[LDCad] Aligning parts using rotation scripts

[David Manley]

4. Two part rotation

The rotation alignment script can also be used to rotate two parts and identify the points at which the parts can be connected. This scenario was the primary driver for the scripts – the single part rotation came as a consequence of implementing the two part rotation.

This description starts with a simple test case. The benefit of doing this is that the concepts can be more readily illustrated without having superfluous parts acting as a distraction.

Description

Six parts are required for the two part rotation action, as illustrated in Figure 11.

1. a part around which the first part will be rotated
   
2. an alignment part for the first part to align with the second rotating part
   
3. a part around which the second part will be rotated
   
4. an alignment part for the second part to align with the first rotating part
   
5. the first part to be rotated
   
6. the second part to be rotated
   

Figure 11 – Two part rotation, reference parts

The parts which are used for the purpose of rotation and alignment are selected first (Figure 12). The premise of selecting these parts first is that there is less “noise” from the highlighted selected parts than if the parts which are to be rotated were selected first (which could make it harder to subsequently select the rotation and alignment parts).


Figure 12 – Two part rotation, rotation and alignment selection

Once the parts to be rotated have been selected, the menu item Scripts/align parts/Rotate two parts is selected (Figure 13) …


Figure 13 – Rotate two parts menu item

… and the parts will be rotated immediately. There are usually two potential points at which the parts could be joined. Therefore, one part will be rotated to one of the positions and the other part will be rotated to the second position. A dialog is displayed allowing the user to choose which one is the desired position (Figure 14).


Figure 14 – Rotate two parts, choose alignment position

Figure 15 and Figure 16 Illustrate the difference between selecting the first and second position for this example model.


Figure 15 – Rotate two parts, first position selected


Figure 16 – Rotate two parts, second position selected

Once the parts have been rotated into the desired position, any of the rotation or alignment parts which are surplus to requirements can be deleted.