Mechanism Mode

[hEINSTEIN]

Hi

I'm going to try my luck and ask if someone can make me a video?

I want to make an assembly with a door I want to open and close in Mechanism mode. I get it to work with single parts, but as soon as I try doing it with an assembly either everything moves or my assembly parts doesn't move as one.

 

This is the Box Closed.

This is with the door open.

 

This is the result when trying to open the door in mechanism mode.

I might just mis understand Ironcad's constraints workflow, or I'm hoping there is just some small setting I'm not aware of.

Thank you in advance.

[Cary OConnor]

Well at first glance, I would set the box to Fixed and I assume the door and all the components are all contained in an assembly. In the Mech mode, make sure the filter is set to the assembly level (at the bottom right of the screen) before you drag. If you want to just see the movement, turn off the collision. If you upload the model, we can take a deeper look. 

[SSIMMONS]

I think Cary is spot on with this. Right click on the box and "fix to parent" and click the background. Then try again and you should be done. I made a quick video for you (sorry about the lag at the end, my computer hates this assembly for some reason).

 

- Spencer

[hEINSTEIN]

Hi @SSIMMONS & @Cary OConnor Thanx for the info.

I'm still not getting it to work, there is something I'm not grasping.

1. I fixed the box in position.
2. I made a concentric constraint between the door and box hinges.
3. And I made a angular constraint with limits of 0°-90°

Here is a screencast of what happens.

 See attached model.

Mechanism Mode.ics

[SHORNBRO]

Good morning,

I'm not sure if this will help, but I made a simple test model to demonstrate how I would achieve this. 

I would try the following steps:

1.  Build out your model and organize the assemblies as needed.
2.  I would setup constraints to lock down each assembly's parts in relation to one another.
   • For the door subassembly, I used a distance constraint in each direction to lock the hinges on the door plate.
   • For the box subassembly, I similarly used distance constraints in each direction to lock the hinges to the box body.
3.  Next, constrain the subassemblies to one another.
   • I would use a concentric mate to align the hinges between the door subassembly and the box subassembly.
   • I would use an align (or zero distance) constraint to align and lock the door in the z-axis relative to the box - this is so the door doesn't slide up and away from the hinge pins.
4. From here you can enter Mechanism Mode
   • Navigate to the bottom right of your screen and set the selection box (next to your Configuration selection box) to "Assembly/Part".
5. Now you should be able to grab the door subassembly and swing it around between a fully open and fully closed position.

 

A few notes:

• The angular constraint you are using is essentially locking the position at that 90° angle.  Unfortunately it doesn't constrain within a range of 0°- 90°, but locks the positioning of the parts/assemblies at that angle, preventing you from swinging the door once you get to Mechanism Mode.
• When setting up your constraints, the concentric constraint is correct, but you also need something to prevent the door assembly from sliding up and away along that concentric axis - hence in my example I used the concentric and align (or zero distance) constraints to pin the door on the box hinges.

 

Hopefully this helps and I wasn't too long-winded.  Best of luck!

 

-Sam

[Jonas@Solidmakarna]

5 hours ago, hEINSTEIN said:

Hi @SSIMMONS & @Cary OConnor Thanx for the info.

I'm still not getting it to work, there is something I'm not grasping.

1. I fixed the box in position.
2. I made a concentric constraint between the door and box hinges.
3. And I made a angular constraint with limits of 0°-90°

Here is a screencast of what happens.

 See attached model.

Mechanism Mode.ics 724 kB · 2 downloads

This model works fine! But you must adjust the value on the angle (0° to 90°) and add another 90°, like this:

I also added a locked dimension from the top (or bottom)...

You don't really need the Collision Detection and you don't need to change to the Assembly/Part filter either (where you must click another time to "drill down" to the sub assembly.

Mechanism Mode.ics

[SHORNBRO]

MECH MODE TEST.ics

Just as an additional follow-up, I rebuilt the model for my own practice and simplified the constraints a bit as an example for you.  Hope it helps!

