Make in-context holes contingent on vendor parts?

tim_hanson849

Hello,  Very new to Onshape, so this may be trivial. 

Have an assembly with some custom and vendor parts, the position which is governed by the optical path.  Would like to bolt all parts to a backplane -- how to make counter-bored holes in the backplane conditional on the holes in the parts?  (I'm no expert at Solidworks either, but recall this operation was fairly easy)

See: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/981fec5a7384dfcbdbcdd2f3/w/95695a23ae7a8b167dfa84bb/e/50578c98ac30f9816b060833

Thanks in advance.

EvanReese

I think contexts are the way to go in your situation. Did you know that visibility is also captured by a context? you can hide everything except the parts you want to reference and update the context, and it should make it easier to find your references. Things that you referenced before, that are now hidden won't fail either, so I usually try to keep it to 1 context per model position, and just update visibility for what I'm working on. By the way, 2 positions would be like editing each side of a 3D printer gantry with the print head at each side. I think in your case, you should just use 1 and update it as needed. Does that help?

tim_hanson849

OK, I figured out a workable solution: edit the part "in context" -> Make a sketch on the plane where the holes will be drilled -> Change view mode to "Hidden Edges visible" -> In sketch "Use" tool to import those circles and points to specify the locations of the holes. 

Now, the problem is that the hidden edges are barely visible.  You basically have to guess.  Maybe there is a setting to fix this?

EvanReese

I think contexts are the way to go in your situation. Did you know that visibility is also captured by a context? you can hide everything except the parts you want to reference and update the context, and it should make it easier to find your references. Things that you referenced before, that are now hidden won't fail either, so I usually try to keep it to 1 context per model position, and just update visibility for what I'm working on. By the way, 2 positions would be like editing each side of a 3D printer gantry with the print head at each side. I think in your case, you should just use 1 and update it as needed. Does that help?

emagdalenaC2i

@tim_hanson849I think there are a few thinhs you can improve:

1 - There are duplicated dimensions and too much information in Sketch1. Also there is geometry that is not completely constrained

I prefer 4 clean and simplier sketches than a complex sketch like that

2 - If you design the parts in the Part Studio in their position it will be easier to use features that involve 2 or more parts and later create the assembly. And you will avoid to create that edits in context