It is possible to create family table driven assembly UDFs which contain components and instances of these components. The components themselves may contain instances, which allows for the creation of more powerful assembly UDFs. Assembly UDFs which contain assembly features and assembly components can easily be created to also contain instances with different feature dimensions and component instances. This suggested technique demonstrates how to create an assembly UDF which contains a bolt and washer placed in a hole. Different instances of the UDF will contain different instances of the bolt and washer.
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1. The final plate with the washer and bolt is displayed in Figure 1. The plate assembly contains three components: plate.prt, washer.prt, and bolt.prt. The family tables for the washer and bolt are displayed in Figure 2 and Figure 3, respectively.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
2. Create an assembly named plate.asm with default datum planes and a default coordinate system. Assemble plate.prt by aligning the default coordinate system of the plate with the default coordinate system of the assembly. Create a linear assembly hole feature selecting the top surface of the plate as the placement plane and the side and front surfaces of the plate as the reference planes. Type offset values of 7.5 and a diameter of 0.5. The plate with the hole is displayed in Figure 4.
Figure 4
3. Assemble the washer to the plate by aligning the axis of the washer to the axis of the hole, and mating the bottom surface of the washer to the top surface of the plate. The assembly with the washer is displayed in Figure 5. Next, assemble the bolt to the assembly by aligning the axis of the bolt to the axis of the hole, and mating the top surface of the washer to the bottom surface of the bolt head. The assembly with the washer and bolt is displayed in Figure 6.
Figure 5
Figure 6
4. To create the UDF, click Tools > UDF Library > Create. Type the name washer_w_bolt for the UDF and click Stand Alone > Done from the UDF OPTIONS menu. Select the hole, washer and bolt as the features to add. The features can be selected from the Model Tree, or selected in the graphics area. Click Done from the SELECT FEAT menu and Done/Return from the UDF FEATS menu to finish the selection process.
Type the appropriate prompts for each reference and click Done/Return from the SET PROMPT menu. Click Var Dims > Define from the UDF: washer_w_bolt, Standalone dialog box. Select the offset dimensions of the hole, click Done/Return from the VAR DIMS menu, and enter the prompts for each dimension.
To create the family table, click Family Table > Define from the UDF: washer_w_bolt, Standalone dialog box. Click Insert > Columns, select the dimension for the diameter of the hole, and type diameter as the symbol for the dimension. Click Component in the Add Item area of the Family Items, Generic: WASHER_W_BOLT dialog box, select the washer and bolt, and click OK. Type the instance names and the appropriate values for each parameter for each instance as seen in Figure 7. Click OK in the Family Table dialog box, click OK from the UDF: washer_w_bolt, Standalone dialog box to finish the creation of the UDF, and finally click Done/Return from the UDF menu.
Figure 7
5. To place the UDF in the assembly, click Insert > User-Defined Feature, select the UDF, click Open, select an instance and click Open, click OK from the Insert User-Defined Feature dialog box. The User Defined Feature Placement dialog box opens. Select the appropriate reference for each reference shown in the References of Original Features list. Next, click Variables and type values for the hole offset dimensions. Click 
to close the User Defined Feature Placement dialog box. From the Intersected Comps dialog box, click AutoAdd > OK > Done to finish placing the UDF.
Repeat this process to place each instance. The assembly with all the UDF instances is shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8
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