Hello All, 

I am brand new to the industry and have entered my first job as a career design engineer. As part of my day-to-day, I have started and am leading the conversion of all of our parts from 2D AutoCAD to 3D Solidworks. We have run into a few problems at the assembly level that brought the project to a grinding halt. 

So basically I have a ~40 part assembly with an enormous spring load that deforms several parts in the assembly and is static after the load is applied indefinitely. The same parts are used in 100s of different assemblies and deform at different rates/lengths based on what they're attached to. The deformation is never more than a quarter inch, and most of the time is only a few thousandths. Trying to get the assembly drawing to the exact deformed length very quickly devolves into a mess of hundreds of configurations and combinations, conflicting part updates, errors, etc.

 In my mind, I'm wondering if its practical to go through all the work to have the deformed length represented perfectly in the drawing. To me, there's only a couple of problems I foresee if it's just left at the nominal length, without the deformation. Problems with simulation down the line (electrical, thermal, mechanical). The other thing is I would need to override 3 dimensions in the sales drawing to make sure the overall length is correct for the customer (The drawings get checked and approved to make sure these dimensions are correct anyway). The assembly would otherwise be at the nominal length, and the deformation can be added with a calculation that literally takes 30 seconds. Not a joke.

I've explored this problem for months and I've tried a bunch of stuff:

• Equations
• Flexible parts
• Virtual parts
• Configurations
• Combinations of the above

Each one of these attempts came with their own complexities and problems. My manager's goals are unclear for this project, and I've spent the last 2 years making models that I don't even know what they're primary function or advantage would be. I'm the only one here that knows anything about 3D, and I'm really confused. Any advice, whether for the task at hand or just general career help to navigate a project of this scale is very much appreciated. If you have any questions, I'll clarify.