About Subassemblies
Use subassemblies to perform the actions listed below:
• Group welded components together to generate drawings or to add BOM information to the weld assembly.
• Group components to reuse in other top-level assembly locations in the same or similar definition.
It is important to understand the following terms because subassemblies are based on the profile curve skeleton, generally not part of the subassembly, and can have many references and dependencies.
• Definition location—A definition location is where a subassembly is first assembled into the complete assembly. When assembling a subassembly you must perform the following actions:
◦ Assemble all profiles and components into the subassembly at this location.
◦ Choose a location that will not be deleted during the design process
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Do not use the Move command to move any other subassemblies into the definition location.
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• Reuse location—A reuse location is where a previously defined subassembly is reassembled. When reassembling a subassembly, you must follow Move or Rotate procedures to modify the complete subassembly.
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Do not make any changes, such as moving profiles, within the subassembly. Any changes are applied to every subassembly instance.
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• Assembly reference curve—Subassemblies have a datum curve, standard datum planes and two arrow-shaped red datum surfaces, as shown in the figure above. A subassembly is assembled on a curve or between two points. You must select the corresponding curve to reassemble the subassembly in another location. When reusing a subassembly in a different top-level assembly location, do not create external references to components assembled to other components outside the subassembly. Use the curve and the datum planes to add a profile or another component to an existing subassembly. Use a red or green datum surface as the attach face when assembling end plates or similar connector elements. Click the red/green datum surface instead of the profile end to create a joint between the entire subassembly end and another surface. Make sure to sketch reference curves for additional profiles as curve features of the subassembly instead of referencing to top-level assembly curves