Updating Assemblies

You can update an assembly that is open in SOLIDWORKS to reflect minor changes from CircuitWorks. Updating an assembly is faster than rebuilding and retains SOLIDWORKS changes such as new mates.

  • CircuitWorks ignores changes to the size and shape of components.
  • Updating an assembly in which a component is moved or deleted fails if the component is fixed in place or constrained by a mate.
  • Suppressed components participate in assembly updates.

To update an assembly:

  1. In SOLIDWORKS, open an assembly previously built by CircuitWorks.
  2. In CircuitWorks, make the component changes or open a new ECAD file containing the changes.
  3. Click Build Model (Tools toolbar).
  4. In the dialog box, click Yes to update the open assembly.

    If the assembly in SOLIDWORKS and the board in CircuitWorks have different names, a confirmation box appears. Click Yes only if the assembly and the board represent the same design.

    CircuitWorks compares the assembly in SOLIDWORKS to the ECAD file in CircuitWorks and displays the results in the CircuitWorks Compare pane. Each new, deleted, and moved component is listed.

  5. To update the SOLIDWORKS assembly, do one:
    • To apply changes selectively, select one or more changes in the comparison list, right-click the selection, and click Apply selected change(s) to the SOLIDWORKS Assembly <assembly_name> . Changes you apply are removed from the list.
    • To apply all changes, right-click and click Apply all these changes to the SOLIDWORKS Assembly <assembly_name>.
    The CircuitWorks status bar displays Updating Components...
    To cancel the update process, click Close in the upper-right corner of the Compare pane and click Yes to confirm.
  6. To close the Compare pane, click Close .
  7. In SOLIDWORKS, save the updated assembly.