Page 157 - Mastering SolidWorks

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126 CHAPTER 4 Creating Simple partS and drawingS

tend to be more stable than edges and faces. If you make a change later that removes a face that
an assembly mate depends on, that mate fails or does something unexpected.
SolidWorks assembly documents can become extremely complex, with patterns, layouts,
in-context, virtual parts, subassemblies, flexible subassemblies, configurations, assembly
features, exploded views, in-context features, special Toolbox features, and an assortment of
other assembly-only tools available. For the purposes of this chapter, we’ll just talk about putting
parts together with mates.
When creating an assembly, give careful thought to the selection of the first part. The first part
or component of an assembly should always be the key component. In an assembly for a bicycle,
the frame would be added first and locked in place using the assembly planes. Similarly, an
assembly of an engine would be started with the block, where the block is fixed at the assem-
bly origin.
Like other document types, SolidWorks assemblies start from templates. Before you get
started making lots of assemblies, you should make sure you have at least one custom template
that you intend to use. Special settings common for assembly templates are units, plane names,
drafting standard, custom properties, and other items.
Assemblies have a FeatureManager arrangement of their own. In the assembly
FeatureManager, you will find parts and subassemblies, special folders for mates, component
patterns, assembly features, Toolbox parts and features, and other assembly-specific items.

Creating the Assembly
To get started with an assembly, click New, find an assembly template, and double-click it. The
settings that come up in the PropertyManager will be the topic of later chapters, starting with
Chapter 13, “Building Efficient Assemblies.” You can insert any of the currently open parts or
assemblies shown in the Browse window by double-clicking the filename and then clicking in
the graphics window to place the part or assembly (Figure 4.16).
Notice that the assembly has some folders and reference geometry just like part documents.
As you add parts to the assembly, they will be listed in the FeatureManager. Very large assem-
blies require some special techniques to manage all the data, but for now we are starting simple.

Populating the Assembly
You can use one of several methods for putting a part into an assembly:
◆ Click Make Assembly from Part/Assembly from the Title Bar toolbar.
◆ Choose Insert ➢ Component.
◆ Drag the part from another SolidWorks window.

◆ Drag the part from Windows Explorer.
◆ Use the Library in the Task pane.
◆ Use the Begin Assembly PropertyManager.
◆ Ctrl+drag to make a copy; Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to copy and paste parts.