Cabling 101—What You Can Do with Routed Systems Designer Lite & Wildfire 2.0

By Pete Pickett, Mercury MerCruiser

So you’re new to Pro/CABLING and Routed Systems Designer (RSD), and you want to see what makes it tick. If you’re a maintenance-paying customer using FLEX 3C licenses, you have access to Routed Systems Designer Lite. By doing a PTCSTATUS at a command prompt, you may see something like this.

Have your administrator download Routed Systems Designer 6 from the PTC website (www.ptc.com), install it, and make sure it works. For the following exercise, I’ve made template files for the RSD Lite user that can also be opened with the RSD production version. Using RSD Lite and eventually moving to the full production version means you will not lose your work. You cannot, however, open a design made in the production version in RSD Lite. Download the template here.

Create a Connector Part File in Pro/ENGINEER

1. Begin with a new Pro/ENGINEER part file named CONN1. For simplicity, we will connect our wires to the CSYS at the origin. Pro/CABLING uses the Z-axis of a coordinate system to plug the wire into the connector later on.

2. Make a block symmetrical to planes with the CSYS at the bottom and the Z-axis pointing out (Fig. 1).

Figure 1.

3. This part is 2" x 1" x 1/2" in size.

4. Now add a datum curve (sketch) off the end of the block to put an axis on (Fig. 2) (Pro/CABLING likes routing networks along an axis.) This datum curve is .50" off and .50" long.

Figure 2.

5. Select both endpoints of this datum curve and then create a DATUM AXIS (Fig. 3).

Figure 3.

6. Rename the original coordinate system feature ENTRY_1.

7. SAVE. You’re done with your first connector.

Make an Assembly Named HARNESS

In a new Pro/ENGINEER assembly, insert two instances of the CONN1 part, with the datum curves/axes facing each other. Put the first one in using DEFAULT. For the second one, use CTRL-ALT with your mouse buttons to spin and pan it around (Fig. 4). Either leave them packaged or FIX their locations.

Figure 4.

Make the Cable Part File

1.     In the assembly, choose APPLICATIONS/CABLING, then HARNESS/CREATE and type in HARNESS_CABLE. This becomes a .prt file on your hard drive and contains the location data for your cable.

2.     Now choose TOOLS/ENVIRONMENT, and pick CENTERLINE CABLES, and OK.

3.     In the right side menu, Choose NETWORK OPS/ROUTE and ALONG AXIS.

4.     Pick one of the two axes and a yellow arrow appears. You want this arrow to point away from the connector (Fig. 5). When it is, choose OKAY. (Otherwise, choose FLIP/OKAY.)

Figure 5.

You should see this little green circle/cross where the last location was made.

5.     Choose the other axes to join the two blocks. 

6.     Choose DONE/RETURN and DONE/RETURN.

7.     SAVE it for now. The network is simply a highway for multiple cables to run along when we auto-route the wires later.

Launch Routed Systems Designer

1.     In Routed Systems Designer, choose FILE/CREATE NEW DESIGN.

2.     Type CABLE_DEMO for the name and TUTORIAL for the description. Set your location and put a check in USE TEMPLATE. Use the rsd_lite.rsd template provided to you in the download above. Choose OK.

3.     You should have a drawing on your screen. (You will also see some directions and Pro/CABLING tips for future reference as you learn more about RSD.)

Like Pro/ENGINEER drawing or detail mode, you can use the same pan and zoom functionality.

4.     Under OPTIONS/SWITCHES, put a check mark in EDIT PROPERTIES FOLLOWING INSTANCING... and CLOSE. You only have to do this once.

When you close RSD later, you may be asked to keep any changes to the default settings. Simply say SAVE.

5.     Select the new block instance icon.  Pick the 1 POSITION folder, then 1_POS_NUM, and OK.

6.     Place the block anywhere on your sheet. A BLOCK PROPERTIES: C1 dialog box automatically pops up.

7.     Select the MODEL_NAME line item and change it to CONN1.

8.     Pick the green check mark and then OK.

9.     Once you see the screen the background, hit your right mouse buttom (RMB) and choose EXIT TOOL.

10.  Select  again, place another of the same block below the first one, and change the MODEL_NAME to CONN1.

11.  Use RMB and EXIT TOOL. You should now see something similar to this.

12.  Now choose create fiber instance on the left menu bar.

13.  Select 10 AWG folder, 10 WHT, and OK.

14.  Move your cursor near the little node on C1 and select it. Notice that the cursor changes to a red X with a light blue arrow. This tells you there will be a good connection at the port.

15.  Now move your cursor away and pick a point in space a few inches away to define a corner.

16.  Pick the node on C2.

17.  Once the two ends are defined, you should see this.

18.  Now RMB and EXIT TOOL.

19.  To change the color, Select the fiber in the middle (not on any text)and RMB/PROPERTIES
choose APPLY DATASET…

20.  In the wire_gauge box, type 10 and hit UPDATE.

21.  Find and select the ORN color from the list and hit OK.

22.  After you hit OK to close the properties, your wire will look like this.

23.  Now export this to an XML file by selecting FILE/EXPORT/XML.

24.  Choose Pro/CABLING, CURRENT SHEET, and the FILE SELECTOR...

25.  Type in RSD.XML, then OK, and OK. You can save and exit (or leave it open). Remember that if you close RSD, you will be asked to keep any changes to the default settings we changed above. Again, choose SAVE.

Back in the Pro/CABLING Assembly

1.     Choose LOGICAL REF/IMPORT/RS DESIGNER, find the RSD.XML file, and click OK. Choose DONE/RETURN.

2.     Now choose COMPONENTS/AUTODESIGNATE.

3.     Pick the line item C1 and choose the connector on the right side. You will notice that it turns red, indicating that you have two options.

4.     When you hit APPLY, Pro/ENGINEER will find the one that has been AUTOMATCHED. Click OK to close the dialog.

5.     Choose ROUTE/CREATE/WIRE/FROM LOGICAL, then SELECT ALL/DONE SEL and DONE SEL.

6.     When the CBL ROUTE menu shows up, hit AUTOROUTE/ACCEPT and DONE/RETURN.

7.     Turn on your thick cables by choosing TOOLS/ENVIRONMENT, pick THICK CABLES, and OK.

You should see this.

Oh! Your wire wasn't orange? Get my APPEARANCES file and load it onto Pro/ENGINEER. Regenerate the assembly and you should be OK.

To Learn More

Now, if you’d like to know more about cabling, I’ve written other startup guides on the PTC/USER website under TECHNICAL COMMITTEES / NORTH AMERICA / ROUTED SYSTEMS. You don’t have to be a member of the technical committee to access this information, but you do need to login.

Open the Startup KIT folder and get the CRASH COURSE zip file, which covers what I did to make things work properly. For more great tips and tricks, see the PRESENTATIONS and PAPERS for presentations on drawing tables and other advanced techniques. Get the Simplifying Cable Design first and then get the 3D Engine Harness Design.

One final thing I should mention: You need the full production version of RSD to export the image of a schematic to a DWG or DXF for use in a drawing. RSD Lite cannot open designs created by the production version, but you can open RSD Lite designs with the full version if you decide to upgrade in the future. 

If you still have questions after accessing these and the other resources, look under your installation folder for more information or contact me. Either way, enjoy cabling and Routed Systems Designer!

Pete Pickett is a design engineer at Mercury MerCruiser in Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA. He also heads up PTC/USER’s Routed Systems Technical Committee.