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FIGURE 9.6

Examining the list of mirrored components

Using Feature-Driven Component Patterns

By their very nature, feature-driven component patterns defy some of the best practice suggestions in this book. This is because the pattern is driven by part geometry, and the part must first be solved (by solving features internal to the part) and then placed (by solving mates); only then can the feature-driven pattern be solved. Nevertheless, you should use feature-driven patterns over local patterns when available because of the parametric link. Parametric associativity is, after all, one of the main benefits that SolidWorks offers.

Note

For the feature-driven component patterns, the location of the initial component is important. You need to match the placement of the initial component with the position of the original feature from which the pattern was created, not one of the patterned instances. You can get around this requirement if you use the Select Seed Position option. When you do this, the feature pattern instances all appear with dots, and you can select which instance to use as the seed. Again, the selected dot is blue and unselected dots are purple, nearly indistinguishable at the size and spacing of the dots. Figure 9.7 shows the PropertyManager interface for a feature-driven component pattern.

You can nest feature-driven component patterns such that one component pattern is patterned by another component pattern, just as you do using feature patterns. The second pattern can be a local pattern or a feature-driven pattern.

FIGURE 9.7

The feature-driven component pattern interface

Understanding Other Pattern Options

SolidWorks provides additional options to help you work with patterns. These options can help you with component organization and visualization, which are always key elements when you are working in an assembly.

Figure 9.8 shows the RMB menu for a component pattern. The components of the RMB menu are as follows:

• Dissolve Pattern. The Dissolve Pattern option removes the component instances from the pattern feature and puts them in the main part of the assembly FeatureManager. The components just become normal components in the assembly without the intelligence of the pattern feature placing them. The components are left in the assembly without any mates and are simply floating in position.

• Add to New Folder. You can add patterns to folders. If you have a list of patterns at the end of an assembly, it may make sense to group them into related folders for the purpose of organization. This is the same as using folders for features, mates, or components.

• Component pattern display options. You can change the appearance of individual component pattern instances either individually or collectively as a pattern feature. Figure 9.9 shows the Display Pane where you can control these display options.

FIGURE 9.8

The component RMB menu

• Component patterns and configurations. Individual instances of the component pattern also enable you to control configurations. After you create the pattern, you can select individual instances and change their configurations. This can be extremely useful if you have a mechanism subassembly shown in various positions, for example, patterned around an indexing dial.

FIGURE 9.9

The Display Pane for controlling display options

Tutorial: Creating Component Patterns

To learn how to create component patterns, follow these steps:

1. Open a new assembly. Create a new 3D sketch and draw three lines from the Origin out at odd angles so that they do not pick up horizontal or vertical automatic relations. Draw two of the lines; then rotate the view, press the Tab key, and draw the third line.

2. Apply sketch relations such that each line lies on a plane: one line on the Front, one on the Top, and one on the Right.

3. Click Close to exit the sketch when you are done.

4. Open the part from the DVD named Pattern Part.sldprt. This part already contains several features