Editing an Assembly with OnShape - Using Onshape for FTC

Step 1 – Open the spreadsheet

Step 2 – Open document

Step 3 – Select Document Properties

Step 4 – Enter Product name + part number, Carriage return and URL for product, then select Update

Step 5 – Click on the CAD Imports tab and then rename the step file. Note that you don’t have to select the STEP file, you can right click on the tab even if it isn’t selected.

Step 6 – Rename it to just be STEP so that it isn’t found in the search.

Step 7 – In the parts studio for the file, rename all the parts to something more meaningful that doesn’t have anything that they would search for. Depending on the model, there could be quite a few parts.

Step 8 – Continue renaming parts and combine any that can be combined. In general, the smaller the number of parts the better. Keep them as separate parts if they move or the color matters.

Step 9 – Assign materials to the individual parts

Step 10 – For example, Steel, Nylon (often when the part is black), Delrin (often for the white plastic slippery parts).

Step 11 – Also click on each part and assign them a color based on the material.

Step 12 – Next we will put in a big red X over the part so that someone doesn’t accidentally insert it instead of the assembly. For this we will use the Derived feature.

Step 13 – Click on Derived in order to search

Step 14 – Click on ‘Other documents’ then ‘My OnShape’ and type ‘do not use’ and click on the magnifying glass to search.

Step 15 – Pick any of the parts which has the big red DO NOT USE PARTS x and click on the Xto insert it into the document.

Step 16 – If you switch to the isometric view, you will see the X in front of or inside the part. All that matters is that it is big and red so people see it, the part won’t interfere with the assembly.

Step 17 – Select all of the parts.

Step 18 – And select Properties so that we can keep them out of the BOM

Step 19 – Scroll down on the Properties dialog and check the “Exclude from BOM” option for all of them. Note that because the DO NOT USE PARTS is derived, the option should already be set. Click Save to close the dialog.

Step 20 – Right mouse click on the parts tab to Rename it.

Step 21 – Call it Parts (or some other simple name) so that it isn’t found in the search.

Step 22 – Switch to the assembly and use mates to put all the parts

Step 23 – One important mate is the origin mate to orient the piece for default viewing. For this you need to create a mate against the origin.

Step 24 – Create the mate (call it Origin) and make sure that the isometric view is the best view of the assembly.

Step 25 – Select properties on the assembly tab.

Step 26 – Enter the name from the spreadsheet (which includes the part number at the end), the description as the URL to the part and the actual part number.

Step 27 – Scroll down to see the Vendor and enter the name of the vendor.

Step 28 – Right click and select the assembly tab as the document thumbnail. This causes the assembly to be the default when someone searches to insert the part/assembly.