Fast way to configure a lot of parts?

joka

The sub-assembly consists of a lot of parts. I'd like to make this and other sub-assemblies configurable with the variables that were being used to create the parts.
As there is a high number of parts in this helix and multiple variables (5) I am looking for a different way than klicking on every part and selecting each of the variables used in the part studio.

Is there a fast way to change the configuration of multiple parts in an assembly?

EvanReese

it might not totally solve your issue, but you can select them all, and configure them all at once which will get them all onto your assembly configuration table. After that, you can copy the assembly config table to a spreadsheet to edit, then paste it back in.

Alternatively, if you need more control of what's what, you can just select all of the parts that should be identical and configure them at once. This would be the way to go if you end up with only a few different parts, but if they are all slightly different in some way I'd look to the spreadsheet. Either way i think it will be a bit of work.

alan_baljeu

Assembly configurations are a complex feature, meaning, there's a lot of different things you can do with this.  You may want to take an hour or two and go through the course.

https://learn.onshape.com/learn/course/assembly-configurations/introduction-to-assembly-configurations/what-are-assembly-configurations

I think I would try setting up a few assembly configuration variables and then take all the parts that you want to change together and configure each of those to be driven by the assembly variables you set up.  Then changing any of the variables in assembly will automatically change all the parts which are driven by those.  

shawn_crocker

What are you actually trying to accomplish?

joka

Evan_Reese said:

it might not totally solve your issue, but you can select them all, and configure them all at once which will get them all onto your assembly configuration table. After that, you can copy the assembly config table to a spreadsheet to edit, then paste it back in.

Alternatively, if you need more control of what's what, you can just select all of the parts that should be identical and configure them at once. This would be the way to go if you end up with only a few different parts, but if they are all slightly different in some way I'd look to the spreadsheet. Either way i think it will be a bit of work.

Selecting multiple parts and changing the configuration does work fine for variables, but doesn't seem to work for lists and checkboxes. Is there a workaround for this?

Copying and pasting the table does work fine, the challenge of selecting sometime multiple configuration settings of some hundreds of parts manually stays the same.

joka

alan_baljeu said:

Assembly configurations are a complex feature, meaning, there's a lot of different things you can do with this.  You may want to take an hour or two and go through the course.

https://learn.onshape.com/learn/course/assembly-configurations/introduction-to-assembly-configurations/what-are-assembly-configurations

I think I would try setting up a few assembly configuration variables and then take all the parts that you want to change together and configure each of those to be driven by the assembly variables you set up.  Then changing any of the variables in assembly will automatically change all the parts which are driven by those.  

There are a lot of possibilities with variables, sure. Thankfully, the configurations are way more intuitive than in other CAD systems.

I realise that I did not mention the lists and checkboxes in my initial question. For variables it does indeed work easily by choosing all the components that are needed and simply change the configuration of them at the same time. For the other two I am still looking for a faster way to accomplish the same.

joka

shawn_crocker said:

What are you actually trying to accomplish?

Creating one assembly where the different variants of it are selectable from the variables / checkboxs / lists.

What you see above are the road markings of a helix. With variables, the height of the helix, the width of the street as well as its diameter are chosen. Using a list you can choose how many lanes there are (1, 2, 3 or 4). And finally there should be a checkbox to either include only simplified parts or all parts necessary, down to the last bolt.

As there are a lot of parts in the high-detail variant, I am looking for a way to easily select mutliple ones and use them for the different kinds of configuration possibilities.

joka

Thank you for all your answers and inputs.

For now I am using subassemblies for the different lane number possibilities. With the help of a list they are shown or hidden. Regarding the low / high-detail variants I am not sure which is the best way yet, as I would need two sub-assemblies for every lane number variant, as well as two more for the general assembly.