The UCSs (User Coordinate Systems) that you create and associate with the components of your solid model are crucial to correct simulation. Be sure to pay close attention to the information about position and orientation of the UCSs. If you are having trouble, review the introduction and overview topic. The UCS checklist provides a summary of all the UCSs and their positions, and also contains links to full documentation on each type of UCS.
Here are a few general tips for creating UCSs:
- Although you can create a UCS from within almost all of the machine design dialogs (via the Create UCS and go to alignment wizard option). It is usually better to do this as a separate step before opening the dialog.
- Be sure to give each UCS that you create with a name that describes what it is used for. As you work with the machine design, it's much easier to remember that, for example, Tool_UCS defines the tool location, rather than UCS3.
- Usually only one UCS is visible while you work on the MD file. One way to see them all and to work out which is which is to open the Local Coordinate System dialog. When open, this dialog displays all the UCSs currently defined for the machine. The UCS selected in the Existing UCS menu is highlighted in red in the graphics window, so you can select them one at a time to highlight a specific UCS and compare it to others.
Important: Ensure you click Cancel to close this dialog if you didn't really want to assign a UCS to a particular solid.