Synchronous Technology In Solid Edge ST3 – Part 5

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In the previous part of this series I explained how I could move an ordered feature to the synchronous side of the feature tree. Let’s back up a little, undo the operation and get it back to the ordered side. Now suppose I add a third branch to the front side of the stem on the ordered side of the feature tree and then add two more sub branches.

The feature tree looks like this. The three features marked in red have been added.

Now for some reason, suppose I want to move both ordered branches to the synchronous side but leave all four ordered sub-branches on the ordered side. This is what happens when I move “Ordered Branch 2” to the Synchronous side.

As you can see, the first two ordered sub-branches also get moved. This is because moving an ordered feature to the synchronous side also moves all ordered features above it. To illustrate this graphically, the model now looks like this.

To solve this problem, I need to rearrange the ordered features manually. I push the first two sub-branches down to the bottom of the tree.

And now I move “Ordered Branch 2” towards the synchronous side.

So now we have all four ordered sub-branches on the ordered side and the two ordered branches moved to the synchronous side. To illustrate it graphically this is what the model now looks like, which is how I wanted it.

In the previous part of this series I called this a limitation of the current implementation of Synchronous Technology. Maybe limitation is too harsh a word because this technology is still evolving. I think in ST4 or some future version, the software may be able to reorder the ordered features automatically without altering the geometry.

In the next part I will explain why I chose to start the model in synchronous mode and not the ordered mode.

Part 6 >>