Placing holes exactly where you want them

[JonSchaeffer]

Hi,

I am wanting to create a pretty basic assembly.

But I am struggling with how to aproach this.

I have 2 models from someone else that I need to create a pallet changing system for on a single main base for a 5 axis job.

1 Do I create all models withing the same "New Design"?

2 Do I create seperate "New Designs with every part then insert each peice to create the assemly?

I have tried to do this within one New Design but I am not able to use existing geometry like holes to create mating new holes in the new part. When I start to create something and I want to use new holes in the same location as the other mating part, the other holes are unselectable, and I can not finish what I am rying to do.

Any help would be apreciated... 

[CGPM]

Since no one has answered yet I will give it a try with my limited knowledge.  You want to put your assembly in one new design.  Each part, such as pallet, receiver, etc. should go in it's own "component".  If you create your parts as separate cad files and place them into your assembly file they will not get updated if you make changes.  To update you would need to delete the part and import the modified version into your assembly file again.

I think you need to create sketches for each component to accuratly place holes and other geometry.  This is where you add constraints and dimensions to control your design.  If you have the time line active then you can control changes to your bodies with the sketches that were used to creat them.  To use geometry from another comonent you need to project it to your new sketch, break the link, and now it is accesible to use for the new component.  Make sure to set as active the component you want to work on so the information you creat will be in that components file.

Hopefully this gives you some of the information you are looking for.

[herzinj · Accepted solution]

Hi JonBoy5Axis,

It sounds like you got some pretty good suggestions already, as that is the way I would go about making the design as well.  The workflow for parts and assemblies in Fusion 360 is a little different then that of other CAD packages.  Instead of creating a part and dropping that into an assembly file, you create them all in one location, and then can easily modify each part of the assembly.  As was mentioned, if you do it the other way, your parts don't automatically update, though this is functionality that will be improved in the future to all associativity (similar to xref's in AutoCAD).

As for placing holes accurately, I usually will add a sketch of the surface I want to start the holes on, and with the exterior geometry projected, I will draw a sketch line or lines to where I want hole to start.  Doing it this way will allow me to easily update the location of the hole by modifying the sketch if I decide it needs to be in a different location in the future.  

Hope this helps, and please let us know if you have any more questions!

James

[JonSchaeffer]

Thanks guys!

That helps alot. At least I know I was trying to do it right and that narrows it down to functionality of how to do this, I believe I am struggling between 3 different softwares and confusing myself.

I will give it another try, Ive watched the videos and I see it working there but something I am doing is not quite right...

I will get on this so I can click on if this is resolved...

again thanks...

-Jon

[JonSchaeffer]

So I started dimentioning my holes for position and quickly learned that the software does not let you "over constrain" your dimensions.

Pretty cool...

I have also went back to re dimention another finished part and could not add dimentions.

Is there a certain rule to when you can add dimentions? 

Also, does it matter if you sketch lines to create a position or if you actually use the dimention tab to create it's location in terms of future modifications?

[herzinj · Accepted solution]

Hi JonBoy5Axis,

As for a certain rule for when you can add dimensions, it really is just about the sketch being over constrained.  So, you would not be able to have a line be dimensioned 2 times in the X direction as an example.  Or for the case of the hole, if you sketch a line to draw the circle off of and dimension its length, you would not then also be able to dimension the distance from the center of the circle to a line in that same direction.  Hopefully that helps!

By "use dimension tab" do you mean to dimension the sketch by clicking Sketch: Sketch dimension?  If so, either way will be fine and able to be modified later on.  I like to have the dimensions called out on the sketch myself, it helps me to understand where everything is positioned.  If this isn't what you mean, let me know.

Hope the design is going well, and let me know if you have any further questions.

James

[JonSchaeffer]

Perfect!
Thanks!
Yes that's what I meant by dimension tab.

-Jon
Sent from my iPhone

[JonSchaeffer]

A strange thing is I wrote that last comment a while back ago. (Maybe  2 weeks ago?)

I got an e-mail this morning stating that I had replied to a comment at 12/15/14 at 1:04am.

And that never happened. I was in bed sleeping. I don't wake up till 3:15am to get ready for work.

[mbostonsprint]

RE: your recent comment about posting times (or email about same) --

I also noticed some odd timestamps just yesterday (I think) while reading some forum posts and replying to something; one post that I saw immediately after posting a reply had a timestamp of something like "posted 13 hours ago" , then when I saw it a little later, it was marked with a timestamp of only a few minutes earlier. That made more sense to me, as it hadn't appeared in the message string prior to my post. Something seems a bit strange with the info flow, at least it did yesterday.