SolidWorks 2011 Assemblies Bible - Matt Lombard [163]
5. Repeat Steps 1 to 4 for each of the five bodies in the master model.
6. If the mouse master model (Mouse Base Part.sldprt) is open, then close it. In any of the child parts, the inserted part feature shown in the tree should display the Out Of Context symbol (->?). Right-click the inserted part feature and select Edit In Context; this opens the master model.
Notice that from the master model, you have no way of knowing where the child parts are or even if any child parts exist. Notice also that there is no easy way to create an assembly.
7. Create a new assembly document.
8. Drop all the individually created parts into the assembly by selecting them in Windows Explorer and dragging them onto the assembly Origin. This is probably the easiest way to create an assembly using the Insert Part feature.
Note
There is no link from the parent to the child; if you rename the child part, the parent does not lose track of it. However, there is a link from the child to the parent; if you rename the parent without the child being open at the same time, the child loses track of the parent. If you change the parent, the child does not update unless the symbol is showing In-Context (->). If it is out of context, broken, or locked, the child does not update with the parent. Both documents need to be open at the same time to make the update happen (although they do not both need to be open when the original edit happens to the parent master model).
9. Save and close all the parts and assemblies.
To work with the Insert Into New Part function, follow these steps:
1. For this feature, start from the master model; open the part Mouse Base Part.sldprt. Make sure that the part is set to the Default configuration. If it is set to a different configuration, inserting bodies will require an extra step of assigning which part configuration to use in the assembly.
2. Expand the Solid Bodies folder in the FeatureManager. Right-click the first body in the list (Wheel), and select Insert Into New Part from the menu.
Note
You could select multiple bodies and even combine solid and surface bodies to insert using this technique.
3. When prompted, name the new part using the same convention used in the previous tutorial, which was to use the name of the technique (Insert Into New Part) and the name of the body. In this part, leave the configuration setting in the External References dialog box to the Default configuration.
4. Repeat Steps 1 to 3 for each of the bodies.
5. Right-click the Stock feature in the tree, and select Edit In Context. SolidWorks opens the master model part.
Note
Once again, there is no way back to the child document from the master model using the Insert Into New Part feature.
6. Create a new assembly document and use the same technique from the previous tutorial to put all the parts in the assembly located from the Origin. Again, no automated assembly creation tool exists for this method.
7. Save all documents and close them.
To work with the Split function, follow these steps:
1. This time, start from a copy of the master model part. The Split feature makes additions to the model, and because you have already created assemblies based on the original, you should create any additional features using a copy of the part rather than the original. Copy it using the Copy and Paste feature in Windows Explorer, and rename the copy as Split Tutorial.
Note
It is best to copy and rename this document before continuing with the rest of the tutorial. Otherwise, you may encounter problems with the file references, from which it is difficult to recover.
2. With the newly copied and renamed document open, initiate the Split feature by choosing Insert⇒Features⇒Split.
3. Because the bodies already exist, there is no need for