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When is it worth creating a new Parts Studio?
charles_randolph
Member Posts: 2 ✭
Hi all,
After completing a number of the tutorials for OnShape, I've started working on my own designs. So far, my scope has been pretty simple. I just want to create a frame that will eventually sit on some kind of gimbal. I've created a Parts Studio for my frame, which is comprised of three parts. I then created an Assembly where I defined my fasteners and the relations between the parts. Sounds good right?
Well, what's become a bit unclear to me now is when I should actually start a new Parts Studio for different objects in my project. I'm now planning to build the actual gimbal itself, and am hesitant to start new sketches and construction of the part in the same Parts Studio as my existing parts. Mainly because I want to avoid having to constantly rework each part in turn if I make a change in one place that has cascading effects. I've thought about just creating a simple sketch defining the mounting points of the frame and exporting/copying that to a new Parts Studio, but realise I don't actually know what criteria makes it worth splitting parts into two studios.
Could I get any examples or guidelines for when it's appropriate to do that? A cursory search tells me that having a different Parts Studio gives you a separate instance of version tracking. Is that all there is to it?
Comments
There is nothing 100% clear cut on this, and it's quite flexible. Putting a lot of parts in one part studio allows sharing interfaces where adjacent parts meet, and designing it all together. This makes designing easier, quicker, and fewer features. On the other hand, the feature list can grow quickly when having 20 parts in one part studio. Its a balance between sharing features across parts and too many features/parts.
-I usually go by subassembly. If the frame is one sub, and the gimbal is another sub, that could be a good place to split them into two part studios.
-If the entire project is just going to be 5-10 parts, and 100 or fewer features, I will probably do it all in one part studio, even if those parts made a few subassemblies.
-If I think some of the parts will be used on an unrelated project, I will try to break those parts out on their own part studio. In this case if you plan to have 5 different frames that fit on the same gimbal, it would make sense to model the gimbal separately.
"I've created a Parts Studio for my frame, which is comprised of three parts. I then created an Assembly where I defined my fasteners and the relations between the parts."
Just checking, did you model the 3 frame members in their actual position?
charles_randolph Welcome to Onshape - I have heard the numbers 10 or 12 parts in a multi part studio as a guideline, being used to keep regen times in check. This is certainly not a bad practice, but I have abused this a couple of times before without hardly any noticeable effect. Case in point - I have a rather large radial aircraft engine model, that I used to test On shapes limits - it takes a minute to load, but still not bad for the file size. If you want to take a look, it might give some insight - here's the link
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/df157a1cba8969b417b1bc0e/w/87f0e7abc4a12d0d3de9d805/e/227a6c7eedf93af21a8d32c9
I'm convinced Onshape will handle anything us hobbyists can throw at it, so carry on. Good luck