Joints Question...

[jagboy2013]

I swear I made a post on this topic a day or so back, but it seems to have disappeared....

Anyway, I have a question about the proper way to join two components in an assembly.  Suppose I have simple part like a ball-bearing retainer - a ring with a center hole for the shaft to stick through, and several bolt holes to faster the retainer to another part, which also has a shaft hole and matching bolt holes.  If I want to join these parts, I would start with a revolute joint between the shaft holes, the retainer is properly centered, but the bolt holes won't necessarily be lined up (though, about 50% of the time Fusion does seem to position the parts so those holes DO line up...).  So, I would then select one of the bolt holes in the retainer, and one in the other part, do an Align Components, then apply an As-Built joint between the two parts.

Is this the right/best way to do this?  Would be nice if there were a way to do this with a single joint instead of two.

Also, is there something similar to Align Components that will instead act more like a Parallel mate in Solidworks, rather than forcing two planes to be coincident?  I seem to come across this type of problem often in Fusion, and haven't found an easy solution to making faced parallel, but not necessarily coincident.

Regards,

Ray L.

[paul.clauss]

HI @jagboy2013

Thanks for posting! It looks like you have some questions about joints in Fusion 360.

I'm not sure if I visualized the geometry you are describing correctly, but I had a few thoughts on this question that I addressed in the screencast below. I think that your method should work just fine, but I did note that I could eliminate a step (the align command) by using two cylindrical joints - one to align the central axis of both parts on the shaft and the other to align a set of bolt holes.

If I did not address the correct geometry in the screencast below, please feel free to share your file on the forum thread or in a direct message to me. You could attach some screenshots or a screencast of your own if you'd prefer.

With regards to the parallel joint, I would recommend looking into offsetting a slider joint. I have also shown that in the screencast below.

Please let me know if you have any questions - I'm happy to help!

[TrippyLighting]

Maybe if you share your design, we can take a closer look at it and propose a solution. I've worked with Solid Works for 12 years before I started with Fusion 360 and it took me a while to get a hang of the joint sin Fusion 360. However, it is second nature now.

[jagboy2013]

You can't create two revolute joints between the same two components.  When you create the second one is simply not honored.  The parts end up locked together, but not in the correct alignment.

However, I did find a better way.  Do the first revolute joint, then use Align Components to get the second pair of holes aligned, then simply lock the revolute joint, and the parts are joined as needed with only a single joint instead of two joints.

Regards,

Ray L.

[jagboy2013]

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@TrippyLighting wrote:

Maybe if you share your design, we can take a closer look at it and propose a solution. I've worked with Solid Works for 12 years before I started with Fusion 360 and it took me a while to get a hang of the joint sin Fusion 360. However, it is second nature now.

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Yeah, overall I do see benefit to joints, but I think the implementation leaves a bit to be desired in some areas.  But it can certainly be faster than mates, and generally seems to require fewer joints than mates for corresponding assemblies, which is nice.  By the time I get my big design (several hundred parts) moved from Solidworks to Fusion, I should be an expert!  🙂

Regards,

Ray L.