Notes on Loading Pro/ENGINEER Assemblies

Once loaded or inserted,  the assembly file is not associative, that is if parts are added to or removed from the assembly the EdgeCAM .ppf file will not be updated. Any changes made at assembly level in Pro/ENGINEER will not be detected unless they affect the parts. Changes at part level will be detected and EdgeCAM will prompt for a re-load (if the Change Notification option on the Preferences dialog is switched on).

Assembly cuts are only supported if they intersect at part level.

Empty parts (for bill of material purposes etc.) and surface only parts are excluded, and the assembly file will continue to load any valid files until the end of the assembly file is reached. An error message will be displayed "Some files did not produce solid models:", followed by file path and part name.

Assemblies generated by Pro/Engineer manufacturing modules (i.e. Mold) are not supported.

Assemblies and layers

When loading solid assemblies you can specify whether all parts are placed on the same layer or each part is placed on an individual layer using the Separate Layers option on the Solids tab of the Preferences (Options menu) command. The default setting for this option is OFF.

When checked, each part is placed on a separate layer where the layer names are those of the individual parts loaded.  When loading assemblies that contain multiples of the same solid part, all instances of the solid are placed  on a common layer.

If the option is unchecked, all parts will be placed onto the current layer.

Summary of functionality

• EdgeCAM cannot detect if an assembly has changed as it references individual parts not the whole assembly.

• Separate parts of an assembly can be transformed in EdgeCAM individually or in groups.

• Associativity in EdgeCAM is not OK if parts are transformed in the assembly.

• Associativity in EdgeCAM is OK if an individual part is changed outside of the assembly.

• Associativity in EdgeCAM is not OK if parts are removed or added to the assembly.