Tutorial 2: Pro/E Wildfire 5.

0 Assembly and Motion Analysis

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering 22.321 Mechanical Design I
Written By: Chris Morand and Xiang Li
Revised by: Mark Damplo 8/26/2012
Objectives:
After completing the first tutorial and creating all of the required parts for a fourbar linkage, we can now
create an assembly. For a fourbar linkage, you should have part files for a base plate, crank, coupler, and
output link. The movable assembly allows us to configure a motion analysis and to observe the linkage in
action.
After completing this tutorial, you will be able to:
Build mechanisms with connections.
Convert unmovable assemblies into movable assemblies.
Simulate assembly movement using the drag functionality.
Create an exploded view of an assembly
Create an assembly drawing with a bill of materials.
Create servo motors.
Perform a motion analysis with one servo motor.
Create static images and movies of your motion runs.
Create trace curves, and measure and display motion plots.
Task 1 Assembling a fourbar linkage:
The first step in mechanism design is to simulate assembly motion. By assembling the movable
components using connections, you can create a movable system instead of one rigid body. At this point,
you should have models for a base plate, a crank, a coupler and a rocker, along with a pin and a bearing.
1. Start Pro/E Wildfire 5.0 by clicking Start > All Programs > Pro Engineer > Pro ENGINEER.
Click OK if any errors pop up to continue.
2. Set the working directory where you save the parts by selecting File > Set Working Directory
3. Click File > New > Assembly, enter a name, such as Linkage, and click OK.
4. Click Insert > Component > Assemble or the assemble component
the base plate file that you created earlier and open it.

button, and select

5. A toolbar will pop up at the top of the window. The first pull down menu should say User Defined.
Change the second pull down menu to Default and click the green check mark. Change the
orientation of the plate to obtain a better view of the hole locations for assembly (Figure 1).

Rev. 08262012 MD

Figure1 Base part

1. Click Insert > Component > Assemble or the assemble component
the bearing part file and open it.

button, and select

2. Change the first pull down menu to Pin. Make sure the connection is Connection_1. To check,
click on the Placement tab. To change the name of the connection, click the Placement tab and
select the name of the connection. When selected, a small renaming box will appear to the right
of the name.

3. Zoom in to each component individually and select the outer surface of the bearing, and the
inside surface of the first hole, as seen in Figure 2. This procedure will align the axes of these two
circular surfaces.

Figure 2 Selecting surfaces to make a connection

4. Next, it will appear as though the bearing is already fitting in the hole, but there is one more
constraint that has to be applied. Select the top surface of the bearing, and the top surface of the
plate, as seen in Figure 3. This step makes sure the bearing and plate surfaces will remain flush.

Rev. 08262012 MD

Figure 3 Selecting surfaces to complete the definition of the connection

5. If your results look similar to Figure 3, click the green check mark. If not, click Cancel and repeat
steps 1-4.
6. Click Insert > Component > Assemble or

, and select the pin part file and open it.

7. Make connections by following the same steps as 2-5 to connect the pin to the bearing. At this
point, it should be connection_2. If it is not, click the name to edit it. The connection TYPE
should be Pin. Align the outside surface of the pin and the inside of the bearing, and then align
the end of the pin to the bottom surface of the plate. The final result should be the pin sticking out
of the bearing, as seen in Figure 4.

Figure 4 Complete pin-bearing connection

8. Click OK when you are satisfied with the connection, or Cancel to start over.
9. Click Insert > Component > Assemble or

, and select the crank link.

10. Make connections by following the same steps as 2-5 to connect the pin hole in the crank link to
the top end of the pin. By now you should have a decent grasp on basic pin assembling. The end
result of the coupler assembly should look like Figure 5.

Rev. 08262012 MD

Figure 5 Complete crank-pin connection

11. At this point you should be able to finish the rest of the constraints using this same procedure. Fit
a bearing into the other end of the crank, connect a pin to it which will go into the coupler. This
coupler will connect to another pin that is pointing back down towards the plate. Connect a
bearing to the end of this pin with another bearing. Insert that bearing into the rocker, and connect
that rocker back to the plate.
For the final bearing, because it must be constrained to both the last pin and the base plate, you
must make one connection, and then under the Placement tab, choose New Set and define the
final pair of axis and translation constraints as you have been doing for every other component.
12. The end result should look like Figure 6.

