topic Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow in Fusion Design, Validate & Document Forum

Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

Luke_Parf — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 09:33:41 GMT

Hi all,

We have recently adopted Fusion 360 as the standard CAD package for design & manufacturing.

One thing I have found rather tricky is using mirrored components in a sheet metal workflow.

Say I have a library of products and a library of parts for those products. If I make a design change to a part I also want Fusion to make that change across the 10 other products that use it in my library.

In the situation where the product I am creating uses the mirrored version of a component ONLY, as in the non-mirrored version is not present in the model space. Is there any way I can insert just the mirrored version in to the design view?

Inserting the part > mirroring the part > deleting the non-mirrored version will of course delete the mirrored part also because there is nothing to reference.

Next best thing I can think up is inserting the part > mirroring it > hiding the original but that of course messes up the BOM.

NB: I can't save the mirrored version as its own dedicated part as it would be unproductive to have to make the same change on two different parts.

Any insights do let me know. Thanks!

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

HughesTooling — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 09:51:02 GMT

Have you tried Derive?

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

Luke_Parf — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 10:34:47 GMT

Hi Hugh,

This works to an extent but I still seem to have to save the mirrored component as "Part no. - Mirrored".

Would be great to have an option that doesn't require so many extra steps when working with a parts library with hundreds of parts.

Thank you for your response!

Regards,

Luke

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

TheCADWhisperer — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 10:40:36 GMT

@Luke_Parf wrote:
Inserting the part > mirroring the part > ~~deleting~~ the non-mirrored version will of course delete the mirrored part also because there is nothing to reference.

Remove, not Delete.

Can you Attach example for demonstration?

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

Luke_Parf — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 11:49:52 GMT

Hi,

Of course, find example file attached.

Though I had considered this, and I don't think the remove function works on external components.

Thanks for your response.

Luke

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

TheCADWhisperer — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:28:45 GMT

@Luke_Parf wrote:
We have recently adopted Fusion 360 as the standard CAD package ...

~~This should be interesting.~~

Edit 1: I stand corrected - it looks like @HughesTooling found the Remove.

Edit 2: Or maybe not - I am still not seeing as I would expect.

After experimenting with this in Fusion 360 - I have come to the conclusion that you should have adopted Autodesk Inventor Professional instead - where this is trivial to accomplish.

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

HughesTooling — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:14:36 GMT

@Luke_Parf wrote:

Hi,

Of course, find example file attached.

Though I had considered this, and I don't think the remove function works on external components.

Thanks for your response.

Luke

You can remove an inserted part, what's not obvious is you need to right click the insert feature in the timeline and remove. The remove feature will be created after the timeline pointer not where you've selected the insert feature.

Mark

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

HughesTooling — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:18:09 GMT

Here's remove used with your file.

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

HughesTooling — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:23:20 GMT

@Luke_Parf What I was thinking about using Derive was have a library design with both versions then use derive to insert whichever version you want.

So create your library design like this with each part named then when you use derive you can just select the component you want.

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

Luke_Parf — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:28:21 GMT

Hi HughesTooling,

Well it's good that the remove tool is nowhere near any of the other remove tools.

Thank you for finding this. I like your suggestion on file area setup and will trial that out.

One note - When I remove the part body in this way I get a warning on screen saying:

"You are removing the last instance of an external component. Changes to this component will no longer be automatically updated in this design"

I'll have a play around with it and see whether updates to the root part appear in the mirrored part.

Thanks again, it's much appreciated.

Luke

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

TheCADWhisperer — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:29:09 GMT

@HughesTooling

Can you Attach files?

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

Luke_Parf — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:29:56 GMT

Hi CadWhisperer,

I did get a laugh out of the "Should have used Inventor" bit. Thank you for your assistance also.

Regards,

Luke

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

HughesTooling — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:39:51 GMT

@Luke_Parf wrote:

Hi HughesTooling,

Well it's good that the remove tool is nowhere near any of the other remove tools.

Thank you for finding this. I like your suggestion on file area setup and will trial that out.

One note - When I remove the part body in this way I get a warning on screen saying:

"You are removing the last instance of an external component. Changes to this component will no longer be automatically updated in this design"

I'll have a play around with it and see whether updates to the root part appear in the mirrored part.

Thanks again, it's much appreciated.

Luke

@Luke_Parf After modifying the source file you just need to roll the timeline back before the remove feature then update

Just update with the design in this state.

@TheCADWhisperer Did you just want the design with the remove? All I did was right click in the timeline and select remove, timeline marker after the mirror.

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

TheCADWhisperer — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:54:56 GMT

@HughesTooling wrote:
@TheCADWhisperer Did you just want the design with the remove? All I did was right click in the timeline and select remove, timeline marker after the mirror.

Here is the behavior that I am expecting to see:

1. I create a Left Hand Component.

2. I derive that component into new file Right Hand Component. (Preferably as Mirrored - but that option not avialable.)

3. Since Derived Mirror option not available I expect to Mirror the Component (or Body) and then Remove the original Derived.

4. Any change to Step 1 Left Hand Component geometry (for example, dimensioning the Hole location at a logical location) associatively updates in the derived mirror Right Hand Component. This all works pretty seamlessly in the other MCAD softwares that I use.

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

HughesTooling — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 14:15:06 GMT

@TheCADWhisperer Here's a screencast working with a linked design, derive should work the same.

Mark

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

TheCADWhisperer — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 12:11:55 GMT

Can someone post example files?

Anyone.

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

HughesTooling — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 12:50:10 GMT

Attached file is the same as post #5 with the inserted design removed.

Mark

Re: Using the mirrored component ONLY in a sheet metal production work flow

TheCADWhisperer — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 12:54:22 GMT

Thanks, now I need to find the time to experiment.

All of a sudden work has piled up on me. (The real paying job work.) 😓