Virtual Part Reference to an Assembly Part

Summary: virtual Reference to a part so when creating balloons and the reference pat is selected the vitual part will also be ballooned

Description: In X.IAM, associate a virtual component, �A�, with a specific component occurrence, �B�, found anywhere in assembly tree, then have �B� component geometry act as if it were real component occurrence of �A� in �X�. Primary utility is in X.IDW where bubble tools then treat �B� occurrence geometry like a real component occurrence of �A�. If �B� is also an occurence in X.IAM, �A�s bubble automatically groups with �B�s.

How Used: Top level assembly callout of project specific options in general purpose sub-assemblies. For example, a general purpose conveyor assembly has a gearbox component. But, the ratio of the gearbox, and thus the part number, can change each time the assembly is used. The conveyor assembly IDW shows how to mount and adjust the gearbox, but passes the buck on its part number and instance in a parts list to an upper level assembly. Another use is top level callout of sensors and other control devices, possibly linked with output from Autocad Electrical. With that link, mechanical drawings could show Autocad Electrical device ID�S and other annotations.

Feature Affinity: Assemblies

Submitted By: Brian Busse on May 2, 2009