Figure 6 Complete linkage assembly.

13. To check the functionality of the working linkage, click the drag tool
from the top toolbar and
click anywhere on the crank. Move the mouse to check the motion of the linkage. Click Close to
finish.
14. To get a better visual representation of the linkage, you can add color to the assembly by clicking
each component and then clicking the arrow next to the Appearance Gallery button
the top toolbar. In the end, your assembly should look like Figure 7.

Rev. 08262012 MD

in

Figure 7 Complete and colored linkage assembly

Task 2 Creating an assembly drawing with an exploded view:
1. With the assembly model open, select File > New > select Drawing and name it the same name
as the assembly file, keep Use default template checked on and select OK.
2. Under Specify Template, select empty with format. Click Browse next to the Format option,
navigate to where you have saved the new Pro/E format, and select linkages_proe_format.frm.
This file is the same format that was downloaded and used in Tutorial 1. Click Open and select
OK.
3. Click the General icon which is on the layout tab.
4. In the message window below the tool bar it will say Select CENTER POINT for drawing view.
Click on any spot near the center of the drawing to drop down the first view.
5. The Drawing View dialog box will appear. While in the View Type category, under Model view
names, select Front and click Apply. A front view of your part should appear. Navigate to the
View Display category, and next to Display style, select No Hidden. Now click Apply and
Close.
Now that the assembly view is inserted, its time to create a Bill of Materials. The Bill of Materials is
essentially a shopping list of everything needed to manufacture the linkage, including raw material (i.e.
aluminum) and hardware (i.e. pins and bearings):
6. Click the Table tab at the top of the screen and click the Table button
7. Click where you would like the top left corner of the table to be. The next step will be to click
where you want the width of each column to be. We want this Bill of Materials to have 3 columns,
for Item Name, Description, and Quantity. Middle click once the three columns are spaced.
These widths can be edited later.
8. Next, it will ask for the height of each row. Click a reasonable location for a row with one line of
text, and then middle click to finish. Extra rows will be added manually as needed.
9. To add uniformly sized rows, click the Add Row button in the top toolbar, and click on the bottom
line of the current row. To edit the height or width of a row or column, select a cell and click the
Height and Width button at the top of the screen to adjust.

Rev. 08262012 MD

10. Fill out the table as needed by double clicking in each cell and editing txt. Under Item Name,
create a short name that best describes the part (i.e. Aluminum Plate or Pin 1). Under
Description, provide specific dimensions and details that would be required to order the correct
material/hardware.
11. Format the drawing using all of the instructions and tips provided in Tutorial 1. By now, you
should have a general understanding of how these drawings are created and edited. Once
finished, Save the drawing and close.
In more complex assemblies, its helpful to create an exploded view to get a better understanding of the
connections and placement of components.
12. Open up your assembly model, go to File > Save a Copy, and assign a new name (i.e.
Linkage_Exploded). In the dialogue box that appears, keep all of the default options, and select
Save Copy and Open.
13. In the top toolbar, click View > Explode > Explode View. You should get something similar to
Figure 8. This figure is not a desired exploded view, as the placement of the components seems
very random and unorganized.

Figure 8 Initial messy exploded view

14. Go to View > Explode > Edit Position. Click the first component you would like to edit. Once
clicked, a small coordinate system will appear within that component. Click on the axis which you
would like the part to follow (aligned with each hole/pin/bearing), hold and drag until the part is in
a better location. Once moved, click a new component and repeat. Ultimately you want to end up
with a more organized exploded view, similar to Figure 9. When finished, click the green check
mark button.

