Tutorials PartCraft help Walkthroughs
Build an assembly with joints
Start an assembly from a part, insert copies and other part files, join them with rigid, revolute and slider joints on flat faces, center joints on axes, edit a part in place and save the assembly.
Written for PartCraft 0.3. The same help is inside the app: press F1.
An assembly puts parts together. In PartCraft, joints place the parts: each joint sits on a flat face of each of two parts and puts them face to face. A revolute joint lets one part turn, a slider lets it slide, a rigid joint holds it.
Start an assembly
- Build a part with a solid (an empty part cannot go into an assembly: "Build a solid first, then put it into an assembly.").
- Choose Assembly in the toolbar.
The status bar says "Assembly started with Part1 as the grounded part. Insert more parts (Add copy, Insert, or Edit › Duplicate), then Joint them." The left panel now lists Parts and Joints, and the toolbar shows the assembly tools. The sketch and feature tools hide.
The first part is grounded: it never moves, and everything else is placed relative to it.
Insert parts
- Add copy inserts another copy of the selected part (or of the last one). Copies share one part: edit it and every copy changes.
- Duplicate (⌘DCtrl+D) in the Edit group does the same for the selected part. ⌘CCtrl+C and ⌘VCtrl+V copy a part and paste it beside the others, in this assembly or another one; ⇧⌘VCtrl+Shift+V pastes it in the same place. See Copy, paste and duplicate.
- Insert inserts a part from a
.partcraft.jsonfile on your computer. The part is copied into the assembly.
New parts appear 20 mm to the right of everything already there, and stay there until a joint places them. A part with no joint can also be moved by hand: typed values or arrows you drag (see Parts list, exploded views and moving parts).
Join two parts
- Choose Joint or press JJ. The right panel says New joint.
- Click a flat face on the first part. It highlights.
- Click a flat face on the second part.
The second part jumps so its face lies against the first part's face, facing it. The joint appears under Joints, for example "Revolute1", and the right panel shows its settings.
- If both faces were made by revolves, the joint starts as revolute; otherwise rigid. Change it after.
- Curved faces cannot be picked: "That face is curved. Pick a flat face (to turn about a hole or a revolve's axis, choose it in the joint afterwards)."
- EscEsc cancels a joint you have started (or click a part in the list on the left).
Joint settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Type | Rigid (held together), Revolute (turns about the axis square to the faces), Slider (slides along that axis) |
| Angle (°) | Turns the second part about the joint's axis. For revolute joints a slider below it, from −180 to 180, lets you drag the motion |
| Offset (mm) | Moves the second part along the axis, away from the face (negative values push into it). For slider joints a drag slider is shown |
| Centre on (for each side) | Where the joint's axis crosses the face: "The face's own origin", the axis of a revolve ("Axis of Revolve1") or one hole's axis ("Hole1, hole 2") |
"The face's own origin" is the part's origin projected onto the face, which is often not where you want the parts to line up. For round parts and pins, set Centre on to the revolve's or hole's axis on both sides: the axes then line up, like a concentric mate.
Example: two flanges bolted face to face
- Open the flange part (a revolve with a circular pattern of holes) and choose Assembly.
- Choose Add copy.
- Press JJ, click the flat face of the first flange's disc (the face the bolt holes start from), then the same face on the second flange. The faces were made by the revolve, so the joint is revolute.
- Set Centre on to "Axis of Revolve1" for both sides. The flanges now share an axis.
- Type
22.5in Angle (°) to line up the bolt holes, or drag the slider.
Work with the parts
Click a part in the view or in the list to select it. The right panel shows its part name, how many copies there are, its volume, its joints, and whether it is grounded, set by its joints, or "Not joined: stays where it was put". Buttons:
- Edit this part (or Edit part in the toolbar, or double-click the part in the list): opens the part for editing;
- Insert a copy;
- Make it the grounded part;
- Remove: also removes its joints, after asking.
An assembly keeps at least one part: "An assembly keeps at least one part. Close it instead."
Edit a part in place
- Select a part and choose Edit part. The part opens with its history; the heading says "Bracket (in Bracket assembly)".
- Change it like any part.
- Choose Back in the toolbar. The assembly updates: every copy of that part changes, and joints on faces made by sketch edges follow.
Bringing the change back is one step in the assembly's undo list.
Undo, save and close
- The assembly has its own undo list: ⌘ZCtrl+Z and ⌘YCtrl+Y work on joints, inserts and settings.
- Save or ⌘SCtrl+S downloads
<assembly name>.partcraft-asm.json, with every part inside it. Open it later with Open. - Close closes the assembly and returns to the part you started from. If the assembly is unsaved it asks: Cancel, Discard the assembly or Save first.
- To rename the assembly, click empty space so nothing is selected and change Name in the right panel.
Joint problems
- A part no joint reaches is listed as free and the panel says "Bracket2 is not joined to the grounded part, so it stays where it was put."
- Joints must form a tree from the grounded part. A joint that closes a loop is not solved: "Revolute3 closes a loop and is off by 2.000 mm. Joints in a loop are not solved yet; remove one."
- If a face or axis a joint uses is gone after editing a part: "The face this joint uses is gone from Bracket." Remove the joint and make it again.