How do You Create a Subassembly Within an Assembly in SOLIDWORKS?

Creating a subassembly within a larger SOLIDWORKS assembly allows you to group related components together, improving organization, performance, and manageability of complex designs.

There are several straightforward ways to form a subassembly directly within your existing assembly file.

Methods for Forming a New Subassembly

You can create a subassembly from components already placed in your main assembly using the following techniques:

1. Using the Right-Click Menu on Selected Components

This is one of the most common methods:

1. In the FeatureManager design tree or graphics area, select the components you want to include in the new subassembly. You can hold down Ctrl to select multiple components.
2. Right-click one of the selected components.
3. Select Form New Subassembly from the context menu that appears.

SOLIDWORKS will create a new assembly file containing the selected components and replace the original components in the main assembly with this new subassembly instance.

2. Using the Insert Component Menu

Similar to the right-click method, you first select the components:

1. Select the desired components in the FeatureManager design tree or graphics area.
2. Navigate to the SOLIDWORKS menus.
3. Click Insert > Component > Assembly from [Selected] Components.

This achieves the same result as the right-click method, creating a new subassembly file from your selection.

3. Using the Right-Click Menu on a Folder

If you have organized components into folders within the FeatureManager design tree, you can easily turn an entire folder's contents into a subassembly:

1. In the FeatureManager design tree, ensure the components you want in the subassembly are grouped within a folder.
2. Right-click the folder containing the components.
3. Click Form New Subassembly from the context menu.

This is a quick way to sub-assemble components that are already logically grouped in your design tree.

Practical Considerations

• When you form a new subassembly, SOLIDWORKS prompts you to save the new subassembly file. Choose a descriptive name and location.
• The newly created subassembly appears as a single component (the subassembly file) in the FeatureManager design tree of your main assembly.
• Forming subassemblies helps declutter the main assembly's design tree and can significantly improve rebuild times for large assemblies.
• You can edit the subassembly independently by right-clicking it and selecting "Edit Subassembly" or by opening the subassembly file directly.

By utilizing these methods, you can effectively structure your SOLIDWORKS assemblies into logical, manageable units.

Method	Steps	Benefit
Right-click (Selection)	Select components, Right-click one, Select Form New Subassembly	Quick and intuitive for arbitrary selections
Insert Menu (Selection)	Select components, Click Insert > Component > Assembly from [Selected] Components	Alternative menu-based workflow
Right-click (Folder)	Group components in folder, Right-click folder, Select Form New Subassembly	Excellent for already organized components

These techniques provide flexibility in how you group components to create subassemblies within your main SOLIDWORKS design.