Hierarchy of Planes and Mechanism-Editors

When you add a Mechanism-Editor to a Plane, the new Mechanism-Editor and the Plane are coplanar. Thus, we use the name 'Mechanism-Plane' for the Plane we select for the new Mechanism-Editor.

The 'Front-View' of the active Mechanism-Editor is perpendicular[⊥] to the 'Mechanism-Plane'.

The kinematic-elements that you add to the Mechanism-Editor are also co-planar with the active Mechanism-Plane. The Ball-Joint is one exception.

New Planes:

Planes and Mechanism-Editors

Add Planes that are offset from existing Planes in the Model-Editor,

Add Planes to Lines in any Mechanism-Editor. Add Planes to Planes that have been added in a Mechanism-Editor. These Planes becomes a child to the Line or the Plane that is in active Mechanism-Editor.

To edit the Plane, you must make active Editor.

Planes and moving elements

If you add a Plane to an element that moves - for example, a Line in a moving Part - then the motions of the Plane and the Part are the identical.

If you add a Mechanism-Editor to the Plane that moves, then the motion of all three elements are the identical - the Mechanism-Editor, the Plane and the Part.

Add a new Plane 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 and then open the Model as a LXL file-type. 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