Piping in an Assembly

emile_daoust

Hi, 

I'm now working on a project and I need to CAD all the fuel piping of a diesel tank to it's generator. So, I've got different parts as my diesel tank, my generator and my structures (wall, floor, doors etc.) all together in an Assembly. What I'm now doing to create the piping, is that I create a new part, called ''Piping'', and I try to figure what are the length I need to complete my piping system by checking on my Assembly what are the distance between differents parts. To create this parts, I use Sketch to create my ''sweep path'' and create another sketch to create my circle for my ''sketch region to sweep''.  It is really long and hard to find the good distances and position cause I always need to update my ''Piping'' part in the Assembly to check if my length are good. 

I'd like to be able to create my ''Piping'' part directly in my Assembly, but I don't know how to do it or what else I should do? I mean that I could directly create a sketch on my Assembly and use it to create my ''sweep path'' and my ''sketch region to sweep''.

Thanks

TimRice

Currently Onshape does not support direct editing of parts in the assembly environment. In order to best utilize Onshape, it is best to create the entire assembly in one (or several using the derived feature) part studio. This will allow you to reference other geometry and parts and create completely parametric models. Once you have constructed the parts, you can create an assembly to check the dynamic relationships between these parts through the use of mates and relations. This workflow takes a bit to get used to but is very efficient once you master it!

TimRice

In the future I would suggest creating all the parts in the same part studio. For now you can use the derived feature so that you do not have to waste all of the design work that you have already done. For more on the derived feature, check out this video: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5y3P8vs5fY.

As for the second part of your question, you do not have to design the parts relative to the origin. Through the use of mate connectors, parts can be transformed to any location in the part studio. Mate connectors can also reference other geometry in the part studio. For more on transforming parts by mate connector, see this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO5UTK-ZYKI

TimRice

Currently Onshape does not support direct editing of parts in the assembly environment. In order to best utilize Onshape, it is best to create the entire assembly in one (or several using the derived feature) part studio. This will allow you to reference other geometry and parts and create completely parametric models. Once you have constructed the parts, you can create an assembly to check the dynamic relationships between these parts through the use of mates and relations. This workflow takes a bit to get used to but is very efficient once you master it!

emile_daoust

So I can import my other parts in my ''Piping" part to help me to figure my distance I need by using derived feature? For that I'll need to create my others parts with specific distance from the origin point (0,0,0) because if I don't, I won't be able to reorder my parts in my ''Piping'' part? So to use derived feature, I should have create all my parts by thinking of theirs position in the space from the origin? Because now, if I use derived feature all my parts position are determined by theirs position from (0,0,0) in theirs own parts studio.

TimRice

In the future I would suggest creating all the parts in the same part studio. For now you can use the derived feature so that you do not have to waste all of the design work that you have already done. For more on the derived feature, check out this video: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5y3P8vs5fY.

As for the second part of your question, you do not have to design the parts relative to the origin. Through the use of mate connectors, parts can be transformed to any location in the part studio. Mate connectors can also reference other geometry in the part studio. For more on transforming parts by mate connector, see this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO5UTK-ZYKI

emile_daoust

Thanks alot! I will proceed this way next time for sure