About Fastener Components and Manufacturing Kits

The Update Fastener Components command allows fastener components to be assigned automatically to a Manufacturing Kit.

This page discusses:

See Also
Assigning Fastener Components to Manufacturing Kits
About Fasteners and Fasten Steps

Introduction

When a part is assigned to a Manufacturing Kit, a Provided Part implements this part. When several parts are assigned to a Manufacturing Kit, the fasteners joining these parts must be identified and the required components must be provided to finalize the assembly.

It is impossible to create a Fasten step under a Manufacturing Kit, so you must assign the components of the corresponding fastener to allow completion of the fastening of the assembly later on.

Only the components of fasteners implemented directly by the parent of the Manufacturing Kit are considered (the Fasten step must be a sibling of the Manufacturing Kit).

You can run a specific command from the Manufacturing Kit context menu to update the fastener components required for the parts.

Note: When you assign:
  • a Product to an item, a Provided Part reference and instance are created
  • a Fastener to an item, a Fasten step reference and instance are created
  • a Fastener component to an item, a Provided Part reference, and instance are created.

Fastener Components Assignments to Manufacturing Kits

Fastener assignments can be done automatically using the Update Fastener Components command when certain rules are respected.

Assignment Rules

The following assignment rules must be respected to correctly assign the fastener components to a given Manufacturing Kit:

  • Fasteners must be implemented by a Fasten step, which is a sibling of the Manufacturing Kit (fasteners must be directly assigned under the same item as the Manufacturing Kit) and must have at least one of its joined parts available under the selected Manufacturing Kit.
  • If all parts of the stack are assigned under the same Manufacturing Kit, all components of fasteners joining these assigned parts must be assigned under the same Manufacturing Kit. No user interaction is required. An assignment dialog box shows the valid fastener components that were assigned.
  • If one or several parts (but not all parts) are assigned under a Manufacturing Kit, and no other parts are assigned under another Manufacturing Kit, fastener components of the joined parts can be assigned under this Manufacturing Kit. A user decision is required to take an action (using a dedicated Update dialog box).
  • If a part is assigned under a Manufacturing Kit and the other part or parts are assigned under a Manufacturing Assembly, which is a sibling of the Manufacturing Kit, all components of the fasteners joining parts must be assigned under this Manufacturing Kit.
  • If all parts were unassigned from a Manufacturing Kit where some components are assigned, the fastener components of the fasteners joining unassigned parts must be removed.

Use Case

Consider the following product and Manufacturing Assembly structure:



Parts P1 and P2 are joined by Fastener F1 having three components C1.1, C2.1 and C3.1.

Parts P2 and P3 are joined by Fastener F2 having two components C1.2 and C2.2.

Fasteners F1 and F2 are directly assigned under "Root Manufacturing Assembly", which is the parent of the Manufacturing Kit.

When you select Update Fastener Components from the context menu of the Manufacturing Kit, the components of Fastener F1 are assigned to the Manufacturing Kit because all the parts are already assigned under the Manufacturing Kit and F1 is already implemented by Fasten F1 (under "Root Manufacturing Assembly").

No user interaction is required at this stage.

One of the parts is missing (P3). In this case, C1.2 and C2.2 may be assigned (Assignable) to Manufacturing Kit. A user interaction is required to take a decision for components assignment.

The Create/Update Fastener Components dialog box appears.

If you choose not to assign C1.2 and C2.2 to the Manufacturing Kit, the resulting structure is as follows:



Create/Update Fastener Components Dialog Box

The dialog box that appears during assignment or update allows you to better understand what is happening:

  • Cross-highlight with the tree in the Item Editor, the components list and the 3D viewer. This helps you to identify the components that are being assigned, removed, or rerouted to the Manufacturing Kit being updated.
  • Filter: You can select filter (Assigned / Assignable / All) to help you reduce the list and select the components to assign or unassign. The Assign Selected / Unassign Selected commands are enabled and disabled according to the selection.
    • If the selected component is assigned: Assign Selected is disabled and Unassign Selected is enabled.
    • If the selected component is assignable: Assign Selected is enabled and Unassign Selected is disabled.
    • If selection contains assigned and assignable components: both commands are enabled.
  • Select All: Selects all components in the list.
  • Reframe: Reframes on the displayed objects.
  • Parts assigned to the Manufacturing Kit are displayed transparent and are considered as the context.
  • Show Valid Components: Shows or hides fastener components having all their joined parts assigned under the concerned Manufacturing Kit or under the concerned Manufacturing Kit and a sibling Manufacturing Assembly.