SOLIDWORKS: Make Independent Context References

Make Independent Context References

In my previous blog article, I wrote about Assembly Propagation and how it gave us some in context references. Though this automatic update is fine for our initial designs, some customers need to break these references for release and production.

Here’s the link to my previous article >>

In our bracket part, we made a hole. That hole is connected to our assembly and now we need to delete the in-context reference.

By Right-Clicking on Cut-Extrude2-> we get the option to “Make Independent”

This Breaks the references, and the feature is now editable at the part level. Use caution here, as you may have to redefine a sketch plane, and re-dimension your sketches as all that previous information may have been tied to your assembly geometry. Sense the sketches are in the correct location, using the “Fully Define Sketch” option is a quick way to dimension and fully constrain your sketch again.

Our Yoke-Male and Yoke-Female parts only had the Fillet feature (IE no sketches or planes needed to create the part) Propagated down to our part level. By using the “Make Independent” option, it converted much easier and remembered what our edge selection was.

Once we get the in-context reference links out of our part, we need to go back to the assembly and Delete the Features that now exist at the part level. There is no need to keep them as the link is broken and cannot be repaired.

Our final Assembly Tree:

For more information on how to cut ties to your External References please follow this SOLIDWORKS link.
 

Craig Maurer
Applications Engineer
Computer Aided Technology