Summary

<aside> <img src="/icons/pencil_blue.svg" alt="/icons/pencil_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Main Takeaways

  1. It will take you a little bit of extra time to name your parts appropriately. However, if you don’t future you will be very confused and very sad. Please be mindful of future you.
  2. Actual sheet to document parts for MK3 is here
    1. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LPqlHojS9yd3qwSgp187uwF9rZ2HzgXD4DY1o7WUEF4/edit?gid=664037867#gid=664037867
  3. If you are reading this, you should also read the wave linking tutorial for good measure.
  4. Every electrical component that needs to be mechanically interfaced should be in this sheet
    1. Ie, every enclosure, HVD, TSMP
    2. You don’t need to put every individual resistor, inductor, etc
    3. Ideally, do not put every PCB IF THERE IS AN ENCLOSURE. This will only slow down the CAD
      1. Proper procedure is to design around the PCB in a layout file and then export the resulting components (minus the PCB) to an assembly that can then be integrated into the whole car CAD </aside>

Recommended Way of making 99% of parts

Step 0: The why

Often, we have parts which interface each other. We would like to be able to make changes in one place and reference the geometry in 1 place. If we do this in a normal parametric model like we are used to, we end up with a lot of circular wave links which break

The other reason is that this avoids loading the whole feature tree and make the car load a lot faster

Step 1: The layout file

Create a layout file that has the correct part number, but a -L at the end. This layout file will probably contain a whole assembly worth of parts, but it doesn’t have to.

Step 2: Do the modeling

In the layout file, you do not care about cleanliness. Add in the whole chassis as a part, then wavelink it. The layout file will be an assembly (because it has parts like the chassis in it) and the part (because it will have things like sketches and extrudes). Just make the parts however you can. You should have multiple bodies in here.

Step 3: Making the final parts

For this step you should already have all the bodies and such that you want to become parts. Now what you do is create new empty parts in this layout file, each one corresponding to a body you want to become a part. You then open each of these empty parts, wave link the body into the part, then close the part. The part should only have 1 feature: the wave link.

Step 4: Adding the parts to the assembly

Now go to the full car assembly. Add the parts that you just created (not the layout file, the other ones). These parts should again only have 1 feature in them, the wavelink. They should be positioned and aligned automatically because they will by default be at the origin.

Part Naming Convention

Parts Master Spreadsheet

Starting in the 2024-25 season, PRE is employing a new naming convention for non-purchased parts that are designed in house. Each part/ assembly is named in the 4 part code in the format below:

XXX-##-##-###