KOMPAS-3D V11 – Part 2
Here is the link to Part 1.
In Part 1, I mentioned that I had completed the first tutorial on part modeling and was able to create a piston. The next logical step was to do some assembly modeling and I started the “Creating Assemblies” tutorial. No sooner had I carried out the first few steps I realized that this was going to be a waste of my time because there I wasn’t really learning something I didn’t already know.
So I quit the tutorial and got back to modeling three more parts to go along with my piston: a piston pin, a connecting rod and an end cap for the connecting rod. Here is the connecting rod.
Click image for larger view
Nowhere close to a real world connecting rod, but I did try and have some fun modeling it. Take a closer look below.
Click image for larger view
The radius of the fillets applied to the pocket towards bottom right was half the depth of the pocket. So the modeling kernel removed the vertical face altogether. Fillets were applied to the recesses next to the two holes without a problem. The real fun will start when I get to surfacing.
Anyways, after modeling the parts, I created a new assembly, inserted the parts into it and mated them just like one would in any other history based parametric modeling system. I ended up with this assembly.
From the little modeling that I have done in KOMPAS-3D so far, I can say that the software is not difficult to use at all. Once you get accustomed to the way the user interface is laid out (which does not take a very long time) you can easily start modeling parts and assemblies. I arrived at this connecting rod assembly after going through one and a quarter tutorial. Of course, you would need to have some experience in a history based parametric modeling system to be able to do that. If you are a 2D user, then you may need to spend some time learning the basic concepts of history based parametric modeling. The documentation that comes with KOMPAS-3D can help you do that. There is a section called “General Information” which gives a very brief overview of the basic terms and principles used in history based parametric modeling.
I am not sure what to do next – go ahead and model the cylinder block and crankshaft or jump to something more interesting like surfacing. For those who are interested the KOMPAS-3D V11 part and assembly files along with Parasolid and ACIS files can be downloaded from here.