Technical Tips & Techniques
» Document Assembly Instructions In A Drawing
Ever need to show how something gets put together? Wouldn't it be nice to show Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, etc, on the manufacture drawings we send out? We see assembly instructions included in many of the products we buy today.
We all know that explode views in SolidWorks can be used to create AVI movies for presentations & websites, by simply right clicking on the explode view & choosing "Animate Collapse". The amount of work it takes to create the explode automatically gives us an animation we can save just by hitting the record button, with NO extra work! Plus, this animation can be stored in an exported eDrawings assembly file, where the user can just simply hit play to watch the animation. However sometimes these movie files & eDrawings files are not suitable in all situations when you can only communicate via paper. Lets see how using configurations or derived configurations in conjunction with explode views can help us communicate these steps on our 2D paper drawings as well as our electronic 3D models!
Step by step instructions listed below video & eDrawings links
Click here to watch this Flash Tech Tip video
Press F11 if you cannot see all of the video
while watching
Click below to see sample web based eDrawings
think about putting something like these on YOUR website!
(internet explorer & active X control required)
eDrawing
Once loaded
just click this icon
eAssembly
Once loaded
just click this tab
at the top on the left
Click here to download the SW model & drawing files
The basic steps to accomplish the above:
- Create explode view steps in your parent configuration
- Create as many derived configurations as the number of steps in your explode view. Name them according to the step number they represent (Step 01, Step 02, etc...)
Note: Derived configurations are inside the parent config & make it easier to know that all these configs are part of the parent config as they are linked. - Activate the parent configuration & copy the explode view into the other configs by drag & dropping the explode view icon onto the other configurations. Repeat until all
configurations have explode views. - Activate the first derived configuration, right click & choose EXPLODE
- Delete the last explode step inside this first configuration
Note: what you see now in the 3d view is what the explode step 1 will looks like in the drawing - Repeat steps 4 & 5 on all the derived configurations except you will delete the last 2 explode steps in the second configuration. Then delete the last 3 explode steps in the third configuration. So on & so fourth until all derived configurations show each step.
Note: That the last derived configuration will not have an explode view as it will be completely assembled. - Create a drawing of this assembly with one Isometric view
- Right click on this drawing view and choose properties -- set the configuration to display STEP 01 & check the box explode view check mark. You can also create a note that links to the configuration name of the model & position it below the view.
- Copy & paste this drawing view next to the first & repeat step 8 only selecting to display STEP 02...
- Repeat until all explode steps are documented on the drawing.
- Save Drawing as eDrawing & then save eDrawing as HTML file, to recreate example eDrawing above.
- Repeat on assembly file to create eAssembly HTML after importing explode steps into SolidWorks Animator.
OPTIONAL
Additional Information
Newsletter
SolidWorks White Papers
Need third party informative guides, reviews and technical details on 3D CAD, design analysis, data management, and more?
Click here.