2009

Subassemblies can be nested many layers deep in a large assembly. By planning
and building subassemblies, you can efficiently manage the construction of
very large assemblies. Additionally, you can create subassemblies that match
the intended manufacturing scheme to facilitate creating your assembly
documentation.
Guidelines for Selecting Subassembly Components
When designing a subassembly for modeling, select:
■ Component groups that repeat in an assembly.
■ Combinations of standard parts that are common to many assemblies.
■ Components that combine to perform a common function in an assembly.
When designing a subassembly for documentation purposes, select components
that match your intended manufacturing scheme.
As you change the active assembly, the appearance of components in the
graphics window changes. If you are working with a shaded display, the active
subassembly is shaded and all other components appear translucent. If you
are working with a wireframe display, all components other than the active
subassembly are shaded light gray.
Any placed or new in-place components become part of the active assembly
or subassembly. Double-click the parent assembly in the browser to make it
the active assembly.
Creating Component Patterns
Components can be arranged in a rectangular or circular pattern in an
assembly. Using component patterns can increase productivity and efficiently
match your design intent. Typically, you may need to place multiple bolts to
fasten one component to another or place multiple parts or subassemblies
into a complex assembly.
As with feature patterns, you can create a rectangular pattern by specifying
column and row spacing, or a circular pattern by specifying the number of
components and the angle between them.
In addition, you can create associative component patterns of parts or
subassemblies by selecting an existing pattern. For example, you could create
Creating Component Patterns | 161