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You can even use SpeedPaks with drawings. Just remember that only edges created by the faces or bodies in the Include lists can be dimensioned to. Some functionality exists for the ghost data, such as BOM inclusion and numbered balloons. Ghost data displays as gray on the drawing, while geometry in the Include list is black.

FIGURE 4.5

Managing SpeedPaks

Model of Garmin assembly from the SolidWorks demo sets

Using Subassemblies

The primary tool for organizing assemblies is the subassembly. A subassembly is just a regular assembly that is used as a component in another assembly.

Best Practice

You are not limited to a specific number of levels of subassemblies, although for different sizes and types of assemblies you should establish a best practice for your company. For example, you might establish a guideline that suggests that assemblies of 100 parts or fewer go no deeper than three levels.

You can use several criteria to determine how subassemblies are assigned:

• Performance

• BOM

• Relative motion

• Pre-fabricated, off-the-shelf considerations

• According to assembly steps for a process drawing

• To simplify patterning

The underlying question here is based on the multiple functions of your SolidWorks assembly model. Is the assembly intended primarily for design? For visualization? For documentation? For process documentation? When used primarily for design, the assembly is used to determine fits, tolerances, mechanisms, and many other things. As a visualization tool, it simply has to look good and possibly move properly if that is part of the design. As a documentation tool, how the model relates to the BOM is important, and so is the order in which subassemblies are added. As a process tool, you need to be able to show the assembly in various intermediate states of being assembled, likely with configurations.

Companies create multiple assembly models for different purposes. Sometimes the requirements between the different methods are contradictory and cannot all be met at the same time with a single set of data. Again, depending on what information you need to be able to extract from your SolidWorks models, you may want to approach assembly modeling and organization differently, and you may need to create multiple assembly models to accomplish everything.

Creating subassemblies from existing parts

You can create subassemblies from parts that already exist in an assembly. To do this, select the parts that you want to add to the subassembly by holding the Shift or Ctrl key, or using box select techniques, and then select Form New Subassembly Here from the right mouse button (RMB) menu. You are then prompted to assign a name or possibly select a template for the new subassembly.

Caution

When creating a new subassembly from existing parts or when moving parts into or out of a subassembly from the upper-level assembly, some things may be lost. For example, mates are moved from the upper level to the subassembly. If you have in-context relationships, they may be removed. You cannot easily undo operations that create subassemblies.

Once you have created the subassembly, you can add or remove components using the drag-and-drop method. For example, Figure 4.6 shows the cursor that indicates that the part named Left Crank is being moved into the subassembly named bike crank. To move a part out of a subassembly, you can simply drag the part into the upper-level assembly.

FIGURE 4.6

Moving parts into a subassembly

Note

When you are dragging a part out of an assembly and into another one, you may again see the cursor symbol that appears in Figure 4.6. If you do not want this to happen, hold down the Alt key while dragging. The cursor symbol changes to the Reorder cursor (a reversed, L-shaped arrow), and the part is placed after the subassembly rather than within it.

Inserting a new subassembly

Along with the RMB menu option Form New Subassembly Here, which takes existing parts and puts them into a newly created subassembly, you can use another option called Insert