topic Re: How to nest features in the Browser? in Fusion Design, Validate & Document Forum

How to nest features in the Browser?

karl — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 05:56:09 GMT

In the attached file, I have a component called Tab-left. I want to cover the bottom surface with uniformly spaced components called Mushroom. I'll do this using the Rectangular Grid command. You can see I've created the first row. The Mushrooms are so small (this will be a piece of Velcro-like material) that there will be hundreds of them. To keep the Browser somewhat orderly, I'd like to collect the Mushrooms into their own folder. From my research, it seems like they should be a subassembly, so I've created a Mushrooms component within Tab-left. I thought I should be able to select all the Mushrooms and just drag them into the Mushrooms folder, but that's not working. Any suggestions? Is there a better way to organize these things? Thanks.

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

aliobidi — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:46:03 GMT

Hi ,

You can activate the component and do the pattern that's allow all bodies to keep in the same component

your file below

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

TrippyLighting — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 15:32:53 GMT

The reason this does not work is because your timeline is not rolled all the way to he end.

But I would not recommend that workflow at this early stage of the design.

I would also suggest you familiarize yourself with Fusion 360 R.U.L.E #1.

Then consider fully defining (constraining and dimensioning) all of your sketches.

If you then come to the conclusion that it might be a good idea to start from scratch, that might not he be worst course of action 😉

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

karl — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 04:32:56 GMT

Aah, yes. I forgot Rule #1. I've been away from F360 for a while. Thanks for the reminder. I recreated the sketch with that in mind, but now I have another problem. This time, I created the mushrooms as a sub-assembly beneath Tab - left, so I didn't have to drag them in. Then I copied/rotated/translated Mushroom 1 to become Mushroom 16. When I tried to propagate it with the Rectangular Pattern command, though, it wouldn't let me. It accepts the values, but disables OK. What am I doing wrong?

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

laughingcreek — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 06:01:29 GMT

I was able to pattern the mushroom as a component. in your pic you have the pattern type set as body.

because you use position capture to position the first mushroom, you've lost all hope of maintaining a parametric model. that habit will cause you grief in the future. components are positioned with joints, or by building in place.

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

laughingcreek — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 06:03:47 GMT

you also have the qty on axis 2 set to 0. it has to be set to 1 (or greater), which is why it's red.

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

karl — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 21:21:24 GMT

Got it. Thanks again. I'll refresh my memory on joints, but if I go that route, will I still be able to use Rectangular Pattern to propagate the component, or is there another approach I should use when making lots of copies of one?

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

laughingcreek — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 21:49:46 GMT

2 ways to position components. using joints and "building in place". patterning is one method of building in place. a hybrid work flow of positioning a component with a joint, and then patterning additional components into place based on the jointed component is perfectly fine.

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

karl — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 05:55:39 GMT

So I placed the first mushroom with a rigid joint and then patterned 14. My plan is to make another column of 14 with the mushrooms rotated and offset from the first column, then pattern both columns all the way to the right of the tab. Then delete the ones over the two cutouts and the ones that are no longer on the tab, due to its taper. Before doing all that, though, I tested this idea by deleting one of the initial 14 and the entire column was deleted. Remove seems to work, but I wanted to make sure that wasn't going to cause problems down the road before I use it.

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

laughingcreek — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 15:20:19 GMT

I don't care for they way "delete" and "remove" are named, but there's no changing it. when you delete a surface it puts a feature in the timeline, but when you delete a body or component, it removes all traces that they were ever there and doesn't create a timeline feature. I think "purge" would have been a better word for that functionality, and leave delete to function the way it does with other types of objects. oh well.

moral of the story-you will usually want to use "remove" when the option is available.

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

laughingcreek — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 15:34:34 GMT

so you did a move or align positioning of the mushroom, froze it there with position capture, and projecte a sketch off that to create your joint. that's possible less optimal then what you were doing originally.

you don't really want nay position capture in you rtimeline, and you certainly don't want to rely on them to determine joint positions. how will you go back and tweak this positioning?

just draw and dimension the sketch, and joint to that.

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

laughingcreek — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 15:40:27 GMT

having bodies and components living at the same level in an assembly is generally considered a bad practice. fusion lets you do it, and there are occasions when it can come in handy. but as assemblies get more involved things can get pretty mind bendy when you go to joint things together. your probably ok here, but I would start considering that when creating your assembly structures.

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

karl — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 15:43:26 GMT

The point I need to joint to doesn’t correspond to any existing geometry, so I need to create one where I need it. While it’s easy to create in the Tab’s sketch, how can I do so in a way that it remains visible on the component when I need to make the joint?

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

laughingcreek — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 16:00:48 GMT

break the projection link to the circle in the sketch. dimension it's position. delete the position capture. that's all that was done to the attached.

Re: How to nest features in the Browser?

karl — Sat, 28 Jan 2023 06:29:19 GMT

Thanks!