Balloon Question

[SteveFrey]

There is one particular part that re-occurs in many of my drawings that I can't balloon.  It doesn't highlight when I go to click on it when ballooning other items.  Why would this happen?

[mpatchus · Accepted solution]

Check to see if the item is a part in a subassembly.

If so, make sure the subassembly is set to normal, otherwise you will not be able to select the individual part.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi SteveFrey,

In addtion to mpatchus' suggestions, if you edit the part in question and go to the Tools tab > Document Settings button > Bill of Materials tab  and check the BOM Structure setting, it might be set to Phantom. If so you'll want to set it to Normal.

The other thought would be that the part is revolved or has tangent lines that aren't selectable for some reason, if that sounds likely maybe post a screen grab to confirm. I forget the particulars, but I have seen parts that had geometry that made ballooning a challenge.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[SteveFrey]

Thanks!  That worked!

[SteveFrey]

Curtis:

It was set to "Phantom".  That fixed it. 

On a similar note, I have one part that is impossible to select to turn off the visibility.  It is rounded and I can't ever select it.  I have to turn off visibility on the part underneath it then turn it off and then go back to the first part and turn it back on.  What a pain.