CADFamily.com: Creating an Assembly in Cimatron

In this exercise we will learn how to work in the assembly environment of Cimatron E.

The assembly environment enables you (or a team) to combine parts. After assembling the parts, they can be edited, and features/objects can be added/deleted. You can manipulate parts in the assembly, fit them together, and use reference geometry from the assembly to create or edit a different part.

In the following exercise we will add parts into the assembly environment, and then fit them together to create a faucet base.

Steps to Follow:

1. Receive Files

2. Add Components

3. Connect Components

4. Edit a Component

5. Connect Remaining Components

Step 1 - Receive Files

In this exercise we are going to use several pre-prepared files which do not yet exist in the project tree. The files currently exist as *.dtf files, and we need to use File / Receive to bring them into the PDM tree.

Receive the following *.dtf files:

1. water connector

2. main connector

3. washer

4. sub_assembly

Create a new Assembly document.

Assign this document the name faucet_assembly. Switch to ISO view.

Step 2 - Add Components

We will now bring three components into this document.

Click the Add Component icon , or open the popup menu and select Add From. From the project tree, select the bottom base document.

You can either place the component By Pick, or place it on the origin of the assembly. Use the second option.

Now add the water connector and position it above the base, using the By Pick option. The point that you select is where the part's UCS will be placed.

Add one more water connector, and add the main connector.

In the Feature Tree, all components are now listed.

Right-clicking on any component will open a popup menu that allows you to hide, show, activate, or delete components.

Now we need to connect the separate parts.

Step 3 - Connect Components

The first connection will be to position the right water connector above the right drill hole of the base.

Select the cylindrical face of the water connector, and the face of the drill hole.

Select Connect from the popup menu. The Feature Guide for the Connect function appears, with parameters for the relevant steps.

How else could you do this?

Enter the Connect function first, then select the two faces.

The Concentric constraint is automatically displayed based on the entities you selected - two cylindrical faces. The Align constraint controls the direction in which the normal vectors of the two faces point.

Make sure the parameter is Anti-Align, so that the normal vectors will point in different directions.

Execute the Connect function. The water connector is now located directly above the drill hole.

After the Connect is completed, switch to the Connect tab (next to the Feature tab). All connections will be listed here, and you can delete or edit them like any other kind of feature.