Manually Creating an Electrical Route Assembly
The following
describes the procedure for manually creating an electrical route sub-assembly.
You can also create an electrical route sub-assembly by importing a from-to list.
You set different
options and start the route differently depending on whether you want
the connectors to be components of the main assembly or the route sub-assembly.
After inserting the connectors, you sketch the path between them. Optionally,
you can also specify electrical attributes for each route segment.
Preparations
Select or clear the following
Routing Options:
Automatically
route on drop of flanges/connectors. Creates a new route sub-assembly
and starts a route when you drop an electrical connector into an assembly.
The connector becomes a component of the new route sub-assembly. Clear
to insert the connector as a component of the main assembly. See Placement
of Electrical Connectors.
Automatically
route on drop of clips. Generates a spline from the current route
end through a drag-and-drop clip when
the clip is placed in a route. Clear to insert clips as components of
the main assembly.
See General Procedure for Electrical
Cables for additional preparations required before creating
the route sub-assembly.
Procedure
To create the route:
Start the
route by doing one of the following:
In
Routing Options, make sure Automatically route on drop of flanges/connectors
is selected.
Insert
an electrical connector into the main assembly by dragging it from the
Design Library, the File
Explorer, an open part window, or Windows
Explorer, or by clicking Insert
Component 
(Assembly toolbar).
The Design
Library opens to the appropriate folder when you click Start
by Drag/Drop 
(Electrical toolbar).
The Auto
Route PropertyManager appears.
The connectors
are inserted as components of the main assembly.
Right-click
the connection point on the connector where you want the route to start,
and select Start Route. (To make
the connection points visible, click View
Routing Points 
(View toolbar), or View,
Routing Points.)
Set
options in the Route
Properties PropertyManager, then click 
.
To start a route from a component
that does not have a connection point, click Start
at Point 
(Electrical toolbar). The PropertyManager
appears so you can create a connection point.
The following happens:
A 3D
sketch opens in a new route sub-assembly.
The new route subassembly is created, and
appears in the FeatureManager design tree as [Harness<n>-<assembly_name>] 
.
A stub of cable appears, extending from the
connector you just placed.
If you clear Save
route assembly externally in Routing Options, the
new route subassembly is created as a virtual component.
Drag additional electrical connectors and routing
hardware into the route sub-assembly as needed.
As each connector is added to the route, a short line is added to the
sketch (from the connector's connection point (CPoint)
outward) and a length of cable is generated along the line.
Sketch the path between components using any combination
of the following methods:
Use cable clips or other
routing hardware to generate splines.
Sketch lines, splines, and fillets using 3D
sketch tools.
If you want to assign electrical attributes to
the route segments:
Click Edit Wires 
(Electrical toolbar) or Routing,
Electrical, Edit
Wires.
Specify the wires and cables to use.
Select the path for each wire or cable core.
Click .
Exit the sketch.
The following appear in the FeatureManager
design tree of the route sub-assembly:
Components
folder containing the connector and clip parts you placed
in the route.
Route
Parts folder containing the cable that was created
as a virtual component when you exited the sketch.
Route
feature containing the 3D sketch that defines
the path of the cable. The 3D sketch is related parametrically to the
components in the route sub-assembly. If you move a component, the cable
updates automatically.
Click Edit
Route 
(Electrical toolbar) to edit an existing
electrical route.
Related Topics
General
Procedure for Electrical Cables
Auto Route
Edit Wires