Rev. 08262012 MD

Figure 9 Clean exploded view

15. Once the exploded view has been cleaned up, click save, follow steps 1 through 11 again to
create another drawing of this exploded assembly.
16. Instead of using a Bill of Materials, the exploded assembly should include a Parts List. Whereas
the Bill of Materials was a list of raw materials and hardware, the Parts List is a list of the final
manufactured components (i.e. Crank, Base Plate, etc.). The Parts List also contains the
hardware used in the final assembly. The three columns should be used for Part Name, Item
Number, and Quantity.
17. Now, we must add balloons to label all of the parts from the Parts List. Under the Annotate tab,
select the Create Balloon button
. In the Menu Manager, select With Leader and click
Make Note. Now, make sure On Entity is selected, click the edge of the first part you would like
to label, and middle mouse click where you would like to place the balloon. In the Enter Note
dialogue, enter the corresponding number from the Parts List, and press enter twice to finish.
Repeat this step for every part.
18. Use the instructions and tips from tutorial 1 to format the drawing as needed.
Task 3 Motion analysis - defining the servo motor:
As part of your mechanism analysis, you can use a servo motor to study the kinematic behavior.
1. Open your assembly model. Select Applications > Mechanism in the top toolbar. Click the
Define Servo Motors button

from the right toolbar.

2. Select the axis of the first bearing inserted, as shown in Figure 10.

Rev. 08262012 MD

Figure 10 Axis selection for servo motor

3. Click the Profile tab [1], select Velocity [2] from the pull down menu, and set the velocity to
360 deg/sec [3], as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11 Servo motor definition entries

4. Click Apply and OK.
Task 5 Performing the motion analysis:
1. Click the Mechanism Analysis button

from the right toolbar.

2. Set the values as shown in Figure 12.

Rev. 08262012 MD

Figure 12 Analysis definition entries

3. Click Run. As you can see, the linkage is moving.
4. Click OK.
Task 6 Playback of motion analysis results:
1. In the model tree, expand Playbacks, right click AnalysisDefinition1, you can save or play it.
2. Click Play. As seen in Figure 13, you can view the animation or save the animation as a movie by
clicking the capture button.

Figure 13 Animation options

Task 7 Tracing the curve of motion analysis results:
To provide a plot of the displacement of a point on the coupler, we must first add a point to the coupler
part file.
1. Click File > Open and select your coupler link part file.
2. In the Model Tree on the left, expand the Extrude 1 section. Right click on Sketch 1 and select
Edit Definition.
3. In the right tool box, click the arrow to the right of the Create Points tool
Create Axes tool

Rev. 08262012 MD

, and select the

4. Click somewhere along the center reference line of the link. Click the middle mouse button to exit
the create geometric points tool. Double click on the dimension of the point to locate it in the
center of the link. Your point should look like Figure 14.

Figure 14 Point located along center of link

5. Press the check mark button to exit the sketch, and Save the file.
6. In the top tool bar, turn on Display Axes button

. In the right tool bar, select the Create

Datum Point tool

, and select the newly created Axis in the center of the coupler. Drag the
green marker to an edge of the coupler and set the offset to 0. Save the coupler part file and exit.

7. Return to the Linkage assembly and regenerate the assembly by clicking the
top tool box menu.

button on the

8. Turn on the Display Points button

and disable the Display Axes button
you created on the coupler should appear.

. The point

9. From the top menu, select Insert >Trace Curve

10. Refer to Figure 15. On the Trace Curve menu, select the base as the Paper Part [1] and then pick
the point you created [2], open and select AnalysisDefinition1 [3] and then click Preview [4].
Click OK to finish.

Rev. 08262012 MD

10

Figure 15 Trace Curve menu selections

Task 8 Recording the motion analysis results:

1. Click the Measure button

from the right toolbar.

2. Click the New Measurement button

16.

to add a measure definition. Follow the steps in Figure

Figure 16 Selections for measure definition

Rev. 08262012 MD

11

3. Select the previous measure (i.e. XcomponentofPNT) and AnalysisDefinition1 and click the
button at the top of the window.
4. The plot shown should look similar to Figure 17.

Figure 17 Example results for motion analysis

5. In the Graphtool window, by clicking File > Export Excel, you can save the data to open in
Microsoft Excel and plot in Excel to take the displacement bias off.
6. In the similar way, you can plot the velocity and acceleration of either the X or Y component of the
motion.

Rev. 08262012 MD

12