Inserting parts into new assembly?

Tony_C_

Just found out about this program and am playing around with the free trial but hit a brick wall and couldn't find anything in the tutorial.

I currently use Alibre (GeoMagic) and am very familiar with creating assemblies but can't seem to figure out how to insert already created parts into an assembly in OnShape.

I've created a few parts but when I make a new assembly an go to insert, there's nothing there for me to select from.

Am I missing something simple? 

Thanks

Tony_C_

That comes up blank.

Where does that get the parts shown from?
 
I draw pumping equipment and have to insert various 90's, tee's....standard stuff, when I build my assembly.

What I'm use to doing is clicking insert and then being able to see my computer's folder structure and am able to select the parts I need in order to build my assembly.

How does OnShape let you select stock parts you've drawn and put them in a new assembly? 

_Ðave_

@tony_castongia Ya, they still have a bit to work out there. Yes, all of your imported parts will be in there own tab and yes it gets very crowded. I hear rumors that there's plans for inter document referencing sometime in the future.

tom_scarince

Yeah, right now Onshape seems like it would work very well for smaller, self-contained product designs are rapidly developed from scratch then wrapped up in a bow and go to manufacturing. 

However, in my day job we have some parts that are common to a wide range of otherwise unrelated products.  We maintain one instance of the common part.  Onshape doesn't seem to be ready for this yet. 

In the case of the OP, if he uses the same elbow fitting over and over, he would have to keep all his designs in one Document or else update individual copies in multiple Documents when the elbow changes some day. 

cyclonewade

tom_scarince said:

Yeah, right now Onshape seems like it would work very well for smaller, self-contained product designs are rapidly developed from scratch then wrapped up in a bow and go to manufacturing. 

However, in my day job we have some parts that are common to a wide range of otherwise unrelated products.  We maintain one instance of the common part.  Onshape doesn't seem to be ready for this yet. 

In the case of the OP, if he uses the same elbow fitting over and over, he would have to keep all his designs in one Document or else update individual copies in multiple Documents when the elbow changes some day. 

Currently, this is a true statement. Until document to document referencing becomes available, the "elbow" would need to be copy to each document where it is to be used.

henry_feldman

@tony_castongia:
You just need to select the "insert parts and assemblies" choice right next to the undo/redo arrows. This will let you insert any or all your parts.

If you click on an individual part you get just that and if you click on a studio you get all the parts from that studio. After that you need to use mates to join them into an assembly

.

Tony_C_

That comes up blank.

Where does that get the parts shown from?
 
I draw pumping equipment and have to insert various 90's, tee's....standard stuff, when I build my assembly.

What I'm use to doing is clicking insert and then being able to see my computer's folder structure and am able to select the parts I need in order to build my assembly.

How does OnShape let you select stock parts you've drawn and put them in a new assembly? 

henry_feldman

@tony_castongia Are the parts showing in your parts studio as parts (not features which is the top part)

tom_scarince

Sounds like you have existing part files you want to import so you can use them in Onshape.  Click the + in the lower right hand corner and select "Import".  The part will get its own tab, and then you should see it when you go to insert parts into an assembly. 

Tony_C_

henry_feldman said:

@tony_castongia Are the parts showing in your parts studio as parts (not features which is the top part)

I think I may be a little fuzzy on what a "part studio" is.  Is that what needs to be created when starting an assembly?

Tony_C_

tom_scarince said:

Sounds like you have existing part files you want to import so you can use them in Onshape.  Click the + in the lower right hand corner and select "Import".  The part will get its own tab, and then you should see it when you go to insert parts into an assembly. 

Yes, that's down the road. I'm just playing around with the parts I've created in OnShape that are in my 10 private files they let you have in the free version.

I've made a few simple parts individually but can't see how I choose them to be inserted into a new assembly.

cyclonewade

@tony_castongia

Onshape uses a concept called documents.  Think of the documents as "containers", in which all the parts and assemblies you want to assembly together must be in the document.    Document to Document referencing is not currently available, therefore Copy and paste your other documents parts into one document.  Then use the insert command. 

Cheers!

Tony_C_

cyclonewade said:

@tony_castongia

Onshape uses a concept called documents.  Think of the documents as "containers", in which all the parts and assemblies you want to assembly together must be in the document.    Document to Document referencing is not currently available, therefore Copy and paste your other documents parts into one document.  Then use the insert command. 

Cheers!

Humm..I'm kind of starting to understand what the structure is.  Doesn't seem like it would be very fast putting an assembly together (for what I build anyway) if you're having open a file, copy it, then paste it in.

Like I said most of the parts I use are already made and I just pick them as needed when building a project. The only new "parts" I make typically are the pipes that actually fit into the fittings.

I'll have to play around  with it some more tomorrow.

Thanks.

cyclonewade

Tony,

When you say the parts are already made are they from another cad system?  If so, you can import multiple files to a single document.

