My assembly has grown (about 50 parts) to where I need to consolodate some parts into subassemblies for reuse and alternate iterations of the basic design.
When I import the original parts into a new assembly, all of the constrains I created are not there of course.
I've tried creating a new empty part and then deriving a new part from the assembly, but I can't add, delete or edit any parts.
I looked at using Shrinkwrap, Substitutes, iParts, Multi-body Parts, and Multiple Solids but I remain confused.
In retrospect, maybe I should have created the subassemblies between the part and assembly stage but I didn't.
Solved! Go to Solution.
Solved by JDMather. Go to Solution.
In your assembly Ctrl click the parts that should be a sub-assembly.
Then right click and go to Component>Demote to create the sub-assembly.
You can now use this sub-assembly in other assemblies as well.
The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel
I was so relieved to see this answer. However... I am still missing something.
I don't appear to have the Component>Demote under my RMB.
Attached is a JPG.
Inventor Pro 2012.
I can't reproduce your screen shot.
Try on a different assembly.
The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel
Okay!
It would have worked the first time except that my original selections included two bolted connections.
See Sub Assy no Bolts.jpg without the bolts selected.
See subsequent alert jpg. and my leftover bolts jpg.
I'll have to see if I can now just move them back into my new sub assembly and reconstrain.
I don't know why they didn't go. I may have improperly created them.
Not unlikely at my proficiency level.
It never occured to me to "demote" these parts as they were the first ones created and include my first grounded component.
Thanks for your help.
Doug
Thank you! The name "demote" is not intuitive to me, and I would have never guessed to use it. I suppose it makes sense when you are thinking of the hierarchy tree, but I was searching for something that said sub-assembly.
Another technique is to place a sub-assembly (it can be empty) and then drag components from main assembly and drop in the sub-assembly.
You might get a warning about possibly losing some assembly constraints - but if you have properly constrained you will never actually lose any.
The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel