Design Assistant phantom part

[JohnKHouston]

I'm having a problem with an assembly that was made from an existing assembly. The assembly is of a toolbox that had a divider panel in it. Using design assistant, I copied over all the parts necessary for a toolbox without divider.

Now, the assembly is showing the divider in design assistant and prints out the panel when using drawing porter but there is no reference to this part in the assembly model BOM, nor any instances in the corresponding drawing.

Is there anyway to delete or purge the reference shown in design assistant?

I'm not sure how to attach the appropriate files for reference. I'm assuming a pack and go but if someone can direct me, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

John

[salariua]

Chek the assembly, Tools , Links if any or parameters for any external links. Maybe you have the divider panel as derived used to model something else.

[JohnKHouston]

I don't see an option for Links under the Tools menu. Is there something else I need to enable?

edit: I did finally spot the Link option but it is greyed out, which is why I didn't see it in the first place. So I guess the answer is that there are no external links.  🙂

[mcgyvr]

I'm a stickler for proper terminology.. 

An assembly can be "phantom".. A part cannot.

Did you maybe mean a virtual part or maybe reference part?

If its a small assembly can you just zip up all the files (iam and ipt files) and post it here. Or at least a screenshot showing the issue?

[JohnKHouston]

Yeah, I probably used the wrong term. It's not a phantom part in the assembly. The part only shows up in the design assistant. The part does not show up in the assembly, nor in the bill of material within the assembly.

I've attached a pack n go of the assembly. Use design assistant to open the assembly, 700-400-031, and you'll see there is a part contained within, 500-800-341, that is not part of the assembly.

That's my problem, how do I get rid of the referenced part within the assembly?

Thanks

[salariua]

You are correct,

Someone from Autodesk needs to look at this assembly. I have deleted all files inside the assembly, and all parameters and the missing link is still there. We can't even to BOM or design assistant with missing references.

[JohnKHouston]

Thanks for checking. I can't figure it out either.

[jalger]

Hi John,

If you're not sure what the part is and your sure it won't affect anything you could create a Filler part (Dummy part).

(you could also find the original part and re-add it, this is very important if its a vault based file...)

In any case, to remove the bad link:

Simply create an empty part with that name (500-800-341).

Add it to the assemebly (or create it in the context of the assembly).

Right click on the iam (select Resolve, and choose your empty part)

after it resolves, save.

Then, Delete it from the file.

Re-save the file, close the file.

Open it again - the reference should be gone.

Not sure why it showed up in the first place, but adding a fake part in usually works for removing bad links.

I hope this helps,

James

[JohnKHouston]

Hi James,

That's the problem, the assembly doesn't show the part (500-800-341) as being unresolved. The part only shows up in design assistant.

I actually just demoted all the parts in the assembly, deleted the original asm and then renamed the demoted asm back to the original part number.

I have a bit of cleaning up to do within the drawing but it seems to have corrected the error.

[jalger]

Ah ok,

Hmmmm well in the parts you shared it displays as a missing part, but even after purging it is still in the Design Assistant.

So what I posted didn't resolve the issue.

Regards,

James

[mercerc]

Thank you for posting the files, as I don’t have a way to address the file yet. I have found a way to copy the files and have an assembly without the mystery file in it.

Open the top level assembly and then open a blank Inventor assembly file. Return to the assembly file with the mystery component. In the browser highlight all the sub-assemblies and part files. Right click and select the Copy option. Switch to the new assembly file and right click and paste. You should now a new assembly without the mystery file and your constraints.

I do have one question can you repeat the issue when creating a new copy of that assembly or another? If so can you post the steps in detail so we can review them here and try repeating it?