What are good practices for mating multiple parts in a cut sheet layout?

adam_geary

Again I've tried searching and couldn't find the right combo of terms to find anyone talking about this, so here goes. 

I frequently make arrangements of flat parts which fit together in the part studio (cabinets, signs, etc.) and then I need to arrange them in a flat layout for cutting on my 2.5 axis CNC mill.  I see the neat Auto Layout tool, but it doesn't nest well, especially with non-rectangular parts.

How would you go about mating the parts seen below in an arrangement as pictured with uniform spacing?

In particular, the two highlighted parts are thoroughly baffling me.  After much consternation I figured out decent ways to arrange the other parts, but I just can't  find a good way to mate those two without making sketches and manually adding mate connectors in the part studio, which is not an acceptable solution for this type of work.

viru

@adam_geary, You can do by two method,
1st method:- Use Group to fix selected instances relative to one another. It is very convenient when the instances were all modeled in the same Part Studio in the correct locations relative to one another. Group enables you to keep that relative positioning without having to create Mates.

Steps

1. Click the Group tool.
2. Select the entities to include in the group; pre-select is available.

   You can click the entity name in the Feature list, click the entity in the graphics area, or click and drag a selection box around entities in the graphics area.

3. Accept .

Tips

• Despite the selection of child entities listed in the Feature list, the group moves and behaves as a group. The child entities cannot be acted upon individually.
• You can suppress a Group and change the relative position of the entities; when you unsuppress, the Group reflects the new relative positions. (To return to the original group configuration, use Undo.)
• You can change the relative positions of the entities in a Part Studio, and the Group in the Assembly updates accordingly.
• Only instances of an assembly can be selected as group members.
• Adding a subassembly instance to a group makes the whole subassembly effectively rigid.
• When members of a group are deleted, they are also deleted from the group. When the last member of a group is deleted the group is also deleted.

2nd method:- If you are created all parts in different different part studio or same part studio then insert all parts and give mate relation
For both method please refer below video for more detail.

I hope this video will helpful to you.

bruce_williams

@viru  Nicely done!  I have many of your posts starred; Great how you show application of tools. You are doing the community a great service with your insight and complete/detailed explanation.  Thank YOU!

btw - make sure to let us know if you launch a YouTube channel... 

viru

@bruce_williams, thank you☺