Drawings from assembly problem

[Normsthename]

I am very new to Soildworks and still learning so please bear with me.....
My workflow has been to create parts and then build an assembly from the parts.
I can then create 2D drawings for all the indivdual parts.
A customer has given me a solidworks assembly to work from, but I don't have the separate part files in the assembly, I just have the assembly and not the parts that make up the assembly, not sure how they did that......
If I try to create a 2D drawing from the assembly I can only use the whole assembly with all the parts connected.
Is it possible to create separate drawings of the separate components in the assembly?
Failing that can I create the parts from the assembly???
I hope I have made myself clear........

Thanks

Andy

[CarbonKevin]

It's possible to save a whole assembly as a part, then each entity shows up as a solid, but doesn't contain any of it's own part data.

As far as isolating individual entities goes, you might be able to show or hide individual bodies...I don't really use this feature at all, sorry.

[Mike 1948]

I am very new to Soildworks and still learning so please bear with me.....
My workflow has been to create parts and then build an assembly from the parts.
I can then create 2D drawings for all the indivdual parts.
A customer has given me a solidworks assembly to work from, but I don't have the separate part files in the assembly, I just have the assembly and not the parts that make up the assembly, not sure how they did that......
If I try to create a 2D drawing from the assembly I can only use the whole assembly with all the parts connected.
Is it possible to create separate drawings of the separate components in the assembly?
Failing that can I create the parts from the assembly???
I hope I have made myself clear........

Thanks

Andy

I'm assuming you have a .sldprt file (not a .sldasm file) with mutiple bodies. Depending on how many bodies you have you can use configurations to create multiple parts within your part using the "delete body" command. Or if there are just a few parts, save the file multiple times with different names and delete the the bodies you don't need.
You can create individual drawings from the configurtations or the new individual parts.
I would try to get files of the original parts and assembly so they are all linked and update when changes are made.

Mike

[Normsthename]

Thanks for the suggestions
I finally managed to do the job, the client had used 'Top Down' method to create the assembly.
So a lot of the parts were drawn in the actual assembly.
I managed to get the parts out using the Split Command.
Trouble with his method was none of the parts are linked so to do a correction is a headache.
I think I will stick with my method of drawing all the parts and then assembling them for the time being

Andy

[3D Accuracy]

Hi Andy,

Actually Top Down design is a very powerful way to create assemblies and parts and I use it all the time in both Pro/E and SolidWorks.

Not being familiar with what you were working on it's hard to make a suggestion as to why your customer may have done it that way but imagine something like this: You have an assembly with 5 or 6 plates of steel stacked on top of each other.

In a Bottom Up assembly you would create each of the parts individually and stack them together in the assembly. If you want to change the length and width of the plates you'd go back to the individual parts and change each one ... a bit tedious.

In a Top Down assembly you would create each of the parts in the assembly referencing a sketch that establishes the length and width of each part. If you want to change the length and width of the plates you simply open the assembly, change the length and width dimension for the referencing sketch, regenerate the assembly and all your individual plate parts update automatically. Much faster and more powerful.

Not to mention that other components such as screws can be used to drive features in the plates such as tapped hole sizes and c'bore sizes. Change a screw size with another from a previously created design (family) table and the plates change along with it ... see where this is going?

When you create a Top Down assembly you will also have individual part files for each of the parts. It sounds to me like your customer gave you only half the available information and expected you to do a complete job.

Have a terrific weekend!
Robert
3D Accuracy

[Normsthename]

Thanks Robert, very interesting!

Andy

[3D Accuracy]

You're welcome Andy,

Have a terrific weekend!
Robert
3D Accuracy