Explode Component Command

Converts a component to its constituent parts (materials, welds, bolts).
  • Step-By-Step
  • Tips and Tricks
  • Related Tools

The members whose custom components you want to explode need to be displayed in a solid form before you begin this operation.

1 . Preselect a component to enable the Dynamic Components contextual page and click the Explode Component icon found in the Modify section. Skip step 2.

Alternative : Invoke Explode Component using the Find Tool by searching the command name and clicking the Explode Component icon, which is pictured above. Proceed to step 2.

2 . Explode Component gives you Select Item(s) mouse bindings and prompts you to select the one or more custom components that you want to explode. The custom components can be from different members. Press the Enter key or right-click ( Menu ) and choose " OK " on the menu to signal that you are done selecting materials. Go to step 4.

3 . What you need to do next depends on the choice made to User and Site Options > Modeling > " Automatically process after modeling operation ."

Possibility 1 : If " Automatically process ... " is set to ' Process and create solids ', then Process and Create Solids will take place automatically. Skip this step and go to step 5.

Possibility 2 : If " Automatically process ... " is set to ' Do nothing ' or ' Process ', each of the members whose components you selected (in step 1 or step 3) will be marked for required phase of process or solids creation and their associated member will be displayed in stick form . You need to Process > Process and Create Solids before continuing to step 5.

4 . The components you selected (in step 1 or step 3) will be erased, but their constituent materials, welds and bolts will be preserved as subparts of the same members that the components originally belonged to. These exploded subparts of the component will be preserved through subsequent invocations of Process and Create Solids and may be edited, cut, bent, etc.

After: ' Default ' is the selection filter . The same results would be produced with the ' Legacy Default ' filter. Compare this example with the " before " example shown in step 1.

 

  • You can explode one or more components at a time.
  • Be aware that the ' Default ' connection filter will allow you to select entire system connections ( connection components ) as well as custom components. The ' Custom Components ' selection filter, on the other hand, limits your selection to custom components. You cannot use Explode Components on a system connection.
  • Most custom components can be selected by clicking a material that was generated by the custom component. When you click one material, all of that custom component's materials, bolts, etc. become selected.
  • After Explode Component , the component itself will no longer exist, but each of its constituent parts will remain a subpart of the member that the component was added to.
  • Not all custom components are able to be exploded. For example, custom components that add holes or cuts without adding material cannot be exploded.
  • You may want to explode a component in order to keep it "as is" without making it " Graphical ."
  • To find a custom component in the Model Tree , set " View By " in the Model Tree to either ' Member Number ' or ' Member Piecemark '. The custom component will be listed under a member, after its connection components ( Left End and Right End ), before its submaterials, welds and bolts.