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Editing parts from within an Assembly, AKA referring to external Parts

matt_hardmanmatt_hardman Member Posts: 24 ✭✭
Parts can't be edited from within an assembly.

Are there any plans to be able to do this? I can't imagine how this would work since a Part is defined within a Part Studio and may require the context of other parts in order to edit it. I do the majority of my roughing out work in an assembly, and a Part Studio works well for that. However, when I incorporate bought-out items, I can only include them in the assembly (they belong to a different Part Studio).

So what to do when you want to refer to Parts from another Part Studio in your design?

A simple example here is: What if I want to include a bearing in my assembly, and I want to make a housing for that bearing. I can't simply refer to the faces of the bearing in order to create a cut-out for it in my housing. At the moment I have to measure the bearing, and create geometry to conform to the measure.

If you could include a reference from a Part Studio to a Part from another Part Studio would that help? It would solve my problem, but it would also cause a few problems of its own. The Part would not be editable, but you could use edges in a sketch, surfaces for an extrude, or in boolean operations.

Comments

  • joe_dunnejoe_dunne Onshape Employees, Developers, csevp Posts: 198
    Hey Matt

    This is extremely high on our list of things we will be addressing. We are planning for the ability to edit in the context of an assembly.

    Joe
    Joe Dunne / Onshape, Inc.
  • billy2billy2 Member, OS Professional, Mentor, Developers, User Group Leader Posts: 2,068 PRO
    I totally agree with Matt. Although, it sounds like Matt's ideas are old SW design patterns and I was hoping for something new, something more obvious, something that OS users can grasp and use, something intuitive, etc....

    I don't think SW did a good job with assy's and I'm hoping OS does better.

    OS is on the right track, loosing all the file references is a good start, and bringing multi-body parts front and center is a good start, but I would like to see more.

  • scott_harrisscott_harris Moderator, Onshape Employees, csevp Posts: 66
    Bill & Matt... As Joe mentioned, we have given this a lot of though and are going to implement the ability to reference in the assembly context. We have also give a lot of thought to the behavior of these references once established. We are very aware of the issues that plague previous implementation of this type of workflow. Our approach is very different and designed to be robust.
    Scott Harris / Onshape, Inc.
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