info & work you have contributed to forums and FS code & icons.   Being connected to Onshape and the community is a real blessing.  I learned about Loom here (from you I think) and it is a nice tool for videos.

lougallo

@bruce_williams Added the PDF....

EvanReese

bruce_williams said:

@Evan_Reese
And I appreciate all the info & work you have contributed to forums and FS code & icons.   Being connected to Onshape and the community is a real blessing.  I learned about Loom here (from you I think) and it is a nice tool for videos.

Thanks, Bruce. The forum really is pretty great. It's nuts to be able to ask a miscellaneous question and get a number of high-quality answers on the same day. Glad you're digging Loom. Showing is so much better than telling when it comes to CAD (and most things).

bruce_williams

thanks to @lougallo adding my PDF outline to sample document on the OP!

I added an example 'Cockeyed' part with MCs & Named views to the document.

bruce_williams

Playing with this I noticed Named views keeps the section arrow open - that is handy.