Creating single components

About single components

A single component is a ready-to-use resizable structure that represents a ready-to-use structural element -- for example, a panel, a slit, tongue, flap, among others. You can use a single component to:

Design tools

The design tools that are used to create and modify a single component include geometric objects, transformations, relations, dimensions, parameters and the Solver.

Control points. The ActiveX dimension

A single component has two active control points: the first is located at the origin of the coordinate system; the second is on the x-axis at a default distance of 1 inch (25.40 mm) to the right from the first. The two active points are dimensioned by an active system dimension parameterized by the parameter ActiveX. You can change the distance between the active points by changing the value of the ActiveX parameter.

When assembling a resizable design, you attach single components by using their active control points. The ActiveX value changes dynamically depending on the distance between the two control points at which you attach the component.

To start creating a single component

  1. Click New project , and drag down until you see a list of components.

  1. Click Single Component.

An empty drawing appears in which you will be drawing the component.

NOTE: You see the two active control points: the first at the origin of the coordinate system and the second at a distance of 1 inch (25.40 mm).

Changes in the interface

Notice that the user interface's icon are now red.

  1. (Optional) Change the value of parameter ActiveX. This is useful if you want to have larger default values.
  2. Begin drawing the base component, setting the necessary geometric relations between the component's objects, dimensions and parameters.
  3. Check if the structure is well-constrained.
  4. Make the parameters Global.
  5. When done, save the component (.evc file) in the Synergy Components folder.