Why Edit a Part?

There are a number of reasons why you may want to edit a Part.

tog_minus        Edit the Length of Parts

Length-Dimension

When you add a Part, you 'Drag out a Line' in the Mechanism-Editor. You must edit the Part to give the exact length to the Part.

See also: Edit the Length of a Part, Edit Dimension

tog_minus        Add Points and Lines for Pin-Joints, Slide-Joints and Ball-Joints

WEP-Joints

In an Added-Part, you can use the CAD-Line and its Points for Pin-Joints and Slide-Joints

You can also add new Lines and Points for Joints in other places in a Part.

You MUST add Lines and Points to the Base-Part.

tog_minus        Add Points to Display Trace Points

WEP-TracePoint

You can add a Point to a Part and then view the trace that that Point has on the Mechanism Plane during a machine-cycle.

There are some rules: see Add Trace-Point.

tog_minus        Add Sketch-Loops for Solid Extrusions

WEP-Sketch-Loop

Each Extrusion references a sketch-loop.

You must use the Part-Editor to add sketch-elements for the sketch-loop.

WEP-Extrusion

tog_minus        Add a Sketch-Loop for a Cam-Follower Profile

WEP-Cam

Each Cam needs a Cam-Follower. A Cam-Follower must be sketched in the Part as a sketch-loop.

You must also sketch the shape of the 'Cam-Blank' with the 3D-Cams.

tog_minus        Add Points to display or plot exact Kinematic Data

WEP-VelAccVectors

For any Point that you add to a Part, you can:

•Show the instantaneous kinematic vectors (Velocity and Acceleration) of a Point with the Point Vectors and Position dialog-box
•Plot motion-values of Position, Velocity and Acceleration throughout the machine-cycle with the Point-Data FB or Measurement FB wired to a Graph FB

tog_minus        Add a CAD-Line

There is a CAD-Line between the start and end Point of every Added-Part.

You can add one or more new CAD-Lines to any Parts. You use the CAD-Line to import DXF drawings, SolidWorks parts or STL files onto them.

CAD-Lines can be stacked on top of each other or at different positions in the Part Plane.

tog_minus        Use the Constraint Based Editing Tools for Mechanism Synthesis

See Mechanism-Synthesis.

•Three, Four and Five Position Synthesis
•Coupler Curve and Coupler Point Synthesis
•Function Generation

tog_minus        Add a Point or Line for a Measurement FB

MD-WhyAddPG

Add a Measurement FB between two sketch-elements. See Add Measurement FB

The output from the Measurement FB continually reports the dimension, velocity and acceleration between the two sketch-elements.

Add a Point-Data FB to report the position, velocity and acceleration of the Point.

You can use the output of a Measurement or Point-Data FB as the independent variable (X-axis) of a different FB.

tog_minus        Add a Point or Line for a Force Spring FB

MD-WhyAddPG1

Add a Point or Line added to attach a Spring FB.

tog_minus        Add a Sketch-Element, a series of merged Sketch-Elements, or a sketch-loop for a Motion-Path.

MotionPath-Point2

A Motion-Path needs a sketch-path, sketch, chain or sketch-loop.

You can use a Motion-Path for a Belt, Chains, Motion-Trajectory.

Tutorials and Reference Help Files for MechDesigner and MotionDesigner 14.2 + © Machine, Cam, Mechanism, and Motion Design Software by PSMotion Ltd