Combine components, instead of bodies?

[jsantosrico]

Hi!

I'm taking my first steps with fusion. I't modeling a simple rack of drawers in order to laser cut them later on. I want to make my design parameter-based, so I can change things like dimensions or number of drawers without needing to redesign. So far, I managed to solve a couple of issues I had by checking the forums, but I cannot figure this one out. I want to make some U-shaped spacers that will slot into the sides of my rack, that will hold the drawers at the right height.

In order to make those slots, I would combine the spacers with each of the sides, using the combine tool with the cutting option. The problem is that I cannot select a feature as cutting tool, or an assembly, only individual bodies, and as the bodies are dynamically generated (based in the NumberOfDrawers parameter that I created), if I change it, new ones won't be referenced, or if I reduce the number of drawers, some of them would be lost and have missing references.

Is there a way to accomplish what I want? Ose the combine, to make a cut in the sides, that takes in consideration all the spacers that might be generated? So far, I tried different options, as getting the spacers generated as individual components with on body each and as multiple bodies within the same component, but I can't select the component, as the tool requires bodies. 

Thanks!

[innovatenate · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately the combine command is going to limit you to bodies. Changing the number of bodies in the design is going to require manual intervention to update the combine command. That is a roadblock in the current workflow you are after. However, I do wonder if you could get away with use a single sweep command to generate slots. 

After doing this, you can create a feature pattern that utilizes the same parameters as the number of drawers so that the design update. 

Another command you might want to look at is the pipe command. You can use a rectangular section. 

See the attached sample file for reference.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

[jsantosrico]

Thanks for your answer and the examples, they are useful and I had the chance to see the pipe tool, which I never had used before. I see that what I want to achieve is not something that is doable as of now. Is not a big deal, either, I can live with having to manually edit a feature everytime I change the number of drawers. I was thinking in packing all the bodies I'm interested in using as cutting tools into a component, and make a script that uses them to make the combine. It's probably overkill, but that will give me a chance of using the API, I might learn something from that too 😄

I know there is no right and wrong way to do stuff, but I'm sure that mine is the most unorthodox, as I have basically no idea of mechanical engineering. I'm doing all this as tests to learn a bit.