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Aligning and creating aligned holes across part studios?
lars_rengersen
Member Posts: 31 PRO
Opening a topic just because there perhaps is an easier way I don't know about...
I'm designing a frame on which blocks need to be mounted and held into place by a strip and a separator.
The separator will be welded onto the beams after having the parts laser cut.
The top mounting strip will be bolted on.
Therefore I need holes in the beam, separator and strip that align with each other and the mounting flanges of the blocks.
1. Beam = light blue
2. Block and mounting fin = green
3a. Separator = grey
3b. Top strip not shown
Part 1, 2 and 3 are all in separate Part studios and the above screenshot is from the assembly.
My current approach is:
- Copy pattern of mounting flange as sketch entities
- Paste and use them in the separator part studio to create the separator
- Put those together in an assembly
- Measure in the assembly where the holes need to be in the beam
- Copy the pattern of the separator edge to a sketch in my beam/frame part studio and use the extrude/remove functionality to create the holes.
In the end I do achieve the results I want, but somehow I am under the impression that there should be an easier way to use/align parts across part studios. Is that indeed the case? Hope you can help me out in improving my CAD and Onshape skills.
I'm designing a frame on which blocks need to be mounted and held into place by a strip and a separator.
The separator will be welded onto the beams after having the parts laser cut.
The top mounting strip will be bolted on.
Therefore I need holes in the beam, separator and strip that align with each other and the mounting flanges of the blocks.
1. Beam = light blue
2. Block and mounting fin = green
3a. Separator = grey
3b. Top strip not shown
Part 1, 2 and 3 are all in separate Part studios and the above screenshot is from the assembly.
My current approach is:
- Copy pattern of mounting flange as sketch entities
- Paste and use them in the separator part studio to create the separator
- Put those together in an assembly
- Measure in the assembly where the holes need to be in the beam
- Copy the pattern of the separator edge to a sketch in my beam/frame part studio and use the extrude/remove functionality to create the holes.
In the end I do achieve the results I want, but somehow I am under the impression that there should be an easier way to use/align parts across part studios. Is that indeed the case? Hope you can help me out in improving my CAD and Onshape skills.
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philip_thomas
Member, Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 1,381 
There is also an instructor led Top Down Design course in the Learning Center
AND
A tech paper on Master Model (top down) Techniques
https://learn.onshape.com/courses/master-model-workflows
My preferred solution would be a layout sketch (hole locations) defined in a single part studio, that is then derived into several others to define individual parts. We here at Onshape talk about 'the slippery slope' of ending up building an entire assembly in a single part studio. In reality, MOST part studios should only define a single part. Multi part modeling in a part studio should be limited to parts that have distinct and major geometric relationships between them.
Here is an example
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/590a2ea57be40f0ffec8ebee/w/83a9ff55ae7c041eaf0383f9/e/433b56a2783cde8768e0256f
Good luck!
Philip Thomas - Onshape5
Answers
I think you should have modelled your parts in the same part studio.
It would then be much easier to do what you are asking.
Check out this link to learn how to do multi-part part studios:
https://learn.onshape.com/courses/fundamentals-multi-part-part-studios
You could also edit in-context:
https://cad.onshape.com/help/#in-context.htm
IR for AS/NZS 1100
AND
A tech paper on Master Model (top down) Techniques
https://learn.onshape.com/courses/master-model-workflows
My preferred solution would be a layout sketch (hole locations) defined in a single part studio, that is then derived into several others to define individual parts. We here at Onshape talk about 'the slippery slope' of ending up building an entire assembly in a single part studio. In reality, MOST part studios should only define a single part. Multi part modeling in a part studio should be limited to parts that have distinct and major geometric relationships between them.
Here is an example
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/590a2ea57be40f0ffec8ebee/w/83a9ff55ae7c041eaf0383f9/e/433b56a2783cde8768e0256f
Good luck!
Glad I asked my question here, your answers help me a lot.
From the blogpost and video "ONSHAPE JUST TOOK THE LEAD ON TOP-DOWN DESIGN" I learned about the "Edit in context" which is very helpful to continue working with my current design and approach.
From the course "Fundamentals 4: Multi-Part Part Studios" I learned how to balance between designing parts in the same part studio or not.
And Derived was also new to me and is also very helpful in my case since due to the nature of my design and project I can't put everything in one part studio.
For example the blocks shown will be used in two separate boxes, as well as the separators and top strips.
Only the frames and number of blocks are different.