Pro/HARNESS provides tools such as bends, twists and breaks which help to manipulate a flattened cabling harness. This example will demonstrate how to use these tools to modify the flattened harness of the four connector assembly in Figure 1.
Figure 2 shows flat_harness.asm, in which the right branch will be bent and twisted, and the middle branch will be shortened.
A bend is a feature which turns a cable segment within the plane in which the harness is flattened.
- To bend the right branch, select Flatten > Bend > Insert and select the segment shown in Figure 3.
- Enter 3 inches for the bend radius and -45 (to bend clockwise) for the bend angle. Since the segment is initially horizontal, -45 degrees will make the segment bend as shown below in Figure 4.
A twist is a feature which rotates a cable segment out of the plane in which the harness is flattened. A twist can only be inserted on a segment which already contains a bend.
- Select Flatten > Twist > Add and pick the bend which you just created
- Enter a twist angle of 90 degrees. The result is shown in Figure 5. Notice how the right segment has been twisted out of the plane.
Breaks can be used to shorten a straight cable segment.
- Select Flatten > Break > Insert and select the segment shown in Figure 6
- Enter a length of 10 inches for the break. This will remove 10 inches from the segment and replace it with an X shaped break symbol. A new dimension will be created to represent the distance from the beginning of the segment to the location of the break.
Figure 7 shows the completed flattened harness with Thick Cables turned on in the Environment menu.
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