3d solid model creation

Filling in a pump and power frame to create a 3d solid model for customer use

The goal is to remove any proprietary information so competitors cannot backwards engineer our products.

1. Clear out your work directory2. Copy the pump that you will be working from to your work directory as a read only file.3. Check to see that the motor is a solid model and not just a shell. The hollow motors do not work

well and sometimes give undesirable results4. Replace the motor if it is not a solid model.

5. To check the motor pick the section button. This motor needs to be replaced.

6. We will not be saving this model so we can add anchors to the motor mount and bolts to make it easier to position the replacement motor.

7. Anchors added.

8. This is a good motor to use.

9. Reconstrain the replacement motor using the anchored components from step 7. Update model.

10. Erase the components that are not necessary for the 3d model you are going to create. (I.E. shaft guard, sheaves etc.) Leave anything that will define the limits of the model or adds to the appearance. Fasteners take up a lot of memory so the fewer there are the better.

11. Open the pump in a new window.12. Erase everything that does not define the external dimensions of the pump. I usually leave the

mounting hardware that mounts the pump to the power frame. Here is a representation of what

is left. It will vary from pump to pump.

13. Open the casing product in a new window. Erase everything but the casing.

14. This is still a product so we will need to open the casing in a new window. 15. Expand the tree and expand the part body. Start at the bottom of the tree and start removing

bodies. First on the list of destruction will be the inserts. They were the last thing added and will

be the first thing we remove.

16. Inserts removed.

17. Scroll up the tree until the next part body feature. You can usually ignore the fillets. Tthese will disapear as we remove the different part bodies. Next on the hit list are the boss holes and

adapter boss. They can both be removed at the same time.

18. Hide the visible sketch.

19. In this pump the next thing set for removal will be the jacking screw hole and the flow straightener.

Remember to update the model after each deletion. Check to make sure the casing still looks like a casing. Hide the sketches.

20. Next we will attempt to remove thhese bodies.

21. Check to see that the pump casing still looks normal.

22. Next item to remove.

23. You need to be diligent in checking the appearance of the casing to make sure it still looks

normal. Watch what happens if we erase the wrong body.

We probably shouldn’t erase that body. Undo the deletion until the casing looks normal again.

You must be diligent in checking the casing for appearance after each deletion. Undo anything that detracts from the appearance.

24. Deleting these 2 bodies would have an undesireable result as they make up the outside of the pump.

We’ll work on the intake shaft next.

25. Open the sketch.

Let’s change the d100 dimension to 10.

Never make the diameter zero. It sometimes has an adverse effect on the model. Ø10mm usually works well. Here is the result of changing this dimension.

We still need to fill in this area. This can be a little tricky as there are no 2 pump models built and constrained the same way. For this particular pump we can change a parameter.

This is the parameter we need to change.

The diameter is called out as a radius in the parameter setting.

To match the diameter already present in the pump we will use this number.

The model is represented as a diameter. The parameter is a radius we need to devide the number in half.

This is the result. This produced an undesireable result. Undo the last action and lets take a different approach. It maky take several undo’s to get back to the

stable model.

26. The face (solid orange line) is part of the intake shaft. Lets reopen the sketch and see if we can modify the sketch to fill in the opening.

27. We may be able to fill this in by changing the intake shaft again.

28. Open the sketch for the intake shaft. Lets remove the 30.00 constraint and drag the verticle line to be coincident with the pink face.

29. Make the unconstrained line coincident with the face of the the visible pink body.

30. Check the results.

looks good. One more pocket to fill in.

31. This pocket is part of the backliner shaft body. Open the sketch and minuplate the lines to close up the hole. Remove any unnecessary geometry.

Here are the changes i made. I got rid of the unnecessary geometry and constrained the line to 5mm from the centerline. That will leave a ø10mm hole. Here is the result.

A cross section reveals that there is no geometry to be gleaned from this model.

32. Exit the model without saving. It will take you back to the product level that had the wear ring. Exit the product level without saving.

Here is the result.

33. Next lets work on the adapter plate.. Open the adapter plate in a new window. Delete the following.

Leave hole 3.

Here is the result.

34. Open the sketch for groove 2. We will not delete groove 3.

Lets simplify the sketch. All of the grooves are not necessary for customer use of this model.

We greatly simplified the geometry and removed any proprietary information while maintaining the overall appearance and dimensional properties of the model. Note that the Ø220mm diameter is now Ø10mm.

This is the end result.

35. Lets open sketch 1. Again we will simplify the geometry.

Change the ø220 to ø10.

This is the end result.

36. Exit without saving. This is what you should see. There is no proprietary information available from this model.

37. Exit without saving. We should be back to the assembly.

38. Next lets open the bearing assembly. Open the power frame in a separate window.

39. Expand the tree and erase everything below the lock washer. This should be what you see.

40. Open the housing in a new window. Erase everything that doesn’t affect the external appearance of the housing. This is what you should see. Hide the svisible sketches.

41. Open shaft 1 sketch. Simplify the geometry.

Change the ø127.063 to ø10.

This is the result.

42. Exit without saving.

43. Open the shaft in a new window.

44. Expand the part body tree. Erase all of the part bodies except for Shaft 1. Erase the sketches.

45. Open sketch 1

46. Simplify the geometry.

I usually round the diameter dimensions to the next whole number.

This is what you should see.

47. Exit without saving.

This is what you shoiuld have after all the proprietary information has been removed. Exit without saving.

Do a cross section to make sure everything in the pump and power frame has been filled in.

This is normal. The areas that look hollow are where 2 parts of the solid models occupy the same space. It shows up as a void . Another of catias little quirks.

48. Now it is time to create the files for customer use. We commonly provide .stp and .dwg files. The customer may request other file types. First we need to turn the separate models into 1 model.

49. The first step is to combine all the separate models into one model. Go to the tool tab

and select generate “CATPart from product”.

50. Click the part number at the top of the tree and it will fill in the “New Part Number” box in the drop

down box.

Make sure the “Merge all bodies of each part in one body” is active. This will create a new drawing that looks like this.

51. Next select all of the part bodies starting at all the way to the bottom of the list. It will look like this.

52. With all the parts selected go to the “Insert” tab and hit the “Boolean Operations” button and select “Assemble”. Then hit the “OK” button.

This should be the end result. Just a few more steps and we will be finished with this conversion.

53. Create a new part. Hit the tab and select “new”. A drop down bow will appear.

54. Select “Part” and hit the “OK” button. 55. Rename the default name to the name of the pump you are creating and hit the “OK” button.

56. This is the new part drawing we created. Right click the

“PartBody” and hit “Define In Work Object”. This will make “PartBody” active.

57. Hit the window tab and select the previous drawing.

58. Right click the “PartBody” and select “copy”.59. Go back to the part drawing we created on step 54.60. Right click the part number at the top of the tree and select “Paste Special”.

61.Select “As Result” and hit the “OK” button.

This should be the end result.

You now have a model that can be translated into the customers requested file format.