Alibre Design

Chapter 11 - Assembly Design11.1 Assembly Design MethodologyYou can use two distinct assembly design methods, or a combination of both. The firstmethod, often referred to as bottom-up design, involves creating each assembly partin an individual part workspace. After the parts have all been individually modeled, youcan then insert them into an assembly workspace, and subsequently position and matethem correctly by inserting assembly constraints.The second method, often referred to as top-down design, involves creating all theassembly parts in the assembly workspace. Using this method enables you to designparts while referencing other assembly parts.Both methods have disadvantages and advantages. The bottom-up designmethodology is perhaps the simpler of the two and enables you to manage the designmore efficiently. The top-down design is somewhat more complex, but is valuablewhen the design of one part is heavily dependent on other parts.You can also use a combination of the bottom-up and top-down design methods.11.2 The Assembly Design InterfaceAssemblies are designed in assembly workspaces. An assembly can be comprised ofparts and other assemblies, referred to as subassemblies. The parts andsubassemblies that constitute an assembly are referred to as constituents.A typical assembly could have the following structure:Top-Level AssemblySubassembly A• Part A1• Part A2• Part A3Subassembly BPart C• Part B1• Part B2• Part B3288