You use the Attachment toolset to add attachment points and lines to your model. You use attachment points to define point-based fasteners, inertia, springs, dashpots, loads or boundary conditions, or connector points for a connector definition in your model; and you use attachment lines to define discrete fasteners. Fasteners model point-to-point connections (such as spot welds, rivets, and bolts) and are described in “About fasteners,” Section 29.1. You can create attachment points on the assembly or on a part. You can create attachment lines on only the assembly.
You can use the Attachment toolset to create attachment points and lines by selecting Tools
Attachment from the main menu bar and selecting one of the available menu options. In the Interaction module you can use the tools in the module toolbox to create attachment points and lines. The three attachment point tools are also available from the Property module and Part module toolboxes. The Attachment toolset provides the following tools for creating attachment points:
Create attachment points by picking or reading from a file
This tool allows you to create attachment points by picking each point from the viewport or reading the coordinates of the points from a file. For detailed instructions, see “Creating attachment points by picking or reading from a file,” Section 59.3.
Create attachment points by choosing a direction and a spacing
This tool allows you to create attachment points by defining a line and specifying the number of points along the line or specifying the spacing of the points along the line. For detailed instructions, see “Creating attachment points by choosing a direction and a spacing,” Section 59.4.
Create attachment points by choosing edges and offsets
This tool allows you to create simple patterns of attachment points on edges, on faces, or along directions by selecting a single edge or connected edges and then defining pattern parameters. For detailed instructions, see “Creating patterns of attachment points based on edges,” Section 59.5.
The Attachment toolset provides the following tool for creating attachment lines:
Create attachment lines by projecting points
This tool allows you to create attachment lines by specifying points and then projecting them through multiple faces. Attachment lines connect one or more faces. You can create attachment lines only on the assembly; you cannot create attachment lines on a part. Creating attachment lines is a three-step process:
Select the points to project.
Project the points onto a source face along the normal to the surface or along a specified direction.
From the intersection of the projected points with the source face, project the attachment lines to the target faces along the normal to the source face for a specified distance.
Attachment points and lines are features, and they regenerate when you change the model; for example, after you add a cut feature. The regeneration may affect the projection of attachment points and lines and change the total number of fastening points and lines created by the attachment feature. In addition, the sets that contain attachments may be affected by the regeneration. Therefore, you should determine that your attachment points and lines are behaving as expected after you change the model. You should also check that any prescribed conditions that you have applied to your attachment points and lines, such as loads and boundary conditions, have not changed.