Wade

henry_feldman

tony_castongia said:

cyclonewade said:

@tony_castongia

Onshape uses a concept called documents.  Think of the documents as "containers", in which all the parts and assemblies you want to assembly together must be in the document.    Document to Document referencing is not currently available, therefore Copy and paste your other documents parts into one document.  Then use the insert command. 

Cheers!

Humm..I'm kind of starting to understand what the structure is.  Doesn't seem like it would be very fast putting an assembly together (for what I build anyway) if you're having open a file, copy it, then paste it in.

Like I said most of the parts I use are already made and I just pick them as needed when building a project. The only new "parts" I make typically are the pipes that actually fit into the fittings.

I'll have to play around  with it some more tomorrow.

Thanks.

Let's start with the simple case, which is you make some sketches and extrude some things. These are called features. The first thing you sketch+extrude (as a new solid) will be a new part (part 1 unless you rename). When you make a second object you have a choice to either make a new part (that's what the new is in extrude), add it to the existing part, remove it from the existing part (boolean -). So you build up some parts (this whole document/tab is called a part studio - which is because in it you make parts). Now you have some parts (say a knob, shaft and housing). Now you place mates on the parts (this defines how they will relate when being assembled). Mates can be placed either in a part studio or in the assembly. Then you create an assembly where you import parts from a parts studio and join them via the mates (mates can be rotational, sliding, etc). You can also import part(s) into a parts studio (from say mcmaster-carr) and can join your studio. There are some nice video tutorials on assembly.

Tony_C_

henry_feldman said:

tony_castongia said:

 

Let's start with the simple case, which is you make some sketches and extrude some things. These are called features. The first thing you sketch+extrude (as a new solid) will be a new part (part 1 unless you rename). When you make a second object you have a choice to either make a new part (that's what the new is in extrude), add it to the existing part, remove it from the existing part (boolean -). So you build up some parts (this whole document/tab is called a part studio - which is because in it you make parts). Now you have some parts (say a knob, shaft and housing). Now you place mates on the parts (this defines how they will relate when being assembled). Mates can be placed either in a part studio or in the assembly. Then you create an assembly where you import parts from a parts studio and join them via the mates (mates can be rotational, sliding, etc). You can also import part(s) into a parts studio (from say mcmaster-carr) and can join your studio. There are some nice video tutorials on assembly.

Henry, Thanks for your answer. This program seems to act/reference parts differently to what I'm using now (GeoMagic...It's like SolidWorks) where you create your parts and then insert them into assemblies & sub-assemblies but the actual part file in only referenced, and not actually inserted into the file itself.

I guess I expected insert to let me choose files from my (10 private) parts I've made.

I've "imported" a few files (using the lower left +) but am noticing that importing a .sat file acts differently than a .x_t file.  The x_t file is able to be inserted into an assembly but the sat file comes up blank. It appears the sat files import the surfaces but don't make it a part. And since it's not a part is unable to be inserted into an assembly. Which may have added to my confusion. 


Just as an example this is a typical assembly I'd draw for a project. 

Am I also correct that each part will have its' own tab on the bottom of the screen? Seems like that's going to get oftly crowded.  

I'm importing that whole thing now, will see how it opens in OnShape.

  

tom_scarince

The paradigm used by Onshape can be confusing.  Take the ten private "Documents", for instance.  I would call an Onshape Document a "Workspace", but they already use that term for something else.  Perhaps the best term would be to call it a "Project" or even better, a "Project Container". 

A Document can contain any number of tabs which can be Assemblies, Part Studios, imported solid files, generic files imported just for storage purposes, etc. 

One would think a "Part Studio" would contain one part and an "Assembly" would be used to put them together.  However, in Onshape you can create multiple parts in-place together just in a part studio.  If you want to define constraints to allow motion between parts, you pull them into an Assembly and do it there. 

_Ðave_

@tony_castongia Ya, they still have a bit to work out there. Yes, all of your imported parts will be in there own tab and yes it gets very crowded. I hear rumors that there's plans for inter document referencing sometime in the future.

tom_scarince

Yeah, right now Onshape seems like it would work very well for smaller, self-contained product designs are rapidly developed from scratch then wrapped up in a bow and go to manufacturing. 

However, in my day job we have some parts that are common to a wide range of otherwise unrelated products.  We maintain one instance of the common part.  Onshape doesn't seem to be ready for this yet. 

In the case of the OP, if he uses the same elbow fitting over and over, he would have to keep all his designs in one Document or else update individual copies in multiple Documents when the elbow changes some day. 

cyclonewade

tom_scarince said:

Yeah, right now Onshape seems like it would work very well for smaller, self-contained product designs are rapidly developed from scratch then wrapped up in a bow and go to manufacturing. 

However, in my day job we have some parts that are common to a wide range of otherwise unrelated products.  We maintain one instance of the common part.  Onshape doesn't seem to be ready for this yet. 

In the case of the OP, if he uses the same elbow fitting over and over, he would have to keep all his designs in one Document or else update individual copies in multiple Documents when the elbow changes some day. 

Currently, this is a true statement. Until document to document referencing becomes available, the "elbow" would need to be copy to each document where it is to be used.