Part positioning within an assembly...

mark_proulx

How does one establish the position of one part relative to another in an assembly? Consider two prismatic parts. I want to locate one so that one of its vertices coincides with a vertex on the other part. Clicking the part to be moved highlights the triad, which allows one to reposition it. That's great if you know the distance you wish to move. If you don't know the distance (and don't care), and just want to move from point A to point B, how do you do it?

At this point, I merely want to establish the part position; I'll concern myself with constraints later.

bruce_williams

Hi @mark_proulx   It sounds like you could use the functionality of the positioning triad. The triad can be moved on the source geometry with the round grabber and 'snapped' to points  (vertices, mid-points, etc.).  Then when moving with square grabber 'snapped' to other points on the target geometry.
see https://cad.onshape.com/help/#triad.htm?Highlight=triad

Also - grouping is a good way to quickly lock parts together.
see https://cad.onshape.com/help/#mategroup.htm?Highlight=group

_Ðave_

the fix mate would be the simplest way to accomplish this.

mark_proulx

That's where I was headed. This is needlessly cumbersome, but oh, well.

bruce_williams

Hi @mark_proulx   It sounds like you could use the functionality of the positioning triad. The triad can be moved on the source geometry with the round grabber and 'snapped' to points  (vertices, mid-points, etc.).  Then when moving with square grabber 'snapped' to other points on the target geometry.
see https://cad.onshape.com/help/#triad.htm?Highlight=triad

Also - grouping is a good way to quickly lock parts together.
see https://cad.onshape.com/help/#mategroup.htm?Highlight=group

3dcad

And of course you can create multiple parts in single part studio and use dimension & constraint & tranform tools to position parts.

mark_proulx

@bruce_williams

Thanks for the help. I hate to sound stupid, but I have no idea what you mean by the "square grabber." I see a round grabber at the origin and round grabbers for angle adjustments. I see square grabbers, but they restrict movement to their indicated planes.

I can move the triad origin to the desired starting point, but still can't figure out how to then move the part to a desired destination point.

Again, sorry to be so damned thick...

mark_proulx

@3dcad

Thanks for the suggestion. That's more or less what I've been doing. I was just trying to figure out if there exists a somewhat more direct path.  Regardless, I appreciate your taking time to respond.

Mark