Hierarchy of Planes and Mechanism-Editors

Mechanism-Editors are added to Planes. Thus it is important to understand how to add Planes and also their hierarchy.

New Planes:

New Planes you add in the Model-Editor can only be offset from existing Planes.

You can add new Plane  add in a Mechanism-Editor to Lines in a Part and to existing Planes. A new Plane becomes a child to the element you select in the Mechanism-Editor.

If you add a Plane to an element that moves - for example, a Line in a moving Part - then the Plane moves with the Part.

Add new Planes to these elements:

You can add a Plane to a:

•Plane
•Line
•CAD-Line
•X-axis or Y-axis, that are at the origin of a Part (but not the XYZ-axes at the origin of a Plane symbol).

After you add a Mechanism-Editor to a Plane, it is difficult to transfer the Mechanism-Editor to a different Plane. You must save the Model as an LXL file-type, and then open the LXL file on a Plane. See File toolbar > Open | File-type : LXL Library File

Note-Pencil-20 Rename the Plane and Mechanism elements to the same name. When the model becomes more complex, it is easier to find them in the Assembly-Tree.

Examples of 'Add Plane to different Elements'

Add Plane to a Plane

AddPlanetoPlane-ME

The Model-Editor is Active:

Add a new Plane to an existing Plane

•1s-red The reference Plane in the Model-Editor, for example Plane2
•2s The new Plane is along the Z-axis of Plane2, the reference Plane 1s-red.
•2s The new Plane becomes a child to Plane2, the reference Plane 1s-red

AddPlane2Plane-MechEditor

A Mechanism-Editor is Active:

Add a new Plane to an existing Plane that is a child to the active Mechanism-Editor.

[Note: to see Planes in the Mechanism-Editor, you must use Tools menu [toolbar] > 'Show Model in Mechanism'.

You cannot reference a Plane that is not a child to the active Mechanism-Editor.

•1s-red The reference Plane itself is a child to a Part.
•2s The new Plane is offset along th

Z-axis of the reference Plane 1s-red.

•2s The new Plane is a child to Plane in the Part 1s-red

Add Plane to a CAD-Line or Line

AddPlane2CADLine

In the Mechanism-Editor

Reference a CAD-Line

•1s-red The CAD-Line is the reference element.
•2s The new Plane is at a fixed rotation about the X-axis of the CAD-Line 1s-red
•The Angle to the new Plane is set in the Add Plane dialog-box.
•2s The new Plane is a child to the Part.
•The new Plane's Origin is the same as the reference CAD-Line.
•The new Plane's +X-axis is the same as the X-axis of the CAD-Line - from its start-Point to its end-Point.

AddPlane2Line

In the Mechanism-Editor

Reference a Line

•1s-red The Line is the reference element.
•2s The X-axis of the new Plane is the same X-axis of the Line - from its start-Point to its end-Point.
•2s The new Plane is rotated about the X-axis of the CAD-Line 1s-red in the Add Plane dialog

The new Plane's 0,0,0 is at the Line's start-Point.

The new Plane's +X-axis is the same as the +X-axis of the Line - from its start-Point to its end-Point.

•2s The new Plane is a child to the Part

Add Plane to the X-axis or Y-axis of a Part

AddPlane2X-axis

In the Mechanism-Editor

X-axis of a Base-Part

[Note: The +X-axis and CAD-Line of an Added-Part give the same result]

•1s-red The X-axis is the reference element
•2s The X-axis and 0,0,0 Origin of the new Plane is the same as that of the reference X-axis
•2s The new Plane is rotated about the X-axis1s-red reference element
•The new Plane is a child to the Part or Base-Part.

AddPlane2Y-axis

In the Mechanism-Editor

Y-axis of a Part or Base-Part

•1s-red The Y-axis is the reference element
•2s The X-axis and 0,0,0 Origin of the new Plane is the same as that of the Y-axis
•2s The new Plane is rotated about the Y-axis1s-red element
•The new Plane is a child to the Part or Base-Part.

Planes in the Assembly-Tree

PlaneHierarchy

Fixed Planes

The XY, XZ and YZ Planes at the Origin of the Model:

Plane, Plane2, Plane3

'Fixed' Planes related to Fixed Planes - but you can edit their offset.

The Plane is a child to the Fixed Plane, and a child to the Model-Editor.

Plane3 was offset, and is a child to Plane2, and Plane6 was offset, and is a child to Plane3.

'Moving' Planes related to moving Lines.

The Parent of these Planes is a Line. The Line is a child to a Part and the kinematic-chain is a child to a Mechanism-Editor.

Plane4 was added to the CAD-Line in a Part

'Moving' Planes related to other Moving Planes

The Parent element is a different Plane. The parent Plane is a child to the Mechanism-Editor.

Plane5 was added, and is a child to Plane4.

Tutorial and Reference Help Files for MechDesigner and MotionDesigner 13.2 + © Machine, Mechanism, Motion and Cam Design Software by PSMotion Ltd