what is the best method to add a purchased part model (import) to an Onshape session

steven_miller924

Add a part from Mc Master

Tim_Fries

Hello Steven,

If the dowloaded part is going to be kept as a standard part for reuse, then the recommendation would be to import it into it's own document, and then link it into your assemblies. This minimizes any update issues or confusion when using linked Documents and updating to a new version. You can also include any meta-data for the part or assembly (part number, vendor code etc) and add mate connectors for typical part placements, which become handy for use with Snap Mode. These standard parts could also be categorized under a team so they can be easily located and shared.

Thank you.

billy2

It'd be nice to have multiple imports inside a part studio. Imagine a part studio with all McMaster Carr parts imported inside it. Currently I'm in tab hell with over 50 tabs each having one McMaster Carr part in each tab. The only way I know to organize McMaster parts is to drag all the part studios into a folder. I suppose if you have a library document, you could then have a folder with mcmaster part studios. But when you go to add a library part, folders don't show up in the insert dialog. I suppose you could add all part studios in an assembly which would show in the insert dialog and could keep them organized in your library. You could derive every part studio inside another part studio, but this seems unnecessary.

I'm working on a layout and I have 50 part studios each with one Mcmaster part inside it. I'm in tab hell. Seems like I should have a part studio named 'McMaster' which has all my imported Mcmaster parts in it. 

Defining a library, no way. I'm still trying to define a project/document and define the dependencies.

Referencing a another document from another one will require version control management. As long as you don't update your library by adding more stuff, you should be fine. Otherwise, every time you add from your library you'll get an obnoxious update dialog. I never see a library being finished therefore the use of such a thing will be very tiresome do to the versioning system. 

Tim, having mate connectors in parts seems to work when positioning things inside a part studio, but when positioning inside an assembly, I think it's best to let OS define mate connectors on the fly when using mates. Not sure pre-defined mate connectors work. Are you designing in a part studio or in an assembly? 

Tim could you please share a simple project & library definition? I'd like to see how you do it.

I'm currently designing in an assembly and have one context part studio called layout. Most things I design are incontext:


-assembly named top
--part studio named layout
--50 part studios with mcmaster stuff
--25 part studios with misumi stuff

When do I group?, when do I mate?, when do I use sub-assy? and where do they go?, where are things located?; I just don't know.

If you guys figure this out, please let me know,





 

emagdalenaC2i

I Think that you should do the next:
1- Create an assembly for the Misumi stuff and another for the McMaster
2- Export the assemblies
3- Import the assemblies (better from the Document page to create a separate document) in Onshape and check the option "Import file to Part Studios only (flatten)
4- Enjoy it

billy2

emagdalenaC2C that's really clever.

But.... I don't want to do that every time I need a new McMaster part.

Looking through featurescript seeing if I can import, I think I can.

So is this your structure?:
document  -> named 'library'
-assembly  -> named 'McMaster'
--partstudio  -> named '90128A622_ZNC-PLTD ALLOY STL SCKT HEAD CAP SCREW'

Not sure your round-robin method to get things in a partstudio is sustainable.

Here's my logic: McMaster has parts and so does a partstudio. Why can I only import one part into a part studio? Albeit, I'm Ignoring your clever solution because I don't want to maintain that.

Do you have any other good ideas about putting a project together?

brucebartlett

I have started creating different documents with common part/purchased parts. I haven't gone too crazy on this yet as I am now waiting for configurations the beauty of configuration will mean I can interchange parts in an assembly without having to redo mates, think about changing a bolt length which is very common change. @billy2 if you can wait a bit I think Onshape has some neat stuff coming in this space.

emagdalenaC2i

billy2 said:

Do you have any other good ideas about putting a project together?

Sure... 

Ok, let's assume you used the previous method and now you have a document with a Part Studio with 50 parts of McMaster.

Now, you need to add a new McMaster part, or 3 parts, or another 50 new parts to that McMaster's document in the same Part Studio... Do the following:

1. Import all the new parts in a new document
2. Open the original McMaster's document and create an assembly
3. Insert all the new parts from the New McMaster's document
4. Insert in that assembly a part from the original Part Studio. Just a single part, no matter which one...

And now... the trick: 

1. Edit that single part in context of that assembly, so you will edit the original Part Studio and you can see the new parts
2. Use the transform feature with the option "Copy in place" and select all the new parts that you insert in the assembly

And then clean a little, if you want... so you can broke all the references / linked documents and keep the new parts

1. You can delete the context in the Part Studio. So, the transform feature will show a broken arrow
2. And you can delete the assembly tab (or even better, delete the instances of the new parts in that assembly, so it will be ready if you need to add more parts in the future)