-Sam

[hEINSTEIN]

On 3/12/2021 at 4:57 PM, SHORNBRO said:

 

Good morning,

I'm not sure if this will help, but I made a simple test model to demonstrate how I would achieve this. 

I would try the following steps:

1.  Build out your model and organize the assemblies as needed.
2.  I would setup constraints to lock down each assembly's parts in relation to one another.
   • For the door subassembly, I used a distance constraint in each direction to lock the hinges on the door plate.
   • For the box subassembly, I similarly used distance constraints in each direction to lock the hinges to the box body.
3.  Next, constrain the subassemblies to one another.
   • I would use a concentric mate to align the hinges between the door subassembly and the box subassembly.
   • I would use an align (or zero distance) constraint to align and lock the door in the z-axis relative to the box - this is so the door doesn't slide up and away from the hinge pins.
4. From here you can enter Mechanism Mode
   • Navigate to the bottom right of your screen and set the selection box (next to your Configuration selection box) to "Assembly/Part".
5. Now you should be able to grab the door subassembly and swing it around between a fully open and fully closed position.

 

A few notes:

• The angular constraint you are using is essentially locking the position at that 90° angle.  Unfortunately it doesn't constrain within a range of 0°- 90°, but locks the positioning of the parts/assemblies at that angle, preventing you from swinging the door once you get to Mechanism Mode.
• When setting up your constraints, the concentric constraint is correct, but you also need something to prevent the door assembly from sliding up and away along that concentric axis - hence in my example I used the concentric and align (or zero distance) constraints to pin the door on the box hinges.

 

Hopefully this helps and I wasn't too long-winded.  Best of luck!

 

-Sam

Thank you very much this helped me allot.

[hEINSTEIN]

Thank you every one, I have a better understanding of what workflow to follow.

 

I appreciate the effort.

[Josh]

Seeing as we have quite a few members in this discussion and this relates to it, is anyone against the idea of having Mechanism Mode default to "Assembly/Part" instead of just "Part".

I find myself constantly switching to Assembly/Part and as far as I know there is really not much downside to just having this as default. However there is a big downside with the current default of just "Part" because no complicated model (anything assembled) works by default for new users, and they have to somehow magically learn to switch over the tiny button down the bottom right.

Am I missing some reasons why "Part only" has to be the default or would it be better for most people if "Part/Assembly" was defaut?

[Jonas@Solidmakarna]

There's a Ticket 9227 for adding a switch to control the default setting and Ticket 8738 for creating a new section for all default Mechanism Mode settings under Options, Interaction.

Ticket 2670 for control of the default Dragging Behaviour and Ticket 8521 to be able to hide Scene Elements (like constraints, dimensions, patterns, attachment points etc).

There's also a Ticket 7092 which includes the Recreate Display function to be used in the background when you leave the Mechanism Mode, since it sometimes happens that you get some graphical artifacts (green faces/edges) when closing the tool.

Edited March 15, 2021 by Jonas@Solidmakarna

[Josh]

Nice @Jonas@Solidmakarna you are the king of bug number tracking! I have also submitted tickets for this in the past but don't know the numbers...

Would setting the default to Assembly/Part have a negative impact do you think?
In practically every case I can think of Assembly/Part would be the more useful default setting for customers.

[Jonas@Solidmakarna]

No, I agree with you. But I've noticed in several cases lately that dragging the Part will also make the other parts within that Assembly to follow (as if I dragged the Assembly). I'm not sure if it is intended or a bug

[SSIMMONS]

3 hours ago, Josh said:

Nice @Jonas@Solidmakarna you are the king of bug number tracking! I have also submitted tickets for this in the past but don't know the numbers...

Would setting the default to Assembly/Part have a negative impact do you think?
In practically every case I can think of Assembly/Part would be the more useful default setting for customers.

I was thinking it should be default just the other day. I am not sure of too many applications where you would want it part only without the assembly option so to me it makes since to just do Part/Assembly for everything.

 

- Spencer