Assembly features are like part features except they can affect multiple parts, are created in the assembly environment, and are saved in the assembly file. Assembly feature definitions are not passed down to the component.
The workflow and the dialog boxes are the same as for part features, but controls for operations which are not supported are disabled. In general, assembly features support material-removal operations.
Assembly features include chamfers, fillets, sweeps, revolves, extrudes, and holes. They also include the work features and sketches used to create them. You can edit, add to, suppress, or delete assembly features. You can also rollback the state of the assembly features and add and remove components that participate in the feature.
While working with assembly features you can control which parts they affect. Parts affected by assembly features are called participants. Participants are listed under the related assembly feature in the assembly browser. Expand the assembly feature in the browser to see the participants. Use the participant nodes to add and remove components that participate in a selected assembly feature.
Once a feature is created, you can easily add additional components to it. For example, consider an assembly model that has two parts offset from one another. A single assembly hole feature goes through both parts. If you fill the gap created by the offset with another part, that part will not be affected by the assembly hole feature. You can add this part as a participant of the hole, so that it has the hole as well.
When you remove a participant, the participant name is deleted from the browser and the component is no longer affected by the modifications made to it by the assembly feature.
Features defined in an assembly are used to:
Processes you can describe with assembly features are those that must be applied following the assembly of the piece parts. This is especially true for components that require adjustments after a model is assembled. For example, when match drilling and pinning, the holes can only be drilled after everything is positioned and sized as required.
Components can be constrained to assembly features. You cannot, however, place a constraint between an assembly feature on one part and the same assembly feature on another part.
You can roll back the state of assembly features to view the effect of each assembly feature on the model or to place additional assembly features in the desired context.
When rolled back, newly created assembly features are added above the End of Features (EOF) symbol.
Because assembly features reside with the assembly, they will be detailed in an assembly drawing, not a component drawing.
Assembly presentations can capture and manipulate assembly components that participate in assembly features. Presentations will not represent the process of applying assembly features in the assembly.