Advantage/Disadvantage of Creating a Part in an Assembly

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1

Hello 

Following a work requested in my studies, I wanted to know what were the advantages and disadvantages of creating a part in an assembly. 

Thank you for your answer

PS: If you have any information on it, I'm interested, I can't find much on the Internet.

2

Hello

I don't find any advantages in creating a part in an assembly, apart from the storage gain since you will have a single assembly file and no part files. Then, the setup for a drawing will be faster in a build-in-place assembly rather than multiple parts to open and configure each.

On the other hand, the opposite can be interesting, to create a structure in welded construction with basic elements, basically, a whole structure of several tubes will be a part file with the list of your tubes by size that you can configure directly to allow you to output a bill of materials and drawing quickly.

 

I hope I have made progress on the subject.

3

Thank you for your answer, however on an old discussion a person had talked about advantages without specifying which ones, that's why I'm wondering . 
 

And for the part on the welded structure, this part is done by another student, but thank you, it already makes me progress.

4

For me, I tell you the only advantages that I find useful is the speed of configuring the properties of your parts for drawing.

5

I wrote it down as a result, thank you again.

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6

Be careful of a nuance: when you create a component (part or subassembly) in the assembly, it is, by default, in the virtual state. Then you can decide to keep it as is or save it (via save as) as a "classic" component.

Since we are in the context of a school research, I will let you do some research on your own on the notion of virtual component.

The advantage of creating the component on the fly is that it is directly in the right position.

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7

For components with complex 3D sketches, or parts with geometry that changes depending on the position of the assembly, it is interesting to create it directly in the assembly. 

Example: Electric wire, pneumatic hose, sling, spring...

8

Hello

I use virtual components a lot (with Solidworks PDM), so I'll try to be as specific as possible:

Benefits: 

  1. Speed of part creation during a design
  2. Possibility to copy the part in the assembly and do "Make independent" to start from an existing virtual part
  3. Do not generate unnecessary serial numbers in the EPDM until the project is validated
  4. Don't overload the network with endless files
  5. to be able to do tests without polluting anything on the side.
  6. I agree with Icome's point, for parts with 3d sketch having relationships with other parts/sub-assemblies such as wiring, piping, I always use a virtual part (especially if there are different configurations).

But as nothing is really magical,

Cons :

  1. If you have PDM impossible to use the data card
  2. If you want to put a room in plan, you won't be able to (although I still do it via the display states by isolating the room concerned)
  3. Not applicable for a standard part because you have no link with the original part if you ever start from an existing part then right click then "Make virtual"
  4. If you have PDM, the equations are sometimes badly renamed when copying the tree (with renaming of the serial numbers)
  5. Possibility when creating a virtual part to keep the same origin as the assembly (offset in the part file, not sure to be very clear on this point)

In summary, for me virtual components are PERFECT for pre-projects but almost totally absent in my validated designs.

EDIT: I also use virtual assemblies including non-virtual parts as well, to create sub-assemblies that facilitate the implementation of certain parts without saving a file on the HDD. Example: Bolt.

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9

Hello

@Michael DELACOTE, That's exactly it. Assembly in the context is quite suitable for a pre-study, a preliminary project where you have to rough out the ideas for one or more solutions. Once the final solution is complete, we do a classic bottom-up assembly i.e. the parts and then the assembly.

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10

Hello

  The big advantage of creating and editing a part in an assembly is that you can easily define its dimensions according to the elements present in the assembly  (functional surfaces and dimensions are easily defined) The part will also adapt if the components of the assembly are modified.

  The main disadvantages are that the load on the resources of the station is increased, the elements defined inside the assembly are heavier  to modify outside the assembly.

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11

Hello

Everything is very well summarized by @Michael DELACOTE .

12

We use assemblies containing virtual parts. But ONLY for mechanically welded parts where the individual components do not have their own drawing.

We also use virtual sub-assemblies in our designs (allows us to manage constraints in configurations with different positions). The only problem is that EPDM does not natively handle them very well and that a classic use case does not allow to find assemblies containing virtual subassemblies satisfied the part. On the other hand, it is possible to make a report generator that finds the use cases.

Michael DELACOTE  has summed up the advantages and disadvantages of virtual coins.