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Bottom up assembly tutorial

Hi again!  This video tutorial will introduce you to the basics of building a bottom-up assembly within TopSolid 7.  The tutorial is broken into 12 videos.  The goal in each video is to either teach you one or two new things about working with assemblies in TopSolid 7, or it will give you the ability to practice what you have already learned.

Assembly

Before you begin watching the tutorials, I suggest that you take a minute and download the samples that go with the tutorials.  You will find each below.

Samples

To download the sample project, please click on the link below. This project includes the sample part files, a completed assembly, the drawings (in TopSolid format), and the PDF of the drawings.

Full Package

Full Package

Bottom-up Assembly Tutorial Introduction

Bottom-up assembly – Step 1

In this video you will learn how to create a new assembly document in TopSolid 7.  You will also learn how to include your first part into the assembly using simple drag-n-drop bottom-up assembly techniques

Bottom-up assembly – Step 2

In this video, you will learn how to include the next part into the assembly.  You learn how to add the part into the previous positioning group. You will also learn how to apply an axis on axis positioning constraint and a plane on plane positioning constraint.

Bottom-up assembly – Step 3

In this step of the tutorial, you will learn how to apply axis on axis and plane on plane assembly constraints.  You will also be shown how to use the Windows standard function, Control + Drag-n-drop.  Using this funciton makes it fast and easy to copy common components around the assembly quickly.

Bottom-up assembly – Step 4

In this step of the tutorial, you will learn another way to include a part into an assembly following the bottom-up inclusion strategy. This method will require you to have your part file already open and ready to be included.  You will also be shown how to apply 2 types of mating constraints.  Axis-on-Axis and Plane-on-Plane.

Bottom-up assembly – Step 5

In this step of the tutorial, you will be shown how to use the standard windows function to make a copy of something, Control+Drag-n-drop.  You will also be introduced to using a specific constraint type versus the standard wizard based constraints.  Sometimes, you just want to directly apply the specific constraint!

Bottom-up assembly – Step 6

In this step of the tutorial, you will add the threaded rod to the assembly. This step will reinforce skills that you have learned in the previous steps such as drag-n-drop inclusion, axis-on-axis and plane-on-plane constraints.

Bottom-up assembly – Step 7

In this step, you will be introduced to a new type of assembly constraint called Plane-on-Axis.  With this constraint you will easily be able to locate the handle into the assembly.

Bottom-up assembly – Step 8

In this step, you will add the medium spring clip to the assembly and use an axis on axis and a plane on plane constraint to locate it.

Bottom-up assembly – Step 9

In this step, you will add the large and small spring clips to the assembly.  You will be practicing what you have learned from previous steps. You will be using Control drag-n-drop to copy components.  And you will be positioning the components with axis on axis and plane on plane constraints.

Bottom-up assembly – Step 10

In this step, you will learn how to create a mid-plane.  You will also be introduced to the concept of symmentric parts and how TopSolid 7 allows you to handle them with ease.  Finally you will be shown how to create a repetition of the spring clips.

Bottom-up assembly – Conclusion

Thank you for watching this getting started tutorial for TopSolid 7 regarding working with Bottom up assemblies. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.  In this conclusion video, I will introduce you to a few more tips and tricks about TopSolid.  What are they?  You will have to watch to find out!