Learn about the intricacies of using parametric modeling to update fastener assemblies in a model. Gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and workaround solutions when incorporating components from the McMasterCar library.
Key Insights
- Fastener assemblies brought from the McMasterCar library into a model are static and simple bodies, and they do not bring in their features. They also cannot be updated with parametric design.
- Upon updating user parameters, some components like the nut, bolt, and washer can disappear or be swallowed up by the model. This is dependent on how and where they were joined to the model.
- Solutions to such challenges include building your own nuts and bolts based on parametric units, or importing the bolt, nut, and washer components individually, assemble them in a new component, and place the joints using user parameters to set the specific distances from each component.
In this video, we will bring some fastener assemblies into our model, and I will talk about different ways of using parametric modeling to update our fastener assemblies. If you will please, scroll down, find Step 6, and open it.
I will not close my data panel, but I’ll just scroll back up to the top for now. You'll see in our model that we have our bulb assembly, and our model is joined. So let's go to New Component, and I will name this Fastener Assemblies.
Once that has been renamed, I will find Import Arm Fastener, and click and drag it into my model. When the component is placed in the model, I will move it away from my geometry and click OK. If I zoom in, we can see that this is composed of two washers, a nut, and a bolt.
These components were all brought in from the McMaster-Carr library using Insert > McMaster-Carr Component. They are static, and if I look at their components, they are simple bodies and have not brought in their feature history. So let's place this with a joint. I will go to Joint and place the first point on the outside edge of my washer. Holding CTRL, I’ll find the center point of the circle, and a rigid joint will work here, so I’ll click OK.
Our component is placed in the proper location, and we can either bring in more of these components or copy and paste this one. I’ll copy and paste, so I’ll hide my data panel, select this component, press CTRL+C, then CTRL+V. I’ll do this one more time and place them roughly in the right spots.
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Now let's go to Joint, again selecting the outer edge of the washer, and holding CTRL to select the inner circle—click OK. One more time—click OK. Our arm fastener assemblies have been placed in the model. I can now activate the top component and group these objects. However, let’s see what happens when I update my user parameters.
I’ll orbit around the model so I can see this side and go to Modify > Change Parameters. For now, I’ll only change my width parameter so we can see how the model updates. I will change this to 40 and press ENTER.
We can see that our model has swallowed up our wing nuts and washer. This side of the model is still the same because the washer was joined to the outside face. If I go to my top view and go to Visual Style > Wireframe with Hidden Edges, we can see our nut and bolt assembly inside the model.
This assembly has not updated with the total width, so this bolt and nut setup will not work. We cannot update this bolt using parametric design because we brought it in as a STEP file from the McMaster-Carr library. I’ll change this back to 30, click OK, and we’ll see our nut and bolt appear correctly.
I’ll switch back to Shaded with Visible Edges Only and return to the Home view. This is a small hiccup when using parametric design—our nut and bolt fasteners that are imported from McMaster-Carr cannot be updated with user parameters.
However, we can build our own nuts and bolts based on parametric values, and when our model is complete and ready to be manufactured, we will know exactly which parts to order from McMaster-Carr or another vendor. Another option is to bring in the bolt, nut, and washer components individually, assemble them in a new component, and place the joints using user parameters to define specific distances, or by placing them directly on the associated faces.
Go ahead and save the model one more time, and in the next video, we will begin to look at T-spline modeling for our lampshade.
I’ll see you in the next video.
