How can I attach a mate connector to the origin for all of the parts in a part studio?

monroe_weber_shirk

The origin is the logical place to correctly position the parts I am drawing, but the parts don't intersect with the origin in any way. Onshape documentation says "You are also able to select the Origin as an entity; select the Origin in the graphics area, or in the Instances list".

1. The origin isn't visible in the 3 planes. Is there a way to make the origin visible?
2. How can I combine all of the parts into a single object in the part studio so that the mate connector is for that object? Note that the number of parts is variable (controlled by FeatureScript) and thus I have no way of knowing how many or where these components will be located in advance. I need a "command A" method to select all of the components for unioning.
3. How do I attach a mate connector on the origin to all the parts or to the unioned result for inserting into other part studios (using SuperDerive)?

I tried creating a sketch with a point at the origin and attached a mate connector to that point. The problem is that the origin point isn't associated with any part and unioning can't combine a sketch with a part.

billy2

You don't want to do that, tie many bodies to one mate connector.
Each part in a part studio will require its own mate connector. 
You only want to create mate connectors when there isn't any geometry to select.
I do this when I have imported geometry and there is no other way to assemble.
I like assembling by coordinates and this helps with that assembly style.

If you want all parts to behave as one, make a composite part.
I use composite parts mainly for BOM manipulation, it's one thing order even though it's a bunch of stuff.
I'm not sure composite is exposed in featurescript.

If you're creating wild geometry and want to reference the origin, tie a mate connector to the body and locate mate connector at the origin. 

Featurescript builds geometry differently than the user interface geometry. It's kinda hard answering your question.

monroe_weber_shirk

I happily have made the origin visible in the default geometry. Questions 2 and 3 remain...

billy2

You don't want to do that, tie many bodies to one mate connector.
Each part in a part studio will require its own mate connector. 
You only want to create mate connectors when there isn't any geometry to select.
I do this when I have imported geometry and there is no other way to assemble.
I like assembling by coordinates and this helps with that assembly style.

If you want all parts to behave as one, make a composite part.
I use composite parts mainly for BOM manipulation, it's one thing order even though it's a bunch of stuff.
I'm not sure composite is exposed in featurescript.

If you're creating wild geometry and want to reference the origin, tie a mate connector to the body and locate mate connector at the origin. 

Featurescript builds geometry differently than the user interface geometry. It's kinda hard answering your question.

romeograham

For this I use the @Jake_Rosenfeld custom FeatureScript called Mate Connector at Origin. It creates a separate MC at the origin, owned be each of the bodies selected during creation.

You can get it here: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/7a2aca223858e21747087f1c/v/d06b9de45deb6bba4211204a/e/36a983633c3f3c601fd50add

For me, this is the best way to establish an origin for a bunch of parts that are independent of one another.  Use the Mate Connector at Origin near the end of your Feature List so all the bodies are available for selection in a single feature.

Don't forget

• you can create Mate Connectors anywhere and have them owned by any body (they don't need to be 'connected' to one another).
• you can create Mate Connectors that are owned by a Plane (and not owned by a body), if you use the "Realign" option. I find this useful to create a "Main Axis" before any geometry if I'm working on a revolved part:

Good luck!

romeograham

The MultiMateConnector FS (from @konstantin_shiriazdanov) is another great way to create Mate Connectors for several bodies at once. For this FS you select an existing MC, and assign bodies for the new MCs. The feature creates a new MC at the selected MC for each body. You can additionally perform a bunch of transformations to the new MCs (in the screenshot below, for instance, "I want the new Mate Connectors to be -60mm in the Y-direction and rotated 30 deg around Z from the reference Mate connector 1 (which is the selected reference MC)").

It's here: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/5d8da63844bedebe5cff72b1/v/35660e5a5c85eb54c0147911/e/11dcab8f665add80b9aced0a