When to use assemblies vs containing everything in one drawing?

steven_abiuso

I don't really know the best way to ask this question, but I am working on designing a new body for an airsoft rifle I own and then 3d printing it. I am currently struggling with keeping my drawing organzied since there are several peices I am working with(body, buffer tube, picatinny rails, etc). Would it be best practice to model each of these parts individually on their own drawings and then import them into and assembly?

I am still very new to CAD drawing so I tend to get a little messy when it comes to larger projects. It seems my ideal path would be to model each part by itself and import, but perhaps I am missing something to help me keep it in one drawing?

The current struggle is actually the rail sections and having all the slots line up across all sides of the body regardless of the total length of the rail. This seems like a parametric modeling application here, but thats a bit out of my leage.

This community has always been excelent to me, so I am hoping you all can guide me in the right direction one more time.

Thanks!

Project File: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/b17349e4bd6b2044155dadf7/w/77a5d1b3fc334dbff0e3538e/e/c38cdf707c2a7bc446c27e2d

mahir

In general, best practice would be to model all interrelated unique parts together in one part studio. If necessary, you can place the parts into an assembly to test relative motion or take advantage of repeated instances/fasteners/etc.

Jake_Rosenfeld

@steven_abiuso

You may be interested in:
https://learn.onshape.com/courses/fundamentals-multi-part-part-studios
https://learn.onshape.com/collections/onshape-fundamentals-cad

mahir

In general, best practice would be to model all interrelated unique parts together in one part studio. If necessary, you can place the parts into an assembly to test relative motion or take advantage of repeated instances/fasteners/etc.

Jake_Rosenfeld

@steven_abiuso

You may be interested in:
https://learn.onshape.com/courses/fundamentals-multi-part-part-studios
https://learn.onshape.com/collections/onshape-fundamentals-cad