cosmosworks meshing problems

I'm having difficulties meshing an assembly of 11 parts. The meshing
completes without errors but when I display the mesh, the assembly is not
complete. Failure diagnoses shows nothing.

I've tried meshing the components individually and they mesh properly. I
would understand it if meshing would drop a part completely from the
assembly because of gaps in mating but why would it drop only a portion of a
part?

 

First of all check the KnowledgeBase articles on the SRAC website.

Second, when, in an assembly, one part will mesh and others won't although
each meshes on its own the following procedure may help:

1. In the SW assembly add split lines everywhere one part imprints on
another. This can be tedious and time consuming.
2. Check each part after splitting for meshability. Pay attention to any
sliver geometry you might have created. Note the default mesh size for each
component.
3. If the assembly still won't mesh on it's own use mesh control to cause
each part to have the mesh size you noted in 2.
4. Adjust the tolerance up and down. The higher tolerance will cause the
mesher to grab nodes across an interfaces while a smaller tolerance will
avoid merging nodes where this is not wanted.

 

I'd also suggest to save assembly as a part and merge all bodies, then try
meshing it. Meshing part is easier because mesher does not have to follow
boundaries between assembly components. As long as you don't have different
materials, meshed part or meshed assembly will produce equivalent FE models.

Paul

 

Thanks for the tips guys.
I was finally able to get a good mesh by controlling local areas with a
smaller mesh.
It takes 1 hour to compute...mind you, it's better than waiting 1/2 hour to
find an incomplete mesh!
Looks like I'll need a second computer.
Gee, I wonder if that would be breaking my license agreement? or is it
considered the 2nd computer is running Cosmos not Solidworks?
Oh well